anyone growing amorphophallus?
 

like all of us im always thinking of trying to grow some
new unusual plant..so i bought some good sized (7#) amorphophallus
konjac :) they are good and firm.. sending out early flowering
spike.. cant wait for the smell..LOL plan to put them in basement when
flowers do come on...
anyone else grown any of the many amorphophallus????

Re: anyone growing amorphophallus?
 

Hi - I'm growing Amorphophallus in MA. They go in potting soil and outside as soon as the spike is 2-3 inches long. They go out after the last frost in the spring and stay out until the leaf stem fades in the fall, then they come out of the pot and are stored in the dark, with periodic checks for growth. I think I have a Konjak and something else. Have not found a good guide to id various amorphophallus species. Good luck with yours.

Keith Richardson

Re: anyone growing amorphophallus?
 

thanks keith.. mine are sitting on a table in some sun.. i understand
they probably will bloom sometime around feb 2012.. i plan to put mine
outside in summer as well..and let them stay there till fall..
hope others grow various amorphs too..
again thanks for your post !!!

Re: anyone growing amorphophallus?
 

Anyone got any seed for the A. titanum?

Re: anyone growing amorphophallus?
 

Have you ever been in the vicinity of one when it blooms? It puts out an odor to attract pollinating insects of its native environment. Even when you grow it in the Americas, it seems like the odor is strong enough to attract them from the eastern hemisphere. :)

Re: anyone growing amorphophallus?
 

Pretty much what I figured, but I have these neighbors downwind with a 'yappy' dog that barks incessantly...

Re: anyone growing amorphophallus?
 

I have an A. konjac that resides in my garden year round. It is always late, around June, before it comes up. This year two stems grew around 1-2 feet tall. Neither has bloomed yet, and I've had it for 3-4 years. Great plant as long as you don't plant it too near a window!!

Re: anyone growing amorphophallus?
 

Here is my largest what I think is amorphophallus konjac from this year. It was between three to four feet in height. Its napping in the basement in a box with its smaller siblings. I usually get them started off early inside and move outside but was too lazy this year and planted them right in the ground in mid May.

Re: anyone growing amorphophallus?
 

[IMG]E:\pictures\Picture\Voodoo Lilly\voodoo 001.jpg[/IMG]

This is this past springs flower. If I linked the picture correctly.

Re: anyone growing amorphophallus?
 

lol..good one richard..ya..i saw my 1st one in college..in bloom..
i cant remember what sp. but the bloom was tasty sweet..LOL whew..
great pics crabman..and michael!!!
im looking foward to blooms and growing ones i have..
only have 2 --7# tubers now..id like to bid on some on ebay..but
i dont know if they will make it in this cold weather in the mail..
i hope to grow more sp ..hope to see more listed on ebay for sale/bid..

Re: anyone growing amorphophallus?
 

one of my bigger konjac's is about to bloom.. yea..or should i
say.. whew.. LOL
flower spike is 21" above the corm..
i hope i grow them well this summer and get the corms bigger..
for even a bigger flower next yr!!
:woohoonaner:

Re: anyone growing amorphophallus?
 

I think I am growing some kind of amorphophallus. I am not growing them for flower but to get big corm. I had two last year. I eat one of them. Other one is sitting in the garage.

Re: anyone growing amorphophallus?
 

very cool rainforest..my konjac are doing great..couldnt
be happier..
i tried my hand at pollinating them..2 flowers worked.. yea
:woohoonaner:
theyve set berries now..i guess its going to be awhile for them to
ripen.. then i get to try germinating them..which i understand isnt
hard.. especially compared to banana seed...
but the seed (amorph) needs to be "fresh" ..but how much fresher
could they get from my own plants.. LOL
we'll see how it goes.. im guessing they wont ripen till july/aug
the other konjac i dont want to pollinate..i want the corms to get
as big as i can get them..
how are yours doing?? do u pot them up.. plant out?
im going to try both methods.. planted out ones..im going to put
in raised beds though..so the soil is nice and warm..

Re: anyone growing amorphophallus?
 

I'm growing a bunch of amorphophallus titanum seedlings and I'm finding that they grow extremely slow to the point where you barely notice any difference from week to week. They are by south facing windows.

