Our 'drier' months aren't as dry as they should be. Just the past week and earlier today we had showers particularly at night and early morning, and we also had frequent rains last March. Not a day passed during the month of December when we had not experienced a downpour. I am not complaining, as rains cut my watering time drastically, but the frequent precipitation also meant that the dormant plants have now been tricked into thinking (sorry for the anthropomorphization) that the rainy season has arrived and it is time for them to wake up to a new season of growth.
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| Amorphophallus macrophyllus 'Bluto'. The tuber evidently has formed two active growths. |
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| Kaempferia marginata |
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| The curiously shaped tuberous rhizomes of the climbing Flame Lily, Gloriosa tuberosa. |
The past two weeks have seen the renewed activity on kaempferias, and two days ago some of the
Amorphophallus have shown signs of doing the same. I often repot these plants, along with others that undergo dormancy such as
Cornukaempferia,
Nervilia,
Gloriosa,
Proiphys,
Tacca, and
Dracontium, during late April, as preparation for their awakening, which usually begins late May and comes into full swing by the following month, even up to early July. But it is clearly apparent that repotting has to be done as early as I can, or I risk damaging the emerging roots if I wait much longer. I surely will have active plants by the end of this month.
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| Not all Amorphophallus entered dormancy. This tiny A. titanum did not, but then again, small plants of this species really don't do anyway. |
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| This A. albus only entered dormancy less than two weeks ago, but is already showing signs of life again, as evidenced by the production of roots, seen on the upper portion of the photo. |
The thing with plants that undergo dormancy is that these are often very heavy feeders, and nutrients made available to them from the previous season's growth would surely have been depleted, necessitating an annual repotting. To be clear about it, my
Amorphophallus collection is very modest, but repotting these and the other dormant plants can take up to three days, with each session lasting for approximately three hours- give or take another extra hour. This includes soil preparation, dividing the tubers, cleaning of tubers and pots, application of fertilizers, and watering. It is time consuming, but it is a price I have to pay for wanting to maintain such very interesting plants.
For the soil, I mix pumice and organics (leaf litter and/or coco peat) at 60% and 40%, respectively. The bottom third of fourth of the pot is always laid with gravel, although Styrofoam chunks and crocks are fair game too. Balanced, time-release fertilizers are also added to the mix, although fertilizing is augmented by weekly application of trace elements and potassium-heavy soluble fertilizers, for plants that are already mature or nearly so. This increases the likelihood that I'll get those fantastically horrid blooms come next season. And that is how it is like with
Amorphophallus: one essentially grows them always in preparation for the next season, not the current one.
Growing these plants can be quite tiresome, especially when repotting them, and those empty-looking pots sure take space particularly during storage. But for keepers of more unusual flora, the spectacular forms of
Amorphophallus and other dormancy-induced plants more than makes up for the extra trouble needed to grow them.
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| Amorphophallus saururus |
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| Calanthe vestita now with a tiny growing shoot. Do you see a bulbil on the foreground? That came from an A. muelleri. |
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Amorphophallus declinatus
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