A few miscellaneous Q's..

From: Dana Scholle <dana at homecom.com> on 1997.06.16 at 14:34:54(844) Hiya everyone, I have a couple questions for my lovely fellow aroiders. I guess I'll list them out: 1. If anyone remembers my Amorph. Konjac trauma a while back (Where cat from hell broke the developing leaf) the plant did go dormant maybe a month or so ago, and upon inspection, it looks like the tuber is still nice and fat. I pulled off the withered stem and saw what looks like the same little pointy-looking sprout which sat on top of my tuber before when it was dormant last time; and sometimes it would green up a little, then turn brown, and back and forth until it finally started to grow in earnest. This time, it's green, but looking like it's fading. Is this a normal thing for a dormant tuber? I want to make sure it wasn't trying to grow and I stunted it or something horrible. Just to be sure, I repotted the tuber which had been outside in a fairly heavy medium and got a good bit of rain into a faster draining medium (Peat, a teeny bit of vermiculite and perlite, and left it dry a few days to help ensure it wouldn't rot or anything. Is this smart, or does it require more moisture? Any suggestions on how to baby this baby to get it to grow healthy again? It seemed like a few new roots were present and a couple of budding roots, and I am wondering that somehow by being encased in the old dying leaf, the brand new shoot might have started to rot? It was still green when I pulled the old leaf off, but had a bit of a softish, fading to a brown look to it, and I can't remember if it did this before. 2. I had a great time trading with Kevin Martyn last week, and got some Amorph Bulbifer seedlings, which I am very excited about! I read something about seed culture of amorphs, and I am a bit confused on one point: The leaf that is present on the seedling, will this be the only leaf it puts up this year? I always got the impression Amorphs only put up like one leaf per year, but this literature implies that it will put up more..? 3. Petra Malesevich was kind enough to pass along some Dracontium Tubercles (Yes! Hee Hee) They are adorable! But wait! Which end goes up? They don't have that Amorph shape where I can easily tell the top, they're sort of scallion shaped, but I think on some I can make out sort of a wartier side. Can anyone suggest some good growing tips on these? I am so looking forward to growing them! Actually, along the same subject, I am really interested in getting tubercles or tubers of Drac. soconuscum, but I really hate to overstep on Petra's wonderful generosity by asking for yet more tubercles! Does anyone know of a good source or maybe has a couple spare I could either buy or trade for? Anyway, thanks all for all the great help everyone! Dana

From: Dana Scholle <dana at homecom.com> on 1997.06.17 at 02:55:19(857) Krzysztof and gang: Heya, thanks for the response. Actually, I think I pulled the leaf off sort of my Konjac on accident trying to repot it, but I must admit that what I saw looked somewhat soft and bruised looking so I was a bit concerned about it. Now, what I *did* do intentionally, was rip off that softish outer layer to se what was underneath and there's a healthy pink and green tip poking up from the tuber, so I am feeling better about it. I have it in the pot so that the sprout-y thing sticks up out of the dirt so that it can keep dry a couple days . I really can't wait to see that little guy grow. I really wondoer both how big it will be when it leafs out and when it is mature. right not the tuber is about two inches across. On the dracontiums, since I had to wait a couple days after getting the tubercles, I put them in a paper towel and put a little water on it and let it sit overnight. (I did this twice) and each time it was pretty much dry by morning, but at least on one species a few of the tubercles seem a bit softer and mushyish, and I was surprised by this, because this could not be any worse for them than a couple days with rain in nature. Is this normal for these tubercles? Most of the rest were just fine when I planted them last night. Do these have a dormancy period like Amorphs? Or should I expect something soon? Anyway, take care everyone!

