Hey doc. Good to see you on this side.

They'll need to be warm---25C is alright but they'll be happier at around 30C. I put my seedlings indoors on a heat mat with T5HOs for 12 hours. This forces them to stay compact. Seedlings of that age will not go semi-dormant (even adults don't always do). They'll have to be spoiled.

Pagan

Pagan: do you mean you force them to stay compact by not giving them more than 12 hours of T5HO light, or by giving them heat and light full stop?

(Mine get 16 hours of light a day).

Nice to see you here Bikerdoc... welcome to this forum...love your haworthia collection!!

Adeniums...well you will have to get a tent unless you have a greenhouse....some grow lights and some heat mats thats all adeniums need and the folks here will advise you well..once again welcome and thank you for sharing pics of your adorable seedlings!!

Do you continue watering as you would durimy warmer weather?

The mean temperature in my seedlings' winter accommodation (tents) is much higher (27-30C) than it was during the summer months when they were outside. As such I now water them more often (once every 2 days) than during the summer months (with the exception of heat wave periods).

Conny, I force them to stay compact by giving them 12 hours of light. The heat is basically to prevent them from weakening which I have observed in winter when seedlings are this young. I don't know why you do 16 hours and I don't know what light you use. But I've concluded that using T5HOs, 12 hours is enough to keep them compact. Under T8s, I do about 14, using 6500K bulbs. I've freecycled everything I have that is below 6500K.

Longer hours under light makes it more annoying to re-introduce plants to sunlight in spring--they lose too many leaves or get more sensitive because they're going from short nights indoors to longer nights outdoors. And this on top of having to adjust to increased light intensity. I don't have that kind of patience.

Doc, I don't know how you've kept your seedlings up to now but if you can keep them as warm as they were outdoors in summer, you can keep watering them the same way. Watch out for pests. Maintaining tropical conditions indoors in winter is generally not the easiest chore. So many points of failure.

Pagan

Thanks Pagan! I also use T5HOs, but the seedlings are not right underneath them:

I must say that after an initial couple of days of acclimatisation the seedlings look healthier now than they did during the summer, probably because they get more light (on rainy/cold days during the summer I left them in the plastic GHs where they didn't get that much light).

Well, maybe I'll put them under lights with my Echies. I start them off with about 10 hrs because that's where we are here in Michigan for daylight. Progressively, I shorten the day length to about 8 hrs by January and progressively increase to 12 hrs by the end of April so they are ready for the out of doors. You think this would work? I am using T5HO's

That's not enough light, Conny.

Doc, yes, sounds perfect. If you want to push them (i.e. make them large, fast), you basically need to recreate summer in Palau in your greenhouse.

But they are throwing out new leaves like crazy Pagan....

Pagan, sent you an email?

That's because they're warmer in that tent, Conny. I bet they'll keep growing in a dark closet as long as it's warm (<==hyperbole). They will, however, be etiolated and weak. For example, this is my adenium shelf:

P

Wow!'''wow!!!!

Hm, I'll have to risk it Pagan, I don't have the resources to light 700 seedlings that way.

Conny: they'll be fine. If anyone gets all gangly after winter, just whack them back into shape in spring. However much you're fertilizing them outdoors, cut it down to half because if they are warm but dimly lit, feeding them will encourage growth but that growth is likely to be etiolated and weak.

In any case, you'll have some plant sculpting to do in spring!

Pagan

Thank you so much for your help Pagan, really appreciate it!

I already halved the amount of fertilising when I moved them indoors a few weeks back, so in that respect I'm on the right track.

Looking forward to the sculpting already :-)