Konjacs, Sauromatum seeds, etc.

From: Steve Marak <samarak at arachne.uark.edu> on 1997.09.11 at 20:45:53(1232) Just some miscellaneous comments on things that have passed by in the last couple of weeks - Amorphophallus konjac flowering in the South: I'm not sure how far south one has to be in this case, but certainly I'm in the upper South, and after a couple of years initially where my outdoor A. konjacs seemed out of synch with the seasons, they have adjusted and flower each spring (those that are large enough, of course). Does this speices really not flower well in warm climates? I would be most surprised, given the very little I have gathered about Amorph. distribution. Tuber size on A. konjac: mine regularly grow to be 20+ cm. in diameter, but usually decide to split into several smaller tubers after that, taking 1 or 2 seasons thereafter to regain that size. I understand that there are "giant" strains that will get considerably larger yet as well as cute dwarf strains. (By the way, if someone knows where to find some starts of either giant or dwarf strains, I'm interested.) Leaf size on A. konjac: outdoors in pretty much full sun, the leaves reach perhaps 1.5 meters tall by 1 meter wide at maximum (petiole perhaps 5 cm at the base). However - and this ties in with the story of the konjac at the bottom of the compost pile - they, and a number of other aroids, seem capable of producing a disproportionately long petiole on demand to get the leaf surface where they want it. My konjacs seem happy just below the soil surface outdoors, and despite the inevitable hard freezes each winter do not reform farther down. But they will push a stem through feet of soil without effort if they find themselves buried. I've also seen a 1 cm Sauromatum venosum put up a stem only slightly less than that diameter through 60 cm of soil. If I hadn't been trying to dig it up, I'd never have believed it had that much stored energy. Sauromatum seeds - mine form seeds each year, easy to miss because they form right at (or slightly below) soil level. Nothing special to harvesting them - when they are a dark red/maroon in color and the stalk of the cluster has begun to wither, they can be harvested. They will almost surely be viable. Steve +More -- Steve Marak -- samarak@arachne.uark.edu

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