Dracunculus seeding...

From: Paul Tyerman ptyerman at ozemail.com.au> on 2003.09.20 at 10:21:01(10612) >ranging from pea-sized yearlings to gnarly old monsters (ever notice how >ugly Dracunculus corms get when you don't let them set seed for 4 or 5 >years?), C.J, I always have a bit of a chuckle when I hear comments about Dracunculus seedings so easily for everyone. In many years of growing it I have never had one single seed set on it, despite numerous flowers out at one time and the like. Either I have a sterile clone, or the pollinating vector is not present in my country/climate/locality (who knows which?). The seedheads I have heard can be rather impressive, and I'd love to see them for that reason alone as like you I have plenty of the little beggars without seed as well . Out of interest, what do Dracunculus look like when you HAVE had seed set? Given I have only ever seen non-seeded ones obviously I have missed the "supermodel" variety and only get to see my "Ugly Duckling" non-seeding for a lot more than 4 or 5 years . Does anyone know what the pollinating vector is for Dracunculus? I am assuming it is likely to be a carrion beetle or something like that, which we don't have present in the Australian eco-system. I often have pollination of Arum species, but never of Dracunculus (and I haven't had Amorph konjac flower for me yet to find out whether it selfs or not). It is always interesting to come across comments like these, so I'm glad you made it. It just seems so strange to me thinking about Dracunculus actually seeding, whereas you have to STOP yours doing so!! Cheers. Paul Tyerman +More Canberra, Australia. USDA equivalent - Zone 8/9 mailto:ptyerman@ozemail.com.au Growing.... Galanthus, Erythroniums, Fritillarias, Cyclamen, Crocus, Cyrtanthus, Oxalis, Liliums, Hellebores, Aroids, Irises plus just about anything else that doesn't move!!!!!

