Stephane I live in west Texas and I can not use my greenhouse in the summer it gets way to hot even with shade cloth. I agree with Marie

Roger

Stephane, how is your tilt model doing :-)

Stephaniee, mine tilt too, towards where they get sun, just rotate the pot every few days and it corrects in its own;)

Another thing bends are good, i always see new sprouts from where it bends if i forgot to rotate the pot;)

Hi guys,
So I stopped watering with fertilizer so much but some are still bending, so I take it it's not the fertilizer that causes it. Now as soon as I water them, they straighten out, so do you think the pots are way too small for them (2 inch diameter)?
It's been close to 100º outside and inside my greenhouse the temperature is around 90º during the day, then falls down to 80-85º at night. Maybe the soil in those little pots dry too fast which causes the adeniums to tilt?

Thank you ;)
Stephane

I did cut the ones that were too tall and kept tilting. I used Elmer's Waterproof Glue :) And slowly introduced them to the outside. So far so good. I'm seeing new growth on the side of the caudex

What kind of gritty mix? Adding more organic stuff into the mix will help

Stephane I bet you find a lot of nice roots in that small pot. I would pull the tree and look at the root ball. You can put it in a wider pot. I would not disturb the root ball just transfer to the new pot. With those temps I have to run water through everyday. Mine are drying out so fast. I just use a pail and pour a small amount of water so I don't over water.

Like Stuart said I added a little coir to help with the moisture.

Stephane,

If your mix is drying out very quick (say in 2 days), then your 2" pots may definitely be too small.

If your greenhouse gets this hot 90 degrees, if you have elongated plants, they will also wilt from transpiring. Best to make sure you have good air flow.

I would try the next pot size up.

My greenhouse will reach the same temperatures, but I do not get wilting.

Does your Greenhouse have UV protected coating? Not Glass?

Rick

My guess would be too much nitrogen. It won't correct overnight or over many nights. The top of the plant has outgrown the roots ability to keep the top turgid but it will correct. Just try a less generous culture for a while.

Thank you guys for your feedbacks.
I have a 16 in. Variable Speed Exhaust Fan with 2 x 12 in. Aluminum Shutter.
I also have a big oscillate fan and 2 small floor fans that blow air under the tables.
When I'm in the greenhouse during the day, it actually doesn't feel bad at all. I could stay in it for a couple of hours.

My 2" pots dry up every day. I water every evening, and the next day, in the afternoon, the soil is all dry. So maybe I do need to up-pot them. I bought a bunch of 4" diameter pots that I should get this week.

My soil consists of 2/3 of potting soil and 1/3 perlite. Should I change it?
All the glasses in the greenhouse have a 60% film to block the UV. The room panels have a 60% as well, and we have a 65% shade cloth that cover the roof.

I think I got a little crazy with the adeniums. I have almost 500 seedlings now.

PS: Don't mind the floor, I haven't vacuumed hehe
Thanks,
Stephane

Stephane,

Just looking back at plants.

The distance between the internodes on your seedlings is usually caused by not enough light, next would be Nitrogen.

If the plants receive full sun, their natural response (growth) is to grow shorter with distance between internodes very close. This is a growth response by many plants to grow bushier to shade soil surface.

It is the length between internodes that is creating the length to branches, i.e. Bending.

Rick

Todd,
I use Foliage-Pro 9-3-6 with Pro-Tekt 0-0-3
I used a quarter of the strength with each watering. Though I stopped used those 10 days ago, now I only use water.
Stephane

Rick, that totally makes sense. It looks like they get enough sun but maybe I have too many shades. If I don't put the shades, then it gets so hot inside. Not sure what I should do. Maybe the greenhouse is just not adequate to use right now.
Stephane

Another thought. You're in Texas (like me) the difference between day night temperatures is much less substantial for you than the plants naturally experience this is exaggerated in a green house which will cool even less than our humid atmosphere. Warm days + warm nights could also produce the exaggerated shoot elongation and, at the same time, affect the shoot to root ratio and the plants ability to keep the top turgid. So I say ventilate the greenhouse as much as possible at night and like I said slightly less generous culture

Both great products. I'm sure this problem will resolve. Growing anything in a greenhouse is a matter of tinkering

You could try searching IPPS (international plant propagator society) papers for adenium / greenhouse. Because some professional may have done the tinkering and been kind enough to write a paper. A university with a decent horticulture program will keep the journal

Todd, I just realized something.
We used beams to create the roof of the greenhouse and now that I come to think of it, the beams create a shade in some areas on the tables. And when I look at my tilting adeniums, they are all in that line of shade created by the beams. So you're right, they are not getting enough sun as they are in that shade line. Tomorrow I'll figure out a way to place them differently and make sure they are all getting sun.
Stephane

Todd, do you have your adeniums outside full sun?

