This popped up where I planted a bag of Rain Lily bulbs, it must have been in with them.
What kind of Voo Doo lily do I have?
Definitely an Amorphophallus, possibly Konjac, but that's as specific as I can get with the picture.
LariAnn
Aroidia Research
It's definately same as this one, A. bulbifer? LariAnn, is 'Konjac' a cultivar?
Actually, it is Amorphophallus rivieri 'Konjac', so Konjac would be a cultivar name.
LariAnn
Thank you, LariAnn. I enjoy these unusual plants. That is I haven't seen or take a whip of their flower yet.
Kim
Their flowers smell heavenly. LOL
Mine lived for two years then withered, left behind a few offspring. No flower. Maybe that's why I am still fond of them. lol.
Wow, that looks really good there! Right along with your dog :-p being right next to your walkway, wasn't that sort of smelly? Or, do not all of them stink?
This message was edited Jun 28, 2008 11:43 AM
I love mine. Where I live it has to be dug every year. I sit it on a shelf in the basement stair well and in the early spring it starts to grow and bloom on the shelf.
Lily_Love, that is awesome! I didn't know they could get that big! Love the doggie bum too☺
LOL, guys! My furbabie she doesn't know she's a dog. lol. Oh the Lily, like I said it didn't bloom for me, so I was spared of the malodorous aroma. The offspring are kind of small currently.
Kim
Yep, you did say that! Guess that I should pay a little more attention to what I read! I have a cat that sounds just like your furbabie.
Yes Gerris2, only that WAS it. The picture was taken last summer, soon after it displayed a beautiful growing two years life span. It died to the ground the first year, it was that big when I purchased from HD, it sprouted back the second year and went on like gang buster, only withered on early autumn last year. It did leave behine 4 babies bulbs, and those pictures I posted earlier were the offspring. I did never see the flower. :(
That's why I'm observing my offspring closely to see at what stage they'd grow that big. I'll post some pix as they get bigger. ^_^
I've three in this basket, one more in the ground. They're still small yet.
I have a few Amorphophallus....this is the stem of bulbifer
Amorphophallus konjac stem....
Amorphophallus paeonifolius stem...
Hope that helps you identify yours, Kim....
Hi Sandi, I can see there is and obvious difference from the paeonifolius "snake-skin" pattern on the stem vs the bulbifer (which I think is the same as mine). But how do you tell the difference b/w the bulbifer and konjac? How old are those large Amorphophallis in your pics.? They look to be a tad smaller than the one that I had last year. Thanks.
Kim
Kim, the 1st pic shows the contrast between the bulbifer (in front) and the konjac (behind and to the left) trunks.
In my inexperienced eyes; the two look so much alike. Are there other characteristics that one can use to identify these two? I purchased mine from HD, thus as one familiar with. Theirs are rarely labeled correctly if ever any (labels). I thought mine were the bulbifer all along (BTW that was how I found DG website back in 2006 -- to help identify my voodoo bulbs and some noid orchids -- lol). So in short, it took two years in search of its truth identity....the Voodooo lily, an elusive lily indeed.
Kim
The bulbifer leaf has a different sort of coloring and spots than the konjac. If you look at big bubbles photos, the konjac is sort of streaky patches, whereas the bulbifer looks more like blotches.
The easiest way to determine the difference is looking at the top of the leaf. The bulbifer will grow bulbils on it, at the end of the summer they can be removed and you can (maybe) start new bulbs from them. I say maybe because I've never been successful doing growing them from bulbils, although I've grown bulbifer for over 10 years. Others, like Brian, have no trouble at all! LOL
Here's a photo where you can see the bulbils.
Hope this helps!
Susan
Amorphophallus bulbifer
Amorphophallus konjac (riveri is an old name and no longer used)
So would you concur mine, showing above is indeed a Konjac (riveri)? As big as mine got last summer, I did never see any 'bulbils' coming out of the leaves and stems.
Thanks in advance. I may have my voodoos named and logged, finally.
Sorry, those photos aren't the best, but maybe they'll help.
Now there are exceptions to the spot vs blotch, but they are rarely seen:
Konjac has some varieties- one has a pinkish stem, and is named Amorphophallus konjac 'Leo Song'
Another has a very dark petiole (stem) and is called Amorphophallus konjac 'Nightstick'
Another has very light chartreuse leaves and is called Amorphohallus konjac 'Gordon's Gold'
The last one I know of has variegated leaves and is called Amorphophallus konjac 'Shattered Glass', which usually sells for over $200 on ebay.
Plant Delights sold a variety of bulbifer that had a streaky petiole (stem) instead of the big blotches. You can sort of tell it's a bulbifer, though. Konjac has more of an olive green color than bulbifer.
Here's another (bad) photo of Amorphophallus bulbifer 'Stripes'
Yes, Love,
it really looks like a nice konjac to me. Your big one was really nicely patterned. I had a great big one too, and when it died back, it didn't have a bulb on it, I could have cried!
It did leave me several offspring. ^_^, three of them were planted on my basket above, now I've four, yest four little baby konjacs!!! (from 3 little bulbs/tubers) I'm delighted. Thank you so very much for your help.
You're welcome!
I've been growing these for a while but I don't feel I'm an expert. I vividly remember my very first ones.
They are very cool plants, I just love them.
