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Adenium in hypertufa?

Pagan
11 years ago

I asked the Adenium seller if being planted in a hypertufa pot will harm my new plant and I was told not to do it because this type of pot supposedly retains water. I know for a fact that hypertufa pots are considered ideal for succulents and that presumably means it does the exact opposite which is to NOT retain water.

I have several hypertufa pots that have been cured on the side of paranoid and with multiple drainage holes. I plan to repot my plants in a mixture of mostly pumice and a bit of soil.

Do you think it is alright to use hypertufa? Are there evil adenium-destroying bits in the material that could potentially kill the plant in it?

Comments (14)

  • rcharles_gw (Canada)
    11 years ago

    There would not be a problem using hyