Do you have a photo of the seedheads ? The plant looks like an Amporphophallus.

For Amorphos, try to harvest the seedheads when they are almost fully ripe (orange-red) and sow the seeds fresh. The medium should be kept moist, and germination rate for fresh seeds should be 75-100%. The seeds can take anywhere from 1-5 months (for those I've tried) to germinate - a real test of patience !

This is actually amorphophallus typhonium venosum, I am told. Here is a pic of one of several seedheads, all of which have remained very close to the base of the plant, rather than on a stalk. They are slowly starting to get some reddish color as the leaves fade.

I also just received 2 titan arum seeds (I'm ambitious!), although I advised the seller that they looked dry, and therefor perhaps dead, but time will tell...

Check out my trade list. I have a number of these tubers available for trade, plus clivia, pleione, etc.

If you email me directly, be sure to put the word 'RICK' in the subject, or I won't receive it.

--Rr

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:389958}}

okay... the seedheads says that its a Sauromatum venosum and not an Amorpho like I originally thought..

Hmm... my friends had a similar experience too - they pooled some cash and got titan seeds from an Indonesian source at $8/- USD each. We all thought the seeds looked a little dry.. sure enough only 2 of the 20 sprouted. mine ended up as organic fertilizer for my gingers :(

We'll hope for the best for yours - how much did you get them for ?

Hey Rick, as has been mentioned, that's definitely Typhonium venosum, Sauromatum guttatum, Sautomatum venosum and Arum Cornutum being synonyms, i must admit that i've never bothered trying to sow seed produced by mine, they're so incredibly prolific in their offsetting it just doesn't seem worth it.

How are those A. titanum seeds looking? if you've potted them up in a small amount of sterile slightly moist compost and they haven't gone mushy yet then they may well be viable, it just takes a long time for them to germinate sometimes, can you post some photos of them?

I carefully dug up the 2 titanum seeds a few days ago, and was pleasantly surprised. One of the seeds had doubled in size, and looked like a very large date pit. I could see that the other had produced a small mass of rootlets, so I covered it back up with soil, and planted the other seed in its own 4" pot, so I am pretty psyched. At the time, I didn't think to take any pictures, but I will post progress reports here periodically. In answer to your question, Phil, the total I paid w/shipping was £15, so not a bad deal overall.

I also planted a tray of typhonium seed, just because I am unfamiliar with the amorpho germination process. If the germination rate is good, I will be giving LOTS away! I imagine that there are lots of aroid newbies out there just waiting to be bitten by the 'bug'... I also have a paeionifolius seed started;I bought 5 on ebay, and only one so far has broken the soil surface. Strange growth...it looks like a tiny bit of cauliflower with a greenish center on it.

It is funny how we can get so wrapped up in specialized interests like this, but I am clearly not the only one!

--Rick in CT

That's excellent news, i look forward to seeing your future progress reports. As for the price, i don't recall asking. Oh, did you see the eBay guide?

Here is a link that might be useful: eBay aroid guide

Hi Phil--I'm not sure what eBay guide you're referring to. I guess it was Davidia in Singapore who asked about the price I paid for them. Here is a picture of the Paeionifolius seedling that is developing. It's growth seems as rapid as any seedling's, and changes substantially each day. Sorry the pic quality is not better, but here it is!

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:389959}}

The link entitled eBay aroid guide in my previous post may be a clue ;)

it's got some photos of my titanum seedlings attached to it.

I have several plants coming up from seeds. They are Paeoniifolius and Drac.? I have always bought tubers and know what to do with them, but I need help on plants from seed. They are all up about 7". Do I leave them in the 4" pots or what? When do you know if they have a tuber that will go dormant? Do I just let them grow and then pull up one to check on tuber? I am really new at this seedling stuff. Just tried it for fun and I have a bunch coming up. PLease help. Don't ask for pics as I am even new on the computer.

If the seedlings have sprouted recently, they should be pretty happy to remain in the 4 inch pots for 1-2 growth seasons. Depending on the species, the roots may be rather fragile so try not to disturb them for at least 1 week till the leaves have dried up completely. At this stage you can tip the pot over and do a quick check on the tubers. The tubers will not be very large unless you feed the plants regularly, so you may not need to repot them so soon. Currently I have about a number of Amorpho. variabilis seedlings as well as some thai & malaysian species. These sprouted some 4 -5 months ago and are still happy in their small pots.

hi everyone. growing amorphophallus from seed is certainly the easiest way to start amorphophallus. seeds would adapt much better to your growing surroundings rather than foreign tubers which might not appreciate the move. as of now i have only grown amorphophallus for roughly 3yrs, so my experience with them is quite limited. growing most of my current amorphophallus from seed, i have yet to experience a real dormancy period from any of them. any advice on that?

Most Indonesian species will not go dormant or only be dormant for a very short time on a totally unpredictable schedule based on the fact that in nature they do not experience the conditions that bring on dormacy....a lack of water.....this would be ones like titanum, gigas, decus-silvae, hewitii, etc. As for the seed of your more typical species.....they will grow for a few months and then go dormant for the first time similar to the tuber for that species. The tubers will be very tiny of course. The difficulty with any species other than a few that are for total brown thumbs for those of us growing them in the bitter cold of the northern U.S. is that they might decide to start growing in July or Aug. and our season ends in Sept for being outside (the first of Sept) and so you will have to make accomodations for growig inside. You are a few years away from that!!

Here is a sad pic of my Am. titanum in a window (taken 1 week ago) with some of his brothers and sisters as well as 6 species of Dracontium....the South American relative of Amorph. One Hipp from a friend in Aus. that you can ignore. The titanum are all 2.5 years from seed and the tallest is 3 feet tall....so far this is one of the easiest species I grow of the 30 or so that I have :o) Dan
{{gwi:389961}}

How i wish i could experience spring :) i think i bought 2 seeds of the same batch of titanum seeds in the past. were they from Troy Davis? anyway, here is a pic of my titanum:
[IMG]http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o112/csxiongacs/PB290144.jpg[/IMG]
plus side of the tropics ^^

but the sad thing is that i cant experience the vibrancy of annuals, and plants which need a cool night cannot be grown, unless u grow it in an air-conditioned room.

On dormancy - bluebonsai is right - the species that are from evergreen forests (such as titanum) do not really need to go thru a long resting period since they are growing in areas without prolonged dry spells. In contrast, those growing in tropical seasonal forests (e.g. those up in northen malay peninsular, thailand etc) will be more likely to enter a long dormancy period. Some time back a friend of mine gave me a thai species that went dormant after 1 growing season. My mum chucked it in a dark corner where it remained forgotten (and in rock hard soil) for more than 2 years. While I was cleaning out all the pots last year I thought it would be goner, but it threw up a shoot within a week after it was potted up. I am still amazed at the resiliency of this gem, and I would think that if a titanum or an evergreen spp was treated in the same way it would have long shrivelled. Anyone has records on how long they can be left in the soil ?

Yep, Mine came from Troy as well....I got a dozen seed and they all germinated easily so now I have a bunch of them happily growing along.

The species from Thailand routinely go dormant for the winter even in Thailand from lack of water....same with the species from India, etc. My problem is our very short growing season so when they flower they rarely ever produce a leaf that year. Also, many times they do not wake up until July or Aug. and then they only have about a month before they need to come inside!! I do like some of the dwarf ones as they are good for in front of a window. One that is supposedly evergreen for others is verticillatus, but for me it always takes a couple of months off.....I have 10 of them just now waking up after a short 2 month dormancy so I have something to look after for the winter...just what I needed :o) Dan