Amorphophallus bulbifer

[Darold Petty]

I purchased small bulbils from RPS, currently in 4x4x4 inch pots.  They duly withered down last autumn.  When should I resume irrigation?

  (I have very little experience with herbaceous plants.) Thanks !

A second question, can I ground plant this species, since I have a Mediterranean wet winter, rather than dry Indian winter ?

 

[Silas_Sancona]

  On 1/31/2021 at 4:14 PM, Darold Petty said:

I purchased small bulbils from RPS, currently in 4x4x4 inch pots.  They duly withered down last autumn.  When should I resume irrigation?

  (I have very little experience with herbaceous plants.) Thanks !

 

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Here's a link from Gardino Nursery/ Rare Flora that should help answer the watering question.
https://www.rareflora.com/amorphophallusbul.htm

[Darold Petty]

Thanks for the link !

[necturus]

These survive outside in ground here but prefer a raised bed. Probably would work with good drainage there.

[PalmatierMeg]

I have a number of Amorphophallus spp but not bulbifer. Over winter I usually unpot them after they have died back and dried out (I wear latex gloves under cheap cotton garden gloves as bulbs and the soil they are in are very caustic to my skin; also wear dust mask because of allergies). I rinse off excess soil and dry them in the sun, then shake them with fungal powder and store them in the garden shed over the winter.

In FL for me the bulbs start growing again in April, so around April 1 I repot them in new soil with extra bone meal mixed in. Increase the size of the pot every year as the bulbs can grow very large and can split open a pot that is not roomy. The will grow and last until Oct/Nov before dying back. By then it is dry season so I let the soil dry completely before "winterizing".

So far this year I haven't gotten to the winterizing process as I was down with covid19 Nov. through mid-Dec. Then it got very cold. But I will unpot/repot them before April.

I've had a few bulbs, i.e., A. konjac escape into the yard and I've let them be. But I am leery of planting multiple species in the yard for fear they could become invasive. With just one species you may not have that worry. Be aware that the bulbs multiply as well as grow larger. But I like them and have since I first saw them in a Botanical Garden in Raleigh, NC

[greysrigging]

Easy to grow plant in Darwin....sorta plant and forget because of the dormancy, then be surprised when they reappear after the first rains. Known locally as Snake Lily or Voodoo Lily.


 
There are a couple of native species of Amorphophallus in the Top End
|From a mate on FB
"Two species of Amorphophallus in the Darwin region with A. galbra being the more common species. I first collected A. paeoniifolius for my old nursery from a small remnant rainforest pocket on the old Stuart hwy near Green Ant Creek. A. galbra grows in Black Jungle and Holmes jungle. Both are extremely cheeky and not highly regarded as a food by local First Nations people."
" is the least regarded food plant among the Yam group of plants. It has to be cooked/prepared pretty intensively to get rid of bitter flavor/taste. Important food crop in some West Asian countries....Sri Lanka, India, Burma etc"
"Prep is similar to Cycad nut treatment however the flesh needs to be heavily mashed after the leaching process to break up the crystalline structures common in the Arum family. It is because it is so labor intensive for a food of low palatability that it is so poorly regarded. Just finding continuous running water to carry out the leaching process for 3 days is a big enough deterrent."


Amorphophallus bulbifer can also be propagated by the leaf segment method ( the same method used on the Giant Titan Arum ). Very easy to do and I have a 95% strike rate with mine.
https://www.abc.net.au/gardening/factsheets/an-unusual-edible/9436836?fbclid=IwAR0DjRzYzhBQrzZPC7hiw6KJFP8A_nJIBX6XBjB8ekvgEz1ey3feqc0rOkM

[tropicbreeze]

Not a good idea to put them in the ground. I made that mistake and have been trying to eradicate them for three years now and there's still some coming up. They multiply incredibly fast and the bulbils on the leaves spread far from the parent plants. An individual plant flowering doesn't smell a lot but when you have lots of them they don't flower all at once and the constant stench gets a bit much after a couple of months. Better to keep them in pots and make sure the bulbils don't get away.

I lived in Arnhem Land for a number of years and found the local Amorphophallus was highly regarded by some people. But the cooking process is completely different to how cycad nuts are treated. Amorphophallus tubers were cooked in a ground oven overnight, or from morning to evening. Basically a half day. Similar to Taro.