I get such a kick out of these. I'm not sure but I think these are starting to grow a little so I brought them up from storage.
These are 8 pounders and 24 inches in circumference ea. and currently 8 inches tall.
Show yours if you can. Seems like they go about the same time.
Wow, is that a Clydesdale? Those ARE big bulbs!
;)
Here are a few of my larger ones. The biggest one in the pic is a little over 15 pounds.
Lakeside,
That was laugh out loud funny! :-) Good one!
Stinkies, wow, that's twice as big as mine. Do you have any idea how old yours might be? I think mine might be 8?? I'm curious if they'll flower at the same time, since yours will probably get taller. Looks like the 2 in the center are off and running.
If you do this to them- they don't stink.
I think it is somewhere around 6 years but I heavily feed them, and give them lots of water when they are growing! The two in the center have been in a warmer more lighted place and the ones on the outsides have been kept in a cooler darker place. I have had blooms over 7 feet. It always excites me when they start to spike.
Wow! 7 ft. Take a pic. Maybe one day mine will too! I didn't know they could go that big ever.
Well, mine are out of dormancy for sure as they have grown an inch in the past 2 days.
Looks like a smaller aroid is also growing a tiny flower spike- my sauromatum venosum.
hello,
I was wondering about a blooming bulb. First of all, may I say that your bulbs look awesome. I reacentlly bought a bulb and it bloomed. This is my first bulb and I am not sure of what to do next. The bulb looks like it shrunk alot due to the bloom. I assume that this in normal. I left the stalk from the bloom on till it wilted and pretty much fell off. Now that the bloom stalk fell off, there is no spike underneith it. The bulb gained a bit of the weight back but still looks kind of wilted. Is this normal? I am letting it sit now on a shelf till I see the leaf start to grow.
Also, do you grow those bulbs of yours in pots or in the ground? And how do you feed them to look so nice? I live in southern Califonia so I can put them in the ground if that may be a better idea.
Thanks for your time and I look forward to any advise you can give me on getting my bulb beefed up for the next season.
Thanks again,
Ben
Ben,
I was under the impression that in CA you can leave them in the ground year round. But I have seen people pot them there.
I haven't fertilized mine but I do have fertile loam soil amended with compost which is vastly different than the decomposed granite I've seen at my sisters in CA.
I just wait until spring and put mine out when things warm up. Mine sits on a shelf in the cool dark basement after it blooms until then. Sounds like you are doing fine.
If you would like a very interesting website chock full of info on amorph you can visit snows. I think she lives in CA too. Here's the link.
http://www.snowsexotics.com/
A pic update from 3/1
Looks like a sauromatum venosum is going to make it's first bloom now too. (it's the smaller one)
And then there were four...
Today they look like this. The tallest is 16 inches and the tiniest sauromatum is 2 inches- just brought up from the basement. It looks like it is making a tiny sprout!
cheerpeople,
thank you for the information. The site is very nice. Helpful too. I will just let this bulb sit for a while more and hopefully it will start to get a spike of growth on the top.
ben
Over 30 inches for the lead bulb here.
You can see the bud part forming as it is thicker than the stem.
WOW! Just WOW!
39 inches today!
Kewl!!! I so gotta get me one : }
Hello Kim! Wow, wow, wow. That's just fascinating cheerpeople!
Hello Kim! fascinating it is!!!!
Where is a good online source for buying these please?
I need one now. Darn you enablers!
lololol!!!
46 inches today. I'm about out of yard stick!
I have babies to trade. The ones in my hand are 1st season and 2 yr bulbs.
Bigger ones would bloom sooner but I don't have any extra this year.
Karen ( the enabler!)
Karen, I'd love to trade some with you. Question out of curiosity. Are they hardy their in your climate, or you just dig them up comes winter?
That'd be fun!
I have to dig them as it goes below -20 here but.... I didn't know those little things were babies the first year and they sprouted the next summer! I guess the bigger they get the more likely they will crack and die over winter so....wouldn't do it now that I know better.
You are zone 7. Do you dig amorph there?