Stephane

Yep as much as they can

Stephane,

Your greenhouse is absolutely fantastic. You have so much in there to get optimum growth.

Your roof looks to be UV panels (channeled). I am not sure that the roof trusses would stoplight for too long?

It looks that you have quite a high fence up around at least 2 sides. When would you say the plants first receive sun a when do they lose it. Any other trees that create shade at times.

The mini blinds would cut out a lot of light.

Your fertilizer is one I use (both) and I love it. I do not believe it would cause this growth.

Go to the 4" pots with same soil and try some outside. Short time each day for a week, then all day. The night temperatures down to 75 - 80 degrees will not effect them.

Rick

Thanks so much guys for your help.
Rick, I would say the greenhouse gets sun from 9 am to about 8 pm. My neighbor has a tree that blocks most of the sun between 6pm and 8pm... other than that, it's full sun all day long.
I do have a few seedlings that are short with a fat caudex with lots of leaves. I wish they were all like that.
I will leave the blinds open from now on. (Btw the blinds are facing west)

I just put a folding table outside and I'll start taking some of my adeniums out every day for a few hours and increase the time for a week. By the time they are ready to go outside full time, they will be in their new 4" pots too.

Sorry if my questions sounds ridiculous at times. Like some of you may know, I started this around December of last year so I'm still learning.

Thanks,
Stephane

Stephane,

You never need to think you are asking questions that are not important or relavent. They are to you. Believe me I have so many questions and this group here are so helpful. Where it is more difficult for myself, is when I cannot relate with not living where you do. This is why when Todd and others within Texas give helpful advice, they are more aware.

I find that when you are asked and answer a question, it just confirms in your own mind of what you are giving.

Your blinds would not matter much if getting sun from West.

I hope the pots and having them outside helps. Please keep informed of results.

Rick

Thank you Rick. I must say people have been so nice and very patient with me :) And I love how helpful they are. I've learned a lot this year and am obsessed with Adeniums now. I think the biggest lesson for me this year was the watering. Over the years, I've killed dozens of plants. Never could keep an indoor plant. I've got 6 now that look beautiful and I'm very happy about it. I always thought plants were like us, they needed to drink everyday, so this was the biggest lesson and probably the most vital with you do gardening so I'm very happy people helped me understanding this part. :)
Stephane

They are out soaking up the morning sun :)

They look great outside.

Looks like your seedlings in the small square plugs could go right into the same size pot as the terra cotta pots you just got.

watering might be a bit less, but it they are definitely big enough to handle those pots.

Rick

Morning Rick,
I'm waiting for the azalea pots I ordered, I should get them this week. I think they'll be happier in those pots and that'll give me a break too hehe

One question... I'm going to leave them for a couple of hours outside... After that, can I just put the table in the shade instead of bringing them all inside the greenhouse?
Thanks
Stephane

If you are going to eventually have them out in full sun. If you can place them where they would receive sun in the A.M. for awhile without moving them around and even if they received sun in A.M. and then again in the late afternoon sun, this should help to acclimatize them.

Friends in Australia and Arizona tend to have them in filtered sunlight during the hottest part of the day. Sun to intense for them. Temperatures over 100 degrees and dry heat without the humidity tends to reduce blooming.

Rick

Good afternoon Stephane from the sweltering UK as we're having a mini heatwave here ;-) Your seedlings are looking great, and so many too!

I think we are all learning from each other here on the forum. There are many diverse conditions that some of us experience due to our various locations across the globe, and also via what we can actually provide for our plants, be that in monetary terms, space limitations or whatever. It's good to ask questions so none of us should ever feel dubious about doing just that. If we don't know the answer then it's got to be a relevant question. Maybe because the number of members here is less in comparison to the cactus/succ forum which I also frequent, and there are fewer Adenium types to grow, I find that here we get a broad range of questions and topics covered. C/s unfortunately IMHO has turned into a 'name this plant or save my dead plant forum'. Most threads are just repeats of the same cultural info, people don't seem to want to delve into the old posts for their answers.........or is it just me!

