A Towering Tiny Titanic Forest Posted on August 1st, 2011 by

I posted in June on germination of seeds of Perry the Corpse Flower (Amorphophallus titanum).  Further germination has occurred, and the last count of seedlings from the tray pictured is 59 (and there are more in the set of seeds being tended by Philip).  The seedlings have been outside in my back yard for about three weeks now, enjoying the record-setting dew points and heat indices (the record heat index for Minnesota, 125 F, was set in St. Peter recently).  That, coupled with a shot of fertilizer now and then, has produced lush growth.  In addition, new germinations continue to occur.

I’ll post an update soon on Perry’s current surging state of growth…

 


2 Comments

  1. Ralph Thurlow says:

    Excellent! I bought a corm In April been watching the pot. then off to spain for 2 weeks and yesterday a 2″ spike today 5″ Can you tell now if it’s leaf or flower?

    • Brian O'Brien says:

      How big is the corm that you have? The size of the corm has a large influence on whether or not it can flower.

      If you can send me a photo of the shoot from the corm, I might be able to take an educated guess – leaf shoots are more or less conical, whereas flowering shoots eventually develop a subtle bulge. This phenomenon has been studied by botanists at the Bonn Botanical Garden in Germany.