Photo update, the seedling with the buds is showing some promise. The leaves are a bit curled however those buds are extremely dark in color!

Tracy

Going to be a nice dark bloom, Tracy. Looking forward to seeing it open up.

Rick

Tracy, I always get enormous leaves under LED'S. Are you experiencing the same?

Tracy! Congratulations! It looks yummy. Do you know which seed it was?

Pagan

BTW Tracy, happy birthday. You should get something nice for yourself …

dave

Thanks, Rick. I am looking forward to seeing it, there seems to be a small cluster here. Jedoba this particular seedling has larger leaves than the rest of my seedlings. The leaves on the rest of them appear smaller to me and more compact under the LED. That could change with a little bit of time. I am still manipulating the distance between the LED and the plants, trying to find a perfect happy place.

Pagan I wish I could say that this was one of my seedlings but it was actually one I picked up on my trip to Florida this summer, so it is a NOID.

Thanks for the birthday wish, I actually treated myself to several nice gifts this year. All well deserved of course, I have worked hard this year.

Tracy

Oh, happy birthday, Tracy. :-) Your adenium should have flowered on your birthday! This is exciting. Red adeniums flowers are strikingly beautiful.

Btw, I think one of my seedlings is beginning to grow sepals. It has never flowered before.

Thank you Martin. I am quite taken with red flowers. Happy to hear about your sepals, how old is she and which species?

got two of the apollos for my clamp lites, also got a 45w LED Erligpowht … am comparing, but me thinks me likes the apollos better …

Tracy, it is a 10 years old obesum hybrid but it is very small for its age. I have deliberately stunted it by pruning it yearly and keeping it root-bound in a small container. I recently transplanted it to a bigger container and put it under the LED light. This certainly got it growing. ;-)

Dave the Apollo is my favorite of the screw in bulbs. Now that I have moved my trees into the tent I have put some other succulents and cacti beneath the clip on LEDs and they are loving it!

Martin I know which hybrid you are referring to, it is the Bonsai style one that I fell in love with. Can't wait to see it bloom. I'm curious if the blooms will be full size or if they will also remain compact.

Tracy

Tracy, actually I have three 10 year old "bonsai" adeniums. ;-) But I have never posted a photo of this particular obesum hybrid on the forum.

I have grown it from a seed myself, so it is pretty exciting. Hopefully the flower(s) won't turn out to be a "standard pink" obesum flower. Red flowers would make me truely happy. ;-) I have never owned a seed-grown obesum with red flowers.

So excited I saw this post, how do you like the mars led lights? I have heard mixed reviews about the led grow lights on ebay. Do you keep your plants on a 24 hours light cycle? 12 hrs? 8 hrs? Right now I have 18" Fluorescent grow lights over my humidity domes. I was wanting to switch to LED. I have 22 seedlings arabicum BK and WG. I am getting 140 more to sow soon and I am going to need more lighting. Any advice would be appreciated!

Bob the Mars Hydros are rocking the Adeniums 17 hours a day and they are responding nicely. I am posting updates in my thread go big or go home .

Martin I see you have been holding out on us. :) Three bonsai Adeniums ? Looking good, cannot wait to see the blooms.

Bob Davis, Tracy is a member of the unofficial Mars Hydro LED Club here on the forum. ;-) Me, too. I have used Mars Hydro units for 2.5 months. So far I am impressed! The growth under the LED's is absolutely stunning. IMHO, fluorescent tubes are NO match.

But beware, cheap LED units of other brands found on eBay can be crap products. Really crap. Before actually buying my first Mars Hydro unit, I read a lot about LED light tech, brands and reviews. Mars Hydro got really good overall reviews. That's why I chose Mars Hydro.

Awesome thank you for the tip. I will put one on my wish list and probably order one for my self on my birthday next month. The florescent lights are being used for my seedlings only. Totally down to changing to LED if it will help them out though! Plus I am going to needing all the lighting I can get this winter.

Martin I hope you get the red flowers that you are looking for. Take photos so you can compare them later, and show us now of course. Another couple of pics of the seedling, albeit not good quality pics.

Tracy, how exciting. :-) When the first flower opens, please post a photo again - without the purple tint. ;-)

I don't think that the flowers on my obesum will turn out to be red. More likely they will be the usual "obesum pink". :-/ I hope I am wrong! But flowers are always a treat.

So far only a single stem has buds.

When the first flower opens I will take it outside a capture an image in natural lighting. I might even use a real camera instead of my phone ;)

Hi everyone, the biggest flower on the seedling has started to open today. Right now just the end has opened, not ready to photograph just yet.

Tracy, tomorrow, then? ;-) Waiting is almost unbearable...

I think that the flowers of my adenium will be quite small. Well, it would suit the bonsai'ish plant. :-)

Yes I am hopeful that it will be tomorrow. I also discovered a second inflorescence of flowers on the same tree today. I took her outside for a couple of pics along with my Variegated Adenium. I wanted to show Jedoba that the leaves on my variegate are getting huge! He had mentioned this on a post.

