Hi Gill, glad your adeniums came through Winter well. We are just heading into our Autumn/Winter season now & will have to rely on all our overseas growers to show off their lovely flowers/plants to keep us going until our Spring rolls around again. We have about a month & a half left until our plants go dormant. We have planted a small amount of seed (from our own seed pods) for something to do through Winter. We just have to keep them warm. We have no idea what we will get from these seed, but we thought - why not, it's not costing us anything but our time :) Good luck with your plants. Rachel.

Had a couple of disappointing losses, for no good reason. Otherwise, everything is starting to show signs of new leaves, which means it is pruning time … I think the adeniums held up better, in general, than the amaryllis … But now it's time to start thinking tomatoes … and potting up the peppers … Had such a nice stretch of days I actually got ahead on some of the spring outside-cleanup stuff ...

Hope all is well ...

dave

Plants all seem to be doing well. Lost a few, but I am getting to a point that it can and will be expected. I guess that's why I have too many.

Otherwise, our weather this winter has been a bit erratic. More snow today. We usually get snow and it is gone withing a few days. This year we started getting snow in mid Dec. and it stayed for a week or two. Snowing again today, but it can come and be gone in a day here.

No worries. I do not ever expect to put mine out until end of April or May.

Hope all is well w everyone out there.

Rick

I did lose one early on. All my doing. I did learn from it though. All the seedlings made it through. I'm still bringing them in nightly as overnight temps are under 50F. Last night hovered just barely at 50F so I still brought them in. Maybe being overly cautious but I'm not going to lose them now after making it through the entire winter.

The bigger plants are beginning to wake up and I've been putting them out in full sun (day time temps in the 60s-70's) and beginning to water a bit, once a week to week and a half. They still come indoors at night too.

I need to move the seedlings into bigger pots, but since warm indoor space is at a premium, I've had to wait to do that until everyone can be outside full time. Hopefully by end of March or beginning of April.

All 3 of the plants I got from my shipment from Rinoa have made it as well. 2 are beginning to leaf out. Of the 2 that had root rot, one started to leaf out in December or January (best I can remember) so I potted it up then. One is still hanging and dormant. Pagan stressed to me that even though I purchased them in November that unless I could provide the proper growing conditions it would be best to leave them hanging until things warmed up. She assured me that if I did things right, survival for these 2 was doable. So, that's exactly what I did. The stem is still green, a little shriveled and the caudex and remaining roots from the surgery are still white. I'm just waiting until the weather feels right before potting it up.

If anyone has any words of wisdom or advice on a proper "wake up call" for this one after 5-6 months of being suspended it would be greatly appreciated. I'm thinking a 4" pot in the mix I'm currently using (coco husk, pumice and Growstones). Not sure on the lighting requirements/transitioning (it's been in a cool but brightly lit room), fertilizing or watering though.

Thank you in advance. Happy (almost!) Spring.

Tyler

Good question, Gill. You made me go out and check---they seem fine. My losses happen in spring though, during the transition. The lesson I learned from my spring death last year was this: I can only put them outside when night temperatures stop going below the lowest temp they get indoors. Any dip will kill the weakest ones. Or the wettest.

I did some grafts this winter as well. 24/7 heat mat and sealed in loose cling-wrap. They really need humidity, water and a lot of heat while healing, which is why I should stop doing this in winter!

Tyler, you'll know your moment. Shelter from rain so you have full control of watering. Of course, shelter from full sun for a couple of weeks.

I lost 2 this winter and I have to go assess my moms, she said it's soft, I think it might be lack of water, not my fault this time. I killed her 7 year old plant last winter.

My plants are starting to put out some sm leaf budding. Need to repot 3 of my seedlings that germinated in Sept, to 6 in pots

I may take out the adults this weekend, going to be in the high 60's to low 70's.

Good to learn there haven't been too many losses this time round for any of you above, here's looking forward to another good season for us all.

All have survived winter and are doing well. Since we had some good und sunny days my bigger plants startet to grow new leaves. Some developed a nice fat caudex during winter others look the same as before.

Glad to hear that you all doesn't lost to many plants. :-)

Good to hear from you, Greenclaws, and everyone else. My 400 or so seedlings came through the winter just fine with no losses. I had lost a few back in the autumn from rain but since bringing them inside and under watering the poor things, they managed to do just fine other than still being small. Now putting out tons of new leaves!