From: "Julius Boos" <ju-bo at msn.com> on 1997.06.17 at 03:10:49(861) ---------- Sent: Monday, June 16, 1997 10:34 AM To: Julius Boos +More Subject: A few miscellaneous Q's.. >>>Hiya everyone, I have a couple questions for my lovely fellow aroiders. I guess I'll list them out: 1. If anyone remembers my Amorph. Konjac trauma a while back (Where cat from hell broke the developing leaf) the plant did go dormant maybe a month or so ago, and upon inspection, it looks like the tuber is still nice and fat. I pulled off the withered stem and saw what looks like the same little pointy-looking sprout which sat on top of my tuber before when it was dormant last time; and sometimes it would green up a little, then turn brown, and back and forth until it finally started to grow in earnest. This time, it's green, but looking like it's fading. Is this a normal thing for a dormant tuber? I want to make sure it wasn't trying to grow and I stunted it or something horrible. Just to be sure, I repotted the tuber which had been outside in a fairly heavy medium and got a good bit of rain into a faster draining medium (Peat, a teeny bit of vermiculite and perlite, and left it dry a few days to help ensure it wouldn't rot or anything. Is this smart, or does it require more moisture? Any suggestions on how to baby this baby to get it to grow healthy again? It seemed like a few new roots were present and a couple of budding roots, and I am wondering that somehow by being encased in the old dying leaf, the brand new shoot might have started to rot? It was still green when I pulled the old leaf off, but had a bit of a softish, fading to a brown look to it, and I can't remember if it did this before.<<< >>>2. I had a great time trading with Kevin Martyn last week, and got some Amorph Bulbifer seedlings, which I am very excited about! I read something about seed culture of amorphs, and I am a bit confused on one point: The leaf that is present on the seedling, will this be the only leaf it puts up this year? I always got the impression Amorphs only put up like one leaf per year, but this literature implies that it will put up more..?<<< >>>3. Petra Malesevich was kind enough to pass along some Dracontium Tubercles (Yes! Hee Hee) They are adorable! But wait! Which end goes up? They don't have that Amorph shape where I can easily tell the top, they're sort of scallion shaped, but I think on some I can make out sort of a wartier side. Can anyone suggest some good growing tips on these? I am so looking forward to growing them! Actually, along the same subject, I am really interested in getting tubercles or tubers of Drac. soconuscum, but I really hate to overstep on Petra's wonderful generosity by asking for yet more tubercles! Does anyone know of a good source or maybe has a couple spare I could either buy or trade for?<<< Dear Dana, The tops will be a little more pointed , and the bottoms flatter where they broke off from the mother tuber. Just plant them in soil about 1 inch deep, keep moist and they will enlarge over a peroid of a couple months while producing roots, then put up a leaf. Fert. lightly even though you don`t see a leaf, as I was surprised at the increase in size of the tubercles before I saw a leaf. What species do you now have? sometimes D. asperum become available when I repot, and there is a guy in N. Florida that was offering D. amazonense tubercles for sale a while back, maybe someone remembers his name/address? Sincerely, Julius ju-bo@msn.com >>>Anyway, thanks all for all the great help everyone! Dana<<<

From: Krzysztof Kozminski <kk at netgate.net> on 1997.06.17 at 14:11:42(863) This is a re-re-post, because mobot did not like my return address at first, complaining that kk@ng.netgate.net is not a subscriber (but that KK@NETGATE.NET is). +More ======================================================================== On Mon, 16 Jun 1997, Dana Scholle wrote: > 1. If anyone remembers my Amorph. Konjac trauma a while back (Where cat > from hell broke the developing leaf) the plant did go dormant maybe a month > or so ago, and upon inspection, it looks like the tuber is still nice and > fat. As long as there is no signs of rot, it should be OK. Repotting in well-drained medium is a good idea. Keep it barely moist and check now and then for either rot (should not happen if you don't see anything now), or for new growth. Don't worry too much - this is a sturdy beast, and even if you lose it, I'm sure someone on this list has some to spare. > were present and a couple of budding roots, and I am wondering that somehow > by being encased in the old dying leaf, the brand new shoot might have > started to rot? Actually, I think that leaving the old leaf to die on its own schedule would've been healthier - after all, this is what happens in nature. > 2. I had a great time trading with Kevin Martyn last week, and got some > Amorph Bulbifer seedlings, which I am very excited about! I read something > about seed culture of amorphs, and I am a bit confused on one point: The > leaf that is present on the seedling, will this be the only leaf it puts up > this year? I always got the impression Amorphs only put up like one leaf > per year, but this literature implies that it will put up more..? Bulbifer can easily put up three-four leaves in a year, when growing from a small tuber/bulbil. I have some that are on to their third leaves since breaking dormancy this year. This is apparently true of many other species as well (titanum and gigas also so have multiple leaves when young, an one of my A.prainii had *seven* at its peak. Konjac, on the other hand, seem to limit itself to one leaf per season (at least under the conditions it has in my living room :-) Re: dracontium - if you can't tell which end is up, plant sideways :-) I did this with mine, and they are coming up OK... KK ====================================== Krzysztof Kozminski http://www.net#gate.net/~kk/ (remove # before browsing) kk@net#gate.net (remove # before replying) "Applying computer technology is simply finding the right wrench to pound in the correct screw."

From: MJ Hatfield <oneota at ames.net> on 1997.06.18 at 22:28:11(868) Did I read on one of the posts that when planting Amorphophalluses in the ground, the top of the tuber should be 1" beneath the soil surface? Perhaps that is why it takes mine so long to emerge, I've been planting them much deeper than that! MJ Hatfield +More ps. Just got back from taking my 75 year old mother camping in the Canadian Rockies, one of my favorite places. Finally saw Western skunk cabbage growing in the wild, some still blooming (and 5 species of native orchids, lots of wildlife and flowers).

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