deep pots for Amorphophallus

From: John Banta bantaalva at earthlink.net> on 2006.10.27 at 01:59:22(14771) You should be wary of narrow deep pots. I have noticed that the tubers tend to get necrotic black bloches the further they are from gas exchange. I have drilled air holes (screened in for media containment) which seems to reduce the problem. Those long tuber Anorphophallus are worth the extra effort. banta +More Alan Galloway wrote: Hi Wilbert, I have a basic question for you. I was at the IAS show at Fairchild Gardens and purchased a couple of those unnamed Thai very long tubers. I either must plant them in a very large pot to get them below the soil level or place them in a pot at a steep angle. The growing tip is at the large end. Do you know what the species is? What is the best method to plant these very long tubers? Thanks for your time!! Ron Kessler PS: Please keep me on your list. Ron, I have several species of Amorphophallus that have very thin and very, very long tubers. The best potting solution I have found is to make your own pots. You can buy 4 inch diameter PVC pipe from a home supply store such as Home Depot and cut it into whatever lengths you need and then put some kind of screening on the bottom. This spring I had a tuber that was 1/2 inch wide and 30 inches long. I potted it up in a 40 inch tall "home-made" pot. When I unpotted it last weekend, 3 inches of the new tuber had come out of the bottom of the pot, so now the tuber is almost 40 inches long, but still only 1/2 inch wide. Alan _______________________________________________ Aroid-l mailing list Aroid-l@gizmoworks.com http://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l _______________________________________________ Aroid-l mailing list Aroid-l@gizmoworks.com http://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l

From: Dan Levin levin at pixar.com> on 2006.10.27 at 03:48:22(14772) Ron, John is (as always) absolutely correct! I first witnessed and learned of this "pipe technique" from Alan some years +More ago at the IAS Summer Extravaganza, which Mr. Galloway so kindly co- hosted. My own first attempts with this approach resulted in rotted out terminal ends or if I was lucky, just the necrotic blotches which John mentioned. It only took me one season to yet again re-learn the axiom stating 'every grower confronts their own unique conditions'... Whereas Alan was apparently having great success with his particular combination of media/ climate/ watering for growing Amorphos inside odd and sundry lengths of pipe, I was clearly not getting the same results. My current approach is to start with 4" ABS sch. 40 (black) drain pipe. I cut it to the lengths I need and at the bottom glue on a lg. square or rectangular drain grate (or emitter) fitting. This provides stability and allows for plenty of bottom drainage. Then- I drill a pattern of /12" to 3/4" holes along the sides of the pipe itself. I find that my media, once evenly wetted, does not spill out too much so I don't bother screening- but it's easy enough to cut a piece of fiberglass window screen to whatever dimensions you may need and lay it inside the pipe prior to filling. I also no longer over-pot my amorpho tubers like I used to do. I've found that growing a tighter pot coupled with regular, careful watering and feeding results in better growth without incurring the risk of rot. Best of luck and I hope this may have been of some help, -Dan On Oct 26, 2006, at 6:59 PM, John Banta wrote: You should be wary of narrow deep pots. I have noticed that the tubers tend to get necrotic black bloches the further they are from gas exchange. I have drilled air holes (screened in for media containment) which seems to reduce the problem. Those long tuber Anorphophallus are worth the extra effort. banta _______________________________________________ Aroid-l mailing list Aroid-l@gizmoworks.com http://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l

Note: this is a very old post, so no reply function is available.