I want one! Does it bite?

Krstofer - Wow! I mean, WOW!! Is this just year's growth? How long have you had it? Can you keep it in that small of a pot for awhile? How big was the bulb when you got it? I LOVE THESE THINGS!

Congratulations on your beautiful garden area!

Susan

The little ones in the same pot are yearling venosums- The big guy is 4 years old..
Actually a 25 gallon pot is rather .. large- But I figure I'll give them what room I can. When I "settle down" I'll plant them in the ground, with gopher barriers- but for now pots it is. When I got it 2 yearas ago the bulb would fit nicely in a coffee cup- now it's about the size of a cantalope.

Nice plant!! Has it flowered so you can get a proper ID on it....kerii is not a valid name as far as I know, and I can not remember what its correct full synonym is. I'm guessing with that name it came from China?? Isn't it amazing how fast the tubers grow on these guys!! Regardless of species, it is a beauty :o) Dan

What do you use for your potting mix? Just curious. I use a commercial garden soil, peat moss, and mushroom compost. I am going to try cactusfreak's suggestion and put some orchid bark in the mix.

Susan

Hi Susan,

We all use different stuff, but I can tell you for my 30 or so species I use nothing but 1:1 pine bark (sold as soil conditioner) and perlite....that's it...drains real fast which is good in my rainy climate....I fertilize like crazy......15-30-15 once or more times per week depending on rain. The only ones that get a different mix are the hewitii and titanum.....1:1:1 turface, pine bark and charcoal....so far these have been easier than expected, but I've only brought a few out of dormancy so I'll need to report back on that in another year when more have gone dormant and started to regrow again.....your mix sounds fine for species like konjac and bulbifer...maybe henryi and paeoniifolius, but some of the other more demanding species may need more drainage than that. Good luck :o) Dan

A. kerrii is synonomous with A. yunnanensis.. Which is the correct ID for this particular bulb..

I use whatever potting soil is on sale, but I put miracle grow in every time I water, and I stirred in chicken manure & bone meal when I planted everything. Hence the "leaping".. I guess.

Yes, Yunnanensis, that's it...thanks!! I got a ton of these this spring that I imported from Thailand, but mine haven't broken dormancy yet so now I can not wait!! I agree with the miracle grow...pour it on in generous helpings :o) I'm starting with some nice big 5 inch tubers so hopefully in a couple of years I'll have one that looks as wonderful as yours. Good growing :o) Dan

Of the 3 I have (of this variety) the 2 that bloomed are still quite sleepy..

If you look in the bottom right of the picture there's an empty 9 cell seedling tray in a couple pots? Just above that is an oval silver pot? That pot is actually a "low bay" reflector for a 400 watt high pressure sodium light- (the same kind of light I had in my "growroom") which I decided to use as a pot.. Seeing as I found myself with so many of them last summer. It's about 3' across, even tho it looks small in the picture. (bought a bunch of lights on ebay- the seller included 20 reflectors as a "bonus"..) One of the other kerrii bulbs is in there- a smaller one. I keep digging it up to check for growth (good) and rot (bad) and so far... The growth tip(s) have begun to swell & are putting on about 1/4th inch of length a week..

I'm nervous that they'll begin to grow just as fall arrives and the cold will put a whoopin' on them, and I'll end up going backwards in size... I'm not excited about hauling something of that size inside to place under lights.. (how bad would that suck?)

Well, I agree on the breaking dormancy late stinkin'!!!!! I've got perhaps 100 pots in my garage yet that have not started to grow.....we've been very hot for us this year so I do not know what the heck their problem is.....makes me like the dwarf ones all the more!! All I have up so far is some konjac, albus, henryi, mossambicensis, asterostigmatus, abyssinicus and a couple of others....maybe another 20 species still not up.....pisses me off......I bring them in in the fall under a 400W MH as well, but the big ones are just such a hassle to haul around :o) Dan

Beautiful plant! I hope you will continue with the pictures.

Ditto the future pics, Krstofer! My soil in my yard is mostly heavy clay, so I have to beef it up with fertilizer. I am going to have to get some of that chicken manure. A lady on our butterfly gardening forum uses it on ALL her inground plants, and she swears by it. She also suggests to "not be skimpy" with it. It must be better than steer manure. I tried mushroom compost this year, and it did pretty good, too. But, I think they grow mushrooms in steer manure. They just use it for one batch of 'shrooms, though, and then toss it out.

I love Miracle Gro, Dan, but I just can't seem to find the time to get out their with the hose-end sprayer and do it. It's much easier to just go around a sprinkle on the organic Espoma (23-0-0) and water the yard.

My colocasias/alocasias were late breaking domancy in the yard. They didn't start coming up until about the middle to end of July. We've had a crazy spring - cold then hot, then cold then hot. I don't think any of my plants could figure out what was going on.