Anyway, we hope to see more of you and your ever growing forest ;-)

Gill

Hi Stephane can you leave them outside and in shade in the hottest part of the day I raise several 100 a year in morning sun outside I have the same problem you are having if I try to use greenhouse in summer if I remember correct you are in Dallas area and I live 4 hours west of you l lot dryer and hotter

Roger

Hello Gill, Rick and Roger.
The problem is I have no trees whatsoever. FULL sun all day long in my backyard.
I don't mind moving them around. I do have a gazibo that creates some shade in the afternoon, so I'll probably move all the patio furniture and place 1 table there. This way, I'd just have to move the trays around.
I work from home so that's easy for me to do.
Stephane

And there's me chasing the sun with my trays of seedlings all day (when I'm not at work that is) because there is no area in our garden that has sun for more than just a few hours....

Conny, you made me laugh lol You and me have 2 totally different problems but still involving the sun hehe

Stanphane, holy cow...do you own an adenium nursery? LOL

Marie

LOL Marie. I know, I have quite a few and these are only half of them lol I still have 250 little seedlings that just germinated a few days ago in the greenhouse.

I just got addicted and kept on buying seeds. Now the question is, what the heck am I gonna do with 500 adeniums? (if they all make it hehe)
Stephane

Stephane, if you don't own an adenium nursery yet, now is the time.

Can I work for you? You don't have to pay me, pay in adenium seedlings.

Marie

I'm in the same situation Stephane... what are we going to do?

I have been to a few farmers market with flower Too all around TX. Love the one on Dallas. If you could get them older they would sell quick. Then you would have more room for more seeds :-0

Stephane,

Don't feel bad. Most of us have been there with huge quantities of Adeniums. You will find out which ones you want to keep and which you need to toss or give away.

In your situation with full sun all day, is where the Auzzies and Arizona people that I know have a 60 shade cloth structure with their Adeniums under it.

Rick

Hi Rick,
Yeah I'm thinking of a way to build a wooden table that can handle all the pots and somehow cover it with a shade cloth. I'll make it work somehow. My dogs are starting to hate me though, I keep taking more and more of their backyard space hehe.

Stephane

Hi guys, here is an example of how flimsy some of my adeniums are. The first one is very sturdy and the second one is so flimsy... When I touch the caudex, it feels very soft, like not hard at all.
Stephane

Did you check the roots for rot. So many thing going on with all your plants. wow

I just checked the roots on that one, I'm just not sure what I should look for.

The roots look healthy to me.

As for the seedlings in the video: aren't they just a bit top heavy for a seedling? I don't have enough experience to know yet at what age the caudex of a seedling firms up, but if they were mine I'd cut off the top halves.

Some let there plants get tall and leggy it can be natural. I pinch or prune them to get more branches.

Are your trees drying out to fast? i can't help with the wobbles. Some will be along soon.

Yeah it looks like they were not getting enough sun in the greenhouse which is the reason why they grew tall and leggy. So that's why I started putting them outside.
They are all in 2 inch pots right now and soil is drying really fast.
Still waiting for my 4" pots to arrive to that I can re-pot them.

I have so many seedlings that I can definitely play with some.
I pruned 2 of them that were really tall last week and I see now new branches popping up so I'll probably take all the tall ones with heavy tops and prune them too, this way they won't be tilting anymore.

Stephane

The wobbly one has such large leaves at the top. When you mentioned about the caudex being soft it makes me think it is the elongated growth, but also that it is a combination of lots of foliage and not enough water to maintain. The caudex should not go soft and in most cases it can be water loss. This will be a good thing to be potting them up into larger pots.

Rick

Hi guys. I just wanted to give you an update. I repotted all the adeniums to 4" pots and found a nice spot in the backyard for them to be. Full sun all day under a 60℅ shade cloth. No more tilting ;) and it looks like the caudex are getting stronger too. Right now they are all outside on a table and this week end, we are going to build a table in wood to make it look nicer. Thanks a lot for all the advice you guys gave me. Im a happy camper (for now hehe).

I finally counted my adeniums, i dont have 500 like i thought, just 394 hehe.

Thanks,

Stephane

It looks like you're on the right track.

Keep us updated Stephane!

Stephane, Looking forward to seeing them expand (the plants that is, maybe the numbers) and grow.

So glad that this is working out well for you. This is the nice part about this forum, we can all learn from each other.

I hope you continue on and post more photo's when it is opportune.

Rick