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Aroids

  • Thread starter hcarlton
  • Start date
  • #21
When do your Amorphophallus wake up? I have one A konjac and I store the corm and soil in a terracotta pot. I put a lid on the top to keep the light out. I just right the corm and start watering at the end of winter, but I would like to encourage blooming. Any advice for us?
 
  • #22
With all the species I have, there's no such thing as a "when they wake up" period. There's always something in the middle of its growing season (like the variabilis that have all just started to grow), or species like the titanums that are entirely aseasonal and may wake up or go dormant whenever they please, for however long they please (and my biggest is about to break its current confines, so it needs an upgrade, badly). You don't want to try forcing them to wake up when they're not ready, otherwise they will rot, so don't water konjac until you see it starting to grow (if you keep it potted, that means until you see something actually sticking up out of the soil). If you want flowers, give them a lot of light, and feed them A LOT. The bigger the tuber gets, the better chance it will decide to bloom, there are no other real triggers.
 
  • #23
Thanks. That makes perfect sense, that you can't force them awake with water if they have no mechanism/desire to draw it from the soil. You mentioned feeding "a lot". What type of feeding has worked for you?
 
  • #24
I'm still working out effective feeding methods, but mixing the soils with a heavy load of slow-release fertilizers and once-weekly or semi-weekly feedings of a moderate-strength high-nitrogen liquid fertilizer (especially as leaves are developing) is what I see recommended often; when bulbs are approaching a mature size regular applications of bone meal or other high-phosphorus sources should help encourage blooming.
 
  • #25
A monster in the making that I killed the first time around without even seeing leaves... I think there's a good chance of getting a bloom though
Dracunculus vulgaris by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
 
  • #26
Not all aroids, but throwing them in here too:
I have a trigger plant in bloom!
Stylidium debile by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
And I just made a video up on my YouTube channel for this one too (find it via Carlton Carnivores)
Viola lanceolata by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
A little more aroid-like, but a vine rather than tuberous smelly freak
Aristolochia fimbriata by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
Aristolochia fimbriata by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
Aristolochia fimbriata by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
 
  • #28
What a weird little flower. How does it smell?
 
  • #29
It doesn't. At least not to me.
 
  • #30
A new aroid growing out. It's being a bit touchy, weird since I've mostly read it's a weed
Gonatopus boivinii by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
Gonatopus boivinii by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
Nicknamed "giraffe's knee" for the stripy petiole and these odd bulges
Gonatopus boivinii by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
Most exciting though: new corpse flower bloom!
A. henryi by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
A. henryi by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
A. henryi by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
There will be more pics within the video I will eventually be putting together, that will go up on the Carlton Carnivores YouTube channel.
 
  • #31
If you haven't already, find the Carlton Carnivore YouTube channel; the video for the A. henryi in the last post is up!
Also, two new seedling species joining my collection:
Amorphophallus tenuispadix by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
And so far I think 5 of the 9 seeds of this have sprouted; since this photo was taken too the color has deepened to an oceanic green with red edges
Amorphophallus atroviridis by Hawken Carlton, on Flickr
 
  • #34
This tiny thing bloomed again, so I made a video:
 
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