What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Amorphophallus konjac

Is anyone else growing Amorphophallus konjac? I just got one off ebay (about 2 seasons from blooming size) it will come next week. This species is said to make a 6 foot tall purple/black spathe & spadix!

It is supposed to go dry in dormancy, is it better to dig it up and put it in a bag with nearly dry LFS or just let the pot stay completely dry except for an occasional watering? If it's dormant I would assume there would be no harm in storing it like a bulb of any other plant. However I've read it has contractile roots (like titanum) to raise and lower itself under the soil to a preffered position, are these kind of roots still active in dormancy? If so, it wouldn't be a true dormancy would it?

When it is in growing mode as it is now should I water it like a nep flood & flush twice a week or only once per week or less? I've heard rot is common and I'd like to try and avoid any mistakes with a plant such as this.

Thanks for any thoughts!
 
Hey Josh,
I'm growing A. konjac. This will be my first time growing it. I have some tubers planted up, and they are ever so slowly thinking about coming out of dormancy. I dig up my bulbs and store them dry in a ziplock. It has no roots during dormancy. A. konjac is less prone to rot than other Aroids. Provide good drainage and it'll be happy. Just curious, how much did you pay for yours? Private message me, thanks.
 
i used to grow this plant , well not really , i traded off the bulb for devils claw seeds have not germianted yet . anyways , the flower itself isn't actually , the stalk is about 4 feet
and the flower itself is about 2-3 feet feet tall , very stinky . they like to be fertilized , they should be planted in rich humus with good drainage , they don't like too much llight and when dormancy comes , dig them up and put them in a dry cool place . here are a few websites ; http://florawww.eeb.uconn.edu/images....C02.JPG

http://www4.ncsu.edu:8030/~alan.plants/aroids/amorphophallus/konjac/

http://www.aroid.org/genera/amorphophallus/amcult.html
 
Hi Josh, congrats on getting your konjac!

I have three that are in growth mode right now, absolutely beautiful trunks, more beautiful than titanium IMHO.
I also have a couple of titanium, serious quantities of paeoniifolius and just last week I received palawanensis, excentricus and haematospadix from a very nice guy in Poland.

Goldtrap's advice is excellent, can't add much apart from my get rained on almost daily and they appear to be happy so don't worry about overwatering as long as you have good drainage.
I fertilise with a fairly weak solution but very regularly, almost every week. I figure the more food I give the plant, the faster the bulb will grow and the sooner it will flower.

If you want paeoniifolius let me know.
Goldtrap, did you end up buying some from the store near you or do you still want me to send you some?
The stalks on some of mine are FINALLY turning yellow so I expect they are getting ready to go dormant and will be ready for shipping sometime soon.

Cheers, Troy.

Forgot to add, here's another link that I use almost constantly:

Amorphophallus species list
 
Do these plants require high humidity to grow well?
 
CP2k, I've read (either in the book Aroids: Plants of the Arum Family or online) that they like 70%+ humidity. Being from the same tropical lowland regions where neps also grow.

I've been trying to get as much info as I can and there seems to be no reason that the plants go dormant that I can figure. Anyone know? If it's the plant timing itself for flowering then why do they do it when they are juvenile?

When it flowers will the  neighbors (or police) will be banging on the doors demanding to know if there's a rotting corpse on my patio?  
biggrin.gif


Do they truely stink as bad as they say if kept outside as opposed to being in a confined space like a greenhouse or bedroom? If so I can relocate it to my uncles farm during the stinky flower phase (one website said "simply cut it off"-are they insane?). The literature says they stink for aproximately 24-48 hours, how much longer will the inflorescence stay around if it is not pollinated and the stink has dissipated?

As for fertilizer, can I fertilize as I do my orchids with the same balanced 20-20-20 at 1/4 or 1/2 strength every week or two?Should I use a "bloom formula" instead? Is Urea Free Orchid fertilizer OK to use or do I need something less "dainty" and more "heavy duty" like Miracle Grow?
 
Josh and CP2K, there's a bunch of questions here, so here goes....

humidity: seems that most are from tropical countries so it would probably be better to have higher humidity if possible however you should note that Amorphophallus is grown quite successfully by people in the UK and northern areas of the US so humidity is probably less important than it is for Neps.

Dormancy: for species like paeoniifolius, that grow naturally here, we have definite seasons. The wet season when it rains constantly is when they grow, and they die back for the dry season. For species like titanium the seasons are not co-ordinated as far as I know (all titanium don't go dormant at the same time) so I don't know?

They stink VERY bad, like you won't want to be around them!!!
One of my staff literally vomited in the greenhouse. The flower takes a couple of days to properly form and eventually bloom. It stinks for a day or so then starts to go mushy. It kind of falls apart and turns to goop a few days later.

I would vary the fertiliser to ensure they get a good range, go for the heavy duty stuff every few weeks, at least once a month.

hope that helps, Troy.
 
