whos going to grow amorph titanum this year?

i am so grateful to u all that got me hooked on amorphs.. lol yea..
grateful.. :)
i was thinking.. i should start a thread for this yr..or beyond.. of whos
growing to try..is growing amorph titanum..
would love tons of pics,, good bad experiences.. what were using for
potting mix.. how big the corms started..or from seed..where u got them..
fertilizers..watering..light..heating..humidity.. the whole sha..bang...
what do ya all think...???

You could have at least put a more realistic title on the thread:

Confessions of a True Addict

LOL

lol.. hi, my name is dave..and im an addict..
:)
yeppers..guilty :)

heres pic of small titanum .it came out of dormancy about
month and 1/2 ago.. it shot up nice last 2 weeks..
its only 8" tall.. corm size when i repotted it was just under 1"
this yr im making my own potting mix.. hopefully wont have problem
i had last yr with my biggest titanum corm.. sigh.. RIP....
hope to see more postings of u all's titanums..hint..hint..:)

that titanum from previous pic is doing great !!! :)
also my larger corm will be comming this week from tindara
YEA !!!
i hope they put some up on ebay..
ya..go ahead tropic..say it.. yea.. im addicted..
i think im going to keep a amorph journal too..
??? anyone else keep a journal on how big corm is when
potted up..how growing season went, vegy growth, girth of
petiole, potting mix used..etc..??

heres updated pics of that small titanum..
its now 19" (48cm) and fully branched out leaves..
i am liking the new potting mix im using..
70% .. pine bark fines
20% .. pumice larger chunks
10% .. peat moss
im going to use it on my bigger corm too..i have pot all set
corm is to be here mid next week..
YEA !!!

well i got my larger titanum corm today !!
yea !!
its 17# (7.7 kg), almost 12inches (30 cm) wide and
about 11 inches (28 cm) tall..
its just starting to come out of dormancy..has a few nice
thick white roots..
got it potted up today..wow..what a chore..:) of love...:)
im using my "new" potting mix .. 70% pine bark, 20% pumice
10% peat .. ive added zeolite, azomite,kelp meal,oyster shell
and gave a good dose of herbal fungicide.. not going to loose this
one !!!!!!!! :)
heres a couple pics.. will post more as petiole breaks potting mix..
and shoots up..

fun observation i had on my smaller titanum the other day..
i was watering/fertilizing.. and i saw this protusion out of one of the
drainage holes of pot..what was it??? a root.. this is like 7" (18cm) below
the top of corm.. thats one longgggggg root..:)
im anxious when it goes dormant and i unpot it..to see how much growth the
corm put on this growing season.
the large corm petiole hasnt broke top of potting mix..yet.. i buried it with
8" ( 20 cm) of potting mix over the corm.. i think with a corm this size it will
need plenty of room for roots to develop..
growing season for me is just starting..so anxious to see how big these
"kids" get.. LOL

we are sure getting the heat..hit 93F (33.8C) today..suppose to hit
100 F (37.8 C) tomorrow..whew..
i had to move all my konjac,hewetti,titanum into total shade today..
i was planning to..but not till end of june.. its only 1st week of june..
wonder if were gonna have a monster hot summer this yr???
i see the NOAA is forcasting well above temps for center of USA..
utah on edge of it..but above temps is the "prediction forcast"..
my largest titanums are going good.. nice petioles showing above the
potting mix.. YEA !!!
i'll take pics and post soon..
hope others will post pics of titanums.. hint..hint.. :)

The titanum I repotted still hasn't surfaced. I sent down an exploratory team to investigate. It appears the tuber is sprouting but still very short. Couldn't risk going under the tuber to check that other growth.

