Aroids for a begginer? Wondering what aroids would be nice for a begginer, preferably with these aspects: medium-large leaves, fast growth rate? Thanks.
Michael F, I'm familiar with duckweed, but the reason I specifically asked in the Aroid forum was..to find something specifically in the Aroid family. :P
But it is! ;-) The old family Lemnaceae is now included within Araceae, after genetic evidence showed it wasn't distinct as previously thought http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/family.pl?633
Wish I could make a suggestion! I find many begin to grow quickly after the first two or three years but are much slower to develop in the first couple of years. But there is a person on this forum that would know and that is LariAnn. I'll drop her a note and ask her to make some comments.
If you want to go with Anthurium, one of the fastest is the birdsnest types such as the hybrids involving what I've always thought was hookeri, or A. cubense. If Alocasias are what you fancy, it's hard to beat Alocasia "Borneo Giant". While A. robusta is reputed to grow much larger, it is much slower out of the blocks and is often a challenge to keep alive, let alone grow large! As for me, I'll be going for the speed record with a few of my newest hybrids, like Borneo Giant x portei, or A. odora x A. robusta or . . .well, there's a bunch! LariAnn Aroidia Research
I thought of one during the night, if you can find it. There was an ad on eBay during the summer for what the grower thought to be a "new" species of Anthurium warocqueanum. This particular specimen had much darker leaf blades and the pattern on the leaf wasn't a good match to the type specimen. However, A. warocqueanum is known to be a variable species and can take on different shapes. The seller did say it was possibly a hybrid with one of the parents being Anthurium regale which can grow quite large. I'm a sucker, but rarely buy hybrids. But I did take a chance on this one. In the approximately 5 months I've had this specimen the largest leaf has continued to grow. That alone is unusual. But even more unusual, it has grown from less than 1 foot to well over 2 feet! (that's less than 30cm to approximately 70cm). The normal blades of A. warocqueanum are capable of growing to over 5 feet (150cm plus). So far, I've been impressed and the plant hasn't put out a single new blade yet! But I've got a suspicion it will produce new blades in the spring and they may grow quite large. I have the email address of the seller if you are interested. Just send me a note at my regular email address which you can find near the bottom of the homepage of my website. Just click the link below my name here.
After writing that last post earlier in the morning I went out and checked the plant again this afternoon. Apparently it likes the cooler temperatures since it is now developing two new leaves. One has already unfurled and I'm curious to find out how large it may grow. The second is just now developing. It appears the Anthurium regale genes are very active since I also find both of my large Anthurium regale specimens produce more leaves when the temperatures are cool (around 60 degrees F, or 15.5C. I've never noticed this rapid of leaf development in either of my Anthurium warocqueanum. Last December the largest A. regale produced a spathe and spadix and I've been storing pollen in the freezer since mid February of this year. That will be good for a few more months so I'm hopeful the biggest plant will produce a new spathe and spadix about the same time this new leaf hardens. It would be great fun to try to produce berries (which are purple) and seeds from that specimen.
Very hard to get large fast growing plants out of the tropics . Monstera will grow ok in your temperate climate ..maybe the large Spathiphylum hybrids like Hercules , or a cOLACASIA GIGANTEA . I really have no idea what your zone numbers are about , but if Florida is 9 6 must be pretty cold .
We get really every temp. here throughout the full year. Winter lows have went down below 0*F, and summer highs can go above 100*F 100% humidity.