I was surprised at how large the flowers grew in size rather quickly. I can't wait to see your blooms on your bonsai.

Tracy

Tracy, this will turn out to be a wonderful display of (crimson) flowers! I think I am almost as excited as you are. ;-)

Looking good tracy, them pumpkins are looking real good too :-)

This thread has been wonderful, and I'm now inspired to get a Mars Hydro setup. :) I only have 2 Adenium trees at the moment, but I have the seeds that Melody gave me, and I want them to do well.

Wow Tracy! A few of those leaves are almost as wide as the pot! I need to look into buying one of the units that you have.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I will try to get some photos of my younger seedlings up tomorrow. It is fun to observe the gross differences in growing patterns between my two lighting setups. Yes I am still using my fluorescents out of necessity! Those seedlings under fluorescents are taking a nap in comparison with those in the tent. The tented seedlings you can see exactly where the growth line from before ends and the new begins. I could probably stuff them all in the tent but that would make maintenance a nightmare. With the current load I am able to water and clean without removing everything from the tent. It's a good thing, too, because I have to water ever other day with the smaller containers. Every 3 days for my juveniles.

Tracy

Waiting to see your new bloom, Tracy. Looks from the dark margin on the edges of petals, that it could be really great. Looking forward to seeing it.

Rick

I tried reading all the post on here but may have missed this. I decided on the reflector 192 when I order. how far away should I hang it for seedlings? and when ordering from the Mars hydro site how long does it take to receive an order to the USA? my seeds are about a week maybe 9 days out from delivery. I am hoping to order my light and tent soon, just not sure how soon ( waiting for some Grant money to be deposited to purchase my system with.) the money is anywhere from a week to 3 weeks out. I don't know if I should wait to germinate the seeds after I get the tent and light (which will be extremely hard to do)

Sounds, good. When do I get the light and tent how far should they be from the seedlings? I think I read 18" is a good distance? should it be about 20" for seedlings?

Nice choice Bob. It took from 3 to 5 days for them to ship the order , then about 3 days to arrive. You will start by hanging it about 24 inches above the seedlings and then adjusting it to cover the area needed. You will also want to buy a pair of ratchet hangers off of amazon so you can adjust the height that it hangs.

Tracy

She's opening up!!!

Bob, I would say at least 14 inches/35 cm above the seedlings (newly sprouted). In my experience, this is the minimum distance. At 14 inches, some seedlings might get a sunburn (yellow leaves), but the majority will be fine. Older seedlings adapted to the LED light are tougher and won't get a sunburn.

Tracy, congrats! The colour looks dark purple-crimson'ish (?). In any case, it's a wonderful Halloween flower. :-)

I am thrilled with this new flower. Of course it would wait to open when it's dark outside and I am busy working. I will try to get a better photo once the sun is up high. It turns out to be a black flower with a crimson interior! I have been pining for a black flower since seeing Rick's this summer. It is even more beautiful in person. This is by far my favorite flower from my collection.

It's so far my favorite flower in your collection too, Tracy. Great job!

Pagan

Exceptional bloom, Tracy. Definitely worth the wait.

Rick

Little daylight makes a huge difference!

thanks everyone for the advice on how far to hang the lights from the seedlings.

Tracy beautiful flower! I agree with Martin it does make a perfect fall color flower. Will you be pollinating in hopes of some pods?

Thanks, Bob. I am so fond of this flower. Plus there are more blooms waiting to open so I will continue posting updates on this seedling. Young seedlings or juveniles are not good pollination subjects. Adeniums need to be at least 5 years old to be considered mature enough to produce viable pods and seeds. **This is according to what I have read from Adenium experts.

Tracy

I didn't know that, now I'm glad I asked! how old is this one? 2-3 years?

This is going to look so cool with both flowers open, Tracy.

Morning! I suspect Bob that this seedling to be a little over a year old, perhaps 1.5 years. I purchased it while visiting my parents in Florida on 4th of July this year. Kind of a funny story I will share some time.

Pagan thanks I am excited to see it! This morning flower 2 of 4 began loosening on the end. I have to be in office today so I can't check on her :( Working from home has its perks like allowing you to obsessively check for blooms opening LOL.

Tracy

The second flower is almost open so I wanted to share a couple more pics. Also more flowers are on the way!

Tracy

Wonderful, Tracy! That one is so pretty! Thanks for sharing it with us.

Tracy, that is just gorgeous. I would totally chop that mother up and stick her onto a bunch of pink bloomers lol

I am begging you. Please get your real camera out of the attic and take another photograph.

Pagan

Pagan I will get a better camera out today LOL. I am currently stalking the postal carrier because my Dino trees from Thailand are out for delivery and he is not getting by me today. When they arrive I am planning on a photo fest so I will include the seedling too.
As for cutting her I need some practice doing grafts before she goes under the knife.
Tracy

I took some more photos using my tablet this morning, let's see if they are any better quality. It is still somewhat an overcast today so lighting is not perfect. It looks like these are lower res than my phone. Pagan is this any better than before?

Tracy