I have found that most people say that scions would dry out to much for us to start them when shipped. It also depends on where you live. You have not added your location with your name so they can see how close you are. Country or State will do. Many of us have asked for scions but none have answered, Good luck

I also dabble in tissue culture. When my variegated adenium arrives, I'll be removing a small piece of stem once it's showing good growth. Then I will see about producing new shoots more rapidly by flasking it. Instead of getting one, or a few graft pieces from a stem, I could potentially obtain several dozen at a time of a specific hybrid because every dormant bud at the leaf nodes can become a new plant.

Hyn Patty, I try not to get my other cuttings in a bag. So many of mine have cooked. I just went through that with Christmas cactus in early June.

I am very interested in the steps of tissue culture for adeniums. So if you would be so kind to let us follow along and pic would be great too :-)

I'm not interested in cuttings because the caudex isn't as nice as a plant grown from seed or a grafted plant.

Yes, but I'm not interested in the caudex in this case, Spacecoast. The pieces could be grafted if I do want that, or grown on with the focus intentionally for less caudex. I'm less caught up in the big fat gnarly look than a lot of people and I want more options and variety. I'm sure I'll want that in some cases but the bonsai styles with adenium that I personally like best tend to have more 'tree' like forms with less emphasis on the lower 1/3 of the plant - so that may be perfect.

Understood, Marcia. I appreciate the feedback. I usually only ship or receive cuttings in spring and autumn for that very reason. It's far too hot in my summer and a bit too cold in my winter.

I honestly don't know if tissue culture will be useful for adeniums. Grafting, when one is good enough at it to only require small sections of a cutting, is easier and still pretty fast. Especially if you are good enough to set individual bud grafts. I will tinker and see what comes of it.

LOVE the big fat gnarly look!!!

Nothing wrong with that. ;)

I discussed tissue culture in regards to adeniums with Joe somewhat recently.

You can see that thread here.

Here's a link to a paper on the subject.

I will have a look. Sterility isn't an issue. I already do tissue culture here with other things. How viable it turns out to be for any given kind of plant hybrid does vary but it's usually pretty successful. Where it starts to get trickier is with chimeric flowers. So I can let you know what kind of success I have to report later in the year. Right now I'm still picking up plants and seed so it'll take time.

A quick scan of the PDF you linked me to said it was quite successful, more with stem tissue than leaf (but it was also viable). This is good news. It doesn't mentionn if they sampled meristem bud explants which should be even more viable more quickly, and guarantee virus free stock. So, thank you!

BTW, take a look at my thread from this afternoon, I have a couple of pics of plants which haven't been raised at all.

If you raise them early, rather than late, do the roots tend to stay a little narrower and swell up less fat?

I'm sure you know this.. but there are dwarf adeniums..

I do, thank you. Not really a fan of the minis I've seen so far, but thank you!

Rick has a really nice dwarf with a large flower and curled leaves.

It is the curled leaves I don't like. I could like them for merely being an oddity but I don't find the leaves attractive. I've never been a fan of super weird goldfish either but I like the more natural ones just fine.

Patty, What attracted you to Adeniums?

Here you go Hyn.

Just teasing.

I have 3 of these left. Gave the others away.

The leaves of most of them are not as wavy anymore, but still small.

To be honest. I do really like them, but I would not mind it if they had blooms that where smaller, in relation to the leaf and plant size.

They are becoming quite wide in growth now which I am liking.

Rick

Oh, I do like that one much better, Rick. The leaves look fine. I agree that some of them I like with smaller flowers if I want them as smaller bonsai. Some of them with big flowers I'd probably tend to grow the plants larger. The contrasts are nice.

Spacecoast, I love the flowers and I really like them as bonsai or grown as larger plants. I have collected quite a few photos of them where they don't have huge swollen roots or super fat trunks in relation to the leaves and branches. In those cases they look better balanced and more attractive to me. I am aware that certain species in the backgrounds or grated tend towards one or the other so I'm fine with that. I like the variety.

It's a matter of personal taste which way you prefer them. I do think people shouldn't feel like they /have/ to only like them this one style and if their plant doesn't look -just- like that, then it's supposed to be rejected as not suitable.

You are so right, Hyn. We all have different likes/dislikes.

