Shang, I cannot speak for US Customs, but here it can be 1day or up to a week before they release the package. Do you have a Tracking Number to follow it's progress?

Rick

Elena, Beautiful plants.

Rick

Rick, I do have the tracking number. For the last three days it stated JFK customs inspection, retention Reasons: other. Hope they release it soon.

Where and whom did you purchase them from, Shang? The only time I had them held and ended up sent back was because the seller did not have the roots cleaned as is required.

Not saying this is the case with yours. Not sure how they work in the US.

Rick

I brought it from Orient Adenium and paid for the express mail too :(. I think this will be my last order over sea. The time it takes is too long and it is killing the buyer. :)

You can call the JFK Customs office and ask.

Shang, It would be worth a phone call to Customs, just to varify and atleast let you know what the hold up is. Just have your tracking number handy for them.

Orient Adenium is very good and the shipping time from them to the destination country is usually very quick, but Customs can hold things up and this is out of their control. I have been down this road many of times and it is always an anxious time for us when we have plants coming.

Let us know how things are progressing.

Rick

Shang Orient Adenium usually pretty good as far as plant prep, so you should receive your plants soon. My first order from Rinoa took three weeks to arrive but plants were all good. :)

Hyn Patty have you received your other plants yet? Can't wait to seeeeeee!

I planted mine but so far they are doing nothing... and two of my plants have such an ugly coudexes (huge butchered branches that stick out) that I think only regrafting will give me nice plants eventually. I cleaned up a few small grayish roots but I didn't clean plants up the way I'd love to.

Next Monday I will call the USPS to see what the hold up is all about. Elena, I hope you are correct and me plants will arriving soon. The two plants I got today were a disappointment due to damaged roots and broken new growth.

No, I'm going to ask Adenium Center to hold them about two more weeks and then start the shipment in mid April. That way they won't hit NYC until after the first of May when it should be warm enough to be safe. Shipping is already included in their pricing but you /still/ have to pay the full Express shipping price on top of that to get it sent faster and that's just too expensive at what they charge, IMO.

I agreed with the force express mail. They should have the options for shipment.

Many sellers from abroad will only ship EMS, as it is faster and they do not have to be concerned about it sitting somewhere for extended periods of time with even International Post. The EMS is expensive and what was thought at one time to be benefiting the seller somehow outside of speed of post. It is not. EMS costs are accessible and it is what the postal dept. charges.

It comes down to who you order from as to which options they give for postage.

For myself. I prefer EMS. Cost is high, but so is my investment in the cost of plants.

Rick

Shang, Not sure how it works in the US, but here. If an item is with Customs, the Postal service would not be able to give any information on package until Customs releases it to them. I would have to phone the Customs dept. that is responsible for Plant inspections.

Rick

HYN PATTY; Hi. Well my adenium buying is on hold for a bit, i just got my first 3 plants,like yours, all 'rose type blooms' but like your, all bare and now waiting for leaves and that first bloom. but I took a peek at the website you bought yours from, and i was wondering if you could tell me, how much was your shipping for 5 plants? Was it based on weight or the number of plants? Also, how long did it take to get them? I guess from the day they shipped, till you got them.? And how long from the day you placed the order, till you got them. Was there a long wait for them to 'process' the order?

I didnt see their shipping rates on the checkout page. So I figured i'd ask someone that has used them. i just about passed out from excitement, to see all those unreal adeniums I love the 'rose type' blooms, and dark blues/purples, colors that look like spiderwebs..I bought a 'Spiderman' on EBay, its bloom is a red/blue with a webbing design through the flower.

The plants that Elena on here bought are the kind I would buy. The dark colors. I have a lot of single bloomers here in Ft.laud, for years. And it turns out I have a 'mini', I didnt even know these are a 'type' of adenium.

All white bloom with a pink edge, and it is a mini! I thought I just had a runt. But it is in full bloom now, along with all the others. And I saw one that looked just like my 'mini' on that website. It does bloom constantly and is cute.

Anyway, now I await my new huge rose bloomers to put out their first leaf, and blooms. But in the meantime...would you tell about your shipping fees,and the time for your order? Thank you, Stan

Did you manage to pot them up ,are they showing growth yet?

