Wow, that's a nice looking plant!!

yes that is a great specimen Rick

but I'm more interested in the soil or should I say the potting soil cover (which is a great idea to let the exposed caudex acclimatise to its new above ground atmosphere)

Kindly elaborate

and I would like to see it in bloom pls pls post when it is...
thanks

Awesome!!!

Laura

Rick,

That is beautiful. I too cannot wait to see it once it has leafed out and when it is in bloom.

Lovely!

Wow What a gift! That is a beauty, Please post some photos of the other sides. Paula

Rick! He is as majestic as ever.

Rick,
Very nice !!!! And the way you have it potted with those black stones make a nice contrast on the caudex color

One question, is there any soil under the stones? or the pot is completely filled with those little black stones?
I just bought my first Arabicum from a guy in ebay ( it was a little expensive but the guy was really nice and accepted an offer 7.50 usd under what he was asking and I liked it very much) it looks more less the same but I think the caudex on mine is much smaller and I dont have any idea what color the flowers will be

Roberto

Roberto,
There is a gritty mix under the stones. I have seen the Arabicums staged this way with some sort of top dressing on soil surface. I really liked the one I have seen used in photo's, but could not find the product.
It looked to be small clay or terra cotta colored beads/balls on the surface.
Very attractive looking.
Glad to hear of your recent acquisition. Sounds like a good deal and look forward to seeing it.
I would never have acquired this plant if it had not been that a very kind gentleman parted with it.

Rick

Rick,

Here it is

Roberto

Nice shape and lots of good branches. Show us when it leafs out.
Thanks,
Rick

its beautiful Roberto
but I think the pot is too big be careful while watering in winter

Anurag

Rick, thanks

Anurag
Yes the pot is too big for it but I haven't had the time to interchange plants, I need to take out a plumeria that is in a smaller pot and move this to that pot, regarding winters, we usually( but last one) have a very short and dry winters in south Texas so I don't let them sleep too much ( January and half February only, maybe less) and very few days are cold so on those days or nights I take them indoors and winters are usually very dry so the soil dries quickly, this past winter was unusually cold and humid and I got some fungus problems but not on the roots it was on the leaves and not only in the adeniums but almost every plant that I took indoors, I lost a canna and a native ( to this area ) sage

Thanks for your observation

Hello,

Mine just started to bloom, when they grow a little bit more will post a pic

Rick, you are becoming professional.

Marie

Rick, forgive me for reviving your post. I have many questions about A. arabicum, but will ask this one for now: Would it be okay to remove the lower leaves on arabicum to better show the branches?

Almost all the arabicum pictures I have seen have bare branches except at the tips, and I like the way they look. My arabicum seedlings are so crowded with leaves, but I hesitate to remove unless I am assured it would do no harm to the plants.

I will take pictures when the sun comes up.

-bong

Bong, yes post photo's for us. You are fortunate to get them staying compact. I will refrain from comment until I see you babies.

Rick

Images not coming up--suspect slow internet service right now. Will try again later.

Nope, nada, showing only boxed X. Contacted Houzz support and waiting for reply re this problem. When problem resolved, will post under another subject heading.

-bong

Rick, finally able to upload--decided to stay with this posting.

Beginning to think these are not arabicum after all. For one thing, I did not specifically order
arabicum seeds, and for another, they differ somewhat from arabicums I viewed
on line.

Two views of the same plant--this one is in a 6” pot.

Two views of the same plant—this one is in a 5”
pot.

Both are about 6½ months old.

So your comment please--hope you do not find any critters. (LOL)

-bong

Bong,

They look very cool, whatever they are! I have 2-year old plants less than half the size of those things!

My oh my look at these! These are very impressive seedlings bong. I can't wait to hear Rick's comments too.

Bong, you can send those my way any time. Those are stunning. I would not touch them as far as pruning or thinning.

These look like many that JK Adeniums shows on his Facebook Page. Should take a look. I got some seeds from him last year for ones named

Emerald Bracelet, Gold Bracelet, KHZ. Mike that frequented this site had some nice specimens.

Yours are spitting images of the ones that JK Adeniums shows.

Keep producing those. I wish I could.

Rick

I'm with Rick! I would not prune the seedlings seems to be growing just well. They are both so fat too!

Great job.

Mark

Thank you all for your kind comments. I really cannot take full credit for the way they are growing--they did what they were predisposed to do I guess. I will have to be patient and not do anything that will disrupt their growth and flowering. Thanks for your advice.

-bong

Rick, thanks for the info.
Looked into JK Adeniums which eventually brought me back into GW and jv44 March 21, 2014 post entitled, “Head
Explodes arabicum.”

Would really like to hear from Mike about how his arabicums
are doing. When my babies were younger,
they looked like his then—rounded chubbiness.

Bong what kind of soil are you using in those seedling pots? I'm gathering ingredients to begin preparing my first batch of the AI gritty recipe and I love hearing about each individual's take and experiences with the recipe.

Also, shall we start a new thread for your seedlings? Or continue to hijack Rick's? I'm not exactly clear on the thread etiquette.

Tracy

Does not matter to me. I know where to come and look at Bong's seedlings.

