Re: [Aroid-l] Growing arums in pots

From: "D. Christopher Rogers" <branchiopod at gmail.com> on 2012.01.24 at 15:44:24(22523) Aw, shucks! I really was hoping. Ah, well. I just love that genus. I am watching to see how my collection of Arum survives now that I have moved to Kansas. I lost the purpureospathum. The Arum pictums are in pots, sitting in a cool window in my house, as they would never survive the cold here. The others seem to be okay, so far . . . No, I did not see the "Decade of Change" paper . . . where was that published? Happy days, Christopher HTML +More On Mon, Jan 23, 2012 at 5:35 PM, Peter Boyce wrote: Hi Christopher, Probably never. The taxonomy and nomenclature will be kept up to date with periodic papers – did you get ‘the ‘Decade of Change’ paper – but that aside the new monograph will be someone else’s challenge! Very best as ever Peter From: aroid-l-bounces@www.gizmoworks.com [mailto:aroid-l-bounces@www.gizmoworks.com] On Behalf Of D. Christopher Rogers Sent: Friday, 20 January, 2012 11:44 PM To: Discussion of aroids Subject: Re: [Aroid-l] Growing arums in pots Hey, Peter! When are you going to publish a new, updated and expanded edition of your Arum book? Grins, Christopher On Thu, Jan 19, 2012 at 11:40 PM, Peter Boyce wrote: Hi Don, I grew a lot of Arum in pots in the past. You need to use deep straight-sided pots at least 12 inches, preferably 15 inches deep; the problem is that pots this deep tend to be very wide too, so you may have to shop around. Growing media for the Mediterranean species (such as those that you list) needs to have a good proportion of mineral soil and also should to be on the alkaline side of neutral (8.5 or thereabouts). I used to mix a proprietary peat-based soilless-potting medium with the same volume of good quality sieved topsoil. To every 10 gallons of this mix I would add a heaped 6 inch pot of 1/2 inch limestone chippings. Tubers need to be planted ca half way down the pot. I used to re-pot annually in late N Hemisphere summer (late August); by this time the tubers will be becoming active but there won't be much root growth. Plant and then water well and then don't water again until the shoots appear above soil. Arum are greedy plants and well-repay heavy fertilizing by producing larger tubers. I used to use a fertilizer branded for use on tomatoes. When actively growing I would fertilize on every watering and the manufacturers rate. Under glass Arum need a buoyant atmosphere and high light. Ventilate well on all but the very coldest days. The pots should also be given a fair bit of room between - too close together and the plants can become very etiolated and become prone to leaf fungus such as botrytis. Arum flower towards the late middle of their growing cycle. Some gardening books advocate easing back on water and ceasing fertilizer when the inflorescences appear. This is wrong. The plants still have a few weeks growing ability during flowering and it is at this time that nutrients from the leaves are absorbed by the tuber; curtailing the growing period can mean smaller tubers. I recommend that you keep the plants actively growing as long as possible to ensure a decent sized (or better still, more) tubers for the next year. Once it is clear that the plants really are dying back (most leaves yellow) stop fertilizing and reduce watering to just enough to stop the pot becoming completely dry. While the plants are dormant it is better to leave the tubers in the pot and not take them out. I experimented quite a lot of tubers of which I had an excess and can say that tubers removed from the soil and stored were always weaker than undisturbed tubers. It is also important that the resting pots do NOT ecome excessively dry. Despite the desiccated appearance of the Mediterranean countryside during summer digging down a few inches always reveals damp soil. Arum (indeed all Med. aroids) are always deep-buried in nature and certainly never become totally dry. It is also worth keeping the resting pots someplace not too hot and certainly not exposed to sun - again the soil in the wild is always cool at the level the tubers occur, no matter how parched the countryside. Hope this helps some Pete -----Original Message----- From: aroid-l-bounces@www.gizmoworks.com [mailto:aroid-l-bounces@www.gizmoworks.com] On Behalf Of Don Martinson Sent: Friday, 20 January, 2012 10:23 AM To: aroid-l@gizmoworks.com Subject: [Aroid-l] Growing arums in pots I'd like to try growing some of the Arum species (A. dioscorides v. syriacum and A.creticum), but will have to do it in pots as I'm virtually certain they wouldn't be hardy in my climate. I have a cool greenhouse available in winter. Is there anyone else growing these (or similar) in pots that can give me some helpful hints (media, growing cycle, etc.)? Thanks, Don Martinson Milwaukee, Wisconsin mailto:llmen@wi.rr.com _______________________________________________ Aroid-L mailing list Aroid-L@www.gizmoworks.com http://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l _______________________________________________ Aroid-L mailing list Aroid-L@www.gizmoworks.com http://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l -- D. Christopher Rogers ((,///////////=======

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