Hi Karen,
I'm not sure if those bumps should be called nodes or buds on Alocasia, but your idea should work. One of the old ways to propagate was to cut the rhizhomes crosswise, each with a bud and replant when calloused over.

I once took a large rhizome of odora that was trunking above ground and replanted it horizontally with the idea of protecting it from freezing. The following spring it was a virtual puppy farm.

Keiko

I've been reading some about how an alocasia/colocasia/
xanthosoma can be grow from very small bits of the tuber, incuding those "bumps" you refer to. It doesn't take much, apparently, to propagate another plant. If you dig one up and leave even a very small portion of the root or tuber in the ground, it will perpetuate itself.

Also the number of rings on the plant are an indicator of how many leaves it has grown, and could be an indicator of it's age eventually. Like on tress. Is that possible?

Susan

Well If I'd known that I could have cut the top off a bit further down for the one i stored dormant and 'topless'
and have another plant already! I will do that next fall. How long should I let it callous? just a few days? A couple weeks?? Until it stops leaking and has a hard scab?

I'm going to find my snow boots and head off to the shed to thaw out some potting soil and get a bigger pot!
Thx Keiko and susan:)

BTW keiko- 40% of my calla seeds have now germinated successfully:) I'm so proud!
Karen

Karen, I'm not sure, but we may be "experiencing technical difficulties" with the jargon here. Rhizomes are generally described as undergound stems, but with Alocasias this gets a little nebulous as many Alocasias like odora and macro age they start growing above ground, looking a little like palm tree trunks.

The succulent part that some call stems, but you cut off to store dry are more correctly called petioles. This part will not root and grow.

When propagating by "stem cuttings" they mean the woody rhizome whether above or below ground, not the petioles.

I have never tried to chop mine up into small pieces as a commercial grower might, but make all the divisions in autumn, let them callous over during the winter and plant out in spring.

The top section of a rhizome with an apical bud tends to grow normally as if nothing happened, but the lower sections tend to grow as clusters of smaller plants that take another season to develop.

I'm glad you are enjoying your calla seedlings as there is almost no such thing as an ugly one.

Keiko

Ohh...

Gotcha;)
Karen

Keiko, where do you get calla seeds? I would love to try calla from seed. Is there a reputable dealer out there?

Susan

I'm trying about everything from seed this winter, including a pawpaw tree (asimina triloba) for my zebra swallowtails.

Susan
I collected my own calla seeds. Which took a considerable degree of restraint. I was so tempted to dead head them!
Karen

Chiltern Seed is the only place I know of that regularly has a good selection of Zantedeschia seed. So far, I have only gotten good viable seeds in little paper envelopes from them. (No old vacuum packs!) I have been as pleased with them as I have been with J.L. Hudson. The deep rose form of Z. rehmannii I got from them is a real gem.

Seed saved from the hybrids produce a lot of variable plants, often more natural looking and prettier than the named parent they came from, to my way of thinking.

It's been unusually warm here and last week's rain has callas left in the ground up and growing strongly in January, but they will probably get frozen back again before they flower.

Keiko

Glad you got some rain....we still have none - NONE!!!!!! We are dry as a BONE! I am afraid we are going to experience a severe tectonic shift before long. I have to go look at that website.

Yes, we have all kinds of things coming up, grape hyacinths, hyacinths, daffodils, you name it. Trees are budding out. Everything thinks it is spring. But here comes February, which, as we all know can be a real BOW (B**CH on wheels). That's what happened last year. I was running around like a dumb chicken mulching everything that was growing above ground last year in an attempt to salvage the top growth. It worked at least.

Susan