Nice! good buy ! Did they come with color pics. I just got two yr olds from a guy here, broxnfigs (Roger) he is in NY . Yours look like 3 yr olds.

No color pics, or tags but I expect they're all pinks, at least 2 had flowers and they were the teeniest things, single, which is my preference. Just so cuuute :) maybe only an inch across.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, I had to be away from home for the past 8 wks, so, being in a prime spot to be able to add new Adenium to my collection, I was trying not to miss an opportunity!! I try to buy them in bloom if I can find them and my preference is for the non-grafted variety.

Was SO hoping to be able to find a nursery near by, but it's probably best I didn't, lol!! There's mail order, but I like to see first hand before I buy.

At the beginning of this summer, I started an experiment that seems to have worked out well in NY...I grow my resident plants in pure pumice, so I put those plastic pots in the ground, around my annuals, just to see what would happen....

My kids have been taking care of the house in my absence and now I know what happens...flowers...loooooots of flowers!!!

The 4 plants I was able to secure here in Daytona Beach before I picked up these 3, have already been bare rooted, awaiting their journey to the Northeast. The humidity and daily rain for the past 4 weeks started a bit of rot on some of the branches I trimmed. I realized what was happening & made fresh cuts, & made sure they stayed dry from then on,

It was my fault, climate is different in NY and my benign neglect wasn't all that benign. Having added a total of 7 new plants to my collection back home, I can't wait to get back to line them all up & admire.

I must be doing something wrong, growing too hard maybe, my 7 and 8 year old plants are no where NEAR as big as these last 3 that jumped into my cart....maybe I should start fertilizing...hmmmm

Great find!!

HI Marica I live in Texas not nyc

roger

Hello....hookilau

I feel your excitement! Those fat tubs are sure nice. I came down to FL, to visit old friends, and just by chance, found an Adenium with really beautiful flowers in a local Home Depot. Now, I have to figure our how to get the plant back up to The Bronx/NYC. I'll probably bare-root the plant, wrap it, and stick it my carry-on bag, when I fly home. I want to use this plant for grafting onto the top branches of a "tower" Adenium that I will be training.

Down here in south-FL the climate is soooo much different than in NYC! Year-round growing is definitely possible, with all the warmth and sun. But, you have the same lousy growing conditions back on Long Island that I have. It's not great for any fat plants that love heat and sun.

Good luck with new plants. I can't believe how robust they are! With the size of those fatties, you have a good head start with training some nice "show plants".

Happy growing.

Frank

NYC/7b

Oops. Guess the smoke is getting me more then I thought. Right now I don't love N. Ca

LOL!! good natured elbows right and left to my fellow adenium enthusiasts =D

Frank; yes...climate is waaaay different than in NY, but I think growing in 100% pumice has spoiled me tremendously!!

Though our growing period is short compared to Fla. the humidity isn't something I worry about in NY, not so here!! I trimmed a few overgrown branches, and just set my mind and plants on auto. Well, a couple of those branches started to blacken & rot only 3-5 days from the trimming. To be fair, it's rained here every day for something silly like 4 wks straight.

When I discovered the rot, I decided it was time to bare root, defoliate and get my rubber chickens ready for transport.

They handle dry like nobody's business, but wet?...not so much. (duh, haha!) I found out just how small that margin of error is here in Fla.,

I have ONE more shopping trip before setting onto I95 this Monday (cross fingers for me that all goes well!) I would like to go to the Farmer's Market in Daytona for a last ditch effort to fit more rubber chickens into my teeny car =D

I'm turning into kind of a hoarder LOL!!

I have to say though, I'm not unhappy with my growing conditions or period, having never known any different.

That braided tower sound very interesting!! It's amazing to me, the resilience of these plants. I plan to do surgeries myself when I get back home, heh heh!!

oh my. great root stock for grafting if nothing else.

rubbing gnarly little hands together with glee!!!

Hook....

Have a safe trip back to NY. I'm back in The Bronx on Saturday with my fancy carrot from Home Depot. I decided not to ship it, but to bare-root the plant, and carry it in small bag. The plane ride is short, I'll replant it as soon as I get home, and it should be fine.