My grafted adenium came through fine and are trying to make flower buds, but a brief brush with spider mites damaged some of those buds. Piff.

What I am more concerned about are some adenium grafted plants I ordered. We've had really warm weather here but suddenly freezing again. Some of them are delayed and won't ship until April but I know one did ship and will show up any time in the next week. So, I wait and see. Been so hot here it's hard to believe it's due to snow tomorrow!

I believe I am at six lost this winter. I moved, and they did not appreciate the lights being out for a couple of days. With well over 100 plants, I guess some loss is to be expected, but I was still very disappointed. All of them were between 1-2 yrs.

Connie, 800 seeds and another 350 just planted? I thought I had a lot going! Haha, and here I am working out which RNC and Thai Socotranum seeds I'm ordering next to round things out.

Hi all! I'm glad that most of your plants did well! I've managed to kill about 25 seedlings (8-10 m.o), and I'm telling you... winter was rough for them. I've came to a conclusion that my cactus soil/coir/perlite mix is drying way too fast at summer and apparently too wet for winter. Bummer! In addition to my mix, I tortured them in every possible way... First I under water them, then I start water them once a week and they started to rot, then they got aphids and spider mites... Now those that survive all bald and stunted. Sigh... on the other hand my adult adeniums did well regardless of soil mix, I have them in different gritty and non-gritty mixes. They are just sitting there by the window and behaving. Some of them bloomed till December and then went dormant, now they're slowly waking up. All my plants are indoor under light and about 75 F. I'm prepared for the next season, got six bags of pumice and bark, will transplant my yearlings in spring. :) I still have about a hundred of them, but no more new seedlings for me this year. Now I worry about spring because where I live temps fluctuations are crazy, 80s during a day and 40s at night. At least my tomatoes doing good, petunias and geraniums started to bloom! Happy spring everybody!

I thought mine had stopped blooming in late November but more buds appeared and all three bloomed again. The pink one finally stopped but the two grafted ones are still blooming. The digital thermometer is difficult to read but it indicates 81.6 deg F in the upstairs south window. Since I don't have room for a lot of identical adeniums, I only have these three among my too many house plants. Everything seems to be bloomng this spring...streptocarpus, orchids, nemanthus, African violets, and schlumbergera.

Hi Everyone! My plants and myself survived this first year!! I lost some seedlings and one plant. I have learned a great deal here from everyone and reading the threads for answers...Ready for spring!!

Wispy

Good to meet another streptocarpus grower, bouldergrower. ;) Sounds like we two have similar interests in common. Adenium, orchids, streps, AV's, etc.

Streps are the most rewarding blooming houseplants I grow. The eight orchids that survive my indoor environment bloom reliably every year and the blooms last an unusually long time. The adeniums are probably the most unique plants and they go outside in the summer. Oddly enough, the best of my African violets are from Home Depot. I have thrown a lot of AV's into the compost bin but keep and regrow from leaves two from Home Depot. The two nemanthus have beautiful foliage but just a few blooms that are almost inconspicuous. They grow in bright sun in a downstairs south window.

I only lost a couple due to them getting caught out in the cold, but I think the majority are suffering from either a mite infestation or a lack of nutrients. I'm hoping to green them back up outside now that it's getting warm.

I wish I can say I only lost 2.

Maybe 2 x 14

Marie

So far, I haven't lost any of my 40+ arabicum seedlings or my year old obesum plants, but we are definitely living in "Defoliation Nation" - most have dropped their lower leaves while still putting out little shoots at the tips. All are under T-5s, T-12s or a 35W LED bulb, and I've noticed the kind of light hasn't made a difference. Can't wait for spring, so my poor little sticks will grow back their leaves.

I think I beat everyone's neglect...

Outdoor greenhouse. Only 2-3 out of ~40 showed any sign of damage. Temps did plunge a handful of nights down to 33F even with a heatlamp. Did everything possible to keep it above 32F. Made sure mix was always dry leading up to temperatures dropping. Haven't inspected them all up close but most seem to have a very firm cauldex. Root pruning likely saved them.

The majority have been blooming heavily since March 1st. For some reason they skipped new leaf growth stage and just went right to blooms. Temps can fluctuate in the greenhouse from 90-100F down to the low 40's. Looks like it's going to be mid 70's this week so I'm going to be moving them out.