From: "C. J. Addington" cjaddington at earthlink.net> on 2003.09.22 at 06:01:08(10614) on 9/20/03 03:21, Paul Tyerman at ptyerman@ozemail.com.au wrote: >> ranging from pea-sized yearlings to gnarly old monsters (ever notice how >> ugly Dracunculus corms get when you don't let them set seed for 4 or 5 >> years?), +More > > C.J, > > I always have a bit of a chuckle when I hear comments about Dracunculus > seedings so easily for everyone. In many years of growing it I have never > had one single seed set on it, despite numerous flowers out at one time and > the like. Either I have a sterile clone, or the pollinating vector is not > present in my country/climate/locality (who knows which?). > > The seedheads I have heard can be rather impressive, and I'd love to see > them for that reason alone as like you I have plenty of the little beggars > without seed as well . Out of interest, what do Dracunculus look > like when you HAVE had seed set? Given I have only ever seen non-seeded > ones obviously I have missed the "supermodel" variety and only get to see > my "Ugly Duckling" non-seeding for a lot more than 4 or 5 years . > > Does anyone know what the pollinating vector is for Dracunculus? I am > assuming it is likely to be a carrion beetle or something like that, which > we don't have present in the Australian eco-system. I often have > pollination of Arum species, but never of Dracunculus (and I haven't had > Amorph konjac flower for me yet to find out whether it selfs or not). > > It is always interesting to come across comments like these, so I'm glad > you made it. It just seems so strange to me thinking about Dracunculus > actually seeding, whereas you have to STOP yours doing so!! > > Cheers. > > Paul Tyerman > Canberra, Australia. USDA equivalent - Zone 8/9 > mailto:ptyerman@ozemail.com.au > > Growing.... Galanthus, Erythroniums, Fritillarias, Cyclamen, Crocus, > Cyrtanthus, Oxalis, Liliums, Hellebores, Aroids, Irises plus just about > anything else that doesn't move!!!!! > Hi Paul and All! I hope everyone enjoyed the Show in Florida! I am very jealous, and wish I could have gone, but it always seems to hit just as my school has mid-quarter grades due, and I just can't get away. The curse of teaching physics - grading the papers. I am actually not sure what the real pollination vector is for Dracunculus, since in my yard it's me! All of my Dracunculus that set seed were pollinated by me, so I guess I am the busy bee in this case. If you have a bunch of the guys flowering together it should be pretty straightforward to do the plant sex thing. Here's my technique : I get a clean glass jar and a soft brush, and wait for a bloom to open. The first day it's female receptive and there's no pollen, but on the second day the males open up and dump pollen all over the various bugs that have arrived. I take a sharp knife and cut a window into the base of the spathe and use the brush to brush out all the pollen-coated beetles (plus a few dazed flies) that are crawling around in there into the jar. Then I cap the jar and put it in the freezer until another flower is ready. I usually try to pick a big healthy plant that I think will make a good mother. On the first day of the new flower, I shake my jar full of frozen, pollen-encrusted beetles all over the spadix so that the female flowers are well covered, and that usually does the trick. The berries develop soon after, and slowly turn a lovely orange-red as they ripen. A mature Dracunculus seed-head looks exactly like a huge Arum italicum - same basic design, but about three feet tall. Very pretty! Once the berries are ripe, I squish them in water to remove the pulp, let the seeds dry for a day or two and them plant them in pots outside. The seedlings emerge around October/November here in California, and have made pea-sized corms by June. This process works so well here, that I could easily go commercial and sell these puppies, except that then it would be work, and I only do this as a hobby! Most of the time I cut the blooms off and don't let them set seed. If they made seeds I would have to plant them, since I have some kind of psychological disorder that prevents me from discarding viable aroids. I had a few people comment on my Amorphophallus konjac, suggesting that I must be exaggerating their heights. Seven feet? Surely I jest! But it's true! I have this one strain (race, variety, subspecies?) that I call "black-stem" that I have grown for years that is just huge. I planted one 9-pound corm in a 25 gallon clay pot in May, and I can now walk under the out-stretched leaf blade upright without brushing its underside with my hair. All I can see looking up is the bottom of the leaf. Granted, some of the height is the pot - I'd guess the corm is sitting a good 18" off the ground - and I am no giant (I'm 5'6") - but this is a big plant! I would have to stand on a ladder to even see the top surface of the leaf. When this same corm bloomed in March, the flower was as tall as me. I have other kojac strains (varieties, etc. - what are we supposed to call those anyway?) that are midgets by comparison, which never get more than a couple of feet tall, if that. Does anyone else have experience with tall konjac? Just how big do these get? I'd love to hear how tall your tallest konjac is! In the meantime, I will procure a tape-measure and make a more scientific analysis of my plant while it is still in leaf. Hoping everyone is having a fantastic autumn equinox! (Can you balance an Amorphophallus corm on its side on the equinox?) Cheers! CJ

From: "Cooper, Susan L." SLBryant at scj.com> on 2003.09.23 at 12:27:53(10617) If they made seeds I would have to plant them, since I have some kind of psychological disorder that prevents me from discarding viable aroids. CJ I know what you mean, I have a hard time discarding even the dead ones! Every year I plant a few dried up or dead tubers "just in case!" Susan