My five new plants -that I will use for my braided-tower- will be arriving right after I return home. I'll wait for these bare-rooted plants to become very limp, then I'll braid them, pot them, water them, overwinter them under my LED lights and on a heat mat. With some luck, they'll live.

Good luck with your new Adeniums. I really like the shapes and roots after the bare rooting. Lots of show potential with those roots, especially if roots are trained to spread out around the base of the caudex....a la bonsai.

Frank

NYC/7b

Ahh....I wish we were going to fly, so jealous!! yes, very short ride...if I could, that mode of transportation would be my first choice.

Can't wait to see your process for the braided tower, of course, I hope I'm assuming correctly that you'll show us pics & all =D

I'm a greeeedy lady and just couldn't help myself...went back to Walmart to get a thing or 2 and surprise...another adenium jumped in my cart! =0)

This one, though somewhat smaller than the other 3 I picked up, had many branches, well distributed and spaced and I feel as though THIS one for sure, I will leave alone...no surgery, no experiments etc. He will grow wild and hairy, except for the occasional pruning to decrease crossed branches etc.

this was before I defoliated and trimmed any crossing branches...but THEN...what I had been waiting for, had just arrived in the mail!!

I splurged on a Durham Botanicals adenium. Will start another thread on that, complete with pictures.

I really shouldn't go to the Farmer's Market tomorrow, as I really don't need to add to my collection any more at this point, however, you only live once, right?

what the hell =D

There like dope you get hooked

roger

$13.00 for plants that size?. Wow, what a lucky find.. Not much compensation for the grower, though. I wonder how old they could be..

Frank, I would love to see an illustration of what your intended plant tower will look like and how you plan to reach the end goal.. Keep us posted, please.

Loll!! yaaass. I was hooked before, for truth!! However, being in this area for as long as I have, and knowing that I would be going back to NY, the barrenest of places for Adenium, I HAD to make a grab for cheap & local!!!

I had been under a good deal of stress the whole while I have been in Daytona & now that there is light at the end of the tunnel, I suppose I'm gathering feathers for my nest back in NY =D

Thoroughly enjoying this part of the journey though!!

And yes...I can see where there is not much compensation for grower, which is why I don't feel badly about purchasing these mass produced Walmart beauties....at the same time, I also feel pretty good about being able to help support private growers, like Durham Botanicals.

After I survey my collection as a whole, I'm sure I'll want to cull the herd a bit. It seems my mom & daughter, who have been taking care of the herd at home, have been side-eyeing my adeniums!!

The inexpensive, mass produced plants are a wonderful entry point into the world of adenium. I expect that as tastes for forms & or blooms refine, and the rarity of one's perfect vision of a plant (thank you google), more enthusiasts will step on up & support private grower. Myself for instance!! =D

As I started to read up, I realized that yes, the ones I got recently from Walmart are indeed Arabicum. The 'body' is so very different from my original plants, and what I am assuming are Obesum. They were big box store finds of a few years ago, purchased right here in NY.

I'm guessing the huge fuzzy and long leaves also help to confirm the identification.

About your statement regarding their quickness to rot...I keep my Obesum, as a rule pretty dry, which here in NY, is something I think necessary in my experience because of variability with cool temps at change of season for plants kept outside. My plants outside are under eaves & not subject to water via mother nature's whims

Once temps drop to 45 or lower, I bring them inside and keep under lights for the winter.

I bought some coconut coir cut into little chunks to try out on some of my younger plants, but was hoping it might be a good option for some of the larger ones.

Any opinions on that?...I potted up one of the Arabicums and there was a couple of small roots that had rot, after being bare rooted for about 6 days and wrapped in paper towels. I cut off the affected areas and potted up in dry medium, then put in the shade to rest until next week or so, when I will likely water.

