MacDaddy - wow! I mean, wow! You might want to leave them and see if a new leaves appear. That has happened to some of my other plants, and don't dig them up until you have to for fall.

Susan

I agree, they will send up a new sprout in 1-3 weeks. May even be bigger/taller than the original.

I just realized something. The leaves or the stem is snapped off?

Hi David, I'd personally unpot as they had plenty of time to grow a new tuber by now. I'd think the last thing you want is a new petiole as you only have a couple of weeks left before the weather gets to the point that they would have to be grown indoors for the winter anyway. Just remember, you may have part of last years tuber still attached since the growing season got cut short. I actually brought all of my nice Amorphs in to avoid Katrina, but the konjacs were left outside and faired well, thankfully. I just hope our friends down south were able to get out before it hit :o) Dan

They snapped off completely at ground level. The stem is really a leaf stalk so it really is just one leaf getting snapped off. On the other hand it is also the entire above ground portion. These were planted in the ground so there is no pot.

I was leaning towards just digging it up and storing it. It seems to put a lot of energy into producing the leaf than it has time to recover that energy at this point. I think the original leaves took about three to four weeks to get out of the ground, and open up. Then they continued to get bigger for two to three weeks. I just didn't think there was enough time left in the season.

Problem was that I had 4' high zinnias growing next to them and the zinnias got toppled by the wind and fell on other plants. The wind was also strong enough to knock over some tuberose I had growing independently.

Hurricanes are funny, aren't they? (Not, as we used to say, 'funny ha-ha') Down here in south-central Louisiana we had no damage at all. When I told my son in Knoxville what we were predicted to get he laughed and said 'we'll get more than that here!' And we got less. Not even any rain, which we really needed. Not complaining, you understand. What a tragedy for so many!

No worse that a severe thunderstorm here. It was just very gusty with a rainstorm.

I was down in New Orleans a couple years ago an was asking about the fact that it was below sea level. I believe it was a taxi driver. He was fully convinced it would all flood some day because of the political condition of the city. He was going on about the flood pumps and how inadequate they were for a big storm. Guess he was right.

No kidding - and it really disturbs me that the Army Corps of Engineers has been asking for enough money to reinforce the levees since Bush has been in office and has repeatedly been denied, or given only small amounts. I'm not happy with the response from our government.

Susan

Susan,

It is congress that funds such projects. They just couldn't justify the project. They did, however, find enough funds for a bridge to nowhere in Alaska and an interstate highway for Hawaii.

Those levees were only designed for a category 3 storm so it wouldn't have mattered if they were reenforced. Bush did appoint an unqualified person to head FEMA but that is as far as I can blame him. Most of the responsibility for this is at the level of local government. That's just the way it works in the US. It's the job of local government to evacuate, etc. Bush even called the local government to plea with them to evacuate before the storm hit.

See the link to an article that appeared before the storm hit: "Gov. Kathleen Blanco, standing beside the mayor at a news conference, said President Bush called and personally appealed for a mandatory evacuation for the low-lying city, which is prone to flooding."

The major idiot in this story is the Mayor who did not even follow their own evacuation plans. They were suppose to provide buses to get the poor people out but he just sat on his hands. They are calling the submerged buses "Nagin's Navy".

Here is a link that might be useful: Bush pleas

I'm not gonna debate the bushies here, but one thing to keep in mind.

No matter where the blame was for the "preparation" (and let's say it's 50-50), once the disaster struck, ALL responsibilities go to the FEDERAL government, which is headed by bush. ONLY the federal government has the necessary manpower and resources to do anything substantial given the SCALE of the calamity...and we all know for several days NOTHING substantial was done while looting and dying went on in this major city, a MAJOR failure of government at the federal level.

Bush was still ON VACATION as the levees broke; he proclaimed ZERO TOLERANCE on national TV for starving people who were taking food from ravaged supermarts while his appointed FEMA people dawdled; he at first denied help from other countries that were ready to help; his mother proclaimed later that the refugees were better off as refugees since they were "underprivileged" anyways..

He also indirectly escalated and contributed to the disaster because of his war in Iraq, because it diverted monies from infrastructure and other developments needed here in the states, AND diverted manpower (The affected states only had 50-60% national guardsmen on hand because many were in iraq) which meant the state governments were understaffed and could only watch helplessly as looting and chaos increased.

THE BUCK STOPS AT THE PRESIDENT'S DESK IN SUCH WIDE SCALE NATIONAL CALAMITIES.

Unfortunately you have your facts wrong. The city and state have first responsibility and the Feds are only called in on their say so. Who do you think the local police are under the control of, not the Feds. The Feds asked for control and were refused by the Louisiana Govenor. The same did not happen in other states. Blanco and Nagin blew it. They were the first line of defense and did next to nothing.

I'm no "Bushie" either. Just stating facts.

BTW, One of my Konjacs that snapped has a sliver of tissue connecting it to the bulb and it hasn't wilted. I am quite surprised at how little of the stem is keeping it alive.

