Maria Elena, alas, Nature has its ways... ;-) I know the disappointment when seed-grown adeniums decide to bloom pink. Right now, a supposed-to-be red-blooming "Deep Red" obesum has buds. Pink, PINK buds! >:-] I bought 2-3 of these "Deep Red" obesums sent from Germany a while ago, but if they all bloom pink, I will certainly complain.

Good luck with your Rinoa plants!

Oh, in 2-3 days, I will show you an obesum. Raised it from a seed myself. It has flower buds. Once again "pink"...

None the less an informative post as always, Maria. You have my sympathies for the pinks! Though that one with the white and darker edges with the splash is a nice one. Good luck on the peach being at least a nice double. None of my seedlings bloomed this year but I am hopeful to see the first flowers next summer. I rather expect a large number of them may be pinks as well but there's always the compost pile! As a dabbler in hybridizing I'm already used to tossing out or giving away a lot of duds so I have no qualms about culling ruthlessly to make space.

Save some for good root stock, Hyn. Next year we'll both be grafting, right?

Looking forward to seeing your update, Martin. I'm sure it'll be fabulous.

BTW, we are now in the high 80s to low 90s during the day and in the mid to upper 70s during the night, but humidity is still a high 70 to 80%. This huge flux has a terrible impact on adenium. They will soon begin semi dormancy, which manifests itself [in my climate] as painstakingly slow and minuscule growth during Jan / Feb.

It also causes new seedlings under 3 months to selectively dampen off ... They hollow out from the root up. Hollow / Empty! Can anyone tell me how I can prevent this? Is it a normal occurrence with the change of climate? Bringing them in every night does not help. The same thing occurred last year. Some died, some lived. This never occurs during consistently warm weather. Well, to me 70 degrees F is perfect temp but these plants hate it.

Welcome to the curse of the pink its a curse that is hard to shake i have three new blooms this year all pink common single pink . Maria can u try a heat pad to keep the roots a constant temperature good luck:×)

Wow, I do not have that problem, Maria - not at around 70 degrees! I've brought mine in for the winter. My days are in the 50's and 60's now, nights anywhere from the 30's to 40's. So they are under lights and being kept mostly on the dry side but with light regular watering. I lost a few seedlings when the temps started dipping wildly at first but now they are all stable and doing fine. Had no real problems last winter keeping them inside though I could have watered a bit more.

Yes, I'll keep some for root stocks but with 400 seedlings, I bet I'm going to have a lot more pinks than I am willing to keep. Like you, my seedlings are mostly Ko and Rinoa so I hope some will be keepers. I did get some seed from Ebay as well.

Thank you for your responses!

I think the issue is that, given our high humidity, the drop in temp creates a dewy clamminess. The lawn is always wet in the morning now, even when it hasn't rained. Today was a warm, sunny 88 degrees F with a real feel into the 90s. It's currently 75 degrees F, going down to 72, with humidity at 91%. Insane! It appears to me these younger plants simply do not like the mix of these temp fluctuations coupled with the overnight dampness. Plumeria leaves are already yellowing and falling off ... This tells me they are experiencing 'cold' spells and will go dormant soon.

The adenium remain outdoors year-round, so I do not use heating pads. Bringing the younger ones indoors has not helped, even though it's in the 80s inside. Once they begin damping off, they're toast.

If anything, this issue represents just how critical a role climate plays in the cultivation of these plants. Living in the topics does not mean one can plant these year-round. At least not in their natural setting. For me, damp grass spells trouble for new adeniums. The older ones tolerate it well and go semi dormant once the temps fall to overnight lows of 68 - 72 degrees F. They keep growing, but at a snail's pace. That's been my real-time experience.

I purchased seeds at the end of the season but did not plant them for this very reason. I'll try again in April. I'm keeping them in a cool, dark spot and certainly hope they remain viable until then.

Maria Elena

Its not a curse Peter, its genetics. At least its good that Adeniums are grown for their beautiful caudex as well as miniature flowering bonsai.

Its a curse Western Australian seeds are cursed:×)

I’m new. Why do we not like pink? It’s too common and established growers want variety, different colors than pink?

Hi, Socks!! Welcome to our little corner of the forum! Great people here and tons of information.

Yes, we purchase specific hybridized seed and always hope for at least some of the original characteristics. It's a disappointment when we get just single pinks.

While pinks can be pretty, they can also get boring after awhile.

Hmmm, Maria, can you cover your adeniums to keep the dew off of them? Like a row cover? Might not help but may be worth trying.

Hmmm ... Bringing the seedlings indoors every night doesn't help. I don't believe covering them will either. I'm glad I didn't sow many; just about 25. I've lost about 9 so far and will never plant off season again. Lessons learned.

Single pink flowers without nectar guides are too ordinary. And I generally don't like the colour pink. ;-)

I’m sort of curious to see what happens to my seedlings after reading about what’s going on with yours. So far, mine are doing better than ever. I think it is the combination of the end of an unusually wet & gloomy rainy season, finally getting into Lechuza Pon, and recovering from my attempt to murder them.

Our climates are fairly similar. Highs around 88 to 90, but we do dip into the upper 60s for lows. Humidity right now is 75%.

Very similar, Ariel. Our humidity is higher though. We're at 90% right now. It'll lower into the 70% mark in Jan Feb. I think the high humidity with the cooler overnight temps is causing a clamminess some of these seedlings cannot handle.