Any other observations, like the prone to rot thing would be greatly appreciated =D

when I lived in south Florida (Broward county) I had about 700 adeniums in my back yard mostly grown from seeds and grew them up to 6 inch pots and a 50-60 group in larger clay pots up to 16 inch, all where filled with a mix of coir, pine bark fines, peat moss, coarse sand and or some perlite. This mix has served me well from seedling to massive plants. It is very fast draining and yet retained enough moisture and organic material for the plants to thrive. will scour my files for the exact ratio of the mix as I will be needing now as well. I believe my mix for adeniums was 30pct coir (pet supply store), 30 percent peat moss (garden centers lowes HD), 20 pct pine bark fines (walmart purple bag) and 20pct coarse sand garden centers lowes HD or perlite from same sources. I added a couple of pictures of the benches and plants in back yard, the two shade houses were full of orchids and some plants on the benches were pachypodiums

To the Hooki....

Back home, finally, after my two flights got cancelled due to bad weather at La Guardia. Sat in airport for hours before finding out flights had to be grounded. A real PITA! Spent 5 extra days in FL, and flew into NYC on Thursday. My bare-rooted, Home Depot Adenium was unpacked by an agent at airport on its third trip through baggage inspection. Why? They thought the roots looked suspicious. I gave them that ...."really"?....look, but moved on. Got home and repotted the bare-rooted plant into a gritty mix. I have only about 1 month to get this plant up and running, then it'll get moved under lights for the rest of the dark, long, winter.

Also returned home to find five, nice seedling obesums, waiting for me in a delivery box. My future, braided-tower, was waiting to be unpacked. They were. A few yellowed leaves, and some dried out flowers were cut off, but the plants looked good and healthy, and all having those long stems that will be braided as soon as they go limp and become more bendable. This tower will also go under grow-lites for the winter months. Ditto: my Bursera and Operculicarya which btw, are much easier to overwinter without having any of Adenium's problems. As I have stated before....if it were not for the beautiful flowers growing on Adeniums, I wouldn't even bother with these plants given my growing conditions. Just too difficult, too prone to insect damages, and too easy to rot... in less than ideal climates.

Hooki....hope your return trip was better, and hoping your new, Walmart fatties are doing fine.

Happy growing.

Frank

NYC/7b

Wow, what a PIA!! Still, I wish we had the option to fly, then again, the idea of someone thinking your adenium was suspicious is funny in a ridiculous way.

We had our own craziness trying to get back home, but made it none the worse for wear. However, I'll never make the drive again, at least not as the driver!! haha!!

Had to elbow my way thru Manhattan, even though it was 11pm. By the time we reached Delaware on the end of day 2, it was only about 3-4 more hours to get back home. So we decided to push through. It was harrowing!!

Anyhow, glad to hear you've got plant material to play with!! I have the same 4 weeks to get my bare naked ladies (just as cute and plump as they can be) to look alive before the cool weather sets in. I've only got florescents, looking forward to hearing how your full spectrum LED works out.

I tried regular LED shoplights a couple of years ago, plants limped along, wasn't worth the trouble. However they weren't full spec, so I'm expecting you'll have better results than I did.

I'm going to go with heating mats this year, even though my plants will be inside...I'm hoping to keep them warm and toasty... and whichever one wants to keep it's leaves through the winter, will have the option.

Post pics of your process please, someone recently posted with the very same goal as your plaited project. Will be a wonderful resource!!

I did some root chopping & potting atop discs too, so I'm hoping 4 weeks will be enough to find out if they live. I chopped 2 that had roots too long to fit in the correct diameter pot. Didn't take pics though, there are plenty enough of the process on youtube & it's not terribly complicated, lol!

I'm trying an experiment with this stuff:

Dries out really really quick though!!

This is what this little lady looked like last Wed, a wee bruised from the trip but ready to roll, no time to waste!

Here's a look at the rest of my bare naked ladies:

Hooki...

Thanks. Glad you made it back home, even with the detours.

BTW, you mentioned the drive from NYC to Florida. It IS long and boring, especially if you have a time limit. I tried the Auto-Train last year, and it was worse than driving. The train is uncomfortable, too warm, and noisy. Train horn blows every few seconds -at every crossing. Nothing to see but trees and weeds, and impossible to get any sleep at night, especially if you are a light sleeper, or aren't a contortionist. Private "sleepers" are very expensive, too.

So me and the Home Depot plant are back in NYC, getting ready for the cooler weather. Now I just have to figure out where the lights and plants will spend the winter.

Frank

NYC/7b