Lets give it another try

10 years ago

I have always been attracted to plants and what they do to make me feel good in my home. I have especialy tried my hands at bonsai´s and other trees that in a sense bring the outdoors into my home.

I have failed miserably at my attempts over and over, casting the shriveled up dried out and sick plants - swearing not to return to my hobby ever again.

Well, I´m back again for a new beating.
I have been lurching around the forum and probably learning more about things the past week than I have in my entire life.
I have spent alot of time learning about soil mixes and fertilizers. I see where I have done huge misstakes.

I think I also may have gotten Adenium-fever. I have to try and grow some. I ordered a few seeds and am starting to get myself set up.

Here comes the tricky part. I live way up north - actually not far from the arctic circle - lattitude 63. That realy sucks when you want daylight in the winter months.

However - On the upside we get alot of sun in daylight in the summer. When its winter we often have little clouds and get a fair share of the suns rays, even if they are weak. I will probably have to get myself some lighting to supplement this issue. No need to worry though, its April and summer will be here in about 2 months. Next winter be knocking on the door in 5 months:)

I´ll post my Adeniums as they start hatching.

Oh, BTW. Could someone give me a tip on how to think about my soil mix. I´ve read alot about Al´s 5-1-1 and the gritty mix. The thing is that I have no experience with Adeniums and in my climate we have very low humidity in the winter months.
Would Adeniums thrive better in 5-1-1 or the pure gritty in my dry indoor climate. Indoors we have a nice 20C climate - but very dry air.
Also I have natural Sphagnum peat growing everywhere around me. I have an entire river running near my house filled with perfect sized granite pebbles. Bark, turface, Perlite - I can get it all around here. Well balanced fertilizers will however be a slight problem.

How would you guys put together a well balanced soil for Adeniums if you lived lattitude 63?
(HaHa I feel like I´m setting myself up for a new magnificant failure). You don´t know until you tried, right?

Steff

Featured Answer

jedobaTX9b

10 years ago

I have a feeling that you need to talk to Martin.

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Comments (9)

Steffen Sweden
Original Author
10 years ago
Yea, Martin has a mean setup. I´ve seen the things that he is doing. Martin - if your listening - I´m going to read all your posts and suck all the info out of them. I think your plants look great! I´ll be happy if I get one through the coming winter.
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Dain (Zone 5a, high NM Desert)
10 years ago
Your little ones will need more water than the gritty mix can provide. You'll need something organic. I use coir mixed with diatomaceous earth for starting seeds in.
rcharles_gw (Canada)
10 years ago
Steffen,

I think that Martin could assist you very much and make getting these underway in your conditions available well. Seems like artificial light source during low light times of year will help with this.

Rick
halocline
10 years ago
Hi Steffen,

These are good lights; at a good price. They run a bit hot, but cost efficient.

http://www.amazon.com/8lamps-DL828S-Fluorescent-Hydroponic-Fixture/dp/B00NMX5EGC?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00

I would also buy a heat mat, propagation tray w/ tall lid.

Rob
Steffen Sweden
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks,

halocline, those lights would probably suit my needs well.

Dain, I will probably try to start them something like that. Choir isn´t availabale. I´ll have to replace it with something else. I have the following crushed LECA pebbles, volcano rocks aswell as calcined clay, bark, river rocks, granite, fresh sphagnum and cactus soil mix. I´ll figure something out.

I haven´t gotten the seeds yet but they should be comeing pretty soon.
User
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Hi there, Steffen. And welcome to the forum.

Growing adeniums up here north can be a challenge but fortunately not impossible. For indoor growing I suggest that you buy a heating mat and an artificial light source (heat is as important as high light intensity and adeniums love bottom heat). For instance, LED or T5HO as suggested. Use the setup - both mat and light - even in the spring and summer, on overcast cold days to prevent your plants from going (semi-)dormant. In my experience, changeable weather (with longer periods of cold overcast weather) during the growing season will dramatically stunt the growth of adeniums. It can take weeks before they wake up again. You want to prevent that.

During the fall and winter months, I suggest that you use the artificial light as well.

The past year I have been growing adeniums in heated closed grow tents (30C/86F) under 17 hours of LED light. Using this setup, I prefer a growing medium, coir/cocos ground, with 40-50% inorganic materials (it does not really matter what you use - as long as it prevents water logging). The ratio you want to use depends on your growing conditions and watering regime. Without a heated tent, I would probably change the ratio myself and increase the percentage of inorganic materials. Say, to 60/40.

Cheers,

Martin
Steffen Sweden
Original Author
10 years ago
Hej Martin, tack ska du ha!

I´ve been readyingy our posts and finding them very helpfull. Nice of you to give me help with the ratios, I´ve been thinking about that for a bit - now I have a starting point and I´ll take it from there. Hopefully I wont cause an Adenium hollocaust with my skills.

One more thing. I´ve learned that the most extreme growth will take place in the first 3-4 years. Is that why you use the growing tent? To optimize the most extreme period in the plants life?

Do you treat mature plants with heating mats too? Or do you just let them go dormant in the winter months?

Thanks again for all the help,

Steff
User
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
You are welcome, Steff.

I basically use grow tents and LED light for fast consistent growth. Years ago I started growing many different (way over 50 species) caudiciform plants (e.g. adeniums) inside on windowsills and outside in the summer. With some or little success. After two-three growing seasons in a row with few warm sunny days, I decided to take a break from it all. Last year I returned - with a new plan for growing primarily adeniums (and only from seeds myself). Artificial light, T5HO, and later LED and grow tents. ;-)

So far results have been good. I even managed to sell about 60-70 seedlings. In May I will move most of my adeniums from the tents and try growing them outside in a quite large propagator and inside on windowsills. I plan to shut down one of my two tents. The remaining one will be stuffed with new seedlings for sale. ;-)