From: Steve Marak <samarak at arachne.uark.edu> on 1998.09.11 at 15:07:33(2585)
Since I am usually the one who initiates discussion of S. vermitoxicus on
Aroid-L, I have held my tongue - electronically speacking - for a couple
of days to give others the chance to respond. Alas, no one has, so I feel
compelled to post something.
Paul, my S. vermitoxicus is from Tom (Croat) and Petra (Malesevich), of
and formerly of MoBot. I've had it several years now, and it has proven
fairly easy to grow. It reliably breaks dormancy in early spring (March, I
think) in the greenhouse, usually puts up at least one inflorescence,
sometimes a couple, and reliably goes dormant about this time in the fall
regardless of whether it has spent the summer in the greenhouse or
outside.
I avoid giving it any water while dormant, but it has been tolerant of the
occasionaly light misting or splatter from reckless watering of nearby
plants. The soil is faster draining then my usual mix but otherwise
standard (I think I added some horticultural charcoal simply because at
the time that's what I had at hand). The winter temperature in the
greenhouse stays in the 60's (F) or higher by day, possibly as low as 55
(F) at night, but that doesn't seem to affect it's dormancy.
My plant slowly but regularly produces offsets, which Wilbert feels is
unusual for the species. I've promised him the next offset, and now that
the plant is going under for the winter I need to unpot it and see what's
there.
I've tried several times to get more information about the temperature and
climate extremes in its native range, without much success. I've never
gotten seeds from my plant, and would like to very much because I want
some additional plants. I did put one offset outside for the winter a
couple of years ago, but results were inconclusive, because I got
impatient and started looking for it, and the tuber suffered serious
shovel blight during the exploration. (It was intact - i.e., not rotted,
and seemed healthy - but had not started growth even though it was 60 days
later than when the plant in the greenhouse had put up leaves. Or rather
it was apparently intact before I started poking around.)
I'd certainly be interested in any information you have about the habitat,
especially the temperature ranges at the extremes.
Steve
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