Re: optimizing Amorphophallus growth

From: Steve Marak samarak at arachne.uark.edu> on 2001.04.06 at 03:56:52(6159) > From: Lester Kallus > Subject: optimizing Amorphophallus growth > > > Will an amorphophallus grow appreciably better planted directly in the > > ground than it does in a pot? I picked up a 4" paeoniifolius tuber while I'll summarize the tradeoff as essentially unlimited root room versus mobility when external conditions are poor. I face this issue too, since A. konjac is the only amorph known to be hardy in our coldest winters. (I'd be most surprised - but very pleased - to hear of others.) I've run a couple of informal tests with konjac; with plenty of water in both environments they get bigger faster in the ground. One of the uncorrected-for flaws is that my outside konjacs have always been grown in full sun, much higher light than where the pots go out for the summer. However, I don't grow any other amorphs in the ground - all are in pots. The other factor, which I haven't seen mentioned yet, that tipped the balance is that these things mostly seem to have a mind of their own, going dormant and breaking dormancy when they please. Offsets of a particular plant, potted in separate pots, in different parts of the greenhouse (i.e., different light levels, as much as 5 C temperature difference), which receive different amounts of water when dormant, will all break dormancy within a couple of days. I've even had an offset I removed from a pot and left sitting on a table, with no soil or water for weeks and not much light, start growth within 48 hours of its clones back in the moist soil in the greenhouse. My internal clock should be so good. With the more tropical species, that time seems to have no relation to the external season here, even after several years in the same spot. (Quite the opposite for Synandrospadix, which puts leaves up about now every year and goes dormant every fall regardless of how I treat it in the interim.) Since I found I had to keep an eye on them and grow in pots any which started growth during inclement times outdoors anyway, I just grow them all that way. Steve +More -- Steve Marak -- samarak@arachne.uark.edu

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