Bong, your seeding are all very nice and healthy, mine

about four months plus but some still very small and tiny, I also don't understand why. If mine like yours so fat I would be very happy.

Chris

Hi Bong, I have exactly the opposite problem. All of my seedlings are mostly skinny because they are grown indoors under lights. I attribute the awesome growth of your plants to being outdoors in the tropical climate and receiving everything they need to keep them growing happily. I WISH I could get mine to grow with a huge caudex as yours have. Here's an idea, if you send them my they will stop getting fat. HA! So it looks like a good problem to have IMO.

Tracy

Chris, I do have quite a lot of small ones that I have not come around to repotting into better aerated soil conditions. I am going to experiment on those--do you have any suggestions?

Tracy, plant being outdoors in our climate certainly is a plus. Rainwater is a very big plus. There are times when I have had to use chlorinated tap water when no rains for days. But when I wait until it rains, I notice significant perking up and plant growth. So I am finally utilizing the used IBC container I got months ago to catch rainwater. (I was going to use the IBC to raise tilapia for aquaponic vegetable gardening. But alas, found out this adventure was going to be costly, complicated, and time-consuming.)

-bong

LOL! Not afraid--waiting until in full bloom to show entire plant.

Good to experiment. How about potting up another one or two into different media so you can compare. What do you need to protect the plants from may I ask?

The protection I am referring to is a bench or something of the like to place the plants on. If I put them on the ground they will be annihilated by animals (rabbits and squirrels) and bugs. So I am looking for something to keep them off of the ground but out in the bright sunlight.

Also, as you suggested I created two different mixes. One consists of gritty substances only: chicken feed, diatomaceous earth, and perlite all sifted to be a consistent size. The other recipe consists of the same ingredients with a little bit of coco coir pieces added for water retention. I prefer coco over bark because I have a great deal of experience using it.

Once I see how the plants respond I will finish repotting my collection.

Tracy

For Bong, here I will show you my puny Adenium obesum that I put into the new mix today which consists of perlite/chicken feed/diatomaceous earth/coco piece coir. It is nothing to look at, but perhaps in comparison you can see why we go gaga over the bodacious caudex of your babies. Whatever you are doing, don't change a thing!

Please ignore the mis-shapenned leaves, this plant just kicked a case of spider mites...

Tracy

Tracy, what type/wattage lights are you growing your adeniums under? Mine are (mostly) all under a 48" fluorescent fixture with 12 T5 HO bulbs, from pretty much mid-Sept. until the end of May. Then they're all outside from end of May to Sept.. I'll have to take some photos again soon--been re-potting most of mine lately.

Mike in MN

Hi Bong, firstly I want to say that your babies are amazing. I too wish that mine were that fat.

U said that you cropped their tap roots at 2 months, what I would like to know is do u leave the plant bare rooted until the cut heals or do u just repot straight away. I have always used cinnamon powder when I cut but if I did that on the tap root and then repotted straight away wouldn't it just wash the cinnamon away and leave the cut exposed and risk root rot? I am very interested in trying this out with some of my 5 month old plants to see if it helps with caudex growth.

Hi Christine,

Plant the 2 mo. right away. As for the 5 mo., cut the taproot up to the base, dip into plenty of rooting powder (it contains fungicide as well for root protection) and plant right away. Water by placing pot in a container of water so that it is absorbed from bottom--keep in for 15 min. or so. Watering from above will wash the powder through. Keep in a bright sheltered place out of sun and wind for about 5 days. Keep the soil a little moist but not soggy--better to be slightly on dry side so the roots will grow to seek more water. Never allow to dry out completely. I had tried drying the young plants for a few days after cutting--every one of them died; they are too young to have water withheld.

After about a couple of weeks or more, resume fertilizer regimen--no chemical fertilizer at this time, I use fish emulsion/seaweed liquid at half the recommended rate. After 6 weeks, scatter a pinch of 10-20-20 granular fertilizer on soil and water in thoroughly. This fertilizer has a lot of the needed trace elements and will make the caudex fat.

Hope this works for you, Christine, and feel free to ask for clarification/details.

-bong

Mike in MN this skinny DR in particular has been in a Eastern window, but the ones I have under lights are T8 32 Watt lamps. Some fixtures have 3 lamps, some only 2. I have just started fertilizing them in March so perhaps that will help fatten them up.

Tracy

Thanks so much Bong. I will definitely give it a go. Appreciate your help.

A question for Bong -- how do you know which root is the taproot?

Tracy

Rather than trying to explain, here is a source: http://www-plb.ucdavis.edu/labs/rost/Tomato/Roots/taproot.html

Although the information is directed at tomatoes--it illustrates and explains the taproot, and very simple to read.

I braved it today and cut the tap roots on 5 of my plants. Feel silly but was scarey to do. I know the chances of actually killing the plant is slim unless I didn't do it correctly but I followed your instructions exactly. Will be interesting to see if there is any difference for mine. We are coming to the end of autumn here so might not see too much for a while.

Hurray--you did it! I am eager to see your results.