The shipping rate is by how many plants you order and is listed on the Orient Adenium website. As it was Express, the plants took four days to reach me after I was given the shipping notification. It took 10 days for them to be processed before that. Mine are now potted and one of them is starting to break buds.

Rick, I went to the post office before I see your post. They told me to call the Custom Office. Will call Monday if nothing happen.

It stated on the Orient website. $50 for EMS.

I have had packages with Customs for a week or just over before they get released.

Rick

Yes, it was $50 for 5 plants for me. But that came down to $10 per plant and delivered super fast so I was happy about that cost. I'd still have paid that much from most other sellers and only gotten slow airmail for it. Adenium Center wants the same to ship my order Express so I'm trying to decide if I will do that or just be patient and see them in May.

You know Hyn. I am always anxious to get my plants from Thailand, but definitely safer to have them sent when you know that the weather at your home and where they may enter US is favorable.

The one thing with ever ordering plants from Thailand, is to not get them when they are in Monsoon Season (approx. June-Nov).

Rick

Yeah, it's tricky. Hurricane season will start here rather soon myself and it'll be dreadfully hot. Meanwhile it's still cool up NYC way so I'll have them ship shortly. May delivery should be fine.

Hyn Patty: The hotter/sunnier it is, the better/faster the adenums grows and blooms. Being in south Fla. mine grow and bloom nearly all year, except when they are dormant.

The 3 that I just got are now just showing tiny tip growth,after a week in their new pots. My 'Blue Dragon' I got 10 days later, so I have at least a week to go, before I see any growth.

Yeah, some good news I hope. The US customs is currently inspecting my package. It has been sitting some where for a whole week. Once again, hope my babies will be arriving soon. This is like going through an adoption.

So glad to hear this, Shang. It is so difficult waiting for new plants to come and sometimes having the Tracking number and following the package and seeing it held up at Customs makes it difficult.

I am sure that they will come through now. I call Customs and sometimes it takes a lot longer than other times.

Rick

More good news, the US custom has released my plants. Should arrive either Monday or Tuesday.

Shang, So happy for you that you received the news that your new plants are on their way. Always hard waiting. Looking forward to seeing your beauties.

Rick

I am not sure what I was thinking when I clicked the indigo glade. The other plants I ordered were cleopatra, peach elf, and miniature arabicum. The arabicum flowers seems to be very small. Hope he or she give is a good side indigo glade.

They breed the Arabicum flowers very tiny on purpose. The smaller they and the leaves are, the higher quality the hybrid (among other factors). The reason for this is because they want to grow them as bonsai which is my interest in those forms as well. The idea is that the flowers will be more in proportion with the 'tree' instead of being ridiculously too large. Where as the varieties grown for their flowers tend to emphasize bigger the better. Some are too excessive though because if you get big huge flowers with many layers, you also get very heavy flowers the stems can't always hold up. And they flop.

Arabicum are also widely sought after to graft flowering forms onto, because it forms nicer caudex. Therefor yet again, the size of it's own flowers are not the focus. You also mention yours is a miniature so there would be even more emphasis than usual that the flowers should be tiny.

Finally, I can officially join this post by saying my order arrived from Orient Adenium. I am at work, will update when I get home in 3 hours.

Here are the plants

the first root stock looks similar to the snakes body.

one of the section to the third plant is seriously damaged

Other than few minor damages that can be fix. I am happy that the plants arrived and in my care now.

Good luck with them! I hope the damage in the last image won't prove to be too much trouble to deal with. I'm still waiting on buds to break on mine but they are living it up on my back deck, soaking up sunshine.

Hyn, I have dealt with worse damage. I am sure this is an easy fix. However as a sell, he or she should not have sebt such plants to the buyer unless prior agreement has been set.

Shang, You are right about plants being sent with damage prior to being shipped by the seller.

I have dealt with this myself and it has not stopped me from purchasing again, but have sent a note to make sure plants are in good shape.

With this particular seller, they have become so busy and now they are required to hire people to help them. In doing so, the workers are not necessarily up on what is acceptable or not even sure of what they are missing. Things start to become overlooked and the original person (seller) does not take the time to view each plant being sent out.

Not saying that this is right, but it is a fact as they become bigger.

I am sure you will heal that plant and they will grow well for you. Nice plants.