It is funny or odd. When I first started growing these. It was the bloom which I was most entranced w and the Caudex second. Thought, "if you've seen one fat Caudex, you'd seen them all". Then, I started collecting and growing the TS & Arabicum hybrids. Find myself in the same situation now w too many TS & Arabicums.

Now, heading back to growing more Obesum hybrids. The pendulum swings back and forth.

I find myself intrigued w different leaf types, color patterns now.

Rick

I'm certain I will be growing some fat rooted ones myself. I ordered 30 Arabicum seeds after all, but I plan to try some unconventional things with them as well.

Right now I am working on a series of pen and ink drawings to outline the basic forms I most often see in Adeniums and I'll have that ready to share within a couple of days. That way I can more easily discuss a form without having to grab a photo I didn't take myself.

I would love feedback on these as to whether any of them relate to specific species or have particular style names to help me further identify them.

Here is an old pic when Mr ko sent cutting in the mail. It took about 9 days and they made it . The postal service changed to take a month or more and he stopped shipping cuttings.

Mr Ko just used to wrap a bit of wet tissue around the base of the cutting and then place them in a plastic bag

This is something that Ko could still do if he and the buyers used EMS shipping. Cost is a bit more, but it is based on the weight and size of package. He may not be aware of this.

With a Phyto Certificate which he can get, there would be no reason for him not to resume doing this.

Maybe he needs someone to purpose the idea?

Rick

We shall have to wait and see. I wrote Mr ko

I was wondering. If I get trees next week, Is it going to be to late to graft to these and get enough good growth start ? I don't usually get cold till the end of October. Or should I wait to next spring?

I would think if you are able to do your grafts within the next month, they should be fine. Just need to make sure your rootstock plants are actively growing for good union. Do not be in a hurry to put out in sunlight once you know they have fused together.

Rick

Same here, Marica. It'll stay pretty hot here until at least mid October so good to know. I have plenty of seeds to sow and hope for a good start on them.

Oooh, just saw what you added about Mr. Ko's cuttings! Too bad about the shipping but I bet Rick is right if someone was willing to pay for Express handling. Hmmm. ;) I have more plant stands to set up and more lights to order but I want to get a selection of really nice grafted plants to work with myself while I wait and wait on my seedlings to flower next year.

KO wrote back he said he will not get back into branches (scions) no matter what. To many problems with people getting them and they die on them.

Understandable. Thanks for asking him, Marica. I was looking up Express Mail from Thailand and it still looks to take up to anywhere from 1 to 2 weeks.

Why don't we have cutting exchange? Not that I have much to offer, lol. I just got 16 grafted plants from eBay and Rinoa, but it will take a while till I'll have grafting material. But I think it would be great to do exchange or sharing cuttings one day. Maybe next spring?

We could try that. Within the US the shipping can be pretty fast with Priority Mail delivering in 2 or 3 days if we avoid a weekend. I'll be ordering a number of additional grafted plants soon.

I am really pleased to say that I have learned a ton since I started this discussion. For example, that until the last 10 to 15 years or so, I have learned that most adenium commercial growers used to grow their stock almost exclusively from cuttings because seed simply wasn't available widely. Flower hybridizing hadn't yet taken off like it has now and mostly only species were available by seed. I have found several older websites I have bookmarked with such information. Just 20 years ago things were much different.

I have also learned that 'branch grown' adeniums from cuttings are still often preferred among those who grow them as bonsai because it gives more natural treelike forms without the heavy concentration on the lower 1/3rd of the tree's caudex. It really depends on which of the two styles a particular collector likes but in Thailand and Taiwan there's definitely a strong following for this method, while others prefer very broad trunks and roots - so it's a matter of taste but the branch grown appears to the the older, long established method.

And lastly it is not true that an adenium grown from cuttings never forms a nice caudex. It does take much longer but I have been collecting a good number of photographs of such specimens and I now have a nice folder /full/ of stunning examples. It is true that they don't get as huge and swollen as some but the more delicate 'tree' forms are more to my personal taste and I am in love . I am delighted with the variety I have been discovering.

I'd dearly love to post a number of those photos here but I should ask permission first.

It does appear that 'branch grown' isn't used as widely now as seed grown - mostly due to a shift in the next 'new' thing and the fact that seed grown do grow and develop so much faster. Which makes sense. But I find it all to be fascinating.

Here's one of the folders I am building with examples - this one is on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ornerypony/branch-grown-adenium-bonsai/