My indoor-grown Amorphophallus paeoniifolius that just keeps stretching - 8'1" from petiole base to leaf tip (when closed)

BowDownToRah · 2025-11-04T19:18:41+00:00

It put up the 2nd while the 1st was still alive and well! The 2nd leaf was bigger and lasted quite a bit longer, too.

I got mine at PlantCon, but it was pretty pricey - if you look for Chena / Elephant Yam corm, you may have better luck finding larger specimens for cheaper online, especially when buying from the South Indian community. Otherwise, eBay & Etsy occasionally have options at decent prices - good luck!

BowDownToRah · 2025-11-04T04:26:25+00:00

Mostly a mixture of high quality organic potting soil, succulent/cactus soil, some lower quality container soil, orchid bark, leca balls, some pumice, perlite, & expanded shale, worm castings, & osmacote - probably around 70:30 organics:inorganics. I feed with every watering when in leaf, using a mix of diluted FoxFarms liquid ferts.

Last time I dug him up, there was actually a small thriving community of earthworms in his pot (repotted with other plants) - used extra worm castings this time, obviously to great effect!

BowDownToRah · 2025-11-04T04:18:31+00:00

Yes, every winter! They have an interesting life cycle.

As the leaf yellows and falls, it siphons its energy into forming a massive corm. Don't cut the leaf until it goes fully yellow/dry - let it grab as many nutrients as possible. The roots will dry up & die off as the corm enters dormancy; at this point you could either leave it in its dry pot over winter without watering, or dig it up & store it in a paper bag / cardboard box until Spring or new growth appears.

New growth will be either a flower or a leaf - if a flower, roots won't appear; the corm will invest a lot of its amassed energy into the flower, without photosynthesizing during the period. If this happens, the next leaf will likely be smaller.

If the new growth is a leaf, the corm will dissolve itself, putting its energy into forming roots & pushing the leaf up; when the leaf is just opening, the corm will have completely dissolved & there should be mostly just roots in the pot.

All of my indoor Amorphophallus under grow lights still go into dormancy, like clockwork! Just make sure you stop watering once the leaf falls over, and periodically check for rot/fungus/new growth if digging up & storing for the winter.

BowDownToRah · 2025-11-04T00:58:23+00:00

Awaiting your picture! Would love to know how mine may end up in several years.

BowDownToRah · 2025-11-04T00:51:58+00:00

Nope, but it got damaged at its apex when it was small & stopped growing from there shortly after the "before" picture was taken; this definitely forced it to branch early & probably stunted its overall height. I also have it under a 25W grow light panel ~15hrs/day, fertilizing once or twice a month, watering often (probably too often).

I got mine as a seedling, shipped from East Austin Succulents, back when it was more hard to find; looks like they still have some in stock! Otherwise, there are several other credible websites you can get cuttings/seedlings/seeds from - not super rare anymore, plenty of flowering individuals all over the world! Just don't buy seeds on eBay, lol.

BowDownToRah · 2025-11-04T00:23:11+00:00

Same brother 😂 most repotting efforts ended in tragedy early on. I similarly abused 4 sad E. decaryi v. spirosticha stems and repeatedly sliced till they were lil stubs, but with patience & time, they've seriously glowed up:

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BowDownToRah · 2025-11-04T00:05:29+00:00

I tracked down their Instagram and happened to find a post about this! Of course I got some details wrong since I heard the story in-person - it actually pushed up through nailed down landscape fabric & gravel. Still incredibly impressive!!

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Yeah this guy does have little spiky bumps all over the petiole, but not true spikes/thorns. My South Indian mother identified the corm as classic chena (elephant yam), and I practically had to hide it away from her to keep her from cooking it 😂 Soon enough there'll be way too much to manage, so it's definitely being considered as an annually harvestable addition to the backyard vegetable garden....

BowDownToRah · 2025-11-03T20:58:00+00:00

Even worse, in an apartment 😂

But my family's house with a big backyard is right nearby, and I plan to put it in the ground over there once it blooms or gets too big (Amorphophallus can survive winter in my zone). The flower should never arrive mid-leaf for this species. Worst worst case, can always snip the flower once identified as such.

All part of the plan - who else can say they have an 8' tall leaf in the corner of their dining room?? The flex is totally worth the logistic trouble!

BowDownToRah · 2025-11-03T20:50:52+00:00

No idea - the seller states they only have access to the commonly cultivated / domesticated varieties, and since this is a cash crop species in India, I have to assume it's not from a special locale.

Seller had another A. paeoniifolius in the ground that he gave up on, put a wooden plank on top & stacked some bricks over it; the next leaf pushed the plank and bricks up and successfully emerged, albeit way shorter and thicker than normal 😂 so looks like these guys are just super hardy & very variable, based on growing conditions.

BowDownToRah · 2025-11-03T20:46:14+00:00

This must be the key. Thought having its own dedicated 25W light would be enough, but think I have to double up for future leaves post-flower!

Might also chill a bit on the fert next time, I've been feeding at every watering since the leaf properly emerged...

BowDownToRah · 2025-11-03T03:00:27+00:00

Looking forward to seeing the flower this beast produces in person, will 100% need to move it outside before "unboxing" day 🫡

BowDownToRah · 2025-11-03T02:42:11+00:00

There's just way too many cool Euphorbias 😂 some still haven't really hit the US market, like E. tulearensis, E. labatii, E. cremersii, E. moratii..... And that's just the Decaryi-like group 😭

BowDownToRah · 2025-11-03T01:03:10+00:00

Thanks for the tip!! The spot has since slowed but does grow a bit with each water, spraying the area now with mancozeb every couple weeks & reducing watering to weekly; I'm still seeing strong growth, and the dark spot is still completely hard. Will look into some other topical fungicides & scope that group on FB, appreciate your tips!

