A. konjac questions

From: "Charles Gramling" <chazmg1 at citlink.net> on 2004.06.23 at 23:52:52(11663) I am hoping that next year my konjac will bloom and I am concerned about when this will occur. Living in Minnesota and with everything I have heard and read I do not want this to bloom indoors. Is there a time of year that konjac will not bloom before? Is there a way to delay the bloom? If I miss this and the unexpected does happen how quickly will the smell leave? Thanks Charles

From: Don Martinson <llmen at wi.rr.com> on 2004.06.24 at 02:37:32(11665) I am hoping that next year my konjac will bloom and I am concerned about when this will occur. Living in Minnesota and with everything I have heard and read I do not want this to bloom indoors. Oh, it's not really THAT bad. It's not constant unless you're right next to the plant. The worst of the smell is over in 3 days or so and you can even put it outside as long as it is not below freezing, and by April, we may have substantial periods of above freezing weather even at night here in Milwaukee. Also, putting it in the basement or unused room would work. Is there a time of year that konjac will not bloom before? Is there a way to delay the bloom? If I miss this and the unexpected does happen how quickly will the smell leave? I store my konjacs in my basement where the temp is in the mid 50's. Some are potted, some not. If a bulb is going to bloom, it will begin to elongate a sprout by early March. Bringing it up into the relative warmth of the house will increase the rate of bloom growth, while keeping it cool would retard it. Here is a link to a chart (which I've posted in the past) showing rate of growth of the konjac inflorescence. http://home.wi.rr.com/llmen/growth.jpg The smell was most pronounced the last few days listed on the chart. -- Don Martinson +More Milwaukee, Wisconsin Mailto:llmen@wi.rr.com

From: "Balistrieri, Carlo" <cbalistrieri at nybg.org> on 2004.06.24 at 11:40:11(11667) A. bulbifer is no konjac, but I have it in bloom in the apartment in the Bronx. The first day or two it was pretty noticeable--but after that it quieted down (so to speak). It is now fully open and is not odoriferous in the least...just gorgeous! After all, why the heck are we growing them if we don't want, expect, hope that they will flower. Stink be damned! Carlo +More Carlo A. Balistrieri Curator of the Rock Garden The New York Botanical Garden 200th Street and Kazimiroff Boulevard Bronx, NY 10458-5126 United States of America 718.817.8027 718.817.8018 fax cbalistrieri@nybg.org

From: "Michael Marcotrigiano" <mmarcotr at email.smith.edu> on 2004.06.24 at 12:47:06(11668) You can cut it off before it happens with no harm to the plant. If you let it go indoors you'll have a week of really terrible odor. It happened to me once by mistake when I had a large one in the onion cellar. When we awoke one morning we thought a animal died in the house. The dog was alive so we knew it was konjac. When they want to flower they do it much earlier than the normal time the leaf emerges. For me in Massachusetts it happened in the onion cellar in April when it was still freezing outside. +More _______________________________ Michael Marcotrigiano, Ph.D Director of the Botanic Garden and Professor of Biological Sciences Smith College Lyman Conservatory, 15 College Lane Northampton, MA 01063 email: mmarcotr@smith.edu voice: 413-585-2741; fax: 413-585-2744 www.smith.edu/garden www.science.smith.edu/~mmarcotr ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Art is the unceasing effort to compete with the beauty of flowers and never succeeding." Marc Chagall >>> chazmg1@citlink.net 06/23/04 07:52PM >>> I am hoping that next year my konjac will bloom and I am concerned about when this will occur. Living in Minnesota and with everything I have heard and read I do not want this to bloom indoors. Is there a time of year that konjac will not bloom before? Is there a way to delay the bloom? If I miss this and the unexpected does happen how quickly will the smell leave? Thanks Charles

From: Ronmchatton at aol.com on 2004.06.24 at 13:10:46(11670) I agree that the odor isn't that bad. Several flowered this year and we hardly noticed them. It isn't a constant odor and, at least with the clones I have, you need to be quite close to smell them. Amorphophallus paeoniifolius is another story. We had neighbors two houses down tracking down the odor.

From: Rand Nicholson <writserv at nbnet.nb.ca> on 2004.06.24 at 19:48:29(11680) Charles: I am anxiously watching a blooming sized Konjac tuber that has been potted up since just before the weather here in Eastern Maritime Canada warms up enough to set it outside. So far ... nothing. This is the same Konjac that has caused my spouse (the phrase "separate reality" was bandied around) and friends great consternation by blooming winter, fall and early spring whenever it felt like it. I have stored it dry, I have stored it cool in my veggie crisper and I have over wintered it in pots (*bad* idea if you do _not_ want growth). The thing has, in my experience, a mind of its own and will start into growth, or bloom, when it feels like it. The only thing I can do then is pot it up and watch. I am hoping that this year It will bloom again, but outside on my deck. It has been over two months and nary a sign of a root. It has been known to sit in such conditions for several months before starting up. I wonder if, under natural conditions, it comes from a climate that will permit blooming at almost any time. I sincerely wish you well with yours. Rand +More >I am hoping that next year my konjac will bloom and I am concerned about >when this will occur. Living in Minnesota and with everything I have heard >and read I do not want this to bloom indoors. > > > >Is there a time of year that konjac will not bloom before? Is there a way to >delay the bloom? If I miss this and the unexpected does happen how quickly >will the smell leave? > > > >Thanks > > > >Charles > > -- Rand Nicholson Zone 5b Eastern Maritime Canada

From: "Charles Gramling" <chazmg1 at citlink.net> on 2004.06.24 at 22:27:14(11686) Thanks for all the good info. I also just received an A. paeonifolius. Do all the amorphs flower at or near the same time? Charles

From: MossyTrail at cs.com on 2004.07.04 at 12:13:31(11712) Ronmchatton@aol.com wrote: >I agree that the odor isn't that bad. Several flowered this year and we >hardly noticed them. It isn't a constant odor and, at least with the clones I >have, you need to be quite close to smell them. Amorphophallus paeoniifolius is >another story. We had neighbors two houses down tracking down the odor. > Okay. I am considering growing A. smithsonianus (actually, I would have it already, if I didn't keep missing those offers on Aroid-Ldue to all sorts of reasons beyond my control). How strong is its smell? Jason Hernandez +More Naturalist-at-Large

From: MossyTrail at cs.com on 2004.07.04 at 12:22:14(11713) Rand Nicholson wrote: >Charles: I wonder if, under natural conditions, it comes from a climate that will permit blooming at almost any time. > I can speak from firsthand knowledge that, in one particular planting I know of in Thailand, all are right now in leaf -- some with leaves full height but still folded, some with short, full-open leaves, and some full height and full-open. Whether this synchrony occurs in the wild, I do not know. Jason Hernandez +More Naturalist-at-Large

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