Re: [Aroid-l] Eminium lehmanii

**"A. L. Clement" a*@planet.nl**

Dear Dan

I have about four Eminium species in my collection at this moment.
A few years ago I acquired my first E. lehmannii tuber and it found it
difficult to keep them alive. Over the years I have perfected my cultivation
technique for this genus and I have some success with them now. At this
moment I have even a surplus of Eminium tubers.
I live in the Netherlands And I think that they will survive the
temperatures outside -10 degrees Celsius but the problem is the
amount of rain in the winter, they like to grow dry. I therefore grow my
plants in a just frost free greenhouse it sometimes even freezes a few
degrees inside. They also require a lot of light to insure robust growing
and minimize the change of rot.
I grow them in clay pots with a good
draining soil. I repot the plants every year in new soil around
august, that is usually the time that the roots start to grow. After
repotting
I give them a little bit of water and than no water till I see the plant
appear
above the soil, this is usually around October/November. Then I increase the
watering but I still keep them
dry,
in the winter I sometimes water them one's in two months. They grow very
slow
in the first few months around January they usually have only one leaf but
in February when the temperature rises they really start to grow at this
moment I have plants with 6 leafs. At this time I give them more water one's
every two weeks but they soil still have to dry up before I water them
again, it is better to give them a lot of water one time than small bits
frequently. When it gets warmer I also have to give more water around May I
sometimes have to water them 2 times a week, but still the soil has to dry
up before I water them again.  And last year I had for the first time
flowering plants and not
only one inflorescence but 5 from two different species they flowered around
May. And in June they start to die I stop watering them and allow the soil
to dry
out completely. After the plants has died down I take the tubers out of the
soil and take of the old tuber remains under the new tuber. This still
contains a lot of water and this can start rotting and that can also infect
the new tuber.
I check than the soil in the pot, it must be almost dry and than I place the
tuber back in the old soil. All the summer I keep the pots on the hot
side of the glass house where the temperature can go as high as 30 degrees
Celsius. And around august I repot them again, for the next season.
I don't give them
fertilizer the new soils contains enough nutrients.

I hope that this will help

Arno Clement
The Netherlands
Zone 8

----- Original Message -----
From: plantguy@zoominternet.net
To: Discussion of aroids
Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2005 4:44 PM
Subject: [Aroid-l] Eminium lehmanii

Hello fellow aroiders,

I was hoping someone could tell me about Eminium lehmanii.  It has a
beautiful maroon-black spathe and so I'm sort of smitten with it!!  I was
thinking of getting a couple of these for my collection, but they are a bit
pricey and so I'd like all the information I can get before committing to a
purchase.   All I know is the ones being offered originally came from
Uzbekistan.  Are these summer growers??  How much cold can they take??  I
live in zone 6a in Western Pennsylvania and would like to grow them in pots
for the summer and then store them in the house for the winter like an
Amorph.  Thanks in advance for any info you can provide.

Dan

Daniel Devor
Gibsonia, PA
zone 6a/5b

www.TreasuredBotanicals.com