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From: Bonaventure Magrys <magrysbo at SHU.EDU>
Subject: Arisaema summer and dormancy conditions
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Once again I want to update my observationsfrom last year, included in th=is
message. At my new address, I created raised beds last autumn with the
native sandy soil, oak leaves, and dairy cow manure, laid down in thin
alternating layers. Most growth of Arisaemas and other woodland perrenial=s,
when choosing to initiate growth, was adequate to spectacular. Problems
I've had with week-long rainy spells were mostly, and predictably, rottin=g
of the tubers. Unanticipated angling of the sun giving strong exposure
resulted in some early dormancies. This later was not a problem, along wi=th
the more alarming (I would say unsettling, but that would be a bad pun)
lowering of the soil level and partial exposure of tubers. However, these=,
and those on the rhizomes of Paris have remained healthy, the beautiful
green tips getting larger and fatter as summer and September progresses
(unfortunately purple-tipped himalayan species are gone). Most of those
even 1/2 inch below the surface have rotted. Half-exposed Dysosma rhizome=s
look firm and healthy also. I should later let fallen tree leaves  lie
where they may, like a true woodland, and give them natural, light
protection. Good for the Asarum and Goodyera leaves too, and their rhizom=es
may like to clamber through them in the spring. Spring is when I expect
this coating to be thick, rich, and wet; subsuming into the dry, sandy
underlayer by mid-summer. Then summer dormant plants will have their tube=r
tops or rhizomes exposed again, protecting them from rotting.
Bonaventure
---------------------- Forwarded by Bonaventure W Magrys/ADM/SHU on
09/25/2001 04:20 PM ---------------------------


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03/15/2000 03:41 PM

Sent by:  Bonaventure W Magrys


To:   "Arisaema Enthusiast Group (AEG) Discussion List (and other hardy
Aroids)" <ARISAEMA-L at NIC.SURFNET.NL>
cc:

Subject:  Re: Updated Collection Update  (Document link: Bonaventure W
Magrys)

I find that older mature tubers rot easily too. Once established in a
garden they tend to form next years bulb at a "right height", that is, th=e
plant seems to be able to sense moisture in the substrate and situates th=e
new bulb for the winter at just the right level. Often this is in the hum=us
and leaf fall, quite shallow, that has just accumulated in the autumn but
providing a great deal of organic matter and nutrients for next years
developing shoot. Like an orchid pseudobulb the corm is often in a positi=on
that is too dry for root survival, and hence we may see the roots growing
out from the crown with great vigor and only developing fine root hairs
after borrowing straight down from the corm. Uprooting the bulbs,
replanting them in a different setting, or covering with too much mulch o=r
compost may disrupt this acclimitazation to moisture levels and allow rot.
Immature (by the way if we call them bulbs or tubers instead of, or
interchangeably with, as I often do, corms is it OK?) tubers have to deal
with
different conditions and rapid humus burial in proportion to their size.
Triphyllum is supposed to be one of the most resistant to rot but I have
found it in very wet conditions almost on the surface, hardly buried at a=ll
with the upper face of the tuber covered by only a few fallen leaves.
Bonaventure
Elizabeth, NJ USA zone 6