it started blooming today.
BLOOOM!!!
I absolutely love these. Mine is getting there but not yet....
ROX
wow!
It looks a big'un!
Mine is a very large plant now but seems to be at a temporary standstill, perhaps it's cooking up the smelly brew, no sign of a spathe yet! It only gets sun in the morning, then the conker tree shades it but that's where it's always lived. They are supposed to like some shade aren't they?
Love it
i'm not sure about the shade... mine has full sun and does okay. although mine only last a year and the next year they rot.
They should live if they have good drainage, and don't get frozen. I started with 3 a few years ago but 2 froze in pots outside in a very cold winter, this one I have kept in the greenhouse since. It wasn't huge but has flowered the last 2 years, from this survivor in 2002 I think.
this one made it through the winter but i guess the other haven't. can i dig it up and store it?
You can dig it once it's gone dormant, but if it made it through one winter it might be OK. I'm not certain how you would store it, I guess cool in dry peat. Someone else might be able to tell you that.
Actually, all you have to do is dig it up and put it on a shelf.
Some people like to put them in a paper bag to rest.
I, however, like to keep mine where I can watch it.
There is no need to keep in the pot of soil, just plant it in the spring when you see the bud on top of the bulb start to show pink.
That is awesome! Congratulations!
Berhardt, do you keep your bulbs in the house all winter?
yes. I de-pot all of my amorph bulbs as soon as they go domant in the fall. If they want to stay green, then I bring them into the house until they decide its time. I have had a few of my titanums not go dormant all winter. So I keep them watered then bring them back outside when it is not so cold at night.
The ones that are dormant, I just rinse them of with water, get rid of all the extra roots, dry them off and let them sit on a labeled shelf in my room. There is no need to keep them cold like some bulbs or in the dark. They decide when they are ready to be planted again by, like I mentioned before, starting to send up a pink nub in the center. Then I replant them into fresh soil and don't water them until they emerge from the soil.
That is what has worked for me in the past. It may not be the best thing or the recommended, but it works for me.
Also, here is a website that I have found to be very helpful: http://www.snowsexotics.com/
It is also in google as amorphophallus for beginners. enjoy.
The plant is a Dracunculus vulgaris, perhaps they are not treated the same?
placenciarita. you need to check out hyperlink from barhardt. I enjoyed very much, you will too. jerry
What a great website. Thanks so much berhardt. I let mine dry out in their pots last winter and kept them under the back porch (out of the rain). We don't get hard freezes here but I was uncertain what their fate would be when winter ended. They are my first amorphs. I depotted them last weekend and both have a nice pink sprout so I repotted both and watered them. Now I'm just waiting................
I had four blooms this season and here is the largest:
Mysterious down in there..........
A wider shot:
Wow, some variation in bloom size! I'm amazed that little one made a spathe!
The spadix on yours look red, mine is black, or is just an illusion? Others I see look red too.
I checked the bloom date of mine, pics on 17th June last year. It should be earlier this year but still no sign of the spathe! Darn thing is about 4' tall!
Wallaby~
The spadix is actually a nearly-black red-purple at first and the spathe was a bit darker than the camera could capture. There is a lot of deep burgundy in the spathe, though, even from the start. The color rendition in the thumbnail looks closer.
Lots of flies collected even before the bloom opened, maybe hangers-on from the earlier blooms hanging around......but I couldn't detect any scent from the closed bud. But when they open, I was reminded of a bucket of dead shellfish rotting in the seaside sun.
I reduced the gamma on this shot and it is closer to the actual color, although the highlights may be a little too red.
R.
Raydio, that is stunning!!!!!!!! The color must be amazing in person.
raydio,
The colour and form does look more like mine than other's I've seen, but I don't remember mine having any other than a black spadix. They don't last very long, and when we take pics at the full open stage is generally just before they start to decline.
This is fairly true to colour.....
wallaby~
Wowie, that is black! Mine were really more a dark maroon even when fresh. You have a real keeper there with that intense coloring!
