No, no, no, Alyssa ... Growing adeniums is a joyful passtime, not a stressful, frustrating endeavor. Breathe ...

Now, mix your current soil (wet, right?) with some dry soil and put all the plants back in their pots. Withhold water & fertilizer for a week and see if they firm up. I suspect they were staying too wet. Do their pots have good drainage holes? Another possibility is that they're getting cold at night.

Sometimes seedlings do the soft caudex thing ... Too much rain, too cool weather. Patience ... We're almost there ... warm temps are just around the corner.

Maria Elena

Alyssa I'm sorry to hear that. On your last post they seemed to be fine and healthy under your care.

I think Maria Elena is right. Mix the soil and they will be fine again. Fingers crossed!

Greetings

Their soil was completely dry and crumbled right off their roots. They're still on heat mats directly under lights, the ambient temperature is in the low 80's where they are growing. I'm honestly stumped. This is the reason I was watering so much before: the soil dries the same day or the morning after watering. Drainage in the plastic cells is excellent, 4 large holes in the bottom of each one.

Thank you! I'll take them off and give it a try

Hi Alyssa like Maria take off heat mats heat mats will raise the temp about 20 dr above ambient temp. So you may be cooking them

roger

Don't give up on any of your babies. They may struggle a little and can take a week or two to self correct. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Like I said, sometimes the caudex on some of mine may go soft, but they always firm up. I just try to correct whatever they need and leave them alone. It's all a learning experience. You will master it ... I promise.

I have a very simple suggestion. If you are in the USA especially, take some of your worst plants to your local agricultural office. They will give them a good looking over and can run tests to decide if they have bacterial issues and recommend treatment. This is a FREE service. Doesn't matter if they have no clue about adeniums, they have plant pathologists and can send samples to a lab to help you find out if they are really sick or not. They are a great resource and most counties in the US have them.

Otherwise, post photos. Some of my seedlings have gone through phases where they get soft caudexes but /nothing/ is wrong with them. They are green, healthy, have great roots that are white, and putting out new leaves. Then they firm right back up later and keep growing fine.

I think you are on track. Try not to get upset. This is why I think starting from seed is a great idea. You invest some time but not much money, and therefor there isn't a big risk of having paid a lot for a single plant. We experiment and we learn, and we kill some along the way, but we keep trying and keep getting better at it. You will to! Don't give up! I don't know you but sending some hugs anyway.

Ahh, a glimmer of hope. Thanks Patty, I think I'm going to try repotting them and waiting.

This morning, the last "healthy" seedling that wasn't squishy is quite wrinkly. Hoping they firm up.

... and water.

Alyssa,

First, I don't think it is the heat. Seedlings are happiest in temperatures over 30C. Just going from your description in this particular thread, I think they were dehydrated. You have to treat adenium seedlings like coleus---lots of water and lots of heat. I got some seedlings from Rick last autumn and they are still in their germination tray, on a heat mat in a box under lights. Temps in the box go up to 34C-36C during the day. They think it's summer in there. I've pruned them several times just to manage their size in the box.

What I do suggest is this: get a 1-cm stack of those useless ad magazines they keep shoving into our mailboxes and put that on your heat mat and the pots on top of that. Adenium seedlings like being warm (hot, actually) but their roots can fry over direct heat, unable to take up moisture.

At this point, whatever you decide to do with them, stick to it for a couple of weeks, no matter what they do. Keep them warm, lit and well-watered. The only thing I would worry about is collar rot (which is probably what you had previously) but they sound too old for it now.

Fried roots sounds just about right, Pagan. Isn't the ambient temp in the 80s sufficient? Why reintroduce the heat mat that very likely damaged the roots in the first place? Or are you suggesting that for future reference ... with a layer of material (styrofoam) between it and the plants? After recovery?

Maria Elena

Because seedlings recover faster with higher temps. "Low 80s" is only around 26C and not warm enough for stressed younglings.

I think there may be confusion, as I didn't really clarify: these seedlings and my entire setup is in my bedroom. The only reason the ambient temperature where they are is 80 is BECAUSE OF the heat mats I have in combination with a cool light. And by "cool light" I mean it's only warm after running for 16 hours, however it is 6200K and (I believe) a 120W equivalent CFL.

Hi Pagan in my part of the country ( Texas) a heat mat without a thermostat will heat my soil in seed trays as high as 135 deg to hot for any seedling .

roger

I was addressing Alyssa and her seedling issues, Roger. If I remember correctly, she's in NJ, same place I am. We're still dipping below 10C during the day and 2C at night. Her seedlings need to be warmer.

