Croton Paradise in Indonesia

Sergey

Active Member
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20/01/10
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Some time ago I promised to share pictures from my Southeast Asia journey, today I’d like to start with Indonesia…

Indonesia turned out to be the greatest croton experience in my journey. I’d been planning to visit this country for several years since I bought some beautiful Indonesian varieties in Bangkok. Judging by various internet sources crotons were gaining in popularity in this country – many new varieties, croton society, nurseries and exhibitions...

Before the journey I’d made several attempts to contact croton collectors and nurseries, but didn’t receive any reply. So I went to Indonesia without clean scheme where I would search for crotons.

Also I made a big mistake planning to visit many nurseries around the country – but as it turned out a week in Indonesia is too short for “croton exploration”. This time is enough only for one relatively small city BSD neighboring Jakarta. I came across crotons everywhere – they grew around houses, were sold in street garden shops and decorated road borders.

They like crotons in Indonesia and like in India large-leaved varieties are most favorite.

Here in BSD I got acquainted with devoted plant collectors and welcoming hosts Chandra and Harry. Chandra is the owner of educational centre, beautiful eco-park and ornamental plant nursery. He has got rarest species and varieties of plants in his private collection. Harry has got very impressive collection of Indonesian varieties. In their collections I found about one hundred new interesting Indonesian crotons.

I didn’t bring many good pictures of croton from Indonesia as it was rainy season and somewhere groundwater level had bad influence on crotons. I took many pictures on the run just to capture images of these unique varieties.
 
Chandra and Hary
 

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1. Chandra and a young plant of ficus with largest leaves
2. Harry is showing his selection achievements
 

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Rusali, Chandra’s right hand and assistant. He is a wealth of knowledge about Indonesian crotons. Rusali got some of crotons from seeds.

1. “Red Dragon” , croton with most gigantic leaves I’ve ever seen
2. One more croton with large leaves
3. Croton that Rusali got from seeds. Altogether we decided to name it “Rusali”
4. Croton “Lipstick”
 

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1. One of Rusali’s variety with impressive large leaves
2. Cristatum plant of “King of Siam” is compact and has got smaller leaves. Cristatum forms are very popular and expensive in Indonesia
3. The variety which cost several thousand dollars some years ago. Very short leaf stem, compact structure. Not colored sample.
 

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1. Croton “Peacock”, large leaves and beautiful colors
 

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1. Croton “ Yellow Dragonfly”
2. Croton with smallest oak leaves I’ve ever seen.
3. Alexander, my new friend. Thanks to him I didn’t feel any language barrier. He is from Russia and has been living in Indonesia for more than ten years. After my visit he got interested in crotons, I believe in the nearest future he'll get very nice collection.
 

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WOW...

I wish we could plan a little society field trip, amazing plants. Oh and I want the aroid growing in the 3rd pic of the the 4th post!!
 
Sergey,
The crotons are incredible and the sizes amazing. What kind of fertilizer do they use? The ficus is Ficus dammaropsis. Thanks so much for sharing.

Bren,
The aroid that you like is Philodendron billiatae, wonderful because of its orange petioles. We grow it but have qute a waiting list for it. Sometimes it's avalilable at the Aroid Show in September at Fairchild.
 
I enjoyed your pictures and descriptions immensely.

Thank-you Sergey; Your presentation made the start of my morning beautiful. What a way to start the day!
 
Had to comment again...
Amazing plants, some of the best crotons I've ever seen...
And the size of those leaves!
Perhaps it's all an optical delusion and Rusali is actually a hobbit ... :rolleyes:

And that little oakleaf in post #7 is just fantastic...

Sergey, I hope you were able to bring a few plants home with you...
Thanks again for sharing...
Got more pics?
:D
 
I think they don’t use any special fertilizers. Widespread varieties have quite normal size.

As for the soil it’s red clay everywhere except pots:) in which they use mix of rice hulls and humus.

Red Dragon is really beyond imagination. I couldn’t believe it was real when I first came across it.

A leaf is about 20 cm wide and length of my arm from shoulder to fingers tips. This very plant on the picture was about 1 meter high and grew in half-shade. I met others Red Dragons around - some of them were indeed with not so huge leaves but they grew in the sunshine and soil was dry.

1. Golden Glow
2. Maculatum Katoni
3. Multicolor – normal leaf size
 

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#1 Croton “Butterfly“ has got fork leaf tips. Very beautiful variety, but uncolored sample.
 

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#1 One of Rusali’s hybrids
 

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#2, 3 Herringbone – miniature leaves
 

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#4 Red Arrow
 

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# 1, 2, 3 Croton “Pagoda” - Thai (at least I always thought it to be) but unpretentious hybrid. Easily grows without any care on road borders.
 

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Again, absolutely amazing plants...
Still can't get over the size of that Red Dragon - Ralph Davis would have been excited to see leaves that large...
And that Pagoda looks like a very cool little croton...
Thanks again, Sergey!
Do you know if anyone over there is selling crotons online or shipping internationally?
 
Hello Sergey,

Some of these crotons are really beautiful! It's always nice to see other people's collections and sometimes how so much different they can be. Thanks! Were you able to bring some cuttings back home to start?
Jeff
 
I don't like to fly but I might have to make arrangements now. LOL You took some great pictures of some beautiful plants. Hope you were able to get some cuttings. Chris
 
It will be a long flight to Thailand (24hrs or so) ,but it looks like it will be worth it.Can you believe a croton with a 36" gorgeous leaf !!!


I don't like to fly but I might have to make arrangements now. LOL You took some great pictures of some beautiful plants. Hope you were able to get some cuttings. Chris
 
I think we should reach out to them & invite them here. Cities here have what's deemed sister cities across the globe. Sites like ours should have the same! Google translator could help. We need more world wide input exactly like this. This thread is excellent! Thank you Sergey, would you mind if we highlight in the WIKI for preservation?
 
Bren, if this topic is of any interest for wiki, I’ll be really glad.

By the way Rusali knows of Palmpedia, as I always recommend my favorite forum to croton lovers.

As for cuttings…

Now I’m in process… I’ve managed to bring home some of them plus a collection of sansevierias (rather vast I should say)by some miracle.

Plants export is complicated and prolonged in Indonesia. Only permission from Agricultural Department to export plants’ parts (cuttings), which is required for phyto certification in another agency takes 6 – 8 weeks.

When I solve it successfully I’ll let you know how to export from Indonesia legally and safely for plants.
 
Wow thanks for sharing Sergey! Where the heck is BSD and what does it stand for? I've been to Jakarta, Solo, Yogyakarta and of course many times to Bali but unfortunately I wasn't into crotons back then... I was just starting to notice them the last trip I took! I'm trying to go to Bali in Feb or March but I might have to make a side trip to Jawa!

Oh if any of you want to plan a field trip, let me know. I am practically fluent in Bahasa Indonesia... I could be your translator.:eek:
 
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Sergey - thank you for taking the time to post your photos and share your awesome croton adventure. :cool:

Looking at some of these cultivars has gotten me to realize that "size does matter". :eek:
 
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