[aroid-l] A. kiusianus germination

From: "Randy Story" story at caltech.edu> on 2002.09.25 at 03:23:36(9451) Hi, I just received some of Harry Witmore's Amorphophallus kiusianus seeds (thanks Harry!) and am curious about their germination. The article on Amorphophallus cultivation (Hetterscheid and Ittenbach, Aroideana issue 19 or online at http://www.aroid.org/genera/amorphophallus/amcult.html) states that fresh Amorphophallus seed usually germinates in 1-3 weeks except for A. henryi and A. kiusianus. I also checked in the archives where a couple people reported 2 year germination times for A. kiusianus. This is slow. Has anyone ever tried speeding up germination in any way, such as by using Giberellic acid (a plant hormone, for those who might be curious)? Or do I just need to learn patience, somehow...? If anyone knows of anything, even unsuccessful attempts, I would be curious. It sounds that for most other Amorphophallus species there is little reason to try to speed things up. Are there methods used with any other aroids? I do have giberellic acid and I will do the experiment unless someone can suggest something better. Randy

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