Hey dude:

as i said, ONCE the disaster hit, the state and especially the mayor were literally screaming for the feds to come, and it took the feds 3-4 DAYS to mount anything of substance...we're not talking about someplace on the other side of the globe here, we're talking about a city in the continental US. They couldn't even help a single stadium in the city!

FEMA, a Federal agency propped by bush, obviously screwed up very badly:
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1126137434717_59/?hub=TopStories

a new CNN poll shows that 42% of people believe Bush did a bad or terrible job responding to the calamity. this is a much much lower rating for any president in a recent US disaster.

Here is a link that might be useful: FEMA Banana

You only hear what you want to hear. I already said that Bush screwed up in his appointment. If you go to the Red Cross site you will see that the locals you are claiming were screaming for help were actively refusing help. The Red Cross had specifically stockpiled goods for delivery to the Superdome and Convention Center but were refused by the Louisiana State Government. The govenor is still refusing to allow the Feds to control and coordinate the relief effort. With control comes responsibility. Like the responsibility of the local police to maintain order.

FEMA couldnt initially bring the National Guard into Louisiana because it is not their jurisdiction. It is my understanding that the Blanco is still refusing them. I guess political points are more important than people.

In addition it was the responsibility of the State and City governments to get the people out in the first place. They didn't even follow their own evacuation procedures which included busing out the poor. They did nothing before and they are obstructing afterwards. Unlike other states.

Yes the FEMA chief is not qualified, and yes Bush appointed him, but the locals are also actively working against him and other relief organizations. Not to mention the thugs shooting at helicopters that the local police are suppose to be keeping under control.

The state controls not only the local and state police but also the national guard. They also control giving permission for troops from other states coming in. They didn't give that permission. This chain of authority does not extend up to the President as you seem to think. The Governor has total control. That's the fact of the matter.

It's about as ridiculous to blame the UN for not stepping in as it is for the Federal government. It just doesn't have the authority you think it does.

I'm laughing at some of the ridiculous expectations in that article. Let's see, FEMA is suppose to send in relief workers before the disaster strikes? What so they are floating around hanging onto trees and stranded on roofs also? If FEMA had 36 hours then so did the locals and there responsibility was to get the people out and not to be shipping people in the other direction. Evacuation is not the responsibility of FEMA and that was the major screw up. Bush begged them to evacuate before the storm hit but he just doesn't have the authority that the Governor has.

As I said before you cannot hold someone responsible for something they have no authority to act on.

Speaking of hearing only what you want to hear--!! Governor Blanco declared a state of emergency and asked the federal government for help before the storm even hit. The federal spokesmen at several levels said they never could have imagined the levees would not hold, even tho' one of our posters on another forum who lives in Ireland had read about the danger of major flooding the levees would not be able to prevent in 2004. This government, which said at the beginning that they were going to be promoting a culture of responsibility, invariably when things go wrong says it isn't their fault and starts pointing fingers at others even when they have to lie to make their case. Nobody can be right all the time, or for instance come into a situation like this one immediately, and it always takes longer and is more complicated than it looked like at first, and people can stand outside and throw blame around, but this was beyond belief. And I suppose Mr. Brown will be the scapegoat, and the person who appointed someone totally unqualified will come out unscathed. Or not.

Greenbows1,

I listen just fine. Especially considering not a single point you brought up was discussed in this thread.

Yes, I actually check facts and don't just swallow whatever nonsense is spouted in the press. As a child I had personal experience with the reporting of a story which showed me that the press is not interested in the truth but only excitement. I was there when a reporter was taking statements from witnesses, including me. The final story had no resemblence to the actual facts communicated to him.

Facts that some posters here are not clear on:
1) Louisiana had lots of funding for the leeves and pumps. They receive the most funds of any state. Somewhere around five times the amount of money California gets, a state that dwarfs them. Louisiana choose to divert that money elsewhere.
2) It was well know to everybody that the Leeves were only engineered to a category 3 storm. Bush knew this and specifically called for mandatory evacuation long before the storm hit. It is the Louisiana Governor who is the only one that is authorized to do this. She waited too long. It's a problem with her. When Bush arrived after the storm and offered help she requested a full 24 hours to make her decision. See here: http://www.mudvillegazette.com/archives/003501.html You can also go there to discover that they were moving in the guard as quickly as possible given the fact that the govenor had to sign off on it.
3) Local officials are responsible for evacuation, shelters and the like. They did not do there job. Even after the storm hit: http://www.blindmanphoto.com/images/Stop-Blaming-FEMA.jpg
4) Local officials are obstructing the delivery of supplies from outside the state, supplies that should not have been required since have already been at the designated shelter sites. They were obstructing help from private and public sources. Hell Nagin and Bianco were still fighting just yesterday over whether to evacuate the city. Nagin ordered an evacuation and her is Bianco's response: "The mayor certainly has ordered that but the governor, and that would be me, would have to enforce it or implement it. We are trying to determine whether there is an absolute justification for that,"
5) Declaring a state of emergency is not the same as doing something about it. Not only didn't the local officials act before the hurricane hit, they didn't act afterwards. It was quite clear to them the day before the storm hit that they had screwed up but they just didn't know how to act so they whined. It was their job, why didn't they just do it. Sign the papers, send out the buses for the poor people. Hell the buses were available after the storm. Take a look at this: http://www.blindmanphoto.com/images/Stop-Blaming-FEMA.jpg

