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From: "Jim McClements, Dover, DE z6" <JimMcClem at AOL.COM>
Subject: Re: Proper Winter Care for Arisaema's
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In a message dated 1/25/00 9:55:52 AM, Duncan.McAlpine at PSS.BOEING.COM
writes:

<< Can someone provide guide for proper winter care for Arisaema's?
>>

Duncan

I never saw any replies to your question. Are you concerned about bar=e
tubers, potted tubers or ones planted out? I think this is a topic wo=rthy
of
discussing, if you can be a bit more specific.

Jim McClements


<< I would like more information on potted tubers and if the tubers are
planted outside please.

Duncan

I'm posting this to the list in the hope that someone other than me will
weigh in on the subject as well.

I think that the basic rule for dormant arisaemas is that they need to be
pretty dry. Small tubers can dessicate if too dry, but the larger the tub=er,
the drier it should be while dormant.

For potted tubers, this is easy to accomplish, since moisture can be
controlled readily. Remember that arisaema roots are "annual", and grow a=new
from the tuber each year. That means that you can unpot an arisaema and s=tore
it dry, or almost dry, in the refrigerator or any place cool. or you can =just
leave it in the pot, making sure that there's very little moisture presen=t.

Tubers planted in the garden, unless you want to dig them and store them =as
above, are at the mercy of the weather and the soil conditions. If they a=re
wet, cold and under anaerobic conditions, there is a great chance that
rotting will occur. And there seems to be some variance in what different
species will tolerate. A. sikokianum is a great rotter, while A. triphyll=um,
particularly the forms that come from wet areas will overwinter well in
poorly drained areas. The best thing to do in the garden is to plant them=in
soil that drains well and hope for the best.

I think it's too early to know how some of the recent Chinese imports wil=l
do, but I think that the basics will be essentially the same.

I don't mean to imply that I have all the answers to this problem. A few
years ago Dick Weaver, then of WeDu Nurseries and an excellent grower, to=ld
me that they had stopped handling arisaemas because he was unable to solv=e
the problem of tubers rotting in the garden. (in raised beds!) I would be=t
that most of the nursery folks on the list would tell us that they overwi=nter
their tubers out of the ground. That may be what we will all have to do i=f we
want some of the new ones to survive.

Let's hear some other input on this. Nursery people? Folks in Europe? Any=one?
I've heard more than I need to know about snow. Let's talk about arisaema=s!

Jim