K
I've planted one in 2006, it did well for me outdoor. Year before last however, the main plant died, left me several babies bulbs. So far, I haven't seen them sprouting back in the garden. I did have a few that I overwintered in a basket indoor just in case. It's true that those that form flower will wither and die that same year? I've seen bulbs that are so very big in your pictures, how old are they? Have those big bulbs bear flowers?
Kim
I don't know how old mine are as I was given one big enough to bloom the first year I had it- so my big ones are maybe 7 & 8 yrs old. The older one has flowered the last 4 yrs in March.
Here's the taller one last summer. Oh and that 4 ft yardstick! The leaf measured 5'2", a new record for me.
I have read that once the leaf forms the bulb is depleted and smaller. I have never dug one at this stage to know. They say that the leaf with photosynthesis then regrows the bulb back during the summer into an even bigger bulb by fall. So no, they don't die after they flower. They just smell like something has died while in flower!
:) Karen
Karen what would you like for a trade? I can see my DH's eyes rolling now ; }
Well, Do you have a hymenocallis big enough to bloom this year? (Peruvian Daffodil)
I chopped my only bloomer in half with the shovel trying to dig it out for winter. sniff...
It's too cold to send anything tropical right now- Mid April is safer.
K
No I don't : ( I have some stuff coming from some co-ops. I will dmail you when I can remember all I ordered ; } lol
When you say, "they don't stink if you do this to them".......do you mean to remove the pistil? Mine's about 40" tall now, but the weather has turned chilly and it's stopped growing. Supposed to be in the 70's tomorrow, so I think it will shoot up again. I'm not sure I want to experience the aroma....
I've never seen a flower in person. That's fascinating!!! As far as the odor, can it be compared to Stapelia's odor? The things we gardeners do to have some of our exotic, unusual blooms. lol.
Kim, Co-ops are fun. How exciting to get more goodies.
Bubbles, I think you ought to let it bloom and experience the aroma and then lop off that center part to stop the odor. It will not smell at all until it fully opens, then... that middle part will start to ooze some clear fluid and then it stinks instantly.
I discovered by accident last year, that when that center part was knocked out ( thanks to it falling over while my kids were nearby) that it still opened and never had an odor.
I think you should get to experience it once, don't smell yourself short!
Lily-love, I don't know a stapelia smells like, so I can't comment. This is unbearable, like being downwind of a large roadkill. We were on our way to church when it started stinking, and I was afraid the odor might linger in my clothes and I'd be a stinker at church!
I used to have to remove the whole flower and throw it out in the snow- but since this happy accident/discovery last year we will get to enjoy the giant blooms without the odor now. :)
BTW I had to move it off the desk as it was going to hit the ceiling.
The stapelias (starfish flowers) do emit 'stinky' odor to attract fly that will pollinate the flowers. By the descriptions I can imagine the odor is one but the same. lol.
Like konjac, the flowers don't have the mentioned odor, until they open up, like these:
Thanks Karen...it's in my little temporary greenhouse where my husband likes to smoke. Maybe this will curb his habit! I haven't taken mine out of the pots except to bump then up to larger ones. I did find a konjac in the garden bed that I guess escaped thru the bottom of a pot at one time. I suspect they aren't hardy here unless in a pot or dug up for the winter. I understand the bulbs, when they regenerate, sink lower into the pot/ground.... forgot the name of that process. Will be 81 today, so maybe I'll sit it outside to catch some rays!
Sandi
New pics.
Here's the biggest one 51 inches
Here's the other 2.
The one in front is different aroid.
Here's the unopened bud. There is no odor at this stage.
Karen, those look awesome! Look like they're sitting bare and not even being planted in soil?
That amazes me too.
They do this without soil, light or water. It is all from energy stored in the bulb.
I could pot them up- but then they'd weigh even more with the pot and soil, and they don't need it for this stage.
I wonder what tells them its time to bloom. The climate in my basement doesn't change.
Karen, I would also love to try one of your babies if still available. Been thinking about trying one for more than a year., but was concerned about the odor. Now that I know how to deal with that... Mostly I have zone 5 edibles for trade. d-mail me if there might be something that interests you. thanks.
Krowten,
sent you a dmail!
Karen
