Hi there. My name is Snow. I am a 50-year-old woman, and I live in the east county of San Diego. For the last 24 years I have been a clothing designer/seamstress. I design and manufacture my own line of apparel for exotic dancers. I owned a store in the Hillcrest area of San Diego for 13 years and closed down in 2001 after 9-1-1.

The city of El Cajon, where we live, is one of the warmest places in San Diego County; there is rarely any humidity at all. My boyfriend and I have about 1/3 acre, and we use all of it. The winters can get as low as 25 degrees F. and the summers as high as 110. Are you wondering how I grow Amorphophallus here without a greenhouse? Read on!

All growers have started where you have begun today, including myself. As I write this, it is October 2005, I have been collecting for only a little over a year.

Amorphophallus titanum Photo courtesy Natural Selections Exotics

Amorphophallus hewittii Photo courtesy Malaysiana Tropicals

You may have heard about the big stinky plant at your local botanical garden. The Amorphophallus titanum, (above) or Titan Arum, has gotten more publicity than Anna Nicole Smith. I think that most of us may have had our curiosity piqued after seeing that huge, strange plant on the news. The image above is courtesy Natural Selections Exotics. I remember seeing it on the news the first time when I was a kid. It never entered my mind that they were actually available to the public. Just 14 months ago I saw my first A. titanum in person. I had just missed the stink the night before. There is only a two-to-three-hour window if you want to get a good whiff of the dead animal smell. I must have stood there for an hour and stared at its complete and utter, otherworldly inflorescence. It looked like something from outer space. There was something about it that wouldn't get out of my head; I had to have one. Once I found out the true, ridiculously long Latin name for the plant, it was all over. I spent eight hours a day on the computer looking up all there was regarding Amorphophallus. Little did I know that there were 200+ species. I was like a sponge and couldn't stop researching them. Obsession is a nice way to put it.

(2-5-6) My boyfriend just looked in his closet and found thebelow Amorphophallus konjak growing in the dark without any dirt. This plant is actually an inflorescense (flower), which would have attracted the police with its corpse-like stench once it was in full bloom. There were large green flies on the window in the room and I didn't know why. I just potted it up and gave it some water. Check your tubers often during dormancy or you may have a surprize you won't soon forget. I figure this plant will be in full bloom in 3-5 days. Whew!

04-06-05 Good sized tuber when I got it

02-5-06 Surprize in the closet

02-15-06 Not open yet.

02-15-6 Outside in February....80 F.

Cut to show male and female "naughty bits" Very stinky!

Photo courtesy Troy Davis	Photo courtesy Ron Kaufmann
Amorphophallus paeoniifolius	Amorphophallus mahajanga (still undescribed species)

I am crazy now too! I felt so stupid because I had so much to learn. I realized that you are only stupid if you don't ask questions. There is a lot to know before you take the first step and buy that first tuber. These plants are endangered in the wild. Their habitat is disappearing by the hundreds of acres each day. It is our responsibility to learn all there is to know if we are to have happy and healthy plants. I was so nervous when I bought my first amorph. I think it was an Amorphophallus dunnii. I found it on eBay and couldn’t wait to get my hands on it.

Before I knew it, I was an eBay junky and spent all my money on stinky plants. Check out what eBay has for sale today eBay- Amorphophallus/aroids I have branched out to collecting different types of smelly plants. I now collect Stapelia, Aristolochia, and some pretty smelly Orchids. One day, I had to blink my eyes a couple of times because I saw an A. titanum up for bid. I didn't bid high enough and didn't win it. Next time, I had to have it! I bid $75.00 for a plant; Not just a plant, an Amorphophallus titanum. I started talking online to a lady named Christian from AlterNative Solutions. I bought the plant from her, and she was a witness to how nervous I was. I thought for sure that I would kill it in a few days. I must have emailed her six times a day trying to make sure I had the knowledge it took to grow this species. I felt like I was going to throw up when it arrived. This plant is supposed to slow down its growth and hit dormancy. It grew like crazy for a few months and seems to have slowed way down. It didn't go dormant like all my other plants. I have heard that A. titanum may skip dormancy altogether. I am much more confident now, but I still worry about all of my plants. Christian was a great teacher! We have become great friends, even though we haven't met in person yet. I am worried about how cold it will be getting this winter. All of my Amorphs have been outside until last night. They have been able to handle 45-50 degrees Farenheit for a couple of weeks, but I didn't want to push it, so I brought them in the house.

