I got a small Amorphophallus paeoniifolius 'Gajendra' tuber this spring and it is only now "sprouted" (with Fall temperatures also appearing). Should I do anything special? I can put it in the greenhouse and keep it relatively warm and humid.
Dave.
Amorphophallus coming up now
Hi Dave, mine were late this year, also. I'm going to try to keep mine going inside, I guess. It will surely freeze out before they are ready to go dormant.... I would think the greenhouse would be great while it's growing. Once it goes dormant, it needs to be dry. This pic was taken a couple weeks ago. They have grown tremendously since, I need to take more pics this weekend.-B
Thanks for the encouragement! I'm almost dreading Fall more than normal. My greenhouse will be busting at the seams.
Are the green shoots in your picture new "offsets" from the main tuber?
Dave.
I don't have a greenhouse. So it's my dining room French doors and kitchen window and I also haul some into the office each fall. The rest wait for Spring in the basement. Yes, all the offsets are from one good sized tuber.
Dave, how big is your amorph, now? Mine 2 bulbs are really weirding out this year. The biggest one, I think is dividing. I have 2 "trees" growing in the pot in the pic I posted above and the other one has multiple trees. I was re-reading this thread..... the green shoots in the pic above are gladiolus, my mom gave them to me and I had to plant them somewhere... here's a pic of the other pot...
That poor lead is about 7" tall and hasn't yet spread its leaves. The tuber was a small one so I'm not expecting much. I was just concerned that it was out-of-sync time-wise. I would have expected significant growth through the Summer and here it is almost Fall and only now starting to grow. Maybe it thinks it's in India where there is no Winter.
This is only my 2nd year with them.... their tardiness made me think I did something out of sync. Actually the one in the pic died back and went dormant on its own last fall, the big one I dug while it was still green and whacked it off. But they BOTH started growning late... they bloomed in April. I guess I will start cutting back on water severely and eventually put them in the basement... then let them go completely dry.... whadda you think?
AuntB~
Cutting off the water is just the ticket to get them to go dormant. It might help them to put them in as much full sun as possible to help the drying out.
Robert.
Thanks, Robert. I'll be moving plants around this weekend in preparation for the big basement move so I'lI make sure they're in full/all day sun. Wish they would have had more grow time, but guess that was their call...