Oh, well ... Survival of the fittest! We want strong warriors in the garden for strong seed stock!

One of the buds just opened up from one of last year's mixed seed batch. Oh, well ... the ugliest washed-out drab pink ever with zero leaders in the throat. Besides the fact that I don't like pink, I always hope for more after a year of so much nurturing ... Bah-humbug! My hair stylist will love it.

On a more positive note, I still have this Rinoa peach one to look forward to:

Maria Elena

Maria Elena......we all learning from our experience.....

Marie

Curse of the pink lol :×)

My Adenium obesum 'Pink Terribilis' will open fully later today. Hopefully. Stay tuned! ;-)

There you go (*sighs*):

I love the pink blooms :) At least they are different shades of pink! Beautiful blooms!

Martin, that pink is also beautiful :) What should 'Pink Terribilis' blooms look like?

Happy Gardening, Jeannie :)

Jeannie, 'Pink Terribilis'? I gave the poor thing the name. I think, it is so terrible and pink. ;-) The seed was a NOID. I bought maybe 100 obesum NOID seeds.

Tada! Finally, something to write home about! Meet Rinoa's Sugar Rush ... The bud took about 2 weeks to open.

>>>

Original:

Use these as root stocks and graft the flowers you like onto them.

Maria Elena, congrats! It certainly does not look ordinary. :-) Perhaps a tad too "girly" and peachy for my liking. I like them deep red. Blame my bloody viking kinship. ;-)

Maria Elena, beautiful!

Maria Elena, ooooh so beautiful, well worth the wait. Your flower is even nicer then the photo from Rinoa. You must be so pleased.

Was this a grafted plant or was it grown from seed????? So nice to see you having something so beautiful after the terrible hurricanes you experienced. Happy growing, Rachel :)

Wow wonderful. Looks soo sweet I almost taste the sugar :-)

Whoo hoo yes thats a beauty congrats:×))))

Wow Maria Elena! Thats a nice one. Im happy for you. ;-) Lets hope the other from Mr. Ko are special as well. At the moment i also have three plants from Ko seeds budding out. One looks "over ready" im sure it had to open since weeks. It looked so well but since two weeks its losing lots of leaves. The buds (there are two) are looking fine. The other two had just started to develope them, so a long way to go i guess.

Stay well and keep us updated. ^^

Just Beautiful.....and sooooo many petals :)

Thank you, everyone .... Yes, I love it!

Ha, ha! ;-p ... Too "girly" for Martin's Nordic lineage!! I wish you many crimson doubles and triples!

Rachel, thank you for the well-wishes. It is seed grown and was a swap from Alma <Eeyore>, for which I am very grateful. She knows I love peach.

Francesco, It's cold in Switzerland ... 20s-40s F. You obviously have them indoors. Keep them warm, with high lumen light and good air circulation. I hope they don't go dormant and that your buds open soon. Please do share when they open.

Maria Elena

Hi Maria are you going to try to pollinate this bloom? If so don't forget your old Texas friend when you get seeds

roger

Hi Maria Elena

You are right. Winter has finally arrived. Right now, the snow is falling and its freezing outside. Don't worry, my plants are inside in the warmth. ^^ The ones in my growing "cupboard" (my tent hasn't arrived yet with my new light) should be fine and the others, well just some, are on my heating mats during the night. I have to swap them (except for the plants with buds) so all of them can benefit from the light. I hope my order arrives by next week because im so busy with changing them from one place to another, but i think its even worse for my plants.

And of course i will post the pictures, if they open so keep your fingers crossed! ;-)

Greetings

Hi Maria Elena, wow, this from seed. This has to be one of the best examples that I've seen for a while, of a seed grown plant flowering very close to the parent plant. You must have good Karma, for all the good things you do for everyone in your life.

Enjoy your plant and if you want to try grafting, this would be a great one to try grafting onto the plain pink seedlings you have been getting. I sense a sugar rush coming on. :D

Roger, you got it. If I ever have seeds for this one, you are first on my list. I honestly have no idea what I'm doing in terms of hand pollinating. I'm afraid I have not gotten the hang of it, no matter how many pictures, tutorials, or explanations I receive. I never see any pollen but I go through the motions nonetheless. I will keep trying. This one is thick and has more petals than my roses, so maybe I'll just leave it up to the bees, flies and gnats.

Rachel, "Sugar Rush" is a Rinoa seed. You can get some from her directly. She has others that are similar. I really cannot take credit for anything. Alma planted it and very generously sent me the seedling. I only hope she got such a beauty within her own batch of seedlings.

Just got this Christmas red. It's supposed to be the double below, but ...

KO_45

That one looks great, too! I have six seedlings from them and hope to have one in the same deep red! very very nice!

Hi, Francesco! Thank you ... I have four of these and hope we both get at least one lipstick red double!!

Lets hope for it! Time will tell. ;-)

Nice! Hand it over! ;-)

Martin, postage overseas is crazy ... But I would totally send it to you otherwise! At least we were able to give you that Christmas red you were looking for.

Happy New Year!!

Maria Elena, hehe, there's really no need to send it. I have one red coming up! ;-)Probably tonight or tomorrow.

Cheers and Happy New Year to you too!

Roger, I have 2 more sugar rush, if they ever do anything, I will remember you too!

Thank you Alma

roger