hibernation time

From: Lester Kallus lkallus at earthlink.net> on 1970.01.01 at 00:00:00(10657) Nights here on Long Island are beginning to dip down into the 40s. I understand that this coming Thursday night, it will be somewhere between 42 and 44. I know that Amorphophallus konjac & bulbifer will decide for themselves when to go dormant and so I'm not worried. I have some paeoniifolius in the ground. They're still looking good. I see three choices: 1. Wait until they begin to show signs of dormancy and then pull them up 2. Dig them up and let them spend sometime in the greenhouse until they go dormant 3. Dig them up, slice the top off, wash the soil off and force dormancy Any thoughts? I'd prefer to avoid the greenhouse time if possible - it's going to be very crowded in there. Les

From: "Susan Cooper" coops at execpc.com> on 2003.09.30 at 12:18:13(10662) Speaking of hibernation, I just dug up my Synandrospadix vermitoxus to pot it and bring it in the house. There are several cracks in the bottom of the tuber. I wasn't sure if it did this itself or if it was from me trying to pry the tuber out of the ground (which was a little hard). +More Anyone have any ideas? I should have taken a picture.... Susan

From: "Wilbert Hetterscheid" hetter at worldonline.nl> on 2003.09.30 at 15:27:15(10663) Lester, Whether you like it or not, but option 2 is the best, then 1. Cheerio, Wilbert +More > -----Oorspronkelijk bericht----- > Van: aroid-l-owner@lists.ncsu.edu > [mailto:aroid-l-owner@lists.ncsu.edu]Namens Lester Kallus > Verzonden: dinsdag 30 september 2003 1:01 > Aan: aroid-l@lists.ncsu.edu > Onderwerp: [aroid-l] hibernation time > > > Nights here on Long Island are beginning to dip down into the > 40s. I understand that this coming Thursday night, it will > be somewhere between 42 and 44. I know that Amorphophallus > konjac & bulbifer will decide for themselves when to go > dormant and so I'm not worried. > > I have some paeoniifolius in the ground. They're still > looking good. I see three choices: > > 1. Wait until they begin to show signs of dormancy and then > pull them up > 2. Dig them up and let them spend sometime in the greenhouse > until they go dormant > 3. Dig them up, slice the top off, wash the soil off and > force dormancy > > Any thoughts? I'd prefer to avoid the greenhouse time if > possible - it's going to be very crowded in there. > > Les

From: "Wilbert Hetterscheid" hetter at worldonline.nl> on 2003.09.30 at 15:32:20(10664) Happens more often with tuberous aroids. Just let the cracks dry out and all will be o.k. You may want to put a fungicide on it, if you are afraid of infection. Check regularly in the beginning of dormancy if the tuber doesn't dry out along the cracks. Just to make sure....... Wilbert +More > -----Oorspronkelijk bericht----- > Van: aroid-l-owner@lists.ncsu.edu > [mailto:aroid-l-owner@lists.ncsu.edu]Namens Susan Cooper > Verzonden: dinsdag 30 september 2003 14:18 > Aan: aroid-l@lists.ncsu.edu > Onderwerp: Re: [aroid-l] hibernation time > > > Speaking of hibernation, I just dug up my Synandrospadix > vermitoxus to > pot it and bring it in the house. There are several cracks in the > bottom of the tuber. I wasn't sure if it did this itself or > if it was > from me trying to pry the tuber out of the ground (which was a little > hard). > Anyone have any ideas? I should have taken a picture.... > Susan > > >

From: "Cooper, Susan L." SLBryant at scj.com> on 2003.09.30 at 16:48:46(10666) Thanks Wilbert. Do you know what causes this? The plant is growing quite well (and even set a seed- 1!) Susan +More -----Original Message----- Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2003 10:32 AM To: aroid-l@lists.ncsu.edu Subject: Re: [aroid-l] hibernation time Happens more often with tuberous aroids. Just let the cracks dry out and all will be o.k. You may want to put a fungicide on it, if you are afraid of infection. Check regularly in the beginning of dormancy if the tuber doesn't dry out along the cracks. Just to make sure....... Wilbert >