It's been windy again the past couple of days. The titanums aren't liking it. The shade cloth isn't heavy enough and the Poinciana tree it's under is losing its leaves fast. With the hot dry wind and the sun coming through too strong the leaflets are wilting each day but still hanging in. I'm going to have to start looking for another solution.

tropic..im sure u will come up with good solution to your wind and
protection for your titanums..:)
i hear ya on being anxious to know whats going on under the potting mix..
lol.. until we see the petiole show its head..always wondering..??? is it rotting,
still dormant.. growing..??
no strong winds much here..my situation is strong hot direct sun..
luckily neighbours have a big pine tree that gives afternoon shade to small part of
my yard..so thats where my amorphs are going to be spending the summer...
actually thinking of getting something that is strong..and could elevate the pots even
just an inch (couple cm) above the ground..for pots to have even better drainage..
not sure i really do need it..with new potting mix im using..
just always thinkin of "wonder if..." :)

hope u all are doing good out there.. guess in southern hemisphere going into..
autumn.. here full on summer.. yea!!! for me..LOL :)
?? question..a good/new friend and new to titanum..is having slow response
to his titanum corm comming out of dormancy..
he got it from ..what i think..is best source of titanums here..(tindara)
i told him..my very "new" expreriences with titanums as with ive found with
all amorphs.and especially the "tropicals" is they will come out of dormancy
when they are good and ready.. :)
my 3 largest.. 17#,12#,and 6# are just popping there petiole heads out of
top of potting mix..
my friend is in mid south..and is keeping his corm in a greenhouse.. nites
are 70F ( 21 C) which seems good to me..
so..anyone else experiencing there titanums..or any of there amorphs
slow to growth???
much thanks...

With 21C in a greenhouse the titanums should be okay to come up. But remember, they're equatorial, no summer/winter varaition as such. Technically 2 wet seasons, although you could say it rains right through. So their cycle isn't geared up to your summers and winters. They're probably going to respond to the time interval since last growing. Tindara would have them in an artificially heated environment. Their plants are probably on all different cycles. Can't explain why my little ones keep going right through, one of them having grown constantly for about 3 years now with up to 3 petioles at the one time. It definitely seems keen to grow bigger.

good info tropic!!! as always.. :)
im finding that is so true with corms i get from tindara..
ive bought some late spring (my spring) may.. and ive gotten
one in late summer (my summer) august..
as u said.. because they are greenhouse grown..the corms have
developed there own cycles of growth and dormancy..
my small titanum in earlier pic.. has been in almost constant growth..
i think it had a dormancy of maybe a month..if that..and pop..out came
another petiole..
i think ..me having to adapt to what the particular titanums culture is.. dormancy/
vegy growth/hopefully one day FLOWERING !!! :) is what makes it facinating
for me..
its challenging..in many ways.. especially when they get huge.. but also..
when ya see a healthy,agressive vegy growth.. i can know.. i had a hand in
that.. :)
still hoping to get a descus-salvae, and gigas.. making some good friends
over on IAS.. so..hopefully !!!
tropic??? u have any gators make all those ponds u put in... there home???
if so.. be careful man...

By the way, winter starts here 1st of June. Autumn starts 1st of March, spring 1st of September and summer 1st of December.

So far my larger ponds/waterholes dry up in the dry season. Crocs know that's not a time to stay around. But when I start making them permanent they will be fenced in.

This message was edited Jun 16, 2013 10:37 AM

if i ever move to australia..would take getting use to flip of seasons..
:)
good to hear youre watchin out for danger tropic!!!!

well the small titanum leaf shriveled..and unpotting it..theres it is..another
sprout already comming up..
?? tropic..you said you had a smaller titanum that was the"little engine that could" too??
stayed in vegetative growth for along time..without much or any dormancy between
old/new petiole??
looks like thats what this one is doing.. good by me..hope the corm puts on some
nice size again !
heres couple pics of my everrrrrrr so..slooooowwwww growing titanums..
lol.. in the last 8 days or so..they have come more to life..
odd..the taller one..is 2nd one planted..almost a month later..?? go figure..
short one..is the 17# ( 7.7 kg), the taller petiole started at 12 # ( 5.4 kg) as of today..its 21" ( 53 cm ) tall..
both corms have really extensive root growth and developement..so i guess everything is good..
i'll be overwintering them in the house for sure.. i'll have to haul them in early sept..
nites will be to cool for them..
the fully leafed out amorh is a big konjac..

We're on the other side of mid winter, and come August it should stay consistently warmer. The last couple of mornings we had what I call our freezes, got down to 11.5C. Going up now so hope that's it for the year.

