Alocasia Macrorrhiza 'Black Stem - 'Will it recover?

[Amberforce]

Hi All

I have just bought an Alocasia Macrorrhiza 'Black Stem' off Ebay. It came from Malaysia four days ago but one of the stems is bent over and the leaf is curled up. Is this something that is likely to rectify itself? Could it be that it needs time to recover from its journey? It took five days to arrive, which I thought was pretty good from Malaysia. It was well packed and the rootball, which was covered in sphagnum, was still damp. There is no actual damage to the stem, but it has just leaned over more and more in the four days that I have had it.

Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/691/001pjj.jpg/

[Scott Radford]

Hi there

Take the sphagnum off the rootball and have a look at the roots. If it has no good new ones (you know what they look like) and only what seem old ones, that were trimmed to put into sphagnum then they will not support growth. This leaf and stem will simply wilt away.

I have faced exactly this situation myself in the past I'm assuming you got it from Shefloral and it's how he sends his plants. Put outside or in a greenhouse it will struggle, especially in this cool weather of now to grow. I have never had a failure by putting on a heat mat and keep moist but only from the bottom. Encourage the plant to produce roots to go and get that water. It works for me and the plant will grow. I'll put a pic on here laterof a yellow stemmed mac that's just undergoing this treatment and starting to grow

[Dave Brown]

When you say "one of the stems" do you mean leaf stalk, or is it a multi stem plant? if only one stem, does it have other leaves? and if not, does it have a thick stem and rhizome If so having no leaves will not affect it's chances. I've had Colocasia and Xanthososma from Malaysia in the past and they were decent size rhizomes, but with all leaves removed for shipping. As Scott said it will need acclimatising to our weather, but also to drier conditions. It may well be happy, very wet, in tropical heat, but they like to dry out more in their winter (dry season) which is what it will think it is in now.

[Amberforce]

Hi Scott

I took the sphagnum off as soon as I received it and the roots did seem to be quite old. Yes you're right I did get it from Shefloral.
I don't have a heat mat but I will make sure that I water it only from the bottom for the time being.
I'll certainly keep it on the kitchen window sill until it recovers. It's like the middle of winter here in North Lincs at the moment anyway!!

Thanks a lot

Andy.

[grub]

Andy have a look on fleabay for a heatmat, they're invaluable for aroids and nana's and can be got for a couple of quid .

[Scott Radford]

here is the yellow stemmed Alocasia macrorrhizos I talked about earlier, responding to bottom heat nicely

and most excitingly here is the effect of it finally getting one of my Cyrtosperma johnstonii to start to grow

[sanatic1234]

Very nice scott, are you intending on keeping it on the heated prop for a while longer till it has produced more leafs?

Amberforce. I reckon given some bottom heat and water it will be fine as long as it produces new roots then you will be ok.

[Amberforce]

Hi Aaron

I've never really heard of these heat mats before, but i've just had a quick look on Ebay. Are they also used for reptiles etc as these are the only ones that I can see? They must do some good though if so many people recommend them!!

Thanks

Andy

[sanatic1234]

To be honest i don't use heat matts, i use heated propagators but i remove the lid, so it acts as a heat matt if you like as it still gets its bottom heat. my heated prop still kicks out 32c with the lid off. with the lid on just over 40c. Heat matts are meant to be good, i too have heard a lot of good comments about them.

[Scott Radford]

Very nice scott, are you intending on keeping it on the heated prop for a while longer till it has produced more leafs?

Amberforce. I reckon given some bottom heat and water it will be fine as long as it produces new roots then you will be ok.

This new leaf is just the first formative one. The next one already showing in the stem will be the true leaf. On emergence I will remove it from the propagator as other wise it will get leggy as it searches for light that comes through the window at the far end. The same will be the case for the Cyrtosperma although that as yet will not be going outside. So far it is the only one of five to show signs of life and is so rare it's taken me two years and more to actually get one - so I'm not risking it in anything but tropical conditions. The same goes for my Typhonodorum lindlyanum plants. They are holding their own outside, though not exactly growing much as it's not really warm enough for them.

Here is a picture of my mature specimen.

As can be seen it is producing its first new leaf outside in our not so hot weather. I did have two, but something rampaged through my parents' garden and snapped the other one clean off and it hasn't as yet regrown. The wire mesh is not for the plant, but because it is growing in a 50/50 mix of Profile Greens calcined clay granules and Sphagnum Moss and the blackbirds keep stealing all the sphagnum they can lay their beaks on!

[sanatic1234]

That leaf looks like its going to big a big one scott, looks very healthy i feel for you on the birds situation, i had problems with birds and my Dicksonia antarctica's earlier on in the year, i had to put chicken wire a round those. worked though.

[The Codfather]

mine was like that.....I have bought from then too.....and it pulled through fine. I have had a couple of thins from there.

[Dave Brown]

i feel for you on the birds situation, i had problems with birds and my Dicksonia antarctica's earlier on in the year, i had to put chicken wire a round those. worked though.

I've had a problem with Herons as we are only 2 1/2 miles from the UK's largest Heronry. Recently I've had to put all the dining chairs around the accessible entry points to the pond, every evening, and put them back on the deck every morning

I've also had problems with Blackbirds throwing my bark mulch everywhere except where I put it . It really hacked me off having to gather the bark up from the lawn, paths and patio, and put it back on the beds, EVERY morning.

Yesterday, The empire stuck back . I bought a a plastic Heron, and some 2cm garden netting to cover the bark and hold it in position. The Heron was put in position next to the pond straight away, but did not have time to do the netting.

The irony is, there is no bark disturbance this morning...... so, has the Heron scared the Blackbirds off

Scott, there is a fundamental difference between us You are an avid Aroid collector, and I want a jungly garden which includes Aroids. An Aroid that has to spend it's life on a heat mat is of no interest to me. Starting them off on a heat mat is fine, but ultimately I want things in the garden in frost free months.

[Scott Radford]

Scott, there is a fundamental difference between us You are an avid Aroid collector, and I want a jungly garden which includes Aroids. An Aroid that has to spend it's life on a heat mat is of no interest to me. Starting them off on a heat mat is fine, but ultimately I want things in the garden in frost free months.

Close Dave there are actually two fundamental differences Yes I am an avid grower of Aroids, but crucially only those that like to grow in some water, that's the habitat of the three new ones I'm trying to get hold of to test their ability to grow here. They're such superb plants anyway they wll not be allowed to perish through lack of warmth, so I will grow them inside for as long as have to each year.

The second and most crucial difference is I'd love to live in the jungle. If I won the lottery I'd build something like Kew's climate controlled greenhouse and move into it with my plants, so I live in hope

You do though own a nice property with decent gardens and the space and conditions and authority to grow what you please. Due to disastrous circumstances a few years back, which I have no wish to go into, I no longer have an ability at the moment to own my own property. And the one I live in only has a jungle of leylandii and ivy which ensure pretty much else will not do very well in comparison - in fact not even grass will grow in the back garden! I have some bananas and strelitzia in pots out there but that's it for jungly stuff, I'm not risking it.

Most of my plants live in my parents' garden and specifically in their pond, but they've already reached the point where they say I have too many, and they want their garden for beans, cabbages, carrots and the like. Hence my plants fit only if they occupy a niche as they live in water, whereas there veggies can't

[Dave Brown]

It's not all fun owning a property. I'm just having to re-roof at the cost of a new small car Won't be buying many plants in the near few years

Picked up an Alocasia Black Stem today as a swap. Not sure if it is an A mac or not.