Your spathe is evenly colored.....(envious here). Mine always seem to have light specklings (as the above pix show) that look like insect damage to me. I haven't seen anything but flies on the open blooms though. Wonder what the cause is. I see the same specks in other pix of Dracs. Not sure if it is something physiological or not.
Anyone know?
R.
raydio,
your spathe is such a rich colour! I like them both but I do like the contrast of the black spadix.
I would imagine the speckling comes from being grown outside, could be insect damage but I do get insects in the greenhouse. Could be rain or night dew drops penetrating the surface when young. Earwigs!!!!!!!!
One thing is the same, the smell of rotting fish.
What a stink !! I love it! The bugs are swarming all around it. Whenever the sun hits it, it lets off a burst of odor.
Mine are finally blooming! I have six stalks blooming this year. The smell is terrible, like dead fish on the beach, but the flowers are so exotic!
yes thats it! Ive been catching sniffs of the smell in the yard throughout the day and I have been wondering what to compare it to. Smells like dead fish ... or a really ripe dead crab left out in the sun.
Still waiting here.........salty rotting fish is what mine smells like, but I read rotting meat, totally different!
Took this 2 days ago, it measures 17.25" at this stage.
Raydio, I love your Mysterious... Photo. They sure are mysterious looking down there!! LOL
This is the tallest I have had them grow so far. I have been waiting for this guy to open for several days now
our weather has gone cold so may still have a few more days. Pardon the Grungy looking Gardener
The Grungy Gardener has a sparkle in his eyes! We have had cold weather for the last 2 days, 54F (12C) max! It could have at least rained! Starting to warm a little, tomorrow is supposed to be 21C (70F), this cold stuff off the North Sea in summer is so depressing!
I think yours opened just before mine last year Kin, I checked my pics, it was 17th June last year but this spring has been warmer and things are earlier. The leaves on mine start to shrivel as the spathe matures, yours are all green!
We were getting a few days in the mid to high 80s here, and now we are in a cold ( mid 50s-60s) spell. So everything seems to be taking a small break.
I have another Drac that is ready to open, but is taking a small break.
I love these guys ... the plants look very nice with the coloration on the stem, and the flowers are huge..and im not all that botherd by the smell( i kinda think its cool to watch the mass of flies and beetles swarm around) , but its hard to explain these interesting qualities to my family in a way that they will understand. I guess they just chalk it up to me being the weird green thumb of the family.
Chris
GardenGuy~
Wowsers! What a huge plant--that is astoundingly tall! I haven't been growing these for long, and I just had no idea......LOL.
Never saw a pic of one so lush.
How old is it?
R.
Hi,
Well, it conts. on the cool side here. The big guy still has remained closed and Yes I'm still waiting for the aroma!! LOL
I do believe your right Wally.. Mine did open up a bit ahead of yours last year. I moved several large ones in December last year. They were breaking ground in mid December. Much to early so I dug them up, transplanted them even deeper.
The leaves seem to get yellow just as they begin to bloom here.
Thanks R. I'm really happy with this one this year! I have had them for about 8 years now. It was on the property when I moved in and didn't know what it was at first. So I have no idea how old it really is. I have given away many babies and also in trades.
I did some Surgery on the Spathe to see the mysterious organs... boohaaHaahaaaa!!!! LOL
Here is a photo
Eight years---those should be pretty large bulbs, oh yeah.
Hope you tried to daub some pollen while you were in the O.R.........tee-hee. I didn't get any seed set on mine this year. :-(
R.
That's a great photo, I don't think I could have damaged the bloom.
Here is mine, looking good, didnt notice the smell this season. Just the beauty of the bloom... ummm.
Viv
Beautiful, Vivian! Looks like you have some large ones also.
I also didn't notice the odor as much this year. It's been very cool and wonder if this might have something to do with it.
Mine finally opened yesterday morning and couldn't smell a thing but in the evening it was noticeable.
LOL, Raydio.. I just let the bugs do the work!!
Thanks, Linda.