The titanum that's never gone dormant (always had one or two new leaves fully open before the oldest withered) is still going with only one leaf now. It was sitting in the biggest titanum's pot and because I couldn't repot (because it's constantly growing) I cut part of the pot away and filled over with new soil. When the old large titanum finally withered I took out the tuber and filled in with new soil. So now the young one has the whole pot to itself.

The seedling that did go dormant is getting ready to unfurl its leaflets. It's much smaller than the seedling that has never gone dormant. But it has new soil so should go well.

The old larger tuber is sitting in a box. Got a new pot and set it up with soil and now letting the soil settle in. Tomorrow I hope to put fungicide through it, and a few days later replant the large tuber. It's not showing any sign of emerging, apart from a small stub at the top of the tuber. But it's better off in the pot. It's always been an end of November/early December starter.

They're all in the new location, shade from tree canopy, up against a tough species of bamboo, and sheltered from wind by lots of trees and other plants.

???
has anyone else noticed that some college/unis greenhouses have
flowering titanums in what i think of as... "not so big pots:"???
another one is blooming in WI ..and is getting the publicity..which i think
is very cool!!!...
but looking at the pot they have it in..it looks like around 24" wide pot..
and to me..for a flowering titanum corm.. around 6 yrs old..and probably
around 50 lbs.. so..im guessing..thats probably around 16 " wide corm..
so.. seems to me ..if it is how im perceiving the pot..as a 24" pot.. thats not
alot of room for the corm... am i nuts????
my understanding with titanums.. they like lots of room..for their root system
to spread out..????
what do u all think?????

heres pic of most leafed out large titanum..
it was 12 pounds ( 5.4 kg) when i potted it up..
its 50 inches tall so far ( 127 cm) im thinking from past experience
that it could put on another 6-10 inches before its done..then the leaves
will spread out..and drop a bit in height..
its 5.5 inches ( 14 cm) in girth at the base of the petiole..
the larger..and definately more stuborn titanum..is comming along..
just at its own sweet time..LOL... :)

I have been watching these proably too hot here to grow 30 dollars for a seed turns me off too. I will enjoy watching yours thanks for posting the pic's!!

i dont know dana.. u r just east of tampa.. mid florida.. i would think you would
do well with amorphs there...
certainly you would have the humidity i dont have..sigh..
and a longer growing season for them outside.. probably would only have to make
a cover for protection from a winter frost..
?? what tropicals do you grow there???

I have the yams foot they grow well here konjac and giraffes knees few others I leave them in the ground all year round. I just can't bring my self to pay that much . I grow different bananas too won't pay 100 bucks for a varigated either lol

$30 a seed! Are they really that expensive now. When I got mine a few years ago it wasn't anywhere near that much. Looks like I'm going to have to get the prodding stick into mine and get them flowering and producing seeds ASAP. I might get to paying off my mortgage in my life time yet, LOL.

only seeds i ever see for sale are on ebay..from guy in poland..
seeds go for around.. $30..and $38 for sprouted ones..
he gets this too..ya..tropic..u start selling those titanum seeds..and you'll be
buying more land.. :)

thats right there some one in vermont selling corms pretty reasonable

I guess in Poland he'd have his work cut out getting titanums flowering and seeding. Unless he has suppliers in Sumatra (or selewhere in Indonesia) sending them to him. Tindara in the US used to sell them. Have they stopped?

hey tropic !!
dont know the details of why tindara isnt selling amorphs anymore..and the brother
in law is..
it was lou that has the greenhouses and started with the amorphs in the 1st place..as i understand
it.. and he is the one selling on ebay this summer..
i got a couple more from him.. like i really need more titanums.. LOL :)
there is a guy in germany that sells small corms.. titanums,hewittii,gigas,and descus-salvae..as i
understand.. i think he does leaf cuttings..but i could be wrong on that part..
ive gotten to know him some from aroid.org.. really good guy..
he wont have anything for sale until fall.. he deals only in small corms..no big plants.. i dont think he
has the room..

