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jedh_2008

A. Tinaunum Dormancy

jedh_2008
13 years ago

Any suggestions for the conditions to keep a dormant A titanum in? Have in a peat, potting, vermiculite mix with rocks on the bottom to improve drainage. How often to water? Where to store light/dark? and finally should I go ahead and cut the plant away from the corm or let it drop naturally? It is beyond gone, but remains holding on.

As always any advice is greatly appreciated.

Jed

Comments (5)

  • exoticrainforest
    13 years ago

    Your mix sounds OK but you may want to improve it according to the directions of the Bonn Botanical Garden which has one of the best track records of growing and blooming this species. I've copied the link below from the International Aroid Society.

    You can either remove the Amorphophallus titanum tuber and wrap it in slightly damp burlap or just leave it in the mixture but it should not be watered at all (according to the Bonn Garden and several noted botanists that specialize in this genus) until it breaks dormancy.

    If the plant is dormant remove the petiole. There is a major difference in a corm and a tuber and all the top aroid botanists say no aroid grows from a corm. There are a few plants in the Amorphophallus group that appear "corm-like" but none are true corms.

    Steve

    Here is a link that might be useful: Amorphophallus titanum

  • exoticrainforest
    13 years ago

    If you will visit the link below to the University of Illinois they explain the differences in a bulb, corm and a tuber with good diagrams. All three are basically underground starch storage structures but the placement of the roots, leaf layers inside a bulb (cut open an onion), and other structures make them all distinct.

    Steve

    Here is a link that might be useful: Difference in a bulb, a corm and a tuber.

  • jedh_2008
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Exotic...thank you as always...being new to this here is what I have ...a fist sized hard ball, bulb? with roots(now dried) comming off of it. It has a single stalk..now withered shooting off from the top...so looking at your links all of these things...stems roots..etc. should be picked...cut off before putting to bed.

  • exoticrainforest
    13 years ago

    Although it is common for growers to call that "fist" sized entity a "bulb" or "corm" is is truly a tuber. Aroids only grow from tubers.

    The stalk that grows from the tuber is the single petiole of the plant. Other plant species have a petiole for every leaf. A petiole is just the stalk that supports any leaf and is technically a part of the leaf itself.

    Many people confuse the petiole and the stem since the technical definition of a stem is it has nodes, internodes, roots and supports leaves. What that definition leaves out is the "leaf" is a made up of a combination of the leaf blade and a petiole. Obviously, the petiole does not have nodes or internodes and does not grow roots.

    The leaf at the top of the petiole of an Amorphophallus is unique in that it is a divided leaf with a series of leaflets supported on a stalk-like plant structure known as a rachis that grows from the petiole.

    Most people call the petiole the "stem" but the stem in the case of an Amorphophallus is the tuber itself which has a single node and also produces roots from the top.

    The word stem means the central axis and support of the plant so the support of the leaf cannot be a stem.

    It is late at night so if I have repeated myself please forgive me. The link below will explain this better and includes photos.

    Steve

    Here is a link that might be useful: What is a stem and what is a petiole?

  • bluebonsai101
    13 years ago

    probably the top grower of this species in the world is the person on ebay that sells them in huge numbers, and has flowered more than anyone else and is likely the top seed producer in the world from what I gather (I do not know this person at all by the way). In any event, I would ask him how he grows his assuming you have a state-of-the-art greenhouse like he does....in the absence of that you likely want to ask someone that grows them in conditions that mimic yours since this is the most relevant info you can get. I find that info from growers that have GH or live in tropical conditions rarely helps me out, but that is just me because I do not have a GH and live in zone 6 :o) I've had mine for 5-6 years now and when they go dormant I leave them alone in their pots and water when they are quite dry. Once it starts to grow again I repot. I have always kept mine in very poor soil and underpotted because I can not afford to have them get big (no room for a 15 foot tall plant and a tuber that is 50-100 pounds). Mine now produce a nice-looking 6 foot tall petiole and if they get bigger I will have to get rid of them as I do not have room for something that large. Best of luck with yours :o) Dan

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