The makers of heat mats tell you to use heat mats for germination only with out a thermostat do not keep small plants on heat mats without thermostat as it can and will burn roots even if you live in N.J.

roger

By all means, use a thermostat. But please read my post above and what I recommended (i.e. put some pad between the mat and the pot to avoid frying roots).

Hi Pagan the only reason I'm pushing the thermostat subject is I have had the same thing that Alyssa has but with over 400 seeds (no fun) a thermostat fixed it after making a butt out of myself telling the makers there product was no good ( Texas temper) and then telling me how stupid I was they got me going with a ($33.00 )thermostat fix no problems sense I'm not trying to upset anyone

roger

Roger! I did not mean to sound upset either and I'm really not. I bet we are talking from different starting points. What is the wattage of the mats you are using? With 400 seeds, I have to guess you're using commercial grade mats drawing upwards of a hundred watts.

Unless I missed something in Alyssa's post, I was also assuming she was using the household variety heating mat that draws no more than 15 watts. That's not nearly enough to incubate young adeniums unless the room it already warm. In my growing room, for instance, the room temperature peaks at 26C in the dead of winter (small room, two walls with baseboard heating). With the room at 26C, my seedling box heats up to a maximum of only 36C.

So, I don't bother with thermostats, I'm going to set that at 36C anyway and that is as hot as a 15-watt mat can go in winter.

P.S. 400 seeds lost. Sheesh. That hurts.

It's a reptile heating mat designed to go under the glass bottom of a tank. It has no thermostat, but the shelf the seedlings are on is about a foot and a half from the baseboard. Heat in my house is set to 65, but my room is very small and it stays around 70* ambient.

What I was told is a mat without a thermostat don't turn off heats all the time no matter what the ambient temp is and the soil temp just gets hotter yes Pagan 400 seeds makes you say bad words

roger

The package the mat came in said it is self regulating, not sure exactly what that means but the seedlings are never really hot when i pick them up, just slightly warmer than the air. Like I said before, the air is only that warm BECAUSE OF the heat mats.

Being a reptile heat mat it may have a cut off in it

roger

Many of the Heat mats for starting seeds will keep the soil at a certain temperature above ambient room temperatures. You can get some that are thermostat controlled.

What you speak of by self regulating is one that is regulated by the ambient temps.

Rick

Alyssa, please tell us what you've gleaned from all this and decided to change. Just want to make sure you have the details you need to correct the issue. Are your seedlings looking any better ... or no worse?

Maria Elena

Thanks everyone for your concern!

As I mentioned in an above post, I repotted one of the seedlings into full grit. It is off the heat mat, and I watered it this morning. Since then, it has firmed up slightly but the medium is already completely dry so I may water again lightly tomorrow morning. I think what I will do is pot the rest up into gritty mixes with some organic matter to help retain a little moisture.

I'm still a little confused about what is being suggested for keeping them warm... should I continue with my heat mats and elevate the pots so as to not scald roots? Or should I look into investing in a different heating element?

The technical specs are usually printed on these mats. How many watts does yours draw?

Alyssa,

I would not get too concerned about bottom heat. Bottom heat is required for germination purposes. Once the seedlings are up and shed seed coat. If they received anything, it would be the heat/warmth of the ambient air temperature. It is not the roots that require the heat as much as the growth above soil.

Whether you accomplish this by having them inside a close tent, room with this area heated by what ever means you chose, heat mats beneath "Raised Pots" or other heating implement.

Focus on keeping the air around them warm.

I have mine all inside seedlings - adult in south facing area with ambient temperatures being approx. 65-70F, may increase on a sunny day. No artificial lighting and they are not growing much, but healthy and awaiting the sun of the Spring/Summer.

Rick

Unfortunately I tossed the packaging, I'll have to check the mats themselves when I get home and get back to you!

Rick and I are basically saying the same thing. So I guess the only thing left is to try playing Kashmir at them, the live version, full speakers.

I recommend Motown for breakfast, some old school R&B or funk for lunch, and jazz or "soft & warm, quiet storm" music for dinner. Maceo Parker's "Children World" is "talk to me" sexy, but you have to listen to the whole thing. I put it up on YouTube a few years ago.

Maria Elena

Hi Alyssa what Rick said is the best thing you can do now just hang in there don't give up sorry if I confused you any

roger

They will get that way when in need of water. Now if they are squishy and look bruised; then its rot

Some of mine have gotten soft and 'dry squishy' with wrinkles when they needed watering so I can see how that might be easily confusing.