The Gritty mix works well for me in my climate.

Rick

Tracy,

I started out with nearly 100% humus (potting soil), but as I learned more about Adenium requirements, particularly as it relates to my clime, I did some experimenting and eventually went to 7:2:1:1 perlite:potting soil:peat moss:vermiculite. Some will not agree with this formula, but so far it works for me--still experimenting, though.

I, too, would like to know more about successes/failures of using gritty mix; and whether it would be okay for my climate.

-bong

I think I have all of my ingredients so once I mix up a batch I am sure I will start a new thread because I will be full of questions.

My "cropped roots" plants are getting fatter every day, but the branches and leaves are not keeping up with the fattening. I recently applied orchid fertilizer to see if that would help. At this point I do not want to use MG because I do not want the plant to produce excessive vegetative growth. Soon I will pot up to 8" shallow bowls, carefully doing so as to not disturb/damage roots. I will post results on a new thread.

-bong

Rick, where you at, buddy? I miss you!

Bong, if you can have them growing across the soil in width, then keep it up and you will have some super specimens.

I have received so many seeds in hope to get some like it. A big part could be the climate in which you live and a result from temperatures, humdity, length of daylight hours and growing period length.

I truly believe that these Adeniums will produce naturally the caudex they are destined to have. Some human manipulation and growing conditions can help, but that is all.

Cannot wait to see them and their progress.

Rick

Hey Rick--did you ever find out what those terra cotta colored balls were? Ariel17576 posted a link (didn't work for me) for a product called Hydroton--I think she has the answer! It's commonly available at hydroponics supply stores as well as Ebay, Amazon, etc. I just recently started using it.....it's super light weight, just like pumice....but for me it's cheaper to buy Hydroton at the local hydroponics supply than to buy pumice (via Ebay) and pay the shipping charges There are also "generic" versions of it that cost even less. Anyway.....so far the Hydroton seems to work really nice for me--I'm trying a new mix of 50% Hydroton and 50% coco coir plus some Azomite (minerals). Gritty mix worked well except I couldn't keep up with watering them all when they were all inside under my T5 unit and many got stunted...or at least have lagged behind in growth. So I'm experimenting with a different mix with a bit more water retention. Later.......

Mike in MN

Hey Mike, I am glad to see you back. I hope that you recovery is quick and you are able to fulfill your desire to move to Thailand. You have always been a great deal of help to everyone and good friend. What ever you do, keep posting when you do get to Thailand. Just think of all the plants that you will be able to show us.

Mike, I did find the Hydroton at the Hydroponics store, but I felt what they carried was very large. About the size of marble. They said that they used to have it in a smaller size, but no longer.

I stopped using the Turface. Was not happy with what I was finding on some of my larger plants when I unpotted. Way to wet and possibly I did not sift the finer particles out enough. I have started using a product from our Lordco (similar store as NAPA) and it is Diatomite (diatomaceous earth product).

An acquaintance uses it for all of his plants (Hoyas, Orchids, etc.) and so I am giving it a try.

Rick

The Hydroton I've found must be the smaller size--the biggest pieces are maybe the size of a small marble, roughly 15 or 16mm, the smallest being about 4mm. While searching for it online today I've found that the company that makes it is discontinuing it apparently...gotta look into this! Not too worried though as there are other similar products out there.

I don't use Turface anymore either, mostly because the particles are just too small for me. Pumice is bigger and has always worked great for me, now Hydroton is almost exactly the same as pumice (especially in weight!) except larger pieces and they're round/oval. Works very nicely for top dressing, too.

I've wanted to try a diatomite product but I think what's out there is the same size as Turface though I could be wrong--I'll have to do a search and see...diatomite is also supposed to be great against mealy bugs, the rough surface works like sandpaper on the buggers!

We're seemingly having an (unusually) early spring here....I'm hoping I can get my adeniums outside before I leave for the Mayo Clinic on the 20th--a bit less than 4 weeks from now. Last year I had to wait until the first of June and even then night temps were in the mid to upper 40"sF a lot--but because I had everything in gritty mix I was lucky and didn't lose a single plant!

Thanks for all the kind words--I'm pretty confident about a quick recovery....I heal faster than the usual transplant recipient...and the Mayo Clinic is arguably the best in the world. And as for here on this forum....I'm pleased as punch if I can give any worthwhile advice being as I've only been growing adeniums for the last 3+ years. I also learn as much as I can from you and everybody else here (as well as Facebook groups and the Yahoo Adenium forum) with regards to these fascinating plants. I'm just now beginning to understand how you can "push" them--I'll take a couple pics of my big "Head Explodes" arabicum compared to the rest of its siblings of the same exact age to show you what I mean.

Meanwhile.....back to re-potting....later!

Mike in MN

Mike, I have questions about the hydroton. How do you keep your plants secured with the materials being so light-weight? I located some at Home Depot called ViaStone . Can you tell me if this is the right product? The balls look quite large. Ha thats funny.

Thanks!

Tracy

Update: reread and found the size you had already mentioned :)

Should I plant my Arabicum in a wide shallow pot or a tall more narrow pot. Mine is 12" across with a beautiful caudex.