Amorphophallus

 
аморфофаллус

Aroid family. Homeland tropical Asia and Africa. Amorphophallus (amorphophallus) is a somewhat unusual plant rather unpretentious in culture. In winter, the plant loses its leaves, but in spring it quickly grows. Only large plants flower, with the peduncle appearing before the leaves appear. Amorphophallus flowers smell like rotten meat, sometimes so strong that the plant is brought out of the room. This is due to the fact that in nature the plant attracts flies that pollinate it with such an odor. Amorphophallus grows very fast and grows quite large.

Most common amorphophallus species

Amorphophallus konjac - has a flattened ball-shaped tuber, up to 20 cm in diameter. Leaf petioles up to 80 cm long, dark olive in color with dark and light spots. The leaves are pinnately dissected and juicy green. Peduncle about 50-70 cm long. The coat of the cob is 25-30 cm long, the cob itself is up to 50 cm long, during flowering it heats up to 40 ° C. The color is bard or violet-red. It makes a strong unpleasant smell .

аморфофаллус цветок

Amorphophallus bulbous Amorphophallus bulbifer - has a hemispherical tuber about 7-8 cm in diameter. The leaf is the only one on the petiole about 1 meter long, which has a dark olive color with light spots. Segmented leaf, 3-separate, bulb at the base of the leaf. Peduncle usually no more than 30 cm long, cob cover 10-12 cm long. The color is dirty green with pink spots. The cob is shorter than the bedspread.

Amorphophallus care

Temperature: Moderate, at rest around 13 ° C, minimum 10 ° C.

Lighting: Amorphophallus needs bright light with shading from direct sunlight in summer.

Watering: Plentiful during the growth period. After the leaves of the plant begin to wilt in the fall, watering is stopped.

Fertilizers: 1.5 months after germination of fresh seedlings in the spring, fertilizers are fed. It should be borne in mind that amorphophallus needs a rather large dose of phosphorus. Choose that fertilizer, the proportions of fertilizers in which Nitrogen: Phosphorus: Potassium - 1:4:1, or close to it. It responds well to fertilization with organic fertilizer in the form of rotted cowpea.

Air humidity: Leaf spraying is rather hygienic, but the plant responds very well to spraying, since it has a humid climate.

Transplant: After the tubers are taken out of the winter storage, this is usually in March, they are planted in nutritious soil. Soil -1 part clay-turf, 1 part humus, 1 part leaf, 1 part peat and 1 part sand.

Reproduction: Propagate amorphophallus by daughter tubers. Which are separated at the beginning of the dormant period, i.e. when the plant loses its leaves. Bulbous amorphophallus can be propagated by the bulb, which is located at the base of the leaf segments.

   

By the way

Some peculiarity in the structure of the tuber of amorphophallus. The tuber is formed in the seedling in the form of a thickening of the stem, the next year a leaf appears on this tuber and a new tuber is immediately formed, larger, and the first does not separate. With age, quite a few daughter tubers form.

Dormant period

Amorphophallus is a plant with an obligatory dormant period. For the winter, he loses his leaves - they wilt, misleading some people, as it looks like the plant has been flooded. In fact, the wilting leaves need to be cut to the root and the watering stopped.

After the loss of leaves, with the onset of a dormant period, you can leave the tubers in a pot, while the earth does not need to be watered. But a more practical way is to remove the tubers from the pot, shake off the old earth, rinse in a pink solution of manganese, dry and store in a dry, warm place until germinated.

Sharing experiences

oliva: I've had him for about 5 years. It is popularly called the snake tree. He really does not like direct sun, but loves light (like everyone else). It grows from a tuber - similar to strongly shriveled potatoes. Gives 1-2 children. In winter I don't water it either in spring - amorphophallus itself begins to grow. Winters in both warm and moderate cold. Every year it is necessary to transplant into a larger container - I have not transplanted for 2 years, only selected children .

By the way, in autumn the palm tree wilts like grass (you tear off the "half-no" stalk and the plant sleeps until spring). I tried to water in winter - no reaction. Every year amorphophollus becomes higher and the span of the branches is wider.