From: "Wilbert Hetterscheid" hetter at worldonline.nl> on 2003.09.30 at 19:48:41(10668) I honestly haven't got a clue. It almost looks like the tubers "burst" out of themselves. Like there is more content than skin to hold it. > -----Oorspronkelijk bericht----- +More > Van: aroid-l-owner@lists.ncsu.edu > [mailto:aroid-l-owner@lists.ncsu.edu]Namens Cooper, Susan L. > Verzonden: dinsdag 30 september 2003 18:49 > Aan: 'aroid-l@lists.ncsu.edu' > Onderwerp: Re: [aroid-l] hibernation time > > > Thanks Wilbert. > Do you know what causes this? > The plant is growing quite well (and even set a seed- 1!) > Susan > > -----Original Message----- > From: Wilbert Hetterscheid [mailto:hetter@worldonline.nl] > Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2003 10:32 AM > To: aroid-l@lists.ncsu.edu > Subject: Re: [aroid-l] hibernation time > > > Happens more often with tuberous aroids. Just let the cracks > dry out and all > will be o.k. You may want to put a fungicide on it, if you > are afraid of > infection. Check regularly in the beginning of dormancy if > the tuber doesn't > dry out along the cracks. Just to make sure....... > > Wilbert > > > >

From: "Julius Boos" ju-bo at msn.com> on 2003.09.30 at 23:11:24(10669) Dear Susan, Just dust it w/ a little fungicide (Captan?) and it should be fine next year, those S. Americans seem to heal pretty well during their dormancy, at least here in Florida. Julius +More >>Speaking of hibernation, I just dug up my Synandrospadix vermitoxus to pot it and bring it in the house. There are several cracks in the bottom of the tuber. I wasn't sure if it did this itself or if it was from me trying to pry the tuber out of the ground (which was a little hard). Anyone have any ideas? I should have taken a picture.... Susan

From: "C. J. Addington" cjaddington at earthlink.net> on 2003.10.01 at 01:18:41(10670) on 9/29/03 16:01, Lester Kallus at lkallus@earthlink.net wrote: > Nights here on Long Island are beginning to dip down into the 40s. I > understand that this coming Thursday night, it will be somewhere between 42 > and 44. I know that Amorphophallus konjac & bulbifer will decide for > themselves when to go dormant and so I'm not worried. > > I have some paeoniifolius in the ground. They're still looking good. I see > three choices: +More > > 1. Wait until they begin to show signs of dormancy and then pull them up > 2. Dig them up and let them spend sometime in the greenhouse until they go > dormant > 3. Dig them up, slice the top off, wash the soil off and force dormancy > > Any thoughts? I'd prefer to avoid the greenhouse time if possible - it's > going to be very crowded in there. > > Les Hi Les and All! Just a thought about hibernation in Amorphophallus. I am NOT a professional on this, but have been growing various Amorphs for several years with good success, and thought I would stick in my 2 cents here. It seems to me that once air temperatures dip low (like in the 40's) and the sun is low in the sky providing dimmer light, that most Amorpho species are probably not doing a whole lot of photosynthesizing anyway, and consequently are not growing their corms anymore to a great degree. Thus, leaving the plants in the ground will not produce any larger corms than are already present. Also, since many Amorphos detest cold, damp soil and are highly rot-prone, leaving them in cold ground may increase the chance of corm-rot. So, I would suggest carefully digging up the plants, even if they look green, leaving the leaf (or leaves) attached, rinsing off all soil and placing the whole plant in a cool, dry place for a few days. The leaf will soon dry out, and the withered leaf will detach from the corm spontaneously, leaving a clean, neat abscission zone and an intact leaf bud for next year. The corm can then be stored for the winter (I stash them in brown peat moss in ventilated boxes). I do this quite often with my own plants, and it seems to work just fine, although I would be very interested to hear if anyone has a different technique or sees a problem with mine. Happy harvesting! My own fall harvest is kicking into gear, so I should have a whole row of drying, sad-looking plants myself soon! Cheers! CJ Addington

From: "C. J. Addington" cjaddington at earthlink.net> on 2003.10.01 at 01:24:36(10671) on 9/30/03 08:27, Wilbert Hetterscheid at hetter@worldonline.nl wrote: > Lester, > > Whether you like it or not, but option 2 is the best, then 1. > > Cheerio, > Wilbert +More Hi all again! I just noticed that Wilbert had responded to this message, (Hi Wilbert! The babies you sent me this year look great - thanks!) and as he has much more experience in this area than I do, I immediately defer to his advice! I am a majorly intrusive gardener - I really love to dig things up - and that might not be the best approach to all cases. Good luck with it! Cheers! CJ

