Tuff to say without seeing them. With them at the age they are, I would think that they do not have 6true leaves yet?

Pinching the terminal growth tip out can help produce more lateral branching, but it is not a sure thing. If they have the genetic make up to be really wide, then they do. Pinching during the right time, in active growth is important. This would be fine to do with Obesums, but I would not do to Arabicums.

Root pruning, taking out the tap root and leaving the feeder roots can promote an interesting root system.

Cutting off the whole root system and growing what they call Centipede Roots, then further training with age is something that I have not tried and reluctant to give advice. Have seen and read many different articles on this process.

I will try to find the info that I have and post here and for Arash, who has asked about this.

Rick

Ugh! I'm typing this on my phone so I just lost all my text when I tried to add a photo after I was all done...EXTREMELY frustrating indeed! I am going to post without pictures this time so I don't lose my text again. Then I'll go back and edit, adding photos.

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Thank you Rick, for responding to my query. I have photographed the seedlings and am including pictures to promote a better discussion.

I thought these Activia yogurt cups were perfect first pots because of their depth and overall size. I've drilled 6 holes on the bottom and added small stones for drainage. The substrate is a fast-draining cactus mix, which dries out within 3 days and works best for my climate. It is comprised of perlite, construction / river sand, Coco coir, and garden soil. The medium is dark because I just watered this morning. It's a beautiful, clear & sunny day.

These seedlings are on a shelf on my porch. They receive 5 full hours of light, warm, morning sun daily and indirect sunlight the remainder of the day. If the evenings are cool or rainy, I bring them in. I have fed them cactus fertilizer (low N, high P, low K) once a month and water with rainwater about every 3 days when dry. There are two groupings:

These three were sown from mixed adenium seeds obtained from Bulgaria. I have no idea about identity. They have l-r, 10 leaves, 11 leaves, 8 leaves. Sowed Feb 17; germinated Feb 20 & 23.

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These are my "Roger 5," not quite a month old yet. They are obesum and currently show 4-6 leaves. Sowed Mar 13; germinated Mar 16 & 17.

I am not an expert but i pinching the seedling random. Some two top pair leaves and some leaving only the two bottom pair leaves on the seedlings. The one right in the background i did not pinch

You can pinching the seedlings like in your second picture.

Here you can see it is cut above the last bottom pair leaves.

LL,

If you can give them more sunlight without scortching them would be good. They should be getting at least 8 hrs. Minimum of good sunlight. They can take full sunlight all day with 60% shade cloth, but I think these need more if possible. This will aid in getting shorter and more compact.

Your seedlings are too small to do much pinching right now I feel. It would set them back quite a bit.

Nice looking seedlings. A lot of the time they do not start to plump up until a bit older.

Rick

Rick,

They're on the porch getting 5 hours of direct caribbean morning sun, and high lumen indirect sunlight the rest of the day. I'm afraid to put them out in the scorching hot sun because they're so young. I'd likely have to water them daily if I put them out there.

Maybe the two months old ones can be out in direct sun and the 3 week old ones can stay on the porch for now?? Please confirm.

Did I miss what temp and humidity they are in LL

Here's the thing with seedlings; they were meant to be sown in sunlight, so the first set of leaves are really tough. As long as you sow, and grow in full sun, they'll never burn. If you grow them indoors for 4-5 sets, and then pop them into full sun, they'll burn.

When moving them from indoors to out, you need to acclimate them.

This year was my first to truly experience sunburn on my plants, but I moved them out into full sun too fast and lost all leaves, and have some branch death on the burned ends.

Marica: Right now, average temps are 78°F low, 86°F high, humidity 89%. The sun is dangerously scorching from noon to 4 pm. I get sunburned every time I go in the backyard.

Jedoba: These are sown outdoors. Once the seedlings germinate, they are placed on the porch, where they received 5 full hours of sun all morning from 7 to 12, then indirect sunlight the rest of the day. I'm not concerned about burning leaves. The leaves on adenium are very tough. I'm concerned about sunburn on the trunk/caudex and generally stressing out these baby seedlings.

LL,

If they are in full sun in early part of day and good light through the the rest of the day, they should grow well. As they get older you can acclimate to the sun leaving them out a little longer each day.

Rick

Rick: Thank you so much for all your input. Since I have no identification on the first group of three (from mixed seed), I am not going to pinch those. I'm going to leave them alone and let them grow naturally.

I agree my "Roger Five" are still too small to pinch. Since they are all the same variety and I have 5 of them, they will be perfect for experimenting various techniques.

A few questions:

- At what age or when how many leaves have formed can I begin pinching? 6 leaves? do I remove the top 4 leaves or just the top 2?

- At what age can I cut off the taproot? 2 yrs old? Before? After?

Stuart: Thank you, as well. It appears you're growing your seedlings in direct zone 11 sun. Is this correct? Have you ever had an issue with the trunk/ caudex sunburning? Does pinching always result in branching? Or do you experience branching only sometimes.

Thanks, everyone for your input. I know I'm looking for precision concrete answers and there is no such thing in nature. Plants do what they do and look beautiful doing it. Still, I'd like to (and would love to help others) get the best results possible with minimal loss during this learning experience.

Peace & grace to all.

Rick and Jeboa are right. I am sowing my seeds in full sun and they stay in full tropical sun. after repotting they go into full rain and full sun.

I have lots of seedlings thats why i am pinching a few maybe too early and the ones that already haves branches not.

Excellent information, Rick. Thank you.