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Amorphophallus titanum progress thread


TCurrell

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thanks for the advice, i'll probably wait until it puts out it's 3rd set of leaflets then to be safe. Luckily i have lost of Sphagnum moss knocking about, do you use dead/ dried or living and how long and how successful are the leaf pullings with titanum?

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There's only one type of sphagnum we can get here. It's dry, packed compressed and comes from NZ. People claim to have got complete plants from leaf cuttings, mine so far are only leaflets with small tubers. Going to try watering some with coconut milk, I read recently it has growth hormones in it. You never know til you've tried, and I have lots of coconuts laying around that could be put to good use if it works.

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Let's know whatever you find out. I found reference to it accidentally on some Indian research on coconuts. It was a bit vague and I haven't had time to follow it up. Experimenting with it myself might be quicker. But it seems quite plausible as the coconut embryo is bathed in the coconut milk. Only thing is it's sterile and air tight in the coconut. Don't know what happens if it's exposed to air (oxygen) and/or light. One of my dormant Titans has started to sprout so I might have a few leaflets to try shortly. We're coming to the end of winter and a month off the wet season, so a good time to be doing this.

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My only concern would be that it may be tricky to control mold growth as it seems to be around 3% sugar which i would assume is enough to incubate mold nicely. I guess if kept in check the benefits could out weigh the mold risk though.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Just an update, my A. titanum is putting out a second petiole and the first leaves look as strong and lively as ever. The next petiole looks like it will be a fair bit bigger too :)

 

IMG_20150922_210553_zpskjhht55u.jpg

 

I also purchased an A. bulbifera to keep him company

 

IMG_20150922_210621_zpsdgccatho.jpg

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When mine were still seedlings/small I'd get up to 3 petioles at a time on each and no dormant period. Then the other year they went into dormancy and only have one petiole when active. At the moment one has just opened out and the other is in the early stages of leaf growth. The leaf cuttings aren't doing much other than just being leaf cuttings. They do have small tubers though.

I bought a bulbifer a few years back. Now I have hundreds of them. Or, HAD hundreds of them. End of last season I started pulling them out and throwing them onto the fire heap. A lot will have evaded me but at least there shouldn't be enough to leave that perpetual rotten nauseating stench around the garden, LOL.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

A couple of leaves should help it develop faster. One of my titanums has shrunk, don't know why.  The A. gigas that flowered last year has come out with a petiole bigger than ever, over 2 metres tall to where the leaflets start. Also had a bulbifer and a galbra flower, with maybe a paeoniifolius flowering soon. Most of them however, are still dormant probably due to our unusually dry weather.

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My gigas has had a rather chequered history. I got it from someone who hadn't looked after it so the tuber had shrunk. After I got it branches fell on it one year and broke off most of the leaflets. Then strong wind bent the petiole right over (at right angles) splitting it and letting insects in. The insects ate out the centre of the petiole leading to very early dormancy. Put it into a more sheltered position for the following year but the sun got too strong for it and burned the leaflets. Early dormancy again. And finally last year it flowered. Then nearly a month ago the petiole got up over 2 metres but I found it laying on the ground bent at right angles again. Straightened and tied it to bamboo next to it. Then painted the damaged part of the petiole with grafting/pruning paint to keep it sterile and pests out. So far so good despite the high temperatures and dry conditions we've been getting. Average maximum so far for November has been 38.2C and far too dry. I was worried it'd go into early dormancy again. It's more suited to cloud forest conditions so fingers still crossed.

This one's A. bulbifer, a pretty common Amorph that multiplies like crazy. Individually (out in the open) the smell's not particularly bad. But I let it get away in one part of the garden and ended up with lots of plants flowering over an extended period of time. The smell just became too much so I ended up ripping most of them out and burning them. Spathes are around 200 to 300mm tall.

gw_n_141111_04.jpg
 

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