Hi Joe,

My A. konjac has just broken dormancy. My konjac bulbs are exactly as you described yours. For the past three years, my konjac has consistently waited until June to start growing. Your bulb condition sounds perfectly normal.

A. albus and A. bulbifer are in the same stage of developement, just breaking dormancy. These should green up soon and remain green throughout October. Then these plants yellow out, drop their leaves and stems, and go dormant for six months or so.

My A. henryi died. The bulb didn't make it through winter. My guess is that the bulb rotted. I kept the dormant bulb in a pot of soil-less mix. It was lightly watered every two months. Just a few ounces of water for an 8 inch pot. I treated A. konjac, A. albus and A. bulbifer in the same manner, all made it through the last few winters just fine. Apparently A. henryi doesn't like the pot method of storage.

Hope this helps.

Tom

As indicated above, no need to worry....they are tropical plants and do not wake up until it is tropical....with some species this can be July or Aug. by the way, so be careful of what you purchase and ask if people are using a GH or not to give you some indication of what you are getting yourself into!! My couple hundred konjac are not up yet either....they require a very short growing season so this will not be a problem at all for you!

Tom, I've grown henryi for years and years in a pot without problem. It is a small species compared to the rest you list....similar to albus in my experience so it was likely just a bit of bad luck. I would not advise any water in general when these species are dormant as they do not get rained on in the environment where they are found.

While I only have a couple of years experience with the Africans (mossambicensis and abyssinicus) it seems like they break dormancy early which is fantastic for us northern growers. Both my abyssinicus and mossambicensis are above ground, but not leafed out yet. I have one other African that I've grown from seed for 2 years and it is also an early riser and has been leafed out for a month already!!

Best of luck with these once they get growing :o) Dan