I have to tell you, I've been growing them for several years. I am not an expert, by any means. As I know these plants/bulbs.. I started with 2 big bulbs from my uncle. The biggest one reminded me of a squashed basketball size, and it had this huge interesting looking bloom. The smaller had already bloomed for him. We bagged the bloom up in a trash bag and I was off! Although it was April and quite cool out, I quickly rolled every window down in the car... He bloomed on my front porch and after a couple days the smell was gone. Once the bloom died back, I planted them in the ground, BBsize in back and the other one in front.. They both grew tall "trees". Sometime in Sep. the on in front died back. I left it for a couple weeks and dug them both the same day.. the one in back I dug up, whacked off the growth, hosed them both off and let them dry on my covered front porch. Stored in basement for winter. The next year, volunteers came up in back, and have every year since. The next spring both bulbs bloomed and I planted in separate big pots once the blooms had died/dried back. That Fall I had withheld water from them and prepared to store in the basment... I figured it was easier to dig the bulb than drag the heavy pots in. I took the "smallest" one, dug in with a spade and slowly worked my way around. Then I lifted up and it almost fell apart.. It looked like.. cow manure...(I have a pic at work) I believe the bulbs feed on themselves and reform before spring if left in the ground or in a pot. After seeing that, I didn't touch the BB one. So if you dig it, dig it before it's "tree" has withered away. (It's natural for the ones in the ground and in pots to die back and be dormant every year) I'm having dirt work done this summer...okay, fall now, and I dug all the volunteers up. There was no bulb, just long stems into the ground and roots at the end. I'm planting them here and there in my yard.. I think they will be fine, don't want to chance freezing the big bulb(s?) I'll leave them contained. This year it bloomed early in my basement, there was not much smell or color as it was dimly lit where it sat in the pot. I brought it out in May and watered, a nice size nub appeared and I was happy. The stem reached up, opened and relaxed. As I passed it one day there beside it was and even bigger "nub"! It has grown taller than the first one and is just now starting to relax. It's getting late, hope this makes sense.. (front blue pot on the right)
I'm not sure I understand the "don't dig" part of your message. Here's a photo of my big guy that had no bulb after digging. I'm 5'6"
By golly!!! My jar (I meant jaws) dropped, and now I've got lockjaw! LOL, I can't hardly believe my eyes with the picture you've just posted, lakesidecallas!!!!!!!
Gotta go see my opthalmologist quick!!! ROFL. Thanks for sharing above pic. Now, I'm questioning myself whether I should transplant my little konjacs into the ground so they'd have more room to grow? Look at B's huge pot's and compare that to my little hanging basket that I scramped 4 of those konjacs in there!
This message was edited Jul 23, 2008 1:51 PM
Amorphs do form new tubers after using up the last year one for this year's blooming and leaf. If you dig it up while the leaf is still green, you might not have a tuber yet, only roots. Also, the new tuber will form lower in the soil than the old one was. If in a pot, the new one will be at the bottom of the pot, bowing the bottom if the pot is flexible.
To push tuber size, switch fert to high phosphorus (middle number in fert analysis; for example, 14-26-6 is high phosphorus) in mid August to early September. By October, the leaf should be dying down and you'll have a big tuber. If in a flexible pot, the pot may distort or break due to tuber growth!
Hi LariAnn,
See this little shallow basket, approximately 14-16" in diameter, I planted 3 small corms/tubers this early spring, now I've four of those konjacs growing in there. If I carefully lift those out of the wire-basket, and transplant them into the ground without disturbing the roosballs. Is that a workable idea? Then once they're re-established in the garden setting, I'll follow up with the high phosphorus fert. as recommended.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=5198682
I don't know how cold tolerance these are with B's zone being 5b. But I knew these are hardy in my zone for I've had this Konjac started out back in 2006, it was left outdoor winter of '06, and dug up and transplanted when the parent plant withered out last year.
Something must happen with these monster bulbs. My bulb was large like AuntB's- flattened basketball. I let it die back and dug in late October, if I remember correctly (it was about 4 yrs ago). No bulb. Believe me, lol, I dug halfway to the center of the earth looking for that child!
This also happened with a very large Aethiopica Giant White. No tuber- at all! Harry and I dug this late in the fall and could barely lift it out of the soil. I was flabbergasted when I didn't see a rhizome down there!
Dang, I miss my fertile soil back in WI. I should have left 1/2 the junk I moved down here to TN and dug up all the soil, LOL!!!!
So, let me see if I understand. The blooming makes the bulb turn to mush so whatever is left... the cow-patty mush reforms into the bulb and then the stem nub appears? Why was mine mush in fall? Seems like it would feed on itself after blooming and growing the foliage... hmm... Here's the bloom when my uncle gave it to me.. (too naive back then, to take a pic of the bulb)
No, the tuber does not turn to mush after blooming; it turns to mush after the leaf has emerged fully. At that point you have a leaf with roots. Over the course of the summer and fall, a new tuber is formed if conditions are favorable. Extra phosphorus enhances the tuber forming process greatly.
Kim, I put 5 small ones I dug up from the volunteer spot in the pot w/ it this year, your's are probably okay this year. I've had that big boy in there for 2 or 3 years - hasn't split the pot yet. I may have to repot and move the bulb back up next year, now I don't know when the time to do it is, maybe late winter before it blooms and turns to mush. Here is the plant where I'm still getting volunteers from having it planted there for only 1 season (4-6 seasons ago). Drew, (aw, he's grown so) was almost 6 ft tall then. I've posted these pic on dg before, but when I see discussion on this unique, exotic, mysterious plant I like to find out all the info I can.
Thank Lari Ann!!! :) I'm not digging in there until January, earliest! That makes more sense to me, now. I've never fed mine, maybe I will. I have some with 59 in the middle, 24-59-18 would that be too much? How big will the tubers get? I guess bigger than my 25gal tub??