Martin, your plant is awesome! I look at pictures of seedlings, of the same species online, but they never impress me. I didn't know they were capable of having such a beautiful caudex. I love the compound leaf arrangement on it.

What a cool plant. Is this one that you keep under your light set up?

Is it fairly common, Marrin.

Rick

Thanks all.

Rick, yes, it's under my LED light and growing happily now. ;-) But it has been neglected for years...

Yesterday I found a photo of the seedling taken a few days after the seed germinated. The seed was sown on the 26th of May 2005 and germinated two days after. So my plant is actually about 10.5 years old!

A nice specimen in a formal upright bonsai style:

That's impressive! Any idea of its age Martin?

Gill UK

Very cool tree, indeed Martin. You must have a treasure trove of plants that we have never seen! Nice that you even have a picture of it from seedling stage. Such organization!

Tracy

Gill, under optimal conditions, my tree could probably have reached that size in 1-1.5 years. It's a bit difficult to estimate the actual size of the specimen in the photo above, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's at least 30 years old. The main stem looks massive!

Tracy, the whole genus Operculicarya is very cool. ;-) How about this Operculicarya pachypus? It is rather rare in horticulture (I think it was described by botanists as late as in 1995) and probably most of the plants for sale have been stripped from habitat in Madagascar. Well, I have never seen pachypus seeds or virtually never small seedlings for sale. Maybe it's difficult to propagate the particular species by seeds.

This is the Kitoi I was fawning over Martin. Sad to know that to have this kind of beauty that something was destroyed in the process.

Tracy, thanks. :-)

Yes, this is Kitoi's plant. If I recall correctly, he bought it at The Great Petaluma Desert nursery a few years ago. I know that he bought at least some operculicaryas at this nursery. Among other things, the nursery sells plants from habitat.

Kitoi has a lot of wonderful specimen plants staged beautifully and he participates in shows, but I doubt that his plants were grown from seeds by himself. He is an experienced grower, though. He even grows caudex plants in the ground at his place!

Btw, I repotted my operculicarya and covered the roots again.

He does grow some really difficult species. Many Tycoledon to die for. He just posted a new piece of pottery on FB today that I am drooling over. Some great pots but none really deep enough for my taste.

Tracy

I agree but his pots are not really suitable for growing succulents. Some of them would certainly restrict growth and are used for shows. At least some of his specimen are grown in the ground or in larger containers.

Arabicum Update

Transplanted this arabicum to one of my handmade pots from the local botanical garden. The shallow pot will probably slow down growth, but let's see.

Beautiful arabicum and pot, Martin! I think you will be fine with this pot size. Arabicums tend to mass their roots on the surface, and there appears to be plenty of surface area here. It would certainly stunt an A. obesum but I think this tree will fill out nicely. Good color!

Tracy

Tracy, thank you. I like the pottery, too. I have several of these shallow cactus pots in different sizes. They are pricy but I get a 20% discount, because I am a part-time employee at the department. ;-) The only problem is that the small shop quickly is out of stock.

Yes, you are right about the root growth of arabicums. Obesums on the other hand seem to fill containers with massive roots from the top to the bottom.

Hi Martin. I'm new to the hobby and I was wondering how you got your seedlings to bush out that much. Like wow. just wow i'm like at a lost for words here. How did you do it man? All of your plants seem so healthy and fat could you please put a guide? Thank you

Pachypodium Update

My saundersii seedling is still compact and getting fatter each month.

2015-12-13:

2016-01-30:

Ijameshi, thank you. There is no magic going on here. Adeniums need lots of sunlight and heat (+30 C/+86 F) to grow compact and fast. I can't give them that naturally up here in northern Europe, so I grow them indoors in grow tents with strong LED light and heat mats:

Martin I nearly fell out of my chair seeing the size of your P. Saundersii. This beauty has exploded in size. I hope mine get to this size some day. Looking great.

Tracy

Martin are saundersii a type of adenium?

LJ James, Pachypodium saundersii is not a species in the plant genus Adenium but pachypodiums are related to adeniums.

You will find useful information about the adenium genus and adenium culture on Mark Dimmitt's Adenium Pages:

http://adenium.tucsoncactus.org/large.html

http://adenium.tucsoncactus.org

In fact I expect that everyone trying to grow adeniums read the pages. You should, too. ;-)

Tracy, yes, I like it very much myself. Short and fat with multiple branches. I have a larger saundersii which I once bought at a local shop. It is ugly with leggy growth. Actually it was leggy even before I bought it. The leaves just hid the fact.