Its a shame that such a magnificent flower only lasts but a day or two  
sad.gif

If things go the way I hope, I will get to see a A. titanum bloom for the first time, at the Cal State Fullerton greenhouse.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Here's two pics I took of it last year.
biggrin.gif

t_arum1.jpg


t_arum2.jpg
 
Hi swords,

I'm growing the plant in question North of Detroit, MI. I got the plant for free last spring at a plant propagation class held at Plant Delights Nursury. I paid for the class so I guess the plant was not realy free.

I simply planted it ouside in the shade and it did great. I dug up the tuber in the fall when the foliage died. I'm keeping it on a shelf in the basement, no soil, peat moss or anything. It's doing well and I'm looking forward to planting it outside in late spring. The tuber had three offstes as well which I will be planting.

It is my understanding that if you grow the plant this way, it will flower when indoors and stick up the house for a day or so. I'm not looking forward to that! My wife does not share my fascination with a plant that smells like dead animals!

Glenn
wink.gif
 
  • #10
I grow A.konjac in The Great Lakes area. This will be my third year. I still haven't got it to flower yet. I hope my wife don't read this, I told her that this is not the one that stinks. Boy will she be surprised
wow.gif
 
mad.gif

lol. I can't wait until I see her face. It'll be better than when I told her to smell the S.flava flower
tounge.gif

I've only encountered one problem. Last spring when I planted them ( I had two). Both started to grow, the little pink nub was coming out. I kept checking on them to make sure they were ok. One broke the soil fine and was growing, but the other never did. I figured I'd better dig it up to make sure it was ok. I felt around the pot but I couldn't find it. I pulled out a big handful of ants. The bulb was completely gone, I guess the ants ate it. I checked the other konjac to make sure it was ok, it had ants in it too, but not as many. I was able to save that plant.
I dig mine up in the fall. Last fall the bulb doubled in size (about the size of an apple) and I got about three small dime size bulbs. Does anybody know about how big the bulb needs to be before it'll flower?
 
  • #11
this is becoming an interesting topic . anyways , i do not have any amorphophallus at the moment so I'm looking for konjac , paeoniifolius , and bulbifer . troy , I went to an azn market but the only thing I could find was taro bulbs , so they do sell konjac and paeoniifolius at azn markets , i buy mines from cooks . i wodner why planst with stinky flowers last for such a lil time , porbabl;y it rots cuz it smells like rot . troy , i believe the correct spelling id titanum not titanium , but I'm not sure , let me check my book , eyp , i';m right . it seems that most ppl get there aroids from a man in poland , thats weird . anyways , i have 3 tips when this plant flwoers , domnot use it as a cut flwoer , do not give it to someone for valentines day , and do not show it to a crowd of ppl unless you got gas mask , althought I enerv smelled or seen a flwoer from what ppl say , trust me
wink.gif
. troy , if you still have those bulbs , I would still be interested in taking them .
 
  • #12
I got my Amorphophallus from Ebay in the mail today. It appears to have survived the journey fine and the petiole is unbroken just a little curved to one side but I'm sure this is likely due to no light and water for a few days. It's a plant about 18" tall with about an 18" canopy spread. It arrived planted in only a 4" pot, so I think it'll be a lot longer than 2 seasons before it flowers! It's still a neat plant and I'm not dissapointed in anyway.

Everyone talks about good drainage but it looks like mine is growing in just about 100% peat (maybe some coarse sand in there), Should I uproot it and put it in peat/orchid bark or peat/pearlite? Is this OK to use for this season? Does anyone have a potting mix formula they can relay that they've been successful with?
I was thinking of teh following: composted manue (non-stinky), blood meal, sphagnum peat and orchid bark but I don't know a lot about soil mixes that use actual fertilizer. All of my experience is with "soilless" mixes for CPs and orchids or submerged aquatics in my fishtanks. I've never used "heavy" soils so It's a bit of a new thing to learn for me. Can I use too much of the CM and BM? Do these additives foul the soil with too much nutrients or is the breakdown slow?

Awesome, a flower that makes you vomit!
biggrin.gif
 
  • #13
Cool! You got an actual plant, I was thinking you were receiving a dormant tuber. I wouldn't uproot it, I think their roots are too delicate and you make end up breaking too many of them. I use a mixture of peat/coconut fiber/compost/vermiculite/bark chip. <--- listed in no particular order. Oh, and I also use potting soil with osmocote pellets in them
smile.gif
 
  • #14
I used premixed potting soil and miracle grow.
 
  • #15
Coir, perlite, vermiculite and charcoal.
biggrin.gif
 
  • #16
Khai, what's Coir?
Do you mix equal parts?
 
  • #17
I believe Coir is shredded coconuts (i.e. cocopeat) isn't it?
 
Back
Top