Amorphophallus paeoniifolius worries

Hi All,
I've been off forum for ages, and I was just going through the threads I've missed. I thought you guys might like to see the wonderful gift I was given last year by a fellow Australian DGer, and give me some advice. I am a bit afraid I have truly screwed up this wonderful plant. I got admonished not to plant the tubers until it warmed up so, with one thing and another, this one didn't get planted until mid-summer.

I first noticed the flower bud at the end of September and I took the dried remains off on New Year's Day, waiting about two weeks after that to make sure the flower scar was fully healed. I thought it might take a year off and go back into storage as I have heard some Amorphs don't make a leaf in the year that they flower, but then I saw the leaf point starting and potted the bulb up on the 24th of January. The leaf spike on this particular bulb is coming up now (slowly - I just went outside and it is about 2 inches tall and yet to break the soil surface), just as the weather starts to cool down for autumn. My konjac has just "flopped" in the last week, although my bulbifers (which are still very young) are still growing. What should I do? What kind of temperatures will it cope with? It IS in a pot so I could move it but the problem is where? I have no verandas on this house to shelter it under outdoors; and I am pretty sure it would be too dark, and the air would be too dry, inside the house for successful growth.

Here is a link to a local weather page so you can see what my climate is like - http://www.weatherzone.com.au/climate/station.jsp?lt=site&lc... I usually dig my other amorphs once the leaf has dried up and store them dry for the winter, but I have never had one grow in the cool weather before and I am confused.

The soil is my standard bulb mix: 1 part sieved leaf mould, 1 part sharp washed sand and 2 parts "old" ( I reuse my mix by sifting it out each year to clear out roots and other rubbish as I empty my bulb pots, then I rest it in 60 litre (14 Gallon) bins until I need it again) to which I add liberal doses of pelleted aged chicken manure (NPK 3:3:2) , bulb food (NPK 3:5:3) 4 month potassium heavy slow release (NPK 6:3:12) and blood and bone with trace elements (NPK 5:3:1).

Ciao, Kaelkitty

A major problem I can see is that the old tuber feeds the new plant, with the old tuber completely depleting itself. The new plant develops and feeds a new tuber. But if the plant dies before the new tuber can develop the cycle could be broken.

Amorphophallus paeoniifolius is native to this area, so we have them growing all through the bush, mainly near watercourses but high enough up so that the ground dries right out during the dry (cold) season. Outdoors in Adelaide the plant would end up getting cold wet, which I doubt they'd tolerate. Probably your best approach would be to take the plant in overnight and only bring it out in the stronger warmer daylight. This could extend the period for the plant to develop a tuber. Against the northern side of a building in the sun and out of the wind could do the trick. Best of luck.

Cool, thanks, tropic breeze, I can do that, I need exercise, LOL!. I know what you mean about "cold wet", I lost a lot of cacti in the 1980s until I sorted out a potting mix that dries out fast enough to protect the roots from our winter rains. Of course, on the other hand, it has to not dry out too fast or the soil will cook in the summer time and take the roots with it. Does anyone here know what a good safe overnight minimum would be for A. paeoniifolius when the soil is not completely dry?

Here's a photo of the Aroid pots for this year, which I took this morning - it is a bit "in progress" because I have a lot of winter growers to pot up still, mostly Arum species and Dracunculus vulgaris. Sorry about the "hats" on the pots - until the tubers get going a bit my cat seems to think pots this big are a collection of round litter trays! The green leaves peaking up at the back are Zantedeschia aethiopica 'Green Goddess' which is still one of my all time favourite plants. I shall post some more photos, when I have a bit more growth to show.

Ciao, KK.

KK, just wondering how you did with your A. paeoniifolius?

Urr,
Its going soft, darn it. I am not sure whether to dig it up or leave it in the pot. I have a number of them, so I am hoping to keep some alive until I can replant properly next spring. Unfortunately all the others are much smaller so It will likely be a few years before I see a flower again. Double Darn!

It's raining here now - all my winter growers are up up and away! The Zantedeschia hybrids are weird though - they can't seem to make up their minds whether they want to grow in the winter or the summer. I have some that have just gone dormant in March and other which are just coming up now. Fortunately, I can leave those in their pots year round, as they are much more rot resistant than the Amorphs.

Ciao, KK.

I pulled mine out of the pot it's been in for the past 5 years. The main bulb is getting smaller, this year the wet season ended early and the plant died back a couple of months sooner than normal. Also tree roots had got in from the bottom of the pot. But I counted up 150 small bulblets. Probably a lot more still in the potting soil.

I've decided to plant them in the ground this year where they only get natural rainfall and no irrigation. Don't know whether Zantedeschia would grow here. Never see them around anywhere.