Martin, your results are nothing short of amazing. I am continually impressed (and jealous) of your knowledge and skill. That Pachy progress is wild.

I recently sowed some Pachypodium lamerei, but only had one seedling out of 10 come up. He is healthy, but lonely. I dug up the other seedlings to see what went wrong and they were moldy. My method involved 24 hour soak in warm water followed by sewing in my Adenium mix about 8mm deep. I have been told to use more inorganic media and surface sew for light exposure on the seed.

What are your tips?

Vipassana, thank you!

Tips? First of all adeniums and pachypodiums are forgiving plants and quite easy to grow if you can give them heat and lots of sunlight. As mentioned before, I grow mine in a controlled environment. A grow tent with heating and LED light.

Pachypodium seeds probably don't require light to germinate and there is absolutely no point in soaking them before sowing them. Remember, the seeds are small. This is not seeds of, for instance, adansonia (Baobab trees) which require soaking. Over the years I have sown seeds of around 150 different caudiciform plant species.

Viable pachypodium seeds are hard to find. In Europe Köhres Kakteen nursery is worth a shot. In my experience, germination rates are typically low, 10-50%. I have had 100%, though. Bottom heat under your seed trays definitely helps.

Martin the next time I am in Denmark I will be by to steal that gorgeous P. saundersii, what did you say your address is again? LOL. Everything you are growing looks fantastic.

I have had some failures with Pachy seed as well. I had a number of P. saundersii and P. lamerii successfully germinate. My only P. horombense that I finally managed to germinate after 3 separate attempts died shortly into it's runty little life. I am still trying to get a few of the other varieties to pop. But as you said Martin, finding viable seed is not easy. I have also stopped soaking my Pachy and Adenium seeds prior to sowing them. I find that if seed are fresh that germination is not affected by soaking or not soaking.

Tracy

Tracy, thank you! My two precious pachypodiums are safe and guarded well. ;-) I have another saundersii seedling of last years batch. I gave away the rest of them.

The growth of my horombense stopped temporarily after I moved it to my second tent. The temperature is higher in the tent and suddenly the leaves began turning yellow. It now thrives and has put on some weight again. ;-)

2015-12-13:

2016-02-07:

Some Arabicums

... from last years seed batch (I think that they are about 6 months old and grown rather hard):

They need to be cleaned up (calcium carbonate visible).

Wow they are all fatties, and so compact too! They are doing so well in your care. Oh yes, I want to steal your P. horombense. I will have one from seed some day. In the Spring perhaps I will order from your seed source. Right now I cannot fit one more adenium in my tent.

I can't wait to show you some of the seedlings that I have from the Thai seed that I recently acquired. I have a TS Gold Tank seedling that is rapidly pushing out branches at just 5 weeks old!!! Everyone in the tent needs to be repotted, but if I do that now some will end up homeless.

Good to see the update on your brood. Take care Martin.

Tracy

Thank you both!

They have been grown quite hard, which could be one of the reasons that they are compact and small.

Tracy, yes, you should try Köhres Kakteen. I have had some good germination percentages with their seeds.

Rick, thanks for the offer! I would gladly accept it, but I simply don't have the space for more seed trays/seedlings right now. Everything is getting bigger and bigger in my tents. ;-)

I like the "Golden Crown", too. It has a nice natural ramnification and will probably not grow very large (supposely a dwarf form). If I recall correctly the strain comes true from seed, which makes it a more or less "true" cultivar.

Arabicum Update

Some arabicums from last years seed batch (about 6-9 months old, the oldest and biggest in the background):

Those are so nice. Beautiful shape and look so well balanced. Pots are really quite great also.

Rick

Rick, thank you. I appreciate it! I have some other showy and rather odd-looking adeniums in the tents which I haven't shown on the forum. One of them seems to grow more fat than big (height).

These look like butterballs! Such nice form. I can't wait to see their caudex development. RCNs have such a recognized form and roots that you can tell right away on the adult plants if it is RCN. I hope you do keep a few for yourself Martin so we can see them develop.
Tracy

Loved the tour of your tent, I got to see It tonight for the first time! very inspiring! Hopefully I end up with a bunch of plants as nice as yours some day!

