Amorphophallus titanum leaf height inquiry

From: bobrien at gustavus.edu (Brian O'Brien) on 2008.06.23 at 03:59:03(17911) Hi All, Our largest Titan appears to have reached maximum leaf height for its current growth cycle. It's about 12 feet high, just below the greenhouse roof level. My question for other growers of this plant is: does the plant somehow detect the presence of a barrier, and stop vertical growth, or will it, the next time that it produces a leaf, try to push the leaf through the greenhouse roof? We were concerned about the latter possibility this time, and it seems oddly coincidental that the leaf stopped growing vertically just at the point when we hoped that it would do so. Here's a link for the latest update, including some photos of the leaf scaled to humans: http://arboretum.blog.gustavus.edu/2008/06/19/gigantic-leaf-garners-gawkers/ Brian +More -- Brian A. O'Brien, Department of Chemistry, Gustavus Adolphus College 800 West College Avenue, Saint Peter, Minnesota 56082 U.S.A. e-mail bobrien at gustavus.edu or bobrien at gac.edu tel. (507)933-7310 fax (507)933-7041 http://www.gustavus.edu/~bobrien Hope and the future for me are not in lawns and cultivated fields, not in towns and cities, but in the impervious and quaking swamps. Henry David Thoreau -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/private/aroid-l/attachments/20080622/555af13e/attachment-0001.htm

From: bill.weaver at hp.com (Weaver, Bill) on 2008.06.24 at 04:23:05(17934) I'd say you got lucky this time. My experience has been that the leaf will smash itself up against the roof. Unfortunately, in my greenhouse that means that any part in contact with the roof got burned. I have tried to shorten the leaf by hanging a grow light just inches above the emerging leaf and raising it as it grew. It didn't seem to make any difference. I also tried tipping the pot over hoping that it would grow at an angle before opening. No luck there either. The stem just bent itself at 90 degrees and kept on growing straight up. Bill Weaver +More ________________________________ From: aroid-l-bounces at gizmoworks.com [mailto:aroid-l-bounces at gizmoworks.com] On Behalf Of Brian O'Brien Sent: Sunday, June 22, 2008 8:59 PM To: aroid-l at gizmoworks.com Cc: bobrien at gac.edu Subject: [Aroid-l] Amorphophallus titanum leaf height inquiry Hi All, Our largest Titan appears to have reached maximum leaf height for its current growth cycle. It's about 12 feet high, just below the greenhouse roof level. My question for other growers of this plant is: does the plant somehow detect the presence of a barrier, and stop vertical growth, or will it, the next time that it produces a leaf, try to push the leaf through the greenhouse roof? We were concerned about the latter possibility this time, and it seems oddly coincidental that the leaf stopped growing vertically just at the point when we hoped that it would do so. Here's a link for the latest update, including some photos of the leaf scaled to humans: http://arboretum.blog.gustavus.edu/2008/06/19/gigantic-leaf-garners-gawkers/ Brian -- Brian A. O'Brien, Department of Chemistry, Gustavus Adolphus College 800 West College Avenue, Saint Peter, Minnesota 56082 U.S.A. e-mail bobrien at gustavus.edu or bobrien at gac.edu tel. (507)933-7310 fax (507)933-7041 http://www.gustavus.edu/~bobrien Hope and the future for me are not in lawns and cultivated fields, not in towns and cities, but in the impervious and quaking swamps. Henry David Thoreau -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/private/aroid-l/attachments/20080624/ed42cdf1/attachment.htm

From: ju-bo at msn.com (ju-bo at msn.com) on 2008.06.24 at 09:41:16(17937) ________________________________ > From: bill.weaver at hp.com > To: aroid-l at gizmoworks.com > Date: Tue, 24 Jun 2008 04:23:05 +0000 > CC: bobrien at gac.edu > Subject: Re: [Aroid-l] Amorphophallus titanum leaf height inquiry Dear Brian, I agree w/ Bill. One crazy idea (and I mean this seriously) is to consider digging a hole in the green house floor, and placing the pot down into it, and so providing a further 4 ft. of so of room for the leaf to grow vertically, it WILL try to push itself through the g/house roof. Good Growing, Julius +More > I'd say you got lucky this time. My experience has been that the leaf will smash itself up against the roof. > Unfortunately, in my greenhouse that means that any part in contact with the roof got burned. > > I have tried to shorten the leaf by hanging a grow light just inches above the emerging leaf and raising it > as it grew. It didn't seem to make any difference. > > I also tried tipping the pot over hoping that it would grow at an angle before opening. No luck there either. > The stem just bent itself at 90 degrees and kept on growing straight up. > > Bill Weaver > > ________________________________ > From: aroid-l-bounces at gizmoworks.com [mailto:aroid-l-bounces at gizmoworks.com] On Behalf Of Brian O'Brien > Sent: Sunday, June 22, 2008 8:59 PM > To: aroid-l at gizmoworks.com > Cc: bobrien at gac.edu > Subject: [Aroid-l] Amorphophallus titanum leaf height inquiry > > Hi All, > Our largest Titan appears to have reached maximum leaf height for its current growth cycle. It's about 12 feet high, just below the greenhouse roof level. My question for other growers of this plant is: does the plant somehow detect the presence of a barrier, and stop vertical growth, or will it, the next time that it produces a leaf, try to push the leaf through the greenhouse roof? We were concerned about the latter possibility this time, and it seems oddly coincidental that the leaf stopped growing vertically just at the point when we hoped that it would do so. > Here's a link for the latest update, including some photos of the leaf scaled to humans: http://arboretum.blog.gustavus.edu/2008/06/19/gigantic-leaf-garners-gawkers/ > > Brian > > -- > Brian A. O'Brien, Department of Chemistry, Gustavus Adolphus College > 800 West College Avenue, Saint Peter, Minnesota 56082 U.S.A. > e-mail bobrien at gustavus.edu or bobrien at gac.edu > tel. (507)933-7310 fax (507)933-7041 http://www.gustavus.edu/~bobrien > > Hope and the future for me are not in lawns and cultivated fields, > not in towns and cities, but in the impervious and quaking swamps. > > Henry David Thoreau

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