Re: [aroid-l] How many leaves??

My experience with Amorphophallus is limited to konjac since I seem to be unusually adept at killing any others I try to grow, but I have also grown Typhonium (Sauromatum) venosum for years. In konjac, multiple leaves ALWAYS result in the same number of corms instead of one BIG corm, while in venosum, many leaves usually result in one big corm. Both also produce offsets regardless of how many leaves. My point is that Typhonium may behave differently from Amorphophallus.
As to why Amos produce multiple leaves, sometimes they just do for no reason I've been able to observe, but most of the time it seems to be due to damage, or size. If a growing tip is damaged by cold, rot or a clumsy fool with a shovel, it produces multiple buds. I've seen as many as 15 on one large tuber. When tubers get larger than a bowling ball (25 pounds) they seem to "want" to split up. Perhaps Mother Nature knows this is as big as they are supposed to get. I have tricked Mom by cutting off extra buds, but it's not nice to fool Mother Nature......... the huge corms are not fully absorbed, leaving a messy remnant of the old tuber under the new one, usually partly rotted. After cutting them off to protect my prized giant, the remnant grows multiple buds the following season.
Mitch

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