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Re: strange new growth on Amorphophallus titanum

Hi Nancy,

Having an Amorphophallus produce a leaf right under another one isn't terribly uncommon and is actually a good sign.  In fact, lots of times the second one shows up before the older leaf dies back.  I had a related plant, that usually produces one leaf per season and blooms in the spring produce 5 (five!) leaves, having 3 at a time for most of the summer.  Then at the end of September, while still sporting 3 happy leaves, it flowered!  I expect to dig up a very large corm.  I dug up his brother last weekend, who only had the usual one leaf, and he increased in size by more than double.  Lots of fertilizer...

As for dormancy, titanum doesn't keep a nice yearly schedule.  They can be very irregular.  Go back to being optimistic, nothing is amiss.  Lois is just happy and wants to grow some more.  Also, since she just finished a growth cycle you should find that all the former problems with the corm are gone - she grew a new one to replace the one that had rot.

-Ken Mosher

On 10/5/2015 6:22 PM, Nancy Greig wrote:

Hello fellow aroid lovers.  Please see the attached photograph.  Have any of you seen this happen before?  This is “Lois” – our Amorphophallus titanum that bloomed a few summers ago – but has since had some setbacks (part of the corm rotted so it is still smaller than when it produced an inflorescence).  It has become quite irregular in when it sends up a new leaf – it certainly is not on an annual cycle – and this time, when the leaf died back recently, the top part yellowed and fell off and we found a new sprout already growing up inside the petiole of the old leaf! (see photo)   Usually the leaf dies back completely, and the corm has a dormant period of a few months.

 

What would make this happen?  Too much water at the wrong time?  Something else?  What should we do?  Any advice would be appreciated!  We would love to have our plant bloom again, but at this rate…I’m not optimistic!

 

Thank you for any feedback,

 

Nancy Greig

Director, Cockrell Butterfly Center

Houston Museum of Natural Science

5555 Hermann Park Drive

Houston, TX  77030-1799

 

Tel 713-639-4742

www.hmns.org

 

From: Soni Holladay
Sent: Monday, October 05, 2015 4:53 PM
To: Nancy Greig n*@hmns.org
Subject: Re: Lois

 

Here you go!

 

Sent from my Verizon 4G LTE Smartphone

 

------ Original message------

From: Nancy Greig

Date: Mon, Oct 5, 2015 4:44 PM

To: Soni Holladay;

Subject:Lois

 

Hi Soni – can you please email me that photo you took of Lois’s new sprout inside the old petiole?  I want to send it to the Aroid Society listserve to see what people say about it.

 

Also, if you notice some ribbon hanging in the center it is a test to see if it will stay curled.  Don’t water it please!

 

Thanks!

 

Nancy Greig

Director, Cockrell Butterfly Center

Houston Museum of Natural Science

5555 Hermann Park Drive

Houston, TX  77030-1799

 

Tel 713-639-4742

www.hmns.org

 



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