ya just have to love these plants dont ya...
i am always amazed at the speed of growth titanums have..
once they get going..
the 12# titanum is now 68 inches (173 cm) tall and the petiole is
just over 6 inches (15 cm) wide at the base..
not sure it will put on much more height..before the leaves open up..and it drops
a bit in height..
heres a couple pics..
the bigger corm .. 17 pounds.. "mr slow" is slowwwwwlllly comming alive.. its now
28 inches (71 cm) tall.. sigh.. snorrrrrr.. LOL

elephant foot yam its over 6 ft and trunk is as fat as around the top of my arm I leave them in the ground

dana.. very cool !!!
here in utah i wouldnt dare try leaving any tropical in the ground..
lucky u !!!! :)
you probably will get some nice side corms off that konjac !!!
ya !! more plants ...

nope not Konjac its elephants foot yam it makes a very big cool mushroom I grew mine from seed they are maybe 3 years old

just checked it out.. got ya.. its actually amorphophallus paeonofolius..
i have a couple..one im hoping will put on some size this growing season..
:)
i have noticed the biggest one has sort of shrunk in height the last couple
weeks.. im hoping that its putting all that energy back into the corm..

That's not a "mushroom" that grows from the A. paeoniifolius tuber. It's the usual aroid spathe and spadix, just that the spadix is a bit different shaped to most other aroids.

well if I had to describe thats what I call it looks like one lol

I guess mushrooms/toadstools come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. This is a photo of one of my A. paeoniifolius flowering.

wow isn't that neat how old are they when they flower

HI Dave,
The titanum is doing great, and the automatic watering system worked like a charm while we were gone for 9 days. It's 11 ft tall (from the bottom of the pot), bumping up against the ceiling of the garage, with parts of the leaf (petiole?) hanging over the rails for the garage door (see the pic with my daughter standing next to it). I still have the plant light sitting on the edge of the pot facing up since there is no room above the plant, and it seems to be working.
I'm starting to think about dormancy and next year. Has anyone trying cutting back on the watering to induce dormancy? It would be much easier if it was dormant over our coldest months, as I'm thinking I could heat the garage so it was a minimum of 65-70 degrees, rather than 80-85. With respect to repotting, Tindara said the bulb could double or triple in size in a year (I should be so lucky, growing it in a garage!), and they also recommended 6-8" between the bulb and the side of the pot. That's going to be one big pot!

hey steve !!! great to hear from you..
and way to go on that vegetative growth !!!
you said your corm was around 20# when u potted it up??
from my very limited experience with titanums..tropic in darwin australia knows more..
but from my experience..only going on 3rd yr now.. is these plants will do what they want
when they want.. sigh..:)
i had same thinking as you.."ok.now what can i do to induce dormancy in dec-march.."
i dont think its possible..sigh..:(
i know lou where u bought the corm from..he is very helpful and open to culture talk..
and the guy has grown 1000s of titanums..
also over on IAS (international aroid society) there are some good people there.. takes time
to get there attention..but especially in germany..there are some pretty serious amorph growers..
what im planning to do.. is when my largest titanums are there..probably 2 growing seasons out
so somewhere in 2015.. im going to have to put up a tall greenhouse.
one reason im sure not so many gardeneres ..in non tropical areas.. dont get to deep into
the "tropical" amorphs.. titanum,gigas,hewiittii, descus-salvae.. is the mature size of the
vegetative growth.. titanum can be as tall as 18 ft ..i bet lou has some taller..
just a thought steve.. where your at..not real cold in winter.. maybe you could put up a semi perminant greenhouse when your monster is in leaf..
move it only when dormant..
and potting.. with size youre at now.. you are going to need a bigger pot.. ive done my google searching.. what im going to go into are huge fabric pots.. there are BIG pots out there..and they
are PRICEY !!!
and ya..if you grow it well.. if you did start with a 20# corrm.. you could easily have a 50 # one
at end of this growth season.. when its done..
keep us posted steve...
?? is that your daughter??? what does she think of dads monster plant???? :)

yes.. i yet again got another titanum..
hi..my name is dave..and i have a problem collecting
amorphophallus..
:)
this one is 9 pounds, just under 9 inches wide..
i especially like the root growth..and alot of hair roots too..
i sprayed it with bio fungicide..then planted it up today..
mmm.. i wonder if im done for the yr.. lol