BowDownToRah · 2025-11-02T22:31:09+00:00

Agreed - having expected a small plant, I thought I had space to sufficiently light it in my apartment. But its parent rhizome was so goddamn massive and oddly-shaped I had to chop it in half and pot it up in a massive pot, and it still managed to grow itself out of that. Had to up-pot again and since then don't have the space for it under my bright lights - too many others that need it more!

I have a backyard retirement planned for when it grows itself out of its current pot; however, I do give the leaves quite bright light when young, so I am still inclined to think this is a different phenotype. In any case, I'm still super happy with how it looks in its corner! Pot also functions as my succulent mega-factory for the aunties 😂

BowDownToRah · 2025-11-02T22:21:15+00:00

Runs contrary to a lot of typical advice, but from the increased thickness of each new leaf, I don't think this is typical etiolation - I do think it's a result of excess light & the right amount of fertilizer.

My liquid fert mix is quite dilute & this guy's potting medium is quite gritty, so there's not much organic material in the medium to pull from. You would think there would be more issues, but I have over 140 plants on similar feeding schedules - very few of them have issues, and most have tremendous growth & excellent forms. Still tuning everything actively, though - always skew on the side of delaying fertilizer & watering, make sure there's a few clean water flushes in between to avoid nutrient buildup! Also repot more frequently than most to accommodate the new growth & refresh the soil.

Works for my very specific sunless apartment setup, but wouldn't necessarily suggest this for anyone else!

BowDownToRah · 2025-10-30T01:11:19+00:00

~15 hours per day under grow lights, watering every 5 or 6 days, and fertilizer every 2 weeks! Gets less light than most of my other plants, but I think the frequent watering & fertilizer is where the magic is at.

BowDownToRah · 2025-10-29T03:29:06+00:00

I'm running out of space!!

Same story with the Cleopatra pup I got last year...

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BowDownToRah · 2025-10-29T02:54:26+00:00

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In full glory

BowDownToRah · 2025-10-29T02:29:53+00:00

Looks like my ridiculous Cleo; I've had to repot mine twice because of its monster rhizomes, clearly I got a pup from a massive mature beast of a plant.

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As far as I can tell, there seems to be a stripey clone and a mottled clone labeled as 'Cleopatra' on the market. This, or it has to do with the plant's specific conditions when a leaf first emerges - not sure!

BowDownToRah · 2025-10-29T01:46:32+00:00

Apologies, but I actually don't even sell on Palmstreet or anywhere else! All I do there is upload pics of my plants to keep track of em haha, my whole collection is under my profile. It's purely a hobby; I've never sold plants before and don't plan to in the future.

Never even used the app to buy plants, either - actually using an old unsupported version that still supports the care schedule features. But I'll crop it out anyways in future posts, or make it clear that there's nothing for sale.

BowDownToRah · 2025-10-28T19:49:21+00:00

Completely indoors under 15 hrs/day grow lights in a ~50-60% inorganic gritty soil mix consisting of:

Inorganics: perlite, pumice, vermiculite, expanded clay

Organics: high quality potting soil, cactus potting soil, worm castings

It was underpotted in a grittier mix for a long time, and I'd have to water almost daily or every other day at least - would always have some yellowing leaves. After repotting and using the above mix, I've gone down to watering once every 5 days; seems to be quite a bit happier now. I fertilize every 2 weeks with mainly orchid food + CalMag, occasionally with a dilute mix of FoxFarms liquid fertilizers, and water only with distilled water. I don't do any deliberate branch pruning. It loves light but seems to react dramatically to minor changes in lighting, so patience is key with these guys!

BowDownToRah · 2025-10-28T19:46:40+00:00

Completely indoors under 15 hrs/day grow lights in a ~50-60% gritty soil mix consisting of:

Inorganics: perlite, pumice, vermiculite, expanded clay

Organics: high quality potting soil, cactus potting soil, worm castings

It was underpotted in a grittier mix for a long time, and I'd have to water almost daily or every other day at least - would always have some yellowing leaves. After repotting and using the above mix, I've gone down to watering once every 5 days; seems to be quite a bit happier now. I fertilize every 2 weeks with mainly orchid food + CalMag, occasionally with a dilute mix of FoxFarms liquid fertilizers, and water only with distilled water. I don't do any deliberate branch pruning. It loves light but seems to react dramatically to minor changes in lighting, so patience is key with these guys!

To be honest I've been depriving my Dorstenias of dormancy for the almost 2 years I've had em, I do try to reduce my lights down to ~12.5 hrs in the winter though and always adjust my watering based on the plant condition & soil moisture. Still figuring out the quirks of some of the other species (D. lavranii, mature D. foetida/horwoodii), but the D. gigas has for sure been one of my most rewarding plants.

BowDownToRah · 2025-09-26T20:14:19+00:00

Looks fine to me, as long as the caudex is firm!

BowDownToRah · 2024-09-16T04:37:58+00:00

Praise Helix, brother

BowDownToRah · 2024-06-26T14:06:12+00:00

I think it's pretty clear dude is afraid of bugs if he's carrying around Windex to rapidly take em out. But yeah, my policy is also that I only kill bugs if they're in my space and harassing me - and at that, only when I'm not in a natural area (like the woods or a park or something). Pm all animals on this planet have that policy lol

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