Now I am the proud owner of 38 different species of Amorphophallus. I learn something new every day, and have made some really good online friends. We are like a little community. A little fanatical and obsessed about our plants, we ask each other's advice about everything. The support is unbelievable. Everyone I have purchased an Amorph from has been there to answer my questions. Most of them helped me with the information you will be reading on this site.

Another great place to find answers to your questions is Garden Web . You can sign up for free and post questions you have about your Amorphophallus or any other plant in your collection. You can search for the Amorphophallus (Aroid) section and read all of the old questions that were posted in the past. You will find many of your answers there. I learned so much from reading those posts; I still do. After you have read all you can find, you can post your own questions and get different answers from different people. As you will keep hearing throughout this site, find out what works best for you.

My friend Bryan Lampl has set up a discussion group for Aroid enthusiasts. This yahoo!group is for the discussion of care, trading and selling plants, and to share your experiences with Amorphophallus. I have learned a lot from the different posts I receive in my email and recommend that you join. Amorph_Group

I bought Aroideana #19 from the IAS. If you join the IAS, you get a new issue of Aroideana every year. It has almost every Amorphophallus known to man or woman, up to the date of its first publication in 1996. Wilbert Hetterscheid is one of the leading experts in the world on Amorphophallus, and he is also a coauthor of Aroid #19. This book is known as the Amorph bible, and it is an invaluable tool. There are a few more newly discovered species that are not included in #19. I learned more from this small book than from anything else. Basically, this species is divided into either Group 1 or Group 2. Each group has different soil, fertilizer, dormancy storage and watering needs. All of this is discussed in #19.

Nomenclature is the system of naming things, e.g., plants. When you purchase Aroideana #19, you will notice that Wilbert Hetterscheid’s name is included after almost every named plant. The reason for this is, he and others have described the named Amorphophallus species to date and they continue their research throughout the world to bring us the important information we need. I hope that this information will be a stepping stone to the info on the IAS Web site. Once you get used to the lingo and botanical terms, you will be much more comfortable when you purchase your first plant.

Aroideana #19 is indeed wonderful to have, but, you need to do research just to understand what they are trying to tell you. Botanical Latin is a whole new language, but you will catch on in no time. I created this site, with the help of my friends, to be used alongside Aroid #19. Most of the big words in #19 are listed in our Botanical Definitions page on this site. Do you need to know what an inflorescence, infructescence, spathe, petiole, or tuber is because you came across it in Aroideana #19? You can look it up on this site on the Botanical Definitions page.

Beginning Your Collection

Whether you start your collection with a seed, a germinated seed, a tuber, or a live plant, you need to know what to do.

I will explain to you what the above items are. A seed is pretty self-explanatory. A germinated seed is one that has begun to sprout. See "What to do when your seeds arrive". A tuber is what the seed will be when it gets bigger. It's an underground stem that has been modified for storage of nutrients, kinda like a potato. Everything the plant needs to grow is contained in the tuber. See "What to do when your tuber arrives"I refuse to explain what a live plant is.

When you get your first tuber, you may notice a small nub growing from the top. Even in dormant tubers there may be a small nub, or growth where the actual plant will grow from. Which part of the tuber is the top? I didn't know that either! Look for the tuber's belly button. Always plant the belly button facing up. Even if you happen to plant the tuber upside down, it will fix the problem itself. It may put a little more stress on the tuber so don't experiment if you can help it.

