Amorphophallus titanum

[JBALLY]

Once it starts growing you could try and fertilize it with viagra and see if that helps lol

[Troppoz]

Just spotted this on Ebay, Im sorely tempted!!

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/181101072906 ... 1423.l2649

[jimhardy]

That was an incredible video of an awesome plant!

[Troppoz]

A curious friend wanted to see my Amorphophallus so I carefully retrieved it from the pot and had a quick examination and took a some pictures for posterity, which I really should have done in the first place

All looks good, no growth yet but no sign of rot or any nasties, the 2 hybrid tubers have produced some nice healthy white roots so they should be sprouting soon so I didnt disturb then any further.

Once the leaf emerges from these Ill post some pics, and hopefully if I can win the A. hewitti from Ebay my Amorphophallus collection will be complete!



What am I talking about??? My plant collection is never complete

[miketropic]

There is one very good supplier of these here in the states I am going to give them a call friday and see if I can reserve a few 1lb tubers to ship in may

[Troppoz]

Let us know how you get on with them Mike. Do you have the roof space to overwinter them?

I just negotiated with the vendor of the Amorphophallus hewittii to buy one without going to auction, $75 and a somewhat larger and sturdier plant so I know have the largest, second largest, third largest and fourth largest flowers in the world!

Who said size doesnt matter?

[miketropic]

a friend of mine collects them he has 2 of yours but there are 2 others he is looking for and cannot find I think there.. salvae discus and gigas. Are those easy to come by over there? he has a titanum and a hewetti already and is really trying to find those. nice work on picking up the hewetti. I usually try to go outside an auction to a seller myself for a better deal.

[Sal73]

not a Titanum but just bought 5 kg of suran from my local asian shop
they should be amorphophallus paeoniifolius , it now season , so if anyone got an asian store near by.
overall will have a titanum next year , finger cross

[Troppoz]

a friend of mine collects them he has 2 of yours but there are 2 others he is looking for and cannot find I think there.. salvae discus and gigas. Are those easy to come by over there? he has a titanum and a hewetti already and is really trying to find those. nice work on picking up the hewetti. I usually try to go outside an auction to a seller myself for a better deal.

Mike as I mentioned earlier in the thread Ive picked up 2 hybrids - A. gigas x decus-silvae and the reverse cross A. decus-silvae x gigas but I dont have the true species of either. Now that youve mentioned it I might contact the seller and ask if he has either available, you can never have too many of these things


Sal Im really partial to the good ol' A. paeoniifolius, its common as muck here (grows in the local rainforests) but I really appreciate the marblings on the leaf stalk, its almost like its covered with lichen and has the most amazing texture to touch. The leaves reach impressive sizes, the largest Ive seen was wild and I could stand underneath it. The flowers are quite extraordinary but give out quite the stench! How are you planning to overwinter them?

[Troppoz]

Mike I just heard back from the seller I got the A. titanum from and he has told me he has an A. decus-silvae that he will sell me once it goes into dormancy. He only has 2 A. gigas but he wants to keep them so Ill just have to settle for a decus-silvae, but I reckon I can live with that

[Alexander]

Alexander Ive been told by the guy that I bought it from that the biggest threat to them is poor drainage which can rot the tuber very rapidly. He recommends lifting the tuber every time it goes dormant and checking for rot and treating with a copper paste if rot is present. Ive put it into a large pot with lots of drainage holes and used a mixture of well rotted leaf mould, aged woodchip and river sand so it should drain well. Ive raised the pot off the ground and will move it under cover in prolonged rain, that is if there is anywhere under cover it can fit

The 2 hybrids Im hoping will have some extra vigour but since the cross is so novel theres no information on how well they grow so its wait and see. Its given me ideas to make my own crosses using the local species A. paeoniifolius as a parent to confer a bit of ground hardiness. My mum has even grown it in Canberra successfully so its an adaptable plant.

As for nematodes, Ill keep an eye out for the slimey fiends. If they are spotted Ill use Nemacur, or maybe plant some marigolds for a hippy solution. Im just hoping that the similarity in climate will be on my side rather than the artificial greenhouse conditions most seem to be grown in. Id love to see them in the wild, that would be quite awesome, maybe one day but I found this video of them growing in their native habitat:

Well you live in Darwin, so Sumatra is not that far from you. And its probably still very cheap to travel there and accomadation is also much cheaper then back home.

The places to look are arround Sipirok and also near Bukittinghi. Well near those 2 places I saw them just growing along the roadside! Also many Nepenthes species on Sumatra. And palms, well for the Asiatic tropical stuff you will not get dissapointed there!

Well the big Amorphophallus are about 3000 km from Darwin! There are 2 on Sumatra and one on Western Java.

Here in the hortus botanicus in Leiden the Genus Amorphophallus is one of the plants they are specialist in. The ones at Kew are also from Leiden, well at least some of them as I have heard from Art Vogel. He was the one responsible for the conservatories in Leiden until recently. And I know him personally. So I have heard a lot from him about those plants.
The hortus is specialised in Malaysian flora as a whole also.

Alexander

[Troppoz]

My Amorphophallus hewitti arrived today

Size wise its the most expensive plant I have ever bought, its about 10cm high with 2 leaves and cost $75.00au (about 50 pounds in your language). It will be a while before it reaches flowering size but its a long term investment and something to look forward to!

[aroidnut]

good to be here..
hi to all..
i spoke with frank at tindara.. they will be digging there corms in a week..
i have a big one comming.. will add a couple more titanums.. then i want to
get a couple each of descus-salvae..and gigas..
my small titanum sure has put on size last month..
i took pics of corm before potting up..and it came out of dormancy..
hope it puts on some nice size this growing season!!!!

[aroidnut]

hi all..
there just arent enough sites for discussing amorphs..
sean..so u r the one starting the thread..."disformed penis" ???
heheehe.. lol
guess u r going into your fall now.. mid spring here.. spoke with my source for big
titanum..they will ship in couple weeks.. just to make sure temps are ok ..
i wish i had your sources down under..that are doing those hybids of tropical amorphs..
and btw..im not giving up on locating a musa ingens..
i agree with nematodes as potential problem with "tropical" amorphs..
and that the soil is good draining..
im using a fungicide on all my tropical amorphs now.. (only titanum and hewettii right now)
and im making my own potting mix now..
a 5:1:1 mix.. 5 parts pine bark, 1 part peat moss, 1 part pumice
great drainage.. i do have to water more.. and expecting that this growing season..
but.. what we do for the plants we love...
oh..and??? if anyone knows where i can get a discus-salvae and gigas.. please PLEASE
email me...
much thanks

[Troppoz]

Hi Nut and welcome to the forum

No movement on my titanum yet, but the decus-silvae/gigas hybrids are growing fast, the new leaf spikes are about 40cm high now but the leaf blade hasnt unfurled yet. Im starting to get a decent collection of Amorphs going now, Ive got bulbs of hirsutus, laccourii, symonianus, bulbifer, galbra, dunnii, muellerii and paeoniflious sitting dormant waiting until the wet season so will be a few months before I see them. Hewittii and konjac are the only others that are in leaf but they are quite small plants at the moment...

Speaking of which its not "fall" where I am (we call it Autumn in Australia), I live in the far north where its practically equatorial so we are heading into our dry season where we still have temperatures around 33c (~90F) every day but no humidity. Down south of the country they are well and truly into Autumn, the first snow falls of the year in the highlands over the weekend, Canberra is set to have its first sub zero of the year tonight...

So what amorphs or aroids are you growing, and how do you over winter in your location?