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the voodoo you do or how the heck did you get in there?

14 years ago

My Persian shield -- aka 'the stick' -- has done some leafing out now that it is on the balconey. Well, not sure how the heck it got there, but apparently one of my lil voodoo lily bulblets snuck into the same pot:

{{gwi:92344}}

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Comments (4)

birdsnblooms
14 years ago
Paul, it's funny how leaves, stems, seeds and bulbs find homes in other pots. LOL
Is your VB growing off the little trunk or is the trunk in front, a branch from your Persian Shield?

I have a question about Voodoo Bulbs. I notice yours has foliage. Before leaves grew did it flower? My voodoo bulb is about 15 yrs old. Never did it bloom. Every spring leaves sprout, in autumn it goes dormant, but never did a flower grow. What am I doing wrong? Is there a secret getting them to flower? Thanks, Toni
paul_
Original Author
14 years ago
Hi Toni,

The 'trunk' on the right is that of the Persian Shield. The mottled 'trunk' on the left is the sheath out of which the leaf/leaves emerge.

Sorry I can't give you any advice on blooming -- I've only had mine for a couple years. I understand though that blooming is related to bulb size ... it must achieve a certain size in order to bloom. Have you tried the Aroid forum? Should have some folks there who will be able to advise.
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Based on information from Dr. Wilbert Hetterscheid, the top Amorphophallus expert in the world, in Amorphophallus species the "corm" is the stem tissue which is encased in the small bud at the top of the tuber full of stored food. That bud grows upward into a divided leaf and outward into roots with the tuber beneath. Although many authors use the terms bulb, corm and tuber interchangeably the only term that is truly applicable to an aroid is tuber. There was recent discussion on the International Aroid Society forum Aroid l regarding this subject and several botanists chimed in to agree the words bulb and corm should not be used. The stem is the central axis of the plant, not the support of a leaf. The support of the divided leaf on an Amorphophallus and all aroids is called the petiole. The plant actually uses the food om the tuber during the summer and is virtually always smaller at the end of the season provided it is happy. I have seen my Amorphophallus titanum tuber so tiny just after it goes dormant I thought it was about to die but the next year it has grown large again during dormancy. A corm is an underground stem to which the above-ground parts of the plant may die back in the dormant season. It often stores starch and when it regrows foliage will come from the top and roots from the base like a typical stem but there are no true examples of a corm in the aroid family. A tuber is a strongly condensed stem as well as an underground structure which is almost entirely a starch storage organ. It wouldn't be unnatural for your tubers to be smaller at the end of the growing season since the plant has been using the stored food. Unless you live in an extremely cold climate Amorphophallus konjac can easily stay in the ground year round. I leave at least 40 tubers in the ground all the time in zone 6b and they reproduce themselves every year. I've traded mail with growers as far north as Philadelphia that do the same.
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mutantplantlover
14 years ago
Voodoo lilies will bloom, as stated below, once their tubers reach a certain size. Generally, once the tuber is the size of a softball, it should bloom. If yours is smaller than that (even after 15 years) you need to get it outside for the Summer and fertilizer the heck out of it. You can safely plant it directly in the soil and remove the tuber in the Fall once frost knocks the foliage down. Summer sun and fertilizer helps the tuber to grow and store energy to bloom. BTW, that reminds me of the time I brought a soon-to-flower tuber into the office. Everyone there watched in fascination as the bloom stalk grew, often an inch or more a day. We were all anticipating the bloom opening ... until ... you guessed it ... it opened and shortly thereafter I was politely asked to take it home. For those of you who may not know, the voodoo lily flower attracts pollinators in the wild by mimicing the smell of rotten flesh!
paul_
Original Author
14 years ago
LOL. I've never had the ...er.."pleasure" ... of experiencing the scent first hand. However, MPL's story reminds me of one from the friends who gave me my bulb.

They allowed the plant to bloom in the house as they had only seen pics of the flower and were curious as to how it looked "in real life". They also knew that the flower would stink but figured it couldn't be THAT bad. Well it bloomed and by evening they couldn't take it anymore. So they chopped off the flower, bagged it up and threw the garbage bag outside figuring they'd take care of it the next day. (No worry about offending the neighbors as the nearest was 1/4 mile away.) Well morning arrived and the bag was gone. Apparently, some critter thought it had stumbled upon a wonderful meal and carried it off. Wonder if the critter was disappointed to discover it had stolen a 'vegetarian' meal? LOL

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