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hardy  Aroids)" <ARISAEMA-L at NIC.SURFNET.NL> Aroids)" <ARISAEMA-L at NIC.SURFNET.NL>
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From: "G. Svanholm" <gote at SVANHOLM.SE>
Subject: Re: Arisaemia cold vs warm
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At 14:48 2006-01-11 -0600, you wrote:
>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Robin Bell" <rgb2 at CORNELL.EDU>
>To: <ARISAEMA-L at NIC.SURFNET.NL>
>Sent: Wednesday, January 11, 2006 7:47 AM
>Subject: Arisaemia cold vs warm
>
>
>> "OK but what keeps them dormant? They cannot have jet lag forever.=2=0
>> Something
>> makes them start growing. It cannot be moisture and it cannot be "dead
>> reckoning". What could be the advantage of starting late in the natura=l
>> conditions?"
>
>It is possible to answer this  question theoretically without being 
>committed to any actual known information about any particular species. ==
The 
>advantages are likely related to the advent of a rainy season, the end o=f a=
 
>cold season, the hatch time of  pollinators  in the plant's original=2=0
>provenance, or the growth of mycorrhizae that trigger a chemical reactio=n=
in 
>the tuber's external skin which in turn triggers root growth, etc.   We= 
>don't  know, for the most part.

Yes of course but it is not a helpful answer unless we know which advanta=ge
is important. If we know which one is important we might understand how t=o
make it work in our own environment which is quite different. Guy Gusman
thinks it is to avoid damage from late frosts.

>Research in the area is not likely to be funded readily  because most= 
>arisaemas are not big cash crops, not like potatoes, or all the colocasi=as=
 
>and related aroids that known as taro or cocoyam, yautia, malanga,etc.  =We=
 
>can pool our observations, however, and report them here.

Yes this is precisely what I am hoping for. Surely many Arisaema enthusia=sts
must have made observations that could be helpful in this problem.

>There is a substantial literature I ran across this morning on dormancy =and=
 
>factors determining its length in potatoes.  Not a close relative of=
aroids, 
>but perhaps partially relevant.

It seems that these mechanisms cut across taxonomic borders and are more
related to climatic and other conditions. I will try to look up the=
potatoes.

The puzzling thing is "why the long wait after spring has set in?". I
observe the phenomenon in Lilium nepalense as well.

Using your approach in the beginning, I would speculate that a cold perio=d
followed by at least six weeks of warmth could do the trick.
Maybe someone who sucessfully grows A. candidissimum in pots could test. =Put
one pot in the fridge in october and taket it into room temperature in
January. Keep another in the fridge until March and compare.
Will the first wake up in March and the second in May???

I would not care if it wakes up late but for one reason. Imported tubers
planted in the fall often survive the first winter but not the second. My
surmise is that they do not have time to prepare for winter in my garden
since  my growing season is short. If this surmise is correct, I could ma=ke
them survive better if I could start them earlier.

G=F6te