Hi guys. I have an Amorphophallus Konjac bulb I’ve been growing for maybe the past 3 years and just noticed it is starting to bloom for the first time! But it seems really, really early….I normally have it starting to sprout just a tiny leaf tip around March or April and by the time the weather is warm enough to plant it outside during May in one of my huge tubs it works out no problem. In the fall I dig it up and store it bare bulb in dry wrapping and repeat next year. So right now it is unpotted and shooting out a 3ish foot flower stalk.
My plan is to pot it as soon as possible in a big (but still movable pot) so it can flower, then hope that when the flower dies back I move the pot somewhere better (either to my parent’s house with good windows or if I am really lucky it will be spring and it can go outside) for when the leaf starts growing and needs good light. I have a couple questions to try to figure out the best game plan to deal with this early bloomer.
My apartment is not very bright and all window space is already occupied with plants but to me it doesn’t look like the flower has much green tissue, so I’m guessing the flower doesn’t need bright light and won’t be doing photosynthesizing? Or do I really need to put lights over the flower? So far the stalk is shooting straight up and not bending towards windows, therefore makes me think worrying about lighting for the flower is not a problem I need to deal with. I also read that I don’t need to/shouldn’t water the plant while blooming, correct? That also makes me think the flower is just relying completely on the stored supplies in the corm so light and water are unnecessary until the leaf comes out and then fertilize and give it good light to recover from flowering?
Second. From my understanding of searching about this flower, it sounds like the flower dies back, get reabsorbed and then it will send up a leaf stalk after taking a break for a few weeks or up to two months? I just wondered if that time frame seems about right between starting to flower and then starting to send out foliage. I was hoping other people who have had this flower and may have had to deal with early flowering indoors has a better idea of the time frame involved between sending up the flower and sending up the leaves. Since the plant is starting to flower now and it is only early January I’m not sure if the timeline would work out so that it would not be too cold to move the pot directly outside once the leaf starts coming out but I can hope?
I’ll see about getting a picture of it now and uploading to keep track of how it is coming along. I know last night the top tip of the plant was about to my hip, now after lunch it is to my chest. The bulb is temporarily sitting unpotted on the floor and I have it propped in an empty pot to keep it stable but it is well over the length of a yardstick just sitting directly on the floor. I read some people who said theirs got up to 70 inches tall!
My plan is to pot it as soon as possible in a big (but still movable pot) so it can flower, then hope that when the flower dies back I move the pot somewhere better (either to my parent’s house with good windows or if I am really lucky it will be spring and it can go outside) for when the leaf starts growing and needs good light. I have a couple questions to try to figure out the best game plan to deal with this early bloomer.
My apartment is not very bright and all window space is already occupied with plants but to me it doesn’t look like the flower has much green tissue, so I’m guessing the flower doesn’t need bright light and won’t be doing photosynthesizing? Or do I really need to put lights over the flower? So far the stalk is shooting straight up and not bending towards windows, therefore makes me think worrying about lighting for the flower is not a problem I need to deal with. I also read that I don’t need to/shouldn’t water the plant while blooming, correct? That also makes me think the flower is just relying completely on the stored supplies in the corm so light and water are unnecessary until the leaf comes out and then fertilize and give it good light to recover from flowering?
Second. From my understanding of searching about this flower, it sounds like the flower dies back, get reabsorbed and then it will send up a leaf stalk after taking a break for a few weeks or up to two months? I just wondered if that time frame seems about right between starting to flower and then starting to send out foliage. I was hoping other people who have had this flower and may have had to deal with early flowering indoors has a better idea of the time frame involved between sending up the flower and sending up the leaves. Since the plant is starting to flower now and it is only early January I’m not sure if the timeline would work out so that it would not be too cold to move the pot directly outside once the leaf starts coming out but I can hope?
I’ll see about getting a picture of it now and uploading to keep track of how it is coming along. I know last night the top tip of the plant was about to my hip, now after lunch it is to my chest. The bulb is temporarily sitting unpotted on the floor and I have it propped in an empty pot to keep it stable but it is well over the length of a yardstick just sitting directly on the floor. I read some people who said theirs got up to 70 inches tall!
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