Hope for next year.

[Eristic]

This year has had more than a fair share of disappointments but the first and biggest let down of them all occurred early in the spring. A flower tuber that I have been nursing for 4 years from the size of a small conker up to a full kilo in weight and 5 inches diameter should have flowered but let me down badly. The new leaf emerged late and was about 25 cm shorter than last year so I was expecting the new tuber to be smaller than last year.



Turned it out of the pot last night and it's 7in dia and weighs 1.75 kilo. The central bud looks much fatter than last year so I am really hoping to start 2008 with a really big stink. With any luck there will be pictures of the flower to follow.

[Eristic]

[saddad]

Itr certainly looks strong and healthy enough to give a real display next year.
;D

[star]

Looking forward to seeing it in flower

[Robert_Brenchley]

Any idea what it is?

[Kea]

I guess he knows but has forgotten to say what it is? ???

[Eristic]

I do apologise. It's Amorphophallus konjac an aroid very closely related to the biggest flower in the world although this one is more modest with a bloom a foot or so tall, 6" wide on a 4ft stalk. The flower, if there is one is already locked inside the tuber and will emerge from the dry tuber without assistance of roots or water.

[cornykev]

Can you eat it though Eristic.  ;D ;D ;D

[Eristic]

Yes. But at about £60 a kilo for a tough spud its better to just look at the flower.

[Lauren S]

  ;D  ;D ;D
More expensive than truffles then  ;)

[Robert_Brenchley]

Interesting looking plant. http://florawww.eeb.uconn.edu/acc_num/198500882.html I had a feeling it was an aroid after seeing your comment about the stink. I don't know what this one smells like, but my Dracunculus is whiffable twenty yards off on a good day. On a bad one (or is it the other way round?) I can't smell it at all. I've grown a few of these flech-omotating plants over the years, and this is the first one I've found which really does smell like a decaying corpse.

[Eristic]

Time for an update of tuber progress. Tuber has woken from dormancy and is on the move. Pretty certain it's a flower.



Sorry about the cat.

[Old bird]

Eristic

When do you put the thing in soil then?  Sounds really unusual - do take a picture when it actually does flower!  I think I could live quite happily without the smell though!

Old Bird

[Robert_Brenchley]

It looks very much like my Dracunculus when it's shooting.

[Tin Shed]

Please don't apologise about your cat, Eristic - I rather like it!

[Eristic]

The last thing the tuber needs at the moment is soil. There are no roots and no attempt to make roots. All it is doing is using stored reserves to produce a flower. What amazes me is where it gets all the water from as this will get pretty big before many more days pass, without any noticable reduction in the size of the tuber.



3 days since the last photo and both the bud and puss have moved a bit. It's taller than the coke can now and is probably about 2-3 weeks away from flowering.

[Robert_Brenchley]

A lot of plant cells are mostly gas; little more than a bubble with a membrane round it. In all probablility, what the plant is doing is turning fairly 'solid' cells (think how heavy a potato is in comparison with a similar volume of greens) into a very lightweight structure.

[Eristic]

At last.







And just in case you are wondering where the cat is:



Height from top of tuber to tip of flower is almost exactly 1 metre. Height of flower from base to tip is 45 cm, width 22cm. Scent is a strong musky odour rather than a pong.

[Yuet_Lee]

woo!
that is amazing ::)