Does anyone know if this is usual, or is there a way to get them to grow faster?

Re: anyone growing amorphophallus?
 

Steve....amorphophallus are not like typical plants. They do not 'grow' during their active phase (when they have leaves). They come up out of dormancy with the stem/group of leaflets fully formed (botanically it is considered one 'leaf'). This will be all it does that entire season. It does not get any bigger once fully opened, nor does it grow more leaflets. During this time, growth goes on under the ground in the corm which gets larger. Then dormancy for several months. Then, it will send up another 'leaf' for a new season. It continues this each season till it is large enough of a corm to bloom. That season, it will bloom and seeds will ripen (typically no leaves during that, but some varieties do).

So yeah...don't expect either of those to get 'bigger' this year other than the left one opening up more. Each active phase will produce a larger leaf, but you still just get one per season (although I've had some send up 3 or 4 stalk/leaf).

I grow A. bulbifer, A. konjac and had pseudodracontium hermandii (now Amorphophallus, from what I understand), but it rotted last fall after it was dug up and I think it's dead now.

Here's my konjac last summer:
Opening.

Two weeks later.

Corm is now the size of half a basketball. It's sending up a bloom currently, hasn't opened yet, but the stalk is already over a foot out of the corm. Also have bulbifer seeds still ripening from a bloom last spring (right). Looks like I'll get another bulbifer bloom this year as well.


Bulbifer flower last season:

Re: anyone growing amorphophallus?
 

Nice pictures.

I saw the original seed look shrivel up after the leaf comes out. I'm hoping for them to gain as much energy as possible, but even from a seed, they take a very long time to go from a tiny nub into the leaf.

Some of them look like they lack vigor and may not have the push to turn into a full leaf. I have a lot more of them than the 2 in the current picture.

Re: anyone growing amorphophallus?
 

Those titanum seedlings are actually quite big. My baby bulbifer from last year was about 2" tall and an inch across. SOOOOOO tiny! I'm probably going to try to get a hold of A. paeoniifolius this year once it's not freezing temps for proper plant-mailing. Tried to get one last year but the seller sent me a nice bulbifer corm instead (which bloomed). I got a refund, but still want my paeoniifolius! Their blooms are SUPER cool. Google it!

Re: anyone growing amorphophallus?
 

I guess one way to pump more energy into these guys is to put humidity domes over them and breath some CO2 into those domes, but I'm not sure if that is worth the effort. It seems to help with my venus fly traps quite noticeably.

Anyways I hope I can get these hardened off to outdoor conditions in a couple months. I see that you have amorphallus planted in the soil. Aren't they only supposed to be given sterile soil?

I've heard that amorphophallus titanum is prone to soil pathogens so I've grown them in pro-mix so far.

Re: anyone growing amorphophallus?
 

always great to see other amorph enthusiasts!! :)
several of my largest konjac have flower spikes now..some are on there way
so..guess i'll have weeks of stinky..LOL
i know of a guy in houston,TX plants his paeonfollius in the ground.. of course..thats subtropical..
also have an online bud in darwin,NT,australia.. tropical..and he has difficulty as mentioned steve ..with soil pathogens.. with amorphs.alocasia,colocasias.. so he
pots them up..
my titanums..are in various stages .. small one (4" corm) came out of dormancy
a month ago..and shot up fast with new petiole..other smaller one. (9"corm)
just finished vegetative growth..cut leaf back..and its forming 2 petiole buds..
will be interesting to see if actually sends up 2 leafs..:)
my 2 largest titanums..still in full leaf..no sign of going into dormancy..they are
9ft tall.. thank goodness i have a tall ceiling..yea.there in the living room..LOL
anxious to see how corm growth does on them..

Re: anyone growing amorphophallus?
 

If the leaf gets too tall, couldn't you just prevent it from coming out of dormancy during the winter by keeping the tuber in cooler conditions?

Also, if the leaf will get too tall for keeping inside, wouldn't it be possible to peel off the sheath to cause the stem to stop extending?

My intention is to get some enormous plants, but only allow them to be active during the summer.