From: Paul Tyerman ptyerman at ozemail.com.au> on 2003.09.24 at 08:52:28(10621) >they made seeds I would have to plant them, since I have some kind of >psychological disorder that prevents me from discarding viable aroids. > CJ > >I know what you mean, I have a hard time discarding even the dead ones! >Every year I plant a few dried up or dead tubers "just in case!" >Susan > Susan and CJ, It is such a relief to learn this is not just ME with this afflication. I am gradually learning to overcome it though, as my garden is just plain full and I can't fit that much more. Goddess knows what I am going to do with all my various seedlings once they are bigger and need repotting into individual pots or planting into the ground. I don't even want to THINK about it. A major victory this year has been the actual removal and putting into the trash of a bunch of "mongrel" jonquils (I believe they were called "Straw" and are definitely NOT my favourite )...... it was nice to finally be able to do it. Still, it will be a while before I have enough of any aroids to start thinking about throwing any of THEM out, although the Arisaema flavum ssp abbreviatum (which I'm told is what we predominantly have as A. flavum here in Aus) are starting to look that way to me given their miserable flowers and their ability to survive absolutely anything and still multiply prolifically. They are starting to worry me now!! I think with those I am still at the stage of saving all of them, but I don't think it will be long before I have to find some method of disposal of those as well. Aaaah, wouldn't it be nice if I had that problem with Arisaema sikokianum, or A. ringens, or A. fargesii or ....... I think you get the drift. At the moment I am watching the Arisaema seedlings from previous AEG seedex all coming back above ground now, a bit bigger than last year. Waiting to see which are still prolific and which have reduced in numbers during dormancy. Also signs of the first shoots on some of the Amorphophallus and adult Arisaemas...... while in the garden there are Dracunculus shooting madly and Arums still flowering (A. orientale) and I keep checking other species such as A. dioscoridis for buds...... spring is in full swing here at the moment, but the Aroids are still only just realising it!! Cheers. Paul Tyerman +More Canberra, Australia. USDA equivalent - Zone 8/9 mailto:ptyerman@ozemail.com.au Growing.... Galanthus, Erythroniums, Fritillarias, Cyclamen, Crocus, Cyrtanthus, Oxalis, Liliums, Hellebores, Aroids, Irises plus just about anything else that doesn't move!!!!!

From: ken at spatulacity.com on 2003.09.26 at 02:45:13(10629) Hi again C.J. My biggest A. konjac reaches to about the top of my ear. I'm 5'9" and it's in its pot about 6" from the ground. The corm was 11" across and weighed about 12 to 15 lbs. It had flowered earlier in the spring. I don't know if that's remarkable or not. It's my first konjac. It's the second season I've grown it and last year it was about 1' taller than a similar sized corm is this year. But only two observations doesn't really count! +More Your konac "black stem" is named that way because the petiole is a remarkable color? If you are putting together a box for me later this season, and you wanted to include a small corm or an offset or two of that then I'd be happy to compare its growth to my own konjacs of similar corm-size. -Ken Mosher "C. J. Addington" wrote: > > I had a few people comment on my Amorphophallus konjac, suggesting that > I must be exaggerating their heights. Seven feet? Surely I jest! But it's > true! I have this one strain (race, variety, subspecies?) that I call > "black-stem" that I have grown for years that is just huge. I planted one > 9-pound corm in a 25 gallon clay pot in May, and I can now walk under the > out-stretched leaf blade upright without brushing its underside with my > hair. All I can see looking up is the bottom of the leaf. Granted, some of > the height is the pot - I'd guess the corm is sitting a good 18" off the > ground - and I am no giant (I'm 5'6") - but this is a big plant! I would > have to stand on a ladder to even see the top surface of the leaf. When this > same corm bloomed in March, the flower was as tall as me.

