Titan Arum - Orchid Board

Tindomul · #1 07-17-2007, 04:38 PM

Hi all,

Would like to let you all know about the Titan Arum, Amorphophallus titanum which is about to bloom at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo - July 2007 Titan Arum Blooming
What a flower!!! Sue you HAVE to go.

Tindomul · #2 07-17-2007, 04:41 PM

Actually, I'm a bit late. Seems as though it flowered already.
http://gardens.uncc.edu/Titan%20Arum.htm

Dorothy · #3 07-17-2007, 10:22 PM

It's a 'feed me Seymour' plant!

and I hear does not smell like a rose!

Flowers · #4 07-17-2007, 11:10 PM

My little Amorphophallus titanum is just starting to come up right now. She's actually next to the computer desk in my room. I can't explain how she isn't dead.

Dorothy · #5 07-18-2007, 11:06 AM

Well, if she isn't - she sure will smell that way once it blooms .. but thankfully only for a short time ..

Tindomul · #6 07-18-2007, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flowers

My little Amorphophallus titanum is just starting to come up right now. She's actually next to the computer desk in my room. I can't explain how she isn't dead.

How are you keeping her? Wet, dry, well drained. I'de like to keep one if I could. We have a greenhouse at work, Im sure the college would be more than happy to let me grow one there.

Flowers · #7 07-18-2007, 01:40 PM

Haha, I'm not too worried about the smell. Every year, my Dracunculus vulgaris come up and flower, smelling like rotting meat.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tindomul1of9

How are you keeping her? Wet, dry, well drained. I'de like to keep one if I could. We have a greenhouse at work, Im sure the college would be more than happy to let me grow one there.

Definitely well drained. I keep her on the slightly moist side. Once the top of the soil (I don't mean a quarter inch down, I mean the very top) starts to get dry, I water until it runs out of the bottom. I'm sure in a more humid/warm environment, a little less water would be tolerable, but it's so dry and cold (relatively) here most of the time. Even so, the leaf stays up for a year or more when she's in active growth. I fertilize every week or so, when I do my orchids, with whatever fertilizer I'm using on them. The bulb, once dormant, cannot be stored dry. It's best left in the soil, checked every week or so for rot or other problems. All in all, she is one of the easiest plants I keep, believe it or not. Mine came from eBay. I paid quite a lot for it, and the bulb was the size of a golf ball. The price has come down considerably, and I think there might be a seedling or two on there right now.

Tindomul · #8 07-18-2007, 01:58 PM

You have inspired me to get one!! Yay!!
I also am dreaming of Dracunculus vulgaris! You are my hero!!!!
Would you be able to tell me more on this?
Right now, I am trying to grow Typhonium varians and Arum maculatum, both indoors. The Typhonium is doing well putting on some nice looking leaves. The Arum is still 4 seeds I planted on Monday. I also have a small collection of easier more traditional house plant aroids.
Here is a pic of what Typhonium is supposed to look like:

Flowers · #9 07-18-2007, 03:15 PM

D. vulgaris, and I'm not kidding, is considered a weed around here. It is the easiest plant to grow, ever. Well, at least around here, in our Mediterranean climate. Here's a pic of one of mine that bloomed this year, it wasn't even the biggest: http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...Picture171.jpg (hyperlinked to photobucket because the picture is kind of big). The tuber that produced that plant, and I'm only speculating, must have been close to 6 inches in diameter. I dug it up this year after the plant went dormant, and it is over 8 inches. The bloom on that guy was 27" long. All I have to do with them is put them in the ground, and take pictures. I'm not sure how they'd grow where you are, though. I'd suggest keeping them shaded, and definitely dig the tubers up for storage in the winter. Any frost is bad news for these guys. They also love, LOVE fertilizer. They seem to be happy with once a week, but this year with a few of my others, I mixed time release into the soil, put some on top of the ground, and used a liquid once a week and they did great. I wouldn't recommend that though, it was an experiment.
Don't buy seeds, they are almost impossible to germinate, and take a few years to bloom. I've bought all of my big ones from eBay, so wait until a good one comes up on there.

I love Typhonium, always have. But, they don't love me back. Last year, I bought small tubers of T. circinnatum, T. flagelliforme, and T. tubispathum, all of which died before ever breaking dormancy. I'll need a greenhouse before I try any of those guys again.

Strangely, though, I have a Dracontium gigas that is doing fine, I think. It never actually puts up a leaf, the nub just sits at the top of the soil. Last year, it stayed like that for quite a few months until the nub died back. I thought I lost the plant, but after un-potting the tuber, it had quadrupled in size. It's doing the same thing now, and I have no idea how or why. A leaf would be nice, though. This one is growing on my kitchen windowsill with my Phargs and Dendrobiums.

Back to the Dracunculus: I'm planning on digging up the two super-fertilized plants today or tomorrow. When I do, I'll post photos of the tubers. I'm actually scared of how big they're going to be next year.

Tindomul · #10 07-18-2007, 04:46 PM

Nice, thanks for sharing. It seems to me like you Dracunculus is saving all its nuts for a bad winter. Why bother with a leaf with all that fertilizer??? What do you think?
Anyways, you seem to have a nice collection going. Too bad about you Typhoniums. I grow mine under some T5 lights, very bright, and mist it 1 a day. I have it in a peat, pine bark, sphag mix.