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Amorphophallus Titanum

17 years ago

Hello,

I have recently purchased 3 A. Titanum seeds and was wondering what the best way is to germinate them. Should I soak them overnight in warm water? Also, I've seen many pictures showing a seedling with another smaller leaf coming out of the base. Can this be used for propagation?

Thanks

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Comments (9)

bluebonsai101
17 years ago
Hi, Pot them in whatever you have decided is the best mix for your conditions and water them once and put a baggie over the pot to maintain humidity. I rarely ever make suggestions about potting mix since my conditions are surely much different than yours!! For example, peat-based mixes cause instant death for my tubers, but growers in Miami have no problem with this.....different environment! I put them on a seedling heat mat to germinate mine. Do not soak in water overnight.....this is a bad idea!! Am. titanum grow like virtually every other Amorph. from a seed or baby tuber....they produce multiple petioles during the first growth cycle, but these are all feeding the same tuber underground. The old petiole will die back as the new one emerges far enough. There are a few African species I have grown from seed that only produce a single petiole before their first dormancy, but not many!! This behaviour of many petioles per growth cycle stops when the tuber is older. Am. titanum does not offset and so can not be propagated in this fashion. You can use leaf cuttings from what others have posted numerous times on the aroid-l, but I have personally never tried it. You should expect your titanum to grow continuously from seed for between 18 months and 30 months before its first dormancy if all is well. Remember, the dormancy on these is often very short....a few weeks....they are nearly evergreen. Unfortunately, I know of two people that bought seed of this species off ebay recently and they were apparently old seed that were no longer viable.....a real bummer considering how badly the people on ebay are gouging for seed of this thing. If the seed are good and you put them in a reasonable potting mix with bottom heat you should expect 100% germination. Best of luck :o) Dan
rhizophora
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks, really informative!:D
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I haven't had that problem with my titanum but my gigas (which is pretty similar to titanum) had all sorts of problems over the years. One season a tree branch fell on it and broke the petiole. Insects got in and ate out the inside of the petiole. The plant went into early dormancy, it had only been growing for a couple of months. Gigas grows for one year and then goes dormant for one year. But afterwards it came out of dormancy earlier than one year and grew okay. Another season I had put it into a more exposed position and it got badly sun burned. It went into early dormancy that year also. Last season it was broken by the wind. But I found it very soon after, tied it up and painted over the damaged area of the petiole with grafting paint. It kept going for the rest of the season without going into early dormancy. When I saw it damaged the first time I went into a state of shock thinking it was going to die. But now, after a few dramas, I don't worry so much and just do what's needed to keep it going. So hopefully there won't be any more problems but if there are I feel fairly confident of being able to successfully deal with them.
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hawaii50
17 years ago
This suggestion is a little late, but you might try different media, if you're not doing so already.
asiatic_green
17 years ago
Hi, there was once when one of my friend place the titanum seed in pure poop......

And it gave him a giant seedling!!!
rubbleshop
17 years ago
I always find they germinate whatever you do with them within reason and very quickly. No need to fuss with them.
rhizophora
Original Author
15 years ago
Hi,
John Innes seedling compost is bad, with 2 out of 3 seeds failing! I tried miracle gro with added perlite and sand, with 100% germination. NEVER buy john Innes, it dries out easily, is very heavy and is not really suitable for amorphophallus. BTW i took a successful cutting!
Thanks
mfyss
14 years ago
One of four A. titanum grown from seeds obtained from the Univ. of Wisconsin, is about to bloom The flower is 4 ft high and may be a week away from opening. The plants are being grown in the greenhouse at Western Illinois University. Yale

Here is a link that might be useful: Titan Arum
tommyr_gw Zone 6
14 years ago
Oh man! That is gonna STINK OUT LOUD! Gorgeous though!
exoticrainforest
14 years ago
This link will explain the mix used by the Bonn Botanical Garden. They are one of the most successful growers in the world of this species.

The page also gives cautions about watering and maladies that can kill the plant.

Here is a link that might be useful: Amorphophallus titanum

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