Rick

Rick, I sent him an email to advise him of how the plants look when they arrived. Hope he will address the issue with his workers. I am sure when he sells new color flowers I will order again regardless of how many times I told myself I have enough. The plants have been cleaned and when they are healed I will pot them up. One of the plant is too leggy. So tempted to graft it to my own roots stock.

On another note, my Adenium Center 'Dwarf Black RCN' seed order just arrived. Yay! There was also movement finally on the tracking number for my missing Petchsayrung from Thai_Perfectgems so I agreed to wait a week to see if it shows up. I would rather have the plant than the refund, if it arrives in good shape. I still have regular Black RCN seed in transit from King Adenium, and my Adenium Center plants are going through shipping prep now.

I did find a small stem rotting on my Scorpio plant. So last night I cut it out, washed it all down with alcohol and once it dried a bit, sealed it with super glue. So hopefully I caught that in time and arrested it. Meanwhile the thin stem above the graft part, that was damaged in shipping, is still good so I'll try grafting it to some of my seedlings. I already have some grafts of this variety that took (great back up insurance) but it wouldn't hurt to have a couple more. May as well not waste the 2 inch scion. So slice, slice today!

Yay! Any movements are good. I only waited 38 days and I already started to loose hope. Can't imagine what you have to go through for those two long months. BTW, I just received my dwarf PMK. Would you like to trade some with your RCN. Dont want to see 100 PMK running around my house. Lol. Also, looking for a Dorset Horn seed.

I don't have, and I do not like, DHA so none here. I only ordered 10 of the dwarf RCN so let me see how many of them actually germinate and get going. They are in to soak for the evening. I was pleased to see they sent 13 (my personal lucky number as I was born on a Friday the 13th) but if I have a few to spare we might do some swap. I have about 350 left of my other 400 seedlings as well. Some of them have been shared with friends but most of them are still here and thriving of various kinds.

Shang, Contact Tracy. She had some, but may not have any left of the DHA seeds?

You can get seeds for DHA that have close to a 100%, but you pay the price. Most sold are only 3%.

Rick

Thanks Rick. I will send her a PM.

I spy flower buds on Magic Elf today! ;)

Nice. My have buds, however they have not open yet. If tomorrow nice and hot, it migjt open. :D

Yours will beat mine in that race. These are small buds. I will get photos when they are opening but it won't be very soon. The sun finally came out today but it was cool and windy. Too chilly to leave them out tonight. But the next three days will be well back up in the 80's and they will be happier. ;)

Photos are nice! I like watching everyone's pic's of their plants!

Hyn Patty, I too would love to see your 'magic elf' when it flowers. I hope it blooms beautifully for you. :)

I can certainly post photos. There are at least three flower buds so far and they are definitely flower buds. But they'll be a little while yet to bloom. Assuming I don't get another bout of spider mites, of course.

Hyn, Cant wait to see ALL of your new plants flower. Good luck for more buds - no spider mites. I will check back here when you update photos.

Magic elf is single but very pretty. I have one bloomed last year. Today it has one bloom too, but it has a tears.

Marie

Yes Patty we'd love to see photos of them planted and growing pleeeease! Mine are lazy, not doing much. I'm not sure if it's because of a weather or what?

Oh, and I want a graft from your "Joy rich"! I want I want I want!!!

Yours is a cutie, Marie. Nice shot. Thank you for sharing it with us. Ohh yes I'm looking forward to seeing Joy Rich bloom myself! I should have additional grafts as well as try my own hybridizing later but it may be next summer before I have much to offer. Everything needs time to grow and right now I'm way too busy prepping to move.

Mine are all doing well but now we are entering into hurricane season a little early this year, we are getting hit with late afternoon tropical weather coming up from the Gulf -EVERY DAY- and it's annoying. I keep having to take my plants in and out so they don't stay soaking wet from storms constantly. They are otherwise loving the heat and rain and putting out leaves.

If I'm away, I can't race home and move the adeniums inside so I'm looking at temporary hoop house setups or walk in greenhouses. Until I can move and build a proper greenhouse, I could set a small temporary one in the back garden where I get the most full sun. I'll need to rig it with some kind of storm lashing against wind, but it sure would be nice if I could leave them out and not worry about constant thunder storms.