Love your set up, Krstofer! Kind of reminds me of the one I used to have in a basement, set up for growing seeds from botanists on their begonia collection trips to the wilds. I grew some really fantastic plants. I was also lucky enough to try out seeds of new hybrids introduced by some of the great hybridizers, one of whom was a jazz officionada and I recall one of them was named 'Jelly Roll Morton'. He lived down in New Orleans.

Susan

Hi Susan, Mushroom manure uses chicken manure not cow. They produce this by the mega-ton here in Pitt. by using the old mine shafts to grow mushrooms in. The mix (chicken maure and straw) is allowed to ferment for a year before using it to grow the 'shrooms and then it is dug out and sold to us gardeners....I guess it is third hand by the time we get it!!! By the way, you should not really use the high N for fertilizing your aroids....great for grass, bananas and the like, but you want to increase tuber size so use high P fertilizer.....something like 15-30-15 or bloom booster with a number as high as 50 in the middle.

My only problem with the MH light is that it is in the basement so the humidity is very low and the aphids have a field day....I have to very diligent......the other problem is that it is a bit cool.....it works well for most of them though and lets me grow them on until around Nov/Dec until the go dormant and adds a bunch ofr tuber size. Best of luck :o) Dan

p.s. when I get the next leaves on my unknown and only Begonia I'd like to send you a pic of it to see if you have any ideas on an ID....also how to keep it alive once it goes dormant!!

My washer and dryer were in the basement (providing some humidity), plus one of walls was only up to approx. 2-3' from the ceiling, and from the top of that wall out from the basement area, was dirt - so got some humidity, plus put my babies on trays with gravel and water. Most seeds were grown in baggies or fast food clear containers after sterilizing them, so they were humidified from the get go. I hard to harden them off to the more arid environment of the basement. The only ones that were temperamental, were those that required terrarium culture and thus, lots of humidity.

Is your Begonia a tuberous variety, then? I don't know too much about those. Altho the nurseries around here sell them by the thousands, they really prefer the cooler summer areas up North. Every time I see someone in Oklahoma buying a tuberous begonia, I want to go "NO NO NO NO NO". But, you live and learn. I have pushed zones the other way, as with my aroids.

BTW - I picked up an Alocasia 'Nigra' at my plant nursery where I bought the chicken manure. It was in a half gal. con. for $8.00, and I really like the looks. Supposedly, when (and if) it flowers, the cup of the spathe is supposed to have vertical purple stripes. Sounds very interesting. Know anything about this one?

Gotcha on the fertilizer and I do have Bloom Boost (Green Light product), with like 10-55-10 or something like that. So will use that. Thanks for the heads up. I just thought that since they were primarily foliage plants, nitrogen would be best. Man, am I glad I found this group.

Susan

It's beautiful I am trying to get info on your smaller stinky friends in back got one from neighbor are they sauromatum gullatum? full sun or shade? light or hevy soil? what zone is it hardy to? what do I do to get it to bloom?PLEASE HELP!!!!
Patty

I have... About 10 varieties in there- They like part shade- full sun will trash the leaves. Soil? It's on the lighter side- Just the standard "potting soil" you can get anywhere.

They're safe as long as the bulb doesn't freeze, but I usually dig mine & bring them in during the winter as it's really wet here & I don't want them rotting.

Blooms? Fertilize the dickens out of them- Then wait. Some take a few years- Most have to be about the size of a baseball to softball before they'll begin to bloom.

Hi Patty, Just a thought from a northern gardener like yourself. There is almost no Amorph that can not take full sun in Pittsburgh, PA.....cook them....they can take it without problem. When I first started I was a 4 hour a morning person when it came to sun for them, but as the years went by I kept moving them into more and more sun and they LOVE it here. We do have very high humidity though and that is important if they are in full sun. I have my konjac, bulbifer, paeoniifolus, henryi, mosambicensis, albus, dunnii, asterostigmatus, etc. in full sun here. I should also say that in my climate if I used straight potting mix out of a bag they would all rot before the end of summer (except the Typhonium aka Sauromatum). Our summers are too cool and too wet for that. To put it in easy perspective......no one waters their lawn here and the grass is as green as can be in mid July and needs to be cut again!!! Once you get into some of the Amorphs you can experiment a bit and see what works in your climate.....I can honestly say that I killed many of them before I got it semi figured out......still kill some by the way as I'm sure we all do!!! I agree with Krstofer.....fertilize like mad and watch the tubers grow. If you have the standard Sauromatum then you can likely get it to blooming size in 1 year from an offset as they grow insanely fast. Best of luck :o) Dan

Kristofer it is the one to the far right in back that I got. My neighbor has it in full sun. She,s given me some before I've tried it in full sun and shade They both never came back I had them in the ground hers dissappeared for a year but is back this year she is one of those people she puts it in if it grows it grows if not tough. I saw it yesterday she said just take it . I guess I should dig it up like my dahlias and cannas? They are 3 feet tall right now
Thanks Patty

Dan,
If aroids get too easy for you, take up Tall bearded iris. In the wet north east, they are a challenge. As to full sun, it is a rare occurance that a plant around here gets burned even if I move it from my basement directly to the brightest spot on my lawn. Wish I had discovered "voodoo lilies" earlier, TB iris have become a pain.

