refrigerating tubers

From: Lester Kallus lkallus at earthlink.net> on 1970.01.01 at 00:00:00(10865) Last March, I came home from a trip to find that a konjac had sent an inflorescence up in my basement, the spike had shot through the space between the shelf system and was in the process of trying to open up. Another tuber,fortunately, remained in hibernation until it was warm enough to put the plant outside. There's no cool area of my house- the basement is heated. Consequently, to keep Canna rhizomes and carnivorous plants alive over the winter, I've purchased a refrigerator for my basement. Now the question is: What would be the ideal temperature to keep the tubers in hiberation but not induce any temprature-related injury? I assume the Canna would do best around 45 degrees F (7 C). Would that be OK for kojac? One of the atroviridis is also trying very hard to send up a spike. Would it survive in that same refrigerator or shall I give up and allow it to grow? Les

From: Don Martinson llmen at wi.rr.com> on 2003.12.01 at 17:43:27(10866) Last March, I came home from a trip to find that a konjac had sent an inflorescence up in my basement, the spike had shot through the space between the shelf system and was in the process of trying to open up. Now the question is: What would be the ideal temperature to keep the tubers in hiberation but not induce any temprature-related injury? I assume the Canna would do best around 45 degrees F (7 C). Would that be OK for kojac? Hi Les, My konjac's do just fine in my basement with temps in the low 50's (F) and a friend of mine keeps his in a root cellar at even lower temps, probably closer to 45F. As long as they are kept away from any dampness, they should be fine. Don't know if this applies to any other species. -- Don Martinson +More Milwaukee, Wisconsin Mailto:llmen@wi.rr.com

From: "Michael Marcotrigiano" mmarcotr at email.smith.edu> on 2003.12.01 at 22:01:02(10868) I find the flowering stalk to be 'less resistant' to being held dormant by cold on konjac and if it wants to go it goes. I would not risk stopping it by going any colder than 44 or so. I once stored a big konjac in a refrigerator at 38F dry and it received enough cold injury to have the tuber rot. Remember that the flower stalk must preceed the leaf and if you are to get the leaf out in time to renew the tuber stalling the flowering until late spring would not result in good vegetative growth unless you have a greenhouse or live down south. +More _______________________________ Michael Marcotrigiano, Ph.D Director of the Botanic Garden and Professor of Biological Sciences Smith College Lyman Conservatory, 15 College Lane Northampton, MA 01063 email: mmarcotr@smith.edu voice: 413-585-2741; fax: 413-585-2744 www.smith.edu/garden www.science.smith.edu/~mmarcotr ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Art is the unceasing effort to compete with the beauty of flowers and never succeeding." Marc Chagall >>> llmen@wi.rr.com 12/01/03 12:43 PM >>> >Last March, I came home from a trip to find that a konjac had sent >an inflorescence up in my basement, the spike had shot through the >space between the shelf system and was in the process of trying to >open up. >Now the question is: What would be the ideal temperature to keep >the tubers in hiberation but not induce any temprature-related >injury? I assume the Canna would do best around 45 degrees F (7 C). >Would that be OK for kojac? Hi Les, My konjac's do just fine in my basement with temps in the low 50's (F) and a friend of mine keeps his in a root cellar at even lower temps, probably closer to 45F. As long as they are kept away from any dampness, they should be fine. Don't know if this applies to any other species. -- Don Martinson Milwaukee, Wisconsin Mailto:llmen@wi.rr.com

From: chris bob handspeakboy at yahoo.com> on 2003.12.02 at 06:03:59(10869) I wonder what the minimum temp for storing Konjac is .. I store them at an average temp of about 50F.. but I know it can dip down to about 46-44F ... so will this be a problem ? Chris +More --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Free Pop-Up Blocker - Get it now

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