Thanks!

Tracy, I won't sell the arabicums in the photo but I recently parted with 40 seedlings, some nice fat and compact.

Pachypodium Update

I just did some root trimming on my Pachypodium saundersii (almost 9 months old) and transplanted it into a shallow cactus container (7.5 inches/19 cm wide). I will let the roots fill the container and keep it root-bound. This is the final "container stage".

She is stunning! Looks fantastic in her official pottery. Will she go back in the tent or stay out in the open?

Tracy, thanks again!

Yes, she will go back in the tent like the transplanted adeniums. All of my "keepers" will get a new pottery home but lack of space is beginning to be problem. ;-) As the adeniums grow bigger and some show nice characteristics, my personal collection grows accordingly. ;-)

Obesum Update

About 9 months old (parents unknown). It has put on some mass - and now needs a bigger container (Smart Pot!). ;-) Hopefully it will flower soon...

2015-01-07:

2016-03-06:

Martin lovely stuff inside your grow tent. Such beautiful plants. Please let me know what kind of fertilizer you use and the media for adeniums. How often do you water them? My seedlings from the growout might benefit from your advice.

Man, I love these trees. They are so fantastic. The base is like a buried baseball.

So cool, Martin.

Rick

Rick, buried baseball, yes. ;-) And thanks!

Sinha, thank you!

What matters is temperature and sunlight (and adequate nutrients). They grow fast at temperatures of 85+F / 30+C under intense light. But otherwise adeniums are quite forgiving plants and you could probably grow them in 100% mineral soil. I grow them in coir (40-50%), vermiculite and grit and feed them a balanced cactus fertilizer (with micronutrients, 1/4-1/2 of the labeled concentration) every watering, 2-4 times a week.

Good growing!

Here's another 9 months old obesum in a 1 gallon Smart Pot from the same batch (parents unknown):

It has a nice bottle-shaped form. And look:

The flowers will probably turn out pink again but this time hopefully with prominent nectar guides!

Thanks Martin for the fertilizer tip. Unfortunately we don't get them labelled so nicely over here and are stuck with stuff like superphosphate, Potash and Di ammonium phosphate(DAP) which I mix and make a very dilute solution and feed the medium.Wonder how much my plants are able to get /use!

The obesum is really true to form and really cute. Please do post the flower pics once it blooms. Really wonderful and quite amazing -the way you nurse these plants and all the others in your collection.

Arabicum Update

This is my biggest arabicum from last year (about 9 months old, parents unknown):

2016-01-17:

2016-03-09:

The tree has grown fatter and the green colour has changed to grey. After I defoliated it (no pruning or pinching), it has begun branching out even more, which I was hoping for:

love the texture on the trunk nice plant

So beautiful.

This is definitely a keeper Martin. I love the compact form. I'm getting ready to start some RCN seeds that will have Red flowers. I will keep you posted on their progress.

Tracy

Pachypodium Update

Pachypodium saundersii

2016-02-20:

2016-03-12:

2016-03-22:

The saundersii has decided to put more energy into branch growth rather than caudex growth. But the stems are still compact with short internodes.

Pachypodium horombense

2016-02-07:

2016-03-22:

Perhaps a bit difficult to see, but the pachy has grown a lot the past month.

Arabicum "Scarface" Update

After repotting the tree a few weeks ago, growth slowed down considerbly. It looks like that it has finally accepted the new home.

2015-11-08:

2016-03-22:

The training so far has not been a total success. Some of the branches did not respond to pinching or pruning the way I expected them to. But the training continues...

Really nice plants which reflect your care for them!! I guess the ties have to remain on the plant above till the branches thicken a bit so that the shape becomes permanent in nature..that will take a few months at least.

Obesum Update

2015-08-04 (the seedling in the middle):

2016-01-07:

2016-04-02:

I think it needs a bigger home. ;-)

It hasn't been pruned or pinched, but a few weeks ago it decided to branch out from the very top...

Wow it is going to bust of the pot like the Incredible Hulk! Nice looking seedling. It's too bad the lateral branches haven't taken off yet. They probably will if you put it into a 2 gallon fabric pot.

Tracy

Those are so amazing. It is a perfect ball pushing out of the soil.

Stunning plant.

Rick

Any updates on how those amazing pachypodiums look now Martin?