Friday, July 23, 2010

Sauromatum venosum (Arum cornutum) update

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My new Sauromatum venosum recently started turning yellow (I think in this case a good sign, as it should indicate that the plant is pulling what nutrients it can out of the leaf for dormancy) and collapsing. Well, normally I'd be pretty annoyed by this but I dug up the corm today now that the leaf had completely collapsed and was a little surprised by the size. And the number of offsets from the there were (7)! The corm was also good and firm with no sign of any rot or any other problems even though I should probably have taken it out of the soil a few days ago before some recent rain.


Sauromatum venosum (Arum cornutum) Corm
Sauromatum venosum (Arum cornutum) Corm


It needs to dry a little bit so I can get the soil off and get it all cleaned up properly. I think I can see what might be a new growth point on the top of the main tuber but I'll be able to get a better idea once it's clean.

Should I try dividing one or more of the corms? I'm thinking yes. I'm thinking the largest and/or the two in the spot where there are two growing one above the other so that the remaining corms are evenly spaced around the main one. I'm thinking that doing it while dry and allowing the wound to heal while dry will be the safest approach.

I'm also not 100% sure what will be the best approach for storage until it's growing again but I guess I've got some time to read while I wait for it to dry a little.

4 comments:

  1. OMG, you guys! Maybe I shouldn't have put this on my blog. I am sorry if it caused any grief! Love you both!!!

    No was to your plant here, Andrew...can you believe I've not heard of it before! Unless it has a common name I would recognize??? I'm sure you will do the exact right thing with it!!!

    Good luck!

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  2. I think it shares the common name "Voodoo Lily" with a few other plants, all of which tend to have large, attractive but unpleasantly scented flowers coming out of a "dead" corm. Maybe it's because it comes back from being seemingly dead or maybe because they can smell like corpses but it seems to be the most common name.

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  3. One of my Amorphophallus konjac just turned yellow and started wilting. I figured it was because I was away for a week and hadn't watered it. I was going to chop it off before it fully wilted and dig up the corm, but I'm glad I read your post first instead! Now I'll wait for it to fully wither before digging the thing up, so the corm has enough opportunity to store nutrients as possible!

    The smaller plant is, however, still green and pretty. So there might be some strength to the "whoops, forgot to water" hypothesis.

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  4. When the leaf on mine was completely limp it pulled up off the corm really easily.

    I would think the smaller one would dry out more easily?

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