I think the biggest, scariest part will be once the greenhouse is up next year and I have to figure out business and tax status when I have to hire employees. I have also spoken with my ag extension office that is linked to UGA and they were very encouraging of me to try to set something up with the university. That way I can get interns to assist for free as long as I am willing to do the paperwork for them to get class credits for working with me to learn. So that could be fun, too!

By comparison to the tax issues and maybe taking out a business loan, the inspections and permits are going to be easy I think.

Oh how exciting! I wish I could quit my job and open a little nursery! Lol. Pls share your experience with us! How are you going to overwinter all of them? I'm also in a zone 8b, and I don't know how I'll overwinter my babies.

I currently have a 12+ by 25+ foot art studio (sun room) with windows on three sides attached to the house. Inside there I have many steel wire shelving units set up with lights for my 'indoor' plants already. I propagate streptocarpus and other gesneriads, as well as orchids. I have about 1,500 plants in here currently, and a ton more outside on the huge back deck, the yard, etc.

Until it gets chilly here, I'll keep the flats out on the back deck in the shade of a huge oak tree along with my orchids, coffee, and cinnamon trees - but when they are ready they will be moved bit by bit into full sun on the far end. It's very hot and humid down here in GA so I think the adeniums will love it.

For winter I will set up a 48" by 72" tall steel shelving unit in the south window where it gets too much sun in the winter months for my other plants. I normally keep that window shaded with blinds but it only gets direct sun in winter when the sun is low enough.

I used to work at an orchid greenhouse years ago. I did Elton John's flower arrangements for his interior designer and I learned how to flask orchid seed. So I've been a plant nut since I was a kid. I also run a small art studio and am a painting and jewelry class instructor.

Zone 8b is fairly mild. You may be able to set up a cold frame with double layered plastic in a sunny location? If you have no where to move them inside. You may even be able to stack straw bales or earth Walapini style on the north side to help insulate.

After a 4 or 5 hour soak, here they are yesterday already swollen up. Some of them have tips showing out the ends only 24 hours later. Two seeds on the far right slipped their papery covers when transferred so they are naked. These little trays are in the shade of a big oak tree that grows up through my back deck and sealed in baggies.

My Canon EOS battery died on me yesterday after more than 10 years of recharging and use, so no new photos today. BUT most of the seeds already have a root curling beneath them and are about to stand up on their own already! It's been about 48 hours since the seeds arrived. The two seeds with no seed covers have greenish tips and so far only one seed in the lower left container (near middle) appears to be a dud. It hasn't swollen up like the others. Too early to say what my germination rate is until I see roots on all of them.

Hyn Patty, good luck growing.

Marie

Morning of day 3 since they arrived, about 2.5 days since they came in through my door.

And my first shipment of seeds also arrived from KO today. These are arabicum 'Brazilian', and the rest are obessum: 'Star of Top' and 'Super Yellow Leaf' are both variegated hybrids. I'm interested in what percentage (if any) I get as variegated seedlings. The rest are' Border Gem', Ebay 06, 52, and 67. I also have a second order coming from him in about a week.

Here are my results so far with Adenium hybrid seeds:

Of the Rinoa seeds it turns out that I have a disappointing germination rate of only 17 out of 45 seeds since they arrived on 8-8-16. That is less than 40% germination so I feel I really can't recommend her seeds based on price and quality. The rest have pretty much turned to mush and only a small few of the seedlings look healthy.

However, my KO seeds arrived on 8-11-16 and by this morning I already have better than 80% germination, and 100% germination on my arabicum seeds from him after a little over 48 hours! I am very pleased and anticipate close to 100% germination on the rest based on their firmness and splitting seed covers. So we'll see how they do the next few days.

I'll give one more update later as I also have seeds about to arrive from an Ebay seller so I can compare my germination rate for them with the other two. All are started on the paper towel method then transferred to flats once the tap roots emerge. Same temperatures, lighting, etc. The photo below are KO seeds.

I've used the paper towel method, but find it problematic because they dry out so fast, and I sometimes don't get to them in time.

I have great luck with using plastic containers with lids, and using basic potting soil. I place the closed container on a heating pad or my dvr.

I take a toothpick and make a very slight indentation in the soil, and place the seed in it. I don't cover them at all.

I seal my paper towels in plastic baggies so there is no drying out to worry about. I wanted to see very clearly the germination on these first seeds to compare the percentages without having soil mix obscuring the details. All my later seeds I will likely direct sow like you mention. The ones with tap roots have already been transferred to tiny divots in the damp soil and nestled in without being covered and they are standing upright rapidly.

I really only wanted to try the paper towel method for very specific data but obviously direct sowing would save time. My end result was that I had less than 40% germination on the Rinoa seeds but almost 100% germination on the KO seeds by a week later.

Here are the adenium arabica seedlings as of this morning from the exact seeds shown above. They are doing great and every one of them germinated. These are KO seeds though, not Rinoa. Those that germinated of hers are also doing well for me so far.

Here are some of the KO adenium obesum seedlings, grown more for their fancy flowers than for their bonsai forms. Here you can see some of my variegated hybrid seed mixes threw 'ablino' seedlings, which will die because they do not have chlorophyll. I have 4 or 5 of them in total in the Star of Top and Super Yellow Leaf groups.

I also have a fresh batch of KO seeds, and have one of the poor little albinos. Mine is totally white though.

Maybe yours has a tiny chance with that bit of color.

Best of luck!

I -think- the pink stem merely indicates that it is a pink or red flowering plant. Such is common in most other plants that carry red pigments, which concentrate more heavily in intense light. Thank you! I do not see any variegation on any of my seedlings yet so I may not have gotten any variegated this batch. But I'll wait and see if anything develops later with time. ;)