Krstofer, I just acquired a tall bearded iris pastel pink oddly from the same neighbor that gave me the voodoo her voodoo must have bloomed there was a dead bloom on bottom she didn't notice as I said she puts stuff in ground and waters that's it her iris also were beautiful I will have to wait till next year to see the iris bloom in my yard. Patty

I guess since I'm in Oklahoma, and are summers are notably dry, tall bearded Iris grows quite well. However, I water mine every time I water, and they don't seem to mind it. I have yet to rot an Iris rhizome by overwatering it.

The one thing they do like is not to be buried too deeply; I allow the top 1/2" of rhizome to be exposed. If you having problems with rotting, you might try to do what Dan does with his aroids, and mix pine bark (may be too acid), or some kind of gritty stone or perlite, or even sand, in the medium. That will provide them with sharp drainage. TO be honest the TD iris grow so easily here, I have left mesh bags of rhizomes on the ground, only to have them send roots into the ground over the course of a year, and bloom!

I might add also that full sun for most aroids in Oklahoma spells death by overexposure! Our sun is so hot, that most plants that do well in the North sun, must have a minimum of part shade to survive here.

Susan

Hi Klavier, Well, aroids are far from easy....a royal pain for most of them, but I love to give them a whirl. I've only got a few Iris.....no idea what they are and I never pay any attention....they are out there to take up space and look nice when in bloom for people walking by the house.....I truthfully wouldn't know a tall one from a short one....maybe someday :o)

Patty, do you live near Pittsburgh?? If so I can surely give you some Typhonium venosum this fall when I harvest mine if you want another one or two! They will overwinter in Pittsburgh, but you can always dig the momma and leave the babies behind to see if they come back next year.

Hey Susan, I must say, I think you guys in the plains have it worst of all....killer summers with dry heat and outrageous winters. Good luck :o) Dan

Dry heat, my Arse! We are suffering the horrible humidity plus heat right now. It is so miserable, that I have to MAKE myself get out in the garden after work. About 5 minutes outside and I am dripping sweat. Yes, by the end of the week we will be approaching the century mark. Our winters are really not too bad, except for ice. We get more ice than snow. A few times the temps get down to 0 degrees, but usually doesn't stay there for long. What is bad are the fluctuations. It can be 10 degrees one day and 50-60 degrees the next. We are really considered to be "upper South". We actually do have lots of trees and small mountains in parts of Oklahoma. "Lots of trees" is becoming a misnomer, however, because the builders come in and remove most of them for new housing additions. We should have laws like they do in Massachusetts, where they are only allowed to remove enough trees to build structures, and leave the rest. But, no, Oklahoma is WAY behind times. We just got the lottery bill passed a few months ago. Not that I'm a gambler with my money---rather spend it on plants. Better return and all.

I am lucky, even though I curse the neighbor's untamed and neglected trees, they do provide me with a microclimate in my south facing back yard, which allows me to push zones considerably. And we have bugs, gazillions of them. Our winters are miserable, but not cold enough to kill off the ticks, and other nasties. And grasshoppers eat our plants to no end. Plants that do really well in Oklahoma, I'm not usually interested in - like crepe myrtles (I do have one purple), cannas (I do have one variegated foliage). The nation's biggest canna farm is in Oklahoma.

Our soil leaves a lot to be desired - red clay. So, I always have to amend when I plant. Usually dig 3X as wide as plant, and mix native soil in with the amendments, so I get some of the good micro organisms working it.

We have lots of drought seasons in our summers. Last summer was an exception, and it appears, except for the temps, that this is a bit of an exception, since we have had much rainfall (by Oklahoma standards) in July - not usual for us. It has hurt the butterfly populations greatly. I have tons of host and nectar plants, but very few cats this year.

Sorry to have rambled on so....

Susan

Hey Dan(bluebonsai101) I live in Pittsburgh in a little neighberhood called Troy Hill. We are having a plant swap on Sept. 3rd another garden web friend fustyoveralls is doing the planning go to Pa.gardening part of this website click over to exchanges we have two posts one about the swap another to make prearranged trades we have updated our plant lists to let people know what we have to trade.You are welcome to come. where do you live? Patty

Hi Patty,

I'm in the north hills in Gibsonia (Richland Township). I really have nothing to trade that time of year I'm afraid. Maybe I could stop in just to say hello and see what other people are growing :o) Dan

Dan just because it isn't blooming doesn't mean you can't trade it as long as you know what it is sept. is a perfect time to split up some plants. Swapping is a great way to get new plants. Patty