Alocasia Brisbanensis

[Steve in D.C.]

Hi All , for those of us who got the seeds Peter Richardson kindly sent from Oz I'd just like to post acouple of pics of progess.
I had about 20 seedlings of Alocasia Brisbanensis now I'm down to 7 or 8 .The seedlings do well but seem subject to sudden rot if the moisture levels get out of control. My seedlings are a bit behind as they were late to sprout.
I'm going to send some spares out this week then I don't have to worry about them anymore.
They seem to have speckled stems , I think it was on LariAnn Garners site Aroidia that I read that some Brisbanensis have speckled stems , most are green.
Later
Steve

[Randy4ut]

Hey Steve,
That is a very nice looking brisbanensis... From what I have seen, here in the US, CentralFloridaFarms has also described a variety with a mottled stem. Best of luck with them and keep us posted to their, its, progress. You are keeping at least one for yourself aren't you???

[Steve in D.C.]

Hi Randy , I'll keep two and see if I can get more seeds or a cross at some point in time. I'll send out the strongest plants first. I have a few different Alocasia at the moment , I hope to have some flowers on the bigger plants next year. I think they take a very very long time for the seeds to get ripe.
Later
Steve

[Don]

Melissa gave me one of these as a small plant which seems to have thrived and has the speckled stem. It's been in a tray of water along with various Sarracenia in the greenhouse and unlike the rest of the Alocasias seems to be not a favourite food for Red Spider mite. I think that I might try and keep it in active growth inside the house until I can get a few pups with which to experiment.
Has anyone worked out the correct name of this plant yet

[Steve in D.C.]

Mine just got sprayed for Red Spider Mite the other week but it took a while for the problem to be noticable, so you could well be right about them having some resistance. I'm pretty sure Alocasia Brisbanensis is the right name , there is lots of info on the plant if you Google that name.I grew mine on the Windowsill for the past few months , they only went out about ten days ago.They have done a lot better outside, could be the Red Spider Mite treatment , could be the higher temps and light.
Al the best
Steve

[Don]

I just assumed that the name was a Joke made up by Dr. Richardson
Seems the Joke is on me It's only this time of year when Red Spider Mite is actually red so I will be vigilant.

[Dave Brown]

Nice healthy looking plant Steve, The stem looks similar to A Portadora, but leaf obviously different. Don't know anything about these, but some colocasia and Alocasia, rot off if the compost next to the stem is wet, I use pea gravel to mulch.

[Steve in D.C.]

Don it happens to the best of us .For my part on the name front, I'm ashamed to say I lose track of what plants are out there and keep wondering what I have . There is an evil label Fairy out there that steals labels I'm sure of it.

Nice tip there dave, I've gotta try something. It seems to me also that as the compost settles that the base of the plants is getting exposed, this then leads to them moving in the wind and roots breaking which in turn leads to a general decline in the plant. The problem is not as simple as adding more compost to make the plant more stable because as you said compost packed around the base of the stem may lead to rot. I need to keep ahead to the problem and catch plants before they become exposed at base level. This may just be my pot culture methods as I mix my own compost and it does seem to drop a lot as it rots down and gets compacted by rain and watering. I think I better stake a few plants and do my version of the pea gravel.I find Colocasia Gigantea 'Thai' really hard to stop from root rotting and wind broken roots. I've staked my one Gigantea up, I've killed three of the in the last 18 months and I'm determined to get a extra Giant Gigantea next Summer so I need to keep this plant going well.

Later
Steve

[Troppoz]

The name depends on the authority.... I have seen it described as a ssp of A. macrorriza but usually as A. brisbaniensis which is what I call it.

Mine have the speckled petioles as well, sometimes almost forming a striped pattern. Cant vouch for its hardiness in your climes but here it is very dependable but does not reach the size of A. mac...

Sean

[tropical-pete]

Wow Steve, mine are doing well but yours are doing brilliantly!!! I see one even has a little pup of it's own I think I'll aim to get mine potted on over the weekend, I'll take some pics of them then.

Pete

[Mark]

Mine is coming along nicely. Not a contender for the biggest leaf competition this year though.

I do like the markings on the stems.

Steve, Do you think the Thai Giant will be a bigger plant than Jacks Giant ?

[Steve in D.C.]

Mark , I've seen a Colocasia Gigantea 'Thai Giant' locally that was huge. I'd say that if one could grow it well it would b bigger than 'Jack's Giant'. But 'Jacks Giant is easy ,Gigantea Thai is very hard to grow. I'm ready to give up an plants that are really fussy even here with the heat and humidity.
Later
Steve

[Mark]

I do have a Colocasia Gigantia , but not the Thai one ( unless there is only one)

Mine needs re potting really trouble is all it will do is take up more space in the poly and I just haven't got the room.

[Mark]

Just been reading about this plant and it seems the stems are not speckled
http://www.aroidia.com/abrisban.htm

So maybe its not the same plant as we all have

[Melissa]

I wonder what it is then the leaves don't look the same either

Melissa