For information on specific Amorph species, please see my chart or your own copy of Aroideana #19 to find out which species can be stored dry and which ones need to be in the soil for dormancy.. In some species, the tuber needs to be kept in the soil during during dormancy, or the plant's resting period. With other species, the tuber can just be placed on a shelf (dry dormancy) until it comes out of dormancy. You will notice a difference in the size of the nub when it is done resting. The nub shows more and more day to day when it is coming out of dormancy. In dormancy, the size of the nub doesn't change.

These guys don't need dirt to grow, but it helps. Leave it alone for too long, and the neighbors will think you're hiding a dead body in your closet. They are better left outside when they are in flower. Remember, not in full sun, even though some species can handle the sun; it's best to gradually expose them. Don't worry, the dead animal scent only lasts a few hours in the evening.

A few Amorphophallus actually smell like chocolate, vanilla, carrots, or anise. These species go in and out of dormancy whenever they want. You can't force them to go dormant and you can't force them out of dormancy. Some species may not even have dormancy. If it's near autumn or winter, and your plant looks like it's dying, it's most likely going into its resting period. Don't ever cut the leaf back. When it falls completely over by itself, give the leaf a gentle tug and throw it away. After you remove the old petiole and leaf, there may be another leaf getting ready to sprout. If the leaf is removed too soon, you could be robbing the tuber of nutrients. The tuber collects all of it's vital nutrients from the leaf during its growth period.

Usually, larger tubers will flower long before smaller ones. One species has actually grown an inflorescence when it was only 1 1/2". Your tubers may double or triple in size each growing season if the basic necessities are met for that specific species.

I am growing all my Amorphs in a bedroom (during winter) that gets pretty decent filtered sunlight. Being careful not to expose them to direct sun, I supplement their light with an ordinary florescent fixture, which is placed a couple of feet above them. They are sitting on a 20 x 48" heat mat with a humidifier and the light both on a timer. They are given at least 16 hours of light a day. The humidity is kept around 70-80%. (2004)

Sometimes a tuber will put up a new leaf just as the old one is falling over. Tubers can put up 2 or more plants at the same time. My A. salmoneus has 6-7 growth points. The only thing I have learned that is absolutely certain about Amorphs is that nothing is for sure. You can read all day long about a particular species and yours will do the opposite of what you have read.

Petiole was ready to be removed	Underneath a new growth!

(2005) Now that summer is almost over, I have learned so much about this marvelous species. All of them have been outside on the shady patio all summer long. They weren't placed in direct sun. On the shady patio, they get as much light as they need. Some of them have been planted in the ground under a shade cloth outside of the patio area. I babied them way too much last winter. I think they are much more adaptable than previously thought. The temperatures have been down in the high 40s at night for the last week and a half. They are all still outside and seem to be very happy. Because of the dry heat, I do turn on the misting system a few times a day for 5-6 minutes (only when it's hot). Some of them will be going to my friend Ron's house for the winter. He has a nice, big greenhouse to keep them warm. My A. titanums don't seem to go into dormancy like the other species. Kind of a pain to make sure they are happy during the winter, but well worth the trouble. I have 11 titanums now. One 3-foot plant and 9 more about 9 inches tall and growing. I got some seeds from my friend Troy in Bali and all but one germinated. It won't be going in the trash; I will wait until it decides it's time to grow.

Geographical distribution (the native habitat for a species) is the determining factor in the proper care of any and all species of Amorphophallus. Where they originate from will most likely tell you the type of soil and the amount of water they will need. If you can purchase a copy of Aroideana #19, it will be extremely helpful. Dr. Hetterscheid is planning an updated version of #19 soon.

Good luck and happy growing!

This site and its contents are not endorsed by the IAS, so it is without any vested interest that I say I can’t stress enough how important it is to join and help support the IAS. The information and expertise available there can't be found anywhere else on the Web.

On the next page, I introduce the Amorphophallus!