From: "Derek Burch" derek at horticulturist.com> on 2004.01.15 at 13:29:00(11017) on 9/20/03 03:21, Paul Tyerman at ptyerman@ozemail.com.au wrote: >> ranging from pea-sized yearlings to gnarly old monsters (ever notice how >> ugly Dracunculus corms get when you don't let them set seed for 4 or 5 >> years?), +More > > C.J, > > I always have a bit of a chuckle when I hear comments about Dracunculus > seedings so easily for everyone. In many years of growing it I have never > had one single seed set on it, despite numerous flowers out at one time and > the like. Either I have a sterile clone, or the pollinating vector is not > present in my country/climate/locality (who knows which?). > > The seedheads I have heard can be rather impressive, and I'd love to see > them for that reason alone as like you I have plenty of the little beggars > without seed as well . Out of interest, what do Dracunculus look > like when you HAVE had seed set? Given I have only ever seen non-seeded > ones obviously I have missed the "supermodel" variety and only get to see > my "Ugly Duckling" non-seeding for a lot more than 4 or 5 years grin>. > > Does anyone know what the pollinating vector is for Dracunculus? I am > assuming it is likely to be a carrion beetle or something like that, which > we don't have present in the Australian eco-system. I often have > pollination of Arum species, but never of Dracunculus (and I haven't had > Amorph konjac flower for me yet to find out whether it selfs or not). > > It is always interesting to come across comments like these, so I'm glad > you made it. It just seems so strange to me thinking about Dracunculus > actually seeding, whereas you have to STOP yours doing so!! > > Cheers. > > Paul Tyerman > Canberra, Australia. USDA equivalent - Zone 8/9 > mailto:ptyerman@ozemail.com.au > > Growing.... Galanthus, Erythroniums, Fritillarias, Cyclamen, Crocus, > Cyrtanthus, Oxalis, Liliums, Hellebores, Aroids, Irises plus just about > anything else that doesn't move!!!!! > Hi Paul and All! I hope everyone enjoyed the Show in Florida! I am very jealous, and wish I could have gone, but it always seems to hit just as my school has mid-quarter grades due, and I just can't get away. The curse of teaching physics - grading the papers. I am actually not sure what the real pollination vector is for Dracunculus, since in my yard it's me! All of my Dracunculus that set seed were pollinated by me, so I guess I am the busy bee in this case. If you have a bunch of the guys flowering together it should be pretty straightforward to do the plant sex thing. Here's my technique : I get a clean glass jar and a soft brush, and wait for a bloom to open. The first day it's female receptive and there's no pollen, but on the second day the males open up and dump pollen all over the various bugs that have arrived. I take a sharp knife and cut a window into the base of the spathe and use the brush to brush out all the pollen-coated beetles (plus a few dazed flies) that are crawling around in there into the jar. Then I cap the jar and put it in the freezer until another flower is ready. I usually try to pick a big healthy plant that I think will make a good mother. On the first day of the new flower, I shake my jar full of frozen, pollen-encrusted beetles all over the spadix so that the female flowers are well covered, and that usually does the trick. The berries develop soon after, and slowly turn a lovely orange-red as they ripen. A mature Dracunculus seed-head looks exactly like a huge Arum italicum - same basic design, but about three feet tall. Very pretty! Once the berries are ripe, I squish them in water to remove the pulp, let the seeds dry for a day or two and them plant them in pots outside. The seedlings emerge around October/November here in California, and have made pea-sized corms by June. This process works so well here, that I could easily go commercial and sell these puppies, except that then it would be work, and I only do this as a hobby! Most of the time I cut the blooms off and don't let them set seed. If they made seeds I would have to plant them, since I have some kind of psychological disorder that prevents me from discarding viable aroids. I had a few people comment on my Amorphophallus konjac, suggesting that I must be exaggerating their heights. Seven feet? Surely I jest! But it's true! I have this one strain (race, variety, subspecies?) that I call "black-stem" that I have grown for years that is just huge. I planted one 9-pound corm in a 25 gallon clay pot in May, and I can now walk under the out-stretched leaf blade upright without brushing its underside with my hair. All I can see looking up is the bottom of the leaf. Granted, some of the height is the pot - I'd guess the corm is sitting a good 18" off the ground - and I am no giant (I'm 5'6") - but this is a big plant! I would have to stand on a ladder to even see the top surface of the leaf. When this same corm bloomed in March, the flower was as tall as me. I have other kojac strains (varieties, etc. - what are we supposed to call those anyway?) that are midgets by comparison, which never get more than a couple of feet tall, if that. Does anyone else have experience with tall konjac? Just how big do these get? I'd love to hear how tall your tallest konjac is! In the meantime, I will procure a tape-measure and make a more scientific analysis of my plant while it is still in leaf. Hoping everyone is having a fantastic autumn equinox! (Can you balance an Amorphophallus corm on its side on the equinox?) Cheers! CJ

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