Greetings

Francesco

Hi Francesco,

If you are going to remove the tap root on seedlings like that, I would recommend you coat the bottom with rooting hormone (and cinnamon), then go ahead & plant them in slightly moist soil. Like the moisture level of a freshly opened bag of potting soil. Let set for 2-3 days; then give them a little water. After that dries, water regularly. That's how I do it w/ excellent results. You can even put a piece of plastic under the plant to force lateral growth.

If you hang dry a plant that small, it will kill all the smaller feeder roots that are left. Once they're 7-8 months old; you can begin to hang dry them.

Rob

Francesco,

They are nice looking seedlings w nice fat caudex. There would be no eyed to cut tap root off, unless you have excess and want to experiment this process. Cutting the tap root will not alter the natural growth of caudex that you are getting with your seedlings. If they are producing these bulbous bases, they will continue to do so.

Depending on where you live, best to do most of this when you know the plants will be in active growth for best results. Drying off root area will depend on how much root or caudex you are cutting off.

Rick

Thank you all, for the responses. Ou no, so I have chosen to big pots. I might buy smaller ones as I want them to grow a bigger caudex.

But the things with leaves is still strange to me, even if it is normal for some plants.

I would go ahead & remove any damaged leaves (if you already haven't), and it's always a good idea to keep a magnifying glass handy to check for pests.

Rob

Francesco, there can be many reasons for the discolored and dried tips of leaves.

1. In your first photo, the one w yellowish leaves and through all leaves. This could be too wet, poor drainage, lack of micronutrients, etc.
2. The others with the lower leaves having dried areas could be a result of much the same or fertilizer salts building up.
3. If it is just the lower leaves and new leaves do not show signs, then consider the above, but monitor for occurrence to the new growth. Rick

Hi, Francesco!

Yellowing leaves can be just something normal. You said on another post you've had no sun lately. These climactic changes, especially with cool temperatures, can cause yellowing. When you remove the ugly leaves, use a scissor and cut close to the stem. Never tear them off because that can potentially damage the nodes ... Those little scars where leaves have fallen off. These nodes will be activated to produce branching when you prune in the future.

Since you've already repotted and they look happy, I recommend leaving them alone provided they are in quick-draining medium. As a general rule, always choose a pot that allows about 1" all around the caudex hidden below ground. Don't choose a pot by what is visible on the surface. Your seedlings may very well be in the right size pot, depending on what you have below the substrate. Underpotting will not give you a larger caudex ... How bulbous a caudex can get is directly related to genetics.

I cut the main root off a few seedlings at age 5 months because they had a single root, which I don't like. I just cut straight across 1/2 way between the length of the root and the tan soil line, leaving a few fine feeder roots above when present. I dabbed cup until it stopped secreting, then set the seedling aside to dry for about an hour. I then dusted the cut with cinnamon ... adding rooting hormone around the rim only, placed a small disk (button, styrofoam, bottlecap) against the bottom, and repotted at the original height. I lost three, all of which I had diagonally lanced the rim. I believe this practice of lancing the rim only applies to bigger plants. The results: Beautiful centipede roots all along the perimeter of the base. All the bases are smooth, white, and flat, with no roots in the center area.

I repotted all my plants last week but didn't take pictures because I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of plants ... labeling, not confusing things, etc. The best I could do was document everything in my journal. I will eventually take pictures of all the roots in groupings as I further work on them in the future.

Over the weekend, I'll uproot the ones previously cut to show you the centipede roots. In the meantime, here's an image you may find helpful:

Maria Elena

PS: Pagan, is that your picture? I hope you don't mind my sharing it "for educational purposes only."

Maria - I have that same problem when it comes to taking pics. I would love to do it all the time, but usually my hand's are wet, or covered w/ soil, and I have to concentrate on what I'm doing rather than taking pics. However, I do my best.

Wouldn't it be great to have a potting table that doubles as photography studio, w/ a Black velvet background; and the right lighting. :-) Maybe I should set up my tripod before I get started on the repotting.

Rob

There are only 2 possible reasons in my opinion...dormant or light change, At this time of the year they drop leaf as they go dormant. Now we are having a bit cooler weather and there is no much rain, lots sun and cooler nights (22-25 C) Barbados in my location, in those conditions desert roses drop leafs and start to flower ( as they think they will die so it is time to reproduce ). Second reason is when there is less or more light, and that change will make plant to drop leafs to get new ones more capable with “new light settings... those plants just are deciduous !

bdw...your seedlings look very healthy...

Plus they have that cool Red colored soil topping.

Rob

Hi, Marcin!

In addition to light changes, there are several other reasons for leaves yellowing, such as cooler temps, repotting, over- or under-watering, over fertilizing, improperly applied pest control measures, pests, the wrong substrate, etc. Francesco's plants are seedlings and would not be going dormant, as seedlings do not have the reserves to sustain them through dormancy ... They would die. I believe he has them under lights.

You bring up an interesting point concerning climactic changes & regional culture. When our temps dropped to overnight lows of 68 - 72º F, my seedlings actually stopped growing. They just did little to nothing for about 2 months - Dec / Jan ... A semi-dormancy, if you will. I believe what kept them alive and healthy where our daytime highs of 82 - 85º F temps. Interesting!

I just repotted everything and a few, not all, of my seedlings show yellow lower leaves. That's a normal reaction to repotting and root disturbance.

All the best to you!

Maria Elena

Sorry for my late response but hadn't so much time to check the forum lately so TGIF!!! A big thank you to all of you to find so much possibilities! On some, I already thought like have I watered to much ,do they get enough light, is the temperature ok in my room?

After I have read all your possibilities, I think its because the change from constant growing light (for 12 hours) to sunlight (just some hours) and back to the growing light.

Well they still look good but I was upset as they grew so well till now and when the weather started to be better for my plants, they lost their nice looking leaves. However, I do know that Adeniums are famous to loser their leaves, but till now I don't had that problem on so many plants.

I leave them now under the growing light to see, if they change for the better again and will let you know how they are doing. :-)

@halocline+ Maria Elena: Thank you both very much for the nice description how to prune the taproot. I will def. try it some day. :-)