Why don't you back up your claims with some facts. Be specific. Exactly who believed the levees would hold? Exactly who in the administration is pointing fingers? Here's an article with Nagin pointing fingers at Bianco: http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/2005_09.html#076943 This from a guy who didn't follow his own cities evacuation plan: http://www.ohsep.louisiana.gov/plans/EOPSupplement1a.pdf
Go to page 13, read paragraph 5. It states:
"5. The primary means of hurricane evacuation will be personal vehicles. School and municipal buses, government-owned vehicles and vehicles provided by volunteer agencies may be used to provide transportation for individuals who lack transportation and require assistance in evacuating."
6) I was of the opinion that Mr. Brown was unqualified based on news reports I had read but that doesn't mean he is "totally unqualified". Apparently he had more experience than I was aware of.
7) Congress should be the last organization investigating this as they are the ones responsible for the funding and they though pork barrel projects were more important.

I will keep changing my opinion as new information comes in but most of the mainstream coverage appears very one sided, erroneous, and frankly ... stupid.

OKAY, OKAY ALREADY! WHO CARES AT THIS POINT? Besides, we are getting OT again. There are other discussion forums set up for posting in regard to the politics of the situation. The true issue is helping these people and helping the pets. Do what you can to help them and STOP debating it.

Susan

MacDaddy,
It is refreshing to see a well informed reply backed with factual information that is easily confirmed with only a small bit of open mindedness, research and effort.
Thank You

I hope your Amorphs recover. I have one that has just sent up what is going to be a full sized second leaf for the season. Temps are in the 50's today and it hasn't fully unfurled yet. As yours will be confused with colder weather too, (if they send up stalks) I'm curious what to do with them? Will they be weakened for their efforts? I'm considering bringing this one indoors but am afraid it's schedule for next year will be messed up too.

I dug up one of them that had a completely separated leaf stalk. I left one on the ground for the past three weeks and it hasn't died so today I pounded a stake at an angle so it doesn't stab the tuber. I then placed the stalk upright again and duct taped it to the stake. I hope I didn't damage the remaining stem doing this. I was mistaken about the third one, it was not broken at all and chopping off the overlying zinnias allowed it to spring up.

I noticed some broken stems coming out of the tuber and I assume that there were smaller tubers at the ends that I missed digging out. I'm probably going to be giving away some tubers as I have hurt my arm and my doctor told me to lay off the gardening. I won't have enough beds to plant them in and don't have the muscle strength to put more beds in.

Laurann,

Thanks, I don't think I would have bothered responding but I didn't appreciate being called a "Bushie". Especially since on the food chain the Bushs and I are natural enemies. After all the Bush the Elder did state that he didn't know that my ilk should be considered as citizens nor as patriots. While Bush the younger thinks my ilk are ill qualified to be President. I am sure that I could find decisions that Bush has made that would be far inferior to the ones I would have, that is without 20/20 hindsight either. For one thing it is a no brainer to terminate your vacation when you see a category 5 hurricane bearing down on New Orleans. I am sure I would make my own mistakes however so I would not want the responsibility. Good luck to Bush it's a hard job. Besides it doesn't pay good enough for the agravation and the interview process is a tad intrusive.

Now I'm curious. MacDaddy what is your "ilk"? Gardener?
Aroid nut? First responder? Democrat?
We're going to go to New Orleans in the spring, the winter bead buying trip seems to be off, just have to mail-order. Taking plants to gardeners who lost everything, either from storm surge, flooding or the debris. Hopefully we won't get a storm this year. Still a few months to go.
Tally HO!

My ilk is that I don't believe in the Bushes religion. The Bushes are bigots when it comes to us non-believers. See the link.

BTW, in my opinion Bush has screwed up on this Katrina thing. However, I hate to see someone faulted for things he's not responsible for.

No one here did it but even worse I find it objectionable that some people are claiming Bush and FEMA were witholding help for racist reasons. That is ludicrous considering they have no evidence of this.

I like your idea of plant donations to Katrina victims. I want to provide help for the victims first in the form of cash donations to people like the Red Cross. The victims hit hardest will probably not be up to dealing with plant donations for quite awhile. I would be afraid of donating plants to some rich guys flower garden. How about we get together and have a plant sale with the cash going to some organization like the red cross. I have many plants to donate. Of course donated funds would not be tax deductable unless the seller made the donation.

Someone correct me if I am wrong - not 100% informed on the legalities.