-bong

Tracy--Sorry for the late reply....been dealing with pain issues more frequently lately from my old kidneys--will have surgery May 22 to remove both, leaving me with my most excellent transplant kidney.....I can't wait! Anyway......I think your adeniums need more light--mine do very well under my 12 bulb T5 unit although natural sunlight would of course be much better. Unfortunately for me I live in Minnesota and our growing season is total crap for vegetables, much less adeniums (and pachypodiums, cacti and euphorbias), so artificial lights are my only realistic option. I do, however, move all my adeniums outside as soon as night time temps reliably stay above 45F.....usually by the end of May. This year spring seems to be very early for us and I MIGHT be able to get them out in the first week of May.....and since I've repotted almost all my adeniums over the last 2 months, I may get some nice growth and maybe even some flowers this summer.

You don't have any south facing windows to work with? East facing isn't ideal, but better than MY only window--it faces northwest! Another thing to consider is compact fluorescent bulbs--I have a couple 42W CFL's that I might experiment with, though I've read that the 23W ones are the most efficient in terms of light vs. heat output so I plan on getting some of those to try also. Maximum light is what I try to give them...I just wish I lived in a place (like Thailand!) where I didn't have to resort to artificial lighting. One day.....

Mike in MN

Hello Mike in MN. My south facing window is at maximum capacity. This plant in particular was placed in an East window because it was being segregated from the rest. I found a mite web on it so it was cleaned and put into the bad corner :)

I do need to upgrade some of my fixtures. They are suitable for many plants, but Adeniums seem to need more than the rest. Thanks for the ideas. I have been looking at CFLs but so many are available that I need to know which would do best for plants.

Hope you are free and clear of pain soon, best of luck with your upcoming surgery.

Bong thanks for starting this thread, it has been extremely helpful.

Tracy

Hi Mike in MN,

My warmest thoughts of you on May 22 (May 23 over here). I wish you very well. How about we celebrate your successful recovery by taking a trip to Thailand. I visited Bangkok nearly two years. At the time though, I had not discovered the joys of growing adeniums, so I did not notice them then.

Take care,

-Kadie (aka -bong)

Tracy--I hear ya about the south facing window-the best I have is a dining room window facing southwest and it's pretty much filled with my largest plants that won't fit under my T5 unit anymore...mostly cacti (because they can handle the much cooler air outside my room where my adeniums are) and a couple larger pachypodiums. Damn mites--I don't recall the name of the product I last used to deal with them but it worked quite well--all the leaves on my adeniums turned yellow and died (as did all the mites) but all my plants survived. As for CFL's, they come in temperature ranges, 6500K is for growth and 2700K for blooming, so I'm going to try an equal number of both temps and see what happens.

Dealing with the pain is an almost daily thing but I have prescription pain meds--though I use them as little as I can. Less than a month to wait now!

I almost forgot about the original topic! I don't recall doing any cutting of main tap roots on any of my seedlings. One thing I did try on a single obesum seedling was to cut the bottom of the developing caudex off flat and then re-rooted it after letting it dry for a couple days and dusting the cut surface with rooting hormone powder--similar to what some Thai growers do with arabicums. It turned out fairly well--I'll take a pic or two later today when I re-pot it.

Thanks for the warm wishes from you and Kadie! Yeeeeeaaaahhhhh......Thailand My main goal after my recovery is eventually going to Thailand to live. Possibly in Sakon Nakhon in the northeastern part of the country. The Isaan region. Someday.

Kadie, didn't you say you live in Australia? Have you ever heard of a Aussie band called Skyhooks? I was fortunate enough to catch them live on their only US tour in 1975 or 76....they were fantastic!! The costumes and makeup were jaw-dropping enough but they just rocked--I can't even remember the name of the band Skyhooks opened for!

Mike in MN

Hey Mike,

I hope you get well quick Mike and are able to have your dream come forth

for you. You have always been a great deal of help and I am glad to see you back here.

Take care, Rick

Thanks for the tip on the CFL's Mike, I will have to pick up several of each and see how they do.

Tracy

Mike, I am in
Mariana Islands, almost directly north of Oz, 3,300 mi. and 5+ hours by
plane. Jane & Horrie are in Australia—here’s a discussion they
started earlier this month: http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/2990185/my-1-1-2-years-adenium-bloom-from-after-surviving-cyclone-pam

Warmest regards,

-Kadie

Bong, I like your plants, their caudexes are very nice looking and will be beautiful later.

Marie

Thanks Marie,

I like them very much now--they are beginning to show "character." All the root cropping, pruning, and potting up set them back as far as flowering goes. Maybe in a couple of months, when they stop focusing on growing more roots and hoarding water, they will flower.

-Kadie

For some reason this guy's branches are going lateral. Thinking of wiring the side branches so will be more upright. That, or cut them off, or tie a string around the whole plant to hold the side branches?

Hi guys!!!

Great thread and beautiful trees!!

Wanted to say hi to Mike and wish you all the best... Sending good thoughts and prayers... Feel better soon!!!

Laura

Kadie, did you decide what to do with the rogue branch?

Tracy

I decided to leave it be for now. That branch might very well have the first bloom. Ha-ha.

-Kadie

Hey Tracey,

Mike in MN is supposed to have surgery today (your date): "Tracy--Sorry for the late reply....been dealing with pain issues more frequently lately from my old kidneys--will have surgery May 22 to remove both, leaving me with my most excellent transplant kidney.....I can't wait!"

I pray it was a success for Mike, and wish him a speedy recovery.

-Kadie

Oh my that is today. I am hoping things went well too and he is no longer in pain. Hopefully he is feeling like a new man in a couple of days.

Tracy