i believe the tried to propagate A.Titanum at Kew from leaf cuttings and were succcessful.

it is very complex though, i wouldn't reccomend it

Lots of people have done this and it is straight-forward from what I've been told. It works particularly well on species that form bulbils at the top of the petiole, like bulbifer. There was a thread on the aroid-l about a year ago where people discussed this at length using titanum. I know a guy in Aus. that has had great success with this on his titanum. You do not use the petiole....you use a leaf that has been cut in half so that it contains the leaf rib and pot it in your typical mix and keep it very humid. As paeoniifolius offsets so readily I'm not sure why you would choose that species except that it gives you a starting point, but why not read up on it a bit and give it a try. Most species are pretty easy to come by now-a-days so it may not be worthwhile, but hey, give it a whirl and let us know how it goes :o) Dan

Well,----- I find thqat it's difficult enough to get it to grow from a bulb! And by the way, is it normal for this particular amorphophallus to grow so SLOW? Man O Day! :) Arum

This method of propagating leaves sounds like the way I used to propagate begonias (or African Violets). You could either root them from the stem (the rhizomatous or Rexes), or cut them up into pieces, making sure that you had a vein for each portion, stick them (bottom of the leaf) in the propagating medium (I used perlite and peat moss or sand), cover them with saran wrap or whatever you have handy that is clear (plastic bags, sterilized food containers with clear lids, etc.), and put them under lights. Plantlets would grow from the veins in the soil, several usually. You can also just lay the leaf on top of the medium and pin it down (I used the large hair pins), cover it, and get several that way, too.

Is this what you are talking about?

Susan

Hi Susan, Yes, this is what people have done. I saw it in action last year at PDN while I was there with a couple of species. As I said, if you go to the IAS site and look back at the old aroid-l posts from about 1 year ago you will see a discussion about this for titanum....many people had reported success using this species, but I'm not sure this one is worth the effort anymore with all of the seed coming on the market courtesy of Troy in Bali. Good luck if you give it a try :o) Dan

Uh, who is Troy in Bali - overseas? I've seen a couple of sites offering seeds, but don't know how reputable they are. I think I might try some of the smaller ones indoors over the winter. I do have completely minimal space under a gro light over the sink in my kitchen. That is where I'm going to plant my seeds of sikokianum (sp?).

Susan

Hi Susan, Troy is NightBreed on this forum and just posted on a different thread about the ebay rip-off. He sells outstanding seed of rare species from Indonesia. Not the easiest species to grow in general, but worth a try if you are a bit of a gambler. I have gotten titanum seed from him and had 100% germination success.....after 1 year I just had my first plant go dormant, although most are sending up their third petioles now. You can get seed for hewitii from Malesiana.....I would never order another plant from them in my life after the last fiasco, but their seed are good and germiante reliably. I've had hewitii for almost 2 years now and find them a bit tougher than titanum, but I've got one that is now on its 5th petiole without a dormancy and is starting to look like a real Amorph. I'm not sure of other seed sources that are commercial. Sometimes I get seed and offer it to people for trades or their first child, but I do not have any now :o) Dan

Dan, you overwhelm me! Where in the heck to you put all these plants in the winter? Oh, and thanks for the info. Even I am beginning (well, that's true, "I am beginning...") to get confused over all of the nomenclature issues surrounding colocasias and alocasias, let alone amorphs!

Susan

Hi Susan,

Well, I finally started experimenting with a 400W MH grow light in the basement last year. It worked pretty well, although the aphids were out of control. I bring the non-dormant ones in around mid-Sept and put them under the grow light to try and get maybe 3 more months of growth out of them before they go to sleep for the winter. Of course, once they are dormant they do not take up much space!! The ones that grow year round like titanum and hewitii and verticillatus I keep in front of windows. Once they start to get real big (if I am lucky enough to keep them alive for 3-4 more years) then I'm not sure what I will do with them......sell them off to make space for something that will fit in the space I suppose :o) Dan