[aroid-l] Post-mortem on Amorphophallus

From: ken at spatulacity.com on 2003.08.20 at 02:56:51(10516) Wilbert, Thanks for the good news about my happy Amorphophallus bulbifers! It's especially gratifying since I somehow managed to kill two A. paeoniifolius and one A. gigas, planted in the identical soil and growing right next to each other. I grow them all in pots with fresh soil. I feel bad about this for two reasons: they were expensive (especially the gigas) and I hate to kill plants. Perhaps you can give me some hints. I live in Connecticut, USA (New England). This was a very chilly and VERY wet spring. I received what seemed to be extremely healthy plants, the leaves on all three were sprouting but not yet unfurled. I introduced them to the sun gradually. They weren't sunburned. They seemed to be growing nicely, then the two paeoniifolius started looking very unhappy. I had trasnplanted them into pure, *well* composted leaves, just about 100% humus - gorgeous, dark dirt (without disturbing the existing soil they were planted in). All my konjacs and the bulbifers are planted in the same stuff and they love it (as you observed). The dirt is extremely loose and holds moisture without being at all soggy. It seems quite wonderful for most amorphophallus, as least as you describe what many of them like to grow in. (One of the nearby towns produces this compost - it takes about 18 months from raw materials to compost.) As the paeoniifolius leaves started to die they both started to produce a second leaf, so I wasn't too worried, but they never made it very far. One seems to have rotted off, the other wasn't so easy to tell. I haven't exhumed the tubers yet. The bulbifer looked pretty healthy but then died back fairly suddenly - no second leaf. I haven't exhumed that one yet, either (hoping for a second leaf, but I think it's beyond hope). They did get a lot of rain and it was rather cool 60 to 70 degrees, mostly. But it had warmed up to normal summer temperatures before they died. I didn't think lots of water would affect an amorphophallus in active growth. Thanks for your help, and I hope to see you at the Saturday dinner in Miami in September! I'm trying to make arrangements to attend the conference in the next couple of days. -Ken Mosher +More Andover, Connecticut, USA P.S. a few of my A. konjac offsets are still not fully leafed out. I worry that they've leafed-out too late to have a full growing season and may not produce a new tuber before frost. I really have too many to bring into my house! But I do have a large unheated greenhouse. Would it be wise to move them in there when cool weather arrives to try to extend the time available for producing a healthy tuber? Wilbert Hetterscheid wrote: > > THE implication is that the plant is feeling VERY good! It is not as unusual > as may be led to believe from my Aroideana paper........ > > Wilbert

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