From: "Wilbert Hetterscheid" hetter at worldonline.nl> on 2003.10.01 at 14:59:10(10674) CJ, why would you rinse off the soil? Why not put it in a pot with the soil still "attached" and keep on watering and feeding until the leaf starts to decay? +More Lord P. > -----Oorspronkelijk bericht----- > Van: aroid-l-owner@lists.ncsu.edu > [mailto:aroid-l-owner@lists.ncsu.edu]Namens C. J. Addington > Verzonden: woensdag 1 oktober 2003 3:19 > Aan: aroid-l@lists.ncsu.edu > Onderwerp: Re: [aroid-l] hibernation time > > > on 9/29/03 16:01, Lester Kallus at lkallus@earthlink.net wrote: > > > Nights here on Long Island are beginning to dip down into > the 40s. I > > understand that this coming Thursday night, it will be > somewhere between 42 > > and 44. I know that Amorphophallus konjac & bulbifer will > decide for > > themselves when to go dormant and so I'm not worried. > > > > I have some paeoniifolius in the ground. They're still > looking good. I see > > three choices: > > > > 1. Wait until they begin to show signs of dormancy and > then pull them up > > 2. Dig them up and let them spend sometime in the > greenhouse until they go > > dormant > > 3. Dig them up, slice the top off, wash the soil off and > force dormancy > > > > Any thoughts? I'd prefer to avoid the greenhouse time if > possible - it's > > going to be very crowded in there. > > > > Les > > > Hi Les and All! > Just a thought about hibernation in Amorphophallus. I am NOT a > professional on this, but have been growing various Amorphs > for several > years with good success, and thought I would stick in my 2 cents here. > It seems to me that once air temperatures dip low (like > in the 40's) and > the sun is low in the sky providing dimmer light, that most > Amorpho species > are probably not doing a whole lot of photosynthesizing anyway, and > consequently are not growing their corms anymore to a great > degree. Thus, > leaving the plants in the ground will not produce any larger > corms than are > already present. Also, since many Amorphos detest cold, damp > soil and are > highly rot-prone, leaving them in cold ground may increase > the chance of > corm-rot. > So, I would suggest carefully digging up the plants, even > if they look > green, leaving the leaf (or leaves) attached, rinsing off all soil and > placing the whole plant in a cool, dry place for a few days. > The leaf will > soon dry out, and the withered leaf will detach from the corm > spontaneously, > leaving a clean, neat abscission zone and an intact leaf bud > for next year. > The corm can then be stored for the winter (I stash them in > brown peat moss > in ventilated boxes). > I do this quite often with my own plants, and it seems to > work just > fine, although I would be very interested to hear if anyone > has a different > technique or sees a problem with mine. > Happy harvesting! My own fall harvest is kicking into > gear, so I should > have a whole row of drying, sad-looking plants myself soon! > > Cheers! > > CJ Addington >

From: "C. J. Addington" cjaddington at earthlink.net> on 2003.10.02 at 04:39:21(10676) on 10/1/03 07:59, Wilbert Hetterscheid at hetter@worldonline.nl wrote: > CJ, why would you rinse off the soil? Why not put it in a pot with the soil > still "attached" and keep on watering and feeding until the leaf starts to > decay? +More > > Lord P. Hi Wilbert! I usually quit feeding mine once the weather turns cold because I don't have any kind of greenhouse or grow area, although I sure wish I did! Once it gets cold and dark outside, I have no way to keep my plants warm enough or well-lit enough to keep up any metabolic activity, so I often just clean them up and let them dry before our winter rains can start and saturate the soils with cold water. Of course, being in California this often does not occur until late October or early November, and most other Amorphs in the rest of the nation are long dormant anyway! Personally I love the extreme "hands-on" approach, and have been known to unpot a growing plant just to see what's going on underground. I re-pot and re-plant many of my plants several times a season, just because it's fun. They seem to respond well to it (I know that my Dracunculi sure love it) and I rarely lose things, but I can also see how other people may not be into that kind of intensive, invasive treatment of plants. I would guess that in a colder climate, keeping a plant going in a pot after digging it up may actually be a better technique than what I do. I am sure that what works for one area might be totally inappropriate, or at best non-optimal, for another area. That's part of the fun of communicating with other aroiders - the opportunity to hear what other people do with their little green kids. Half the fun of an expensive, time-consuming, space-hogging hobby is the chance to talk about it with other fanatics! : ) At the moment, only a couple of my Amorpho species are even showing any signs of fading, so I won't be doing any harvesting for quite a while yet. We're still in the 80's here, with nights in the 60's, so I am hoping that the corms are still fattening - although it takes all my will-power to not dig them up and look! Have a great harvest season! Cheers! CJ

