italian arum

[nobody]

Is there a way to grow Italian Arum from berries (seed?)

Alan

[Pam - gardengal]

Yes, it seeds itself quite readily, in fact sometimes to the point of being a pest.

pam - gardengal

[Beecrofter]

Describe the conditions under which it self sows enough to be a pest, I need to propagate a few thousand as an understory plant on the edge of a bamboo grove. I am in CT zone6

[Pam - gardengal]

I guess the conditions for its potential invasiveness tend to be more pronounced here in the PNW than elsewhere, but seeds fallen from the mother plant will eventually germinate and root readily under the same growing conditions. Allow the seeds to fully ripen (a deep coral-red) then direct sow in humusy, moisture rententive soil in part to full shade.

Alternatively, propagation resources suggest storing the seeds in layers of moist sand in shade and sow as soon as radicles appear. They are not fast germinators - can take a year or more.

pam - gardengal

[nobody]

My seeds are orange, and the spikes have broken and fallen over. Are the seeds ripe? If not, will they still ripen disconnected from the roots?

Alan

[paghat]

Typically they fall over later in the year than this, so they might not be ripe, & if not won't continue to ripen once the stem has gone soft. But it is normal that they fall over when ripe, so that ants or beetles will find them on the ground & cart away the individual fruits in the "cob," eat the pulp, & leave the seeds elsewhere to take root in new locations. If the seed is good, you should be able to clean the pulp off them yourself & plant them in pots or coldframes to get them started. They can't be stored long but need planting as soon as they are ripe. They take an eternity to germinate & sprout, a year is not unlikely, another year before they look like much; it is faster to get more by digging up an older clump, divide it, &amp separate baby corms toward the end of summer when dormant, & plant the corms in coldframe or pots.

In chillier zones the seeds don't seem to ripen well so the plant isn't invasive, & in warmer zones unless they're right by a stream or in a boggy location the plant goes summer-dormant before the seeds ripen. But in the narrow ideal slot of cool winters, warm summers, & not too much dryness in summer, they can become nuisance plants. Fancier italian arum cultivars that are somewhat dwarfed & mottled or speckled are less invasive than large plain-leafed arum. It can take a few years before one knows if they're going to be burdensome. In conditions that don't permit them to become invasive, they still flourish as tame restrained clumps, with great winter leaves & spring flowers even if the seasons aren't quite right for the cobs of seeds to completely ripen. Here are my pages about them:

the ratgirl

[Beecrofter]

I guess the next step would be to find out what someone over-run with arums would want in swap from the east coast for a bucket of viable tubers.