From: "Jean-luc Gatard " jlgate at caramail.com> on 2003.10.02 at 12:23:55(10677) ?Susan, The photo of konjac tuber disease I tried to send to the group present the same sympthoms with a cracked bottom. After reflexion and the reading of your message,I'm sharing your posiiton with a possible origin of excessive watering at the final stage when tuber rippening; Curiousely,only extra large tuber seem to be sensible and present this state. Problems with fungus attack are frequent after harvest and they need to be regulary controlled during the winter storage.Tuber base look like the skin of Dioscorea elephantipes. I will leave them in fungicide bath before storage. A 13 kg big tuber is seriousely dammaged and had probably loosed weight. Paeoniifolius are also large,but I never occured this problem. Jean-Luc +More ------- Message d'origine -------? De: Susan Cooper ? Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 08:18:13 -0400? Sujet: Re: [aroid-l] hibernation time? Speaking of hibernation, I just dug up my Synandrospadix vermitoxus to pot it and bring it in the house. There are several cracks in the bottom of the tuber. I wasn't sure if it did this itself or if it was from me trying to pry the tuber out of the ground (which was a little hard). Anyone have any ideas? I should have taken a picture.... Susan Pour gagner une Playstation 2, envoyez un SMS avec le code PS au 61321 (0,35 euro hors co?t du SMS).

From: Thomas.Croat at mobot.org on 2003.10.03 at 21:00:48(10681) Dear Les: I have all mine outside. I wait until the first hard freeze so they are no longer pretty then dig them up. Tom +More -----Original Message----- Sent: Monday, September 29, 2003 6:01 PM To: aroid-l@lists.ncsu.edu Subject: [aroid-l] hibernation time Nights here on Long Island are beginning to dip down into the 40s. I understand that this coming Thursday night, it will be somewhere between 42 and 44. I know that Amorphophallus konjac & bulbifer will decide for themselves when to go dormant and so I'm not worried. I have some paeoniifolius in the ground. They're still looking good. I see three choices: 1. Wait until they begin to show signs of dormancy and then pull them up 2. Dig them up and let them spend sometime in the greenhouse until they go dormant 3. Dig them up, slice the top off, wash the soil off and force dormancy Any thoughts? I'd prefer to avoid the greenhouse time if possible - it's going to be very crowded in there. Les

From: plantguy at zoominternet.net> on 2003.10.05 at 01:35:00(10685) Hi all, I was wondering if I could ask a slightly different question with regard to hibermation, i.e., how might I get things started growing more quickly in the spring? For the most part, my konjac, bulbifer and henryi are no big problem, but some of my larger paeoniifolius don't get started until July and then go dormant here in zone 6a (western PA) at the end of September or early October (we've already had our first hard frost this year) and so don't have a chance to reabsorb all of last years tuber. I should say that I do not have a greenhouse and grow all of my Amorphs in pots. So, I was wondering how I might get them out of dormancy earlier in the spring? Could you set them on a large heat mat for seed starting and then once they start to sprout put them in their pots and off they go. I know it seems an odd request, but any help would be appreciated. Best regards, Dan Devor +More plantguy@zoominternet.net ----- Original Message ----- To: Sent: Friday, October 03, 2003 5:00 PM Subject: Re: [aroid-l] hibernation time > Dear Les: I have all mine outside. I wait until the first hard freeze so > they are no longer pretty then dig them up. > > Tom > > -----Original Message----- > From: Lester Kallus [mailto:lkallus@earthlink.net] > Sent: Monday, September 29, 2003 6:01 PM > To: aroid-l@lists.ncsu.edu > Subject: [aroid-l] hibernation time > > > Nights here on Long Island are beginning to dip down into the 40s. I > understand that this coming Thursday night, it will be somewhere between 42 > and 44. I know that Amorphophallus konjac & bulbifer will decide for > themselves when to go dormant and so I'm not worried. > > I have some paeoniifolius in the ground. They're still looking good. I see > three choices: > > 1. Wait until they begin to show signs of dormancy and then pull them up > 2. Dig them up and let them spend sometime in the greenhouse until they go > dormant > 3. Dig them up, slice the top off, wash the soil off and force dormancy > > Any thoughts? I'd prefer to avoid the greenhouse time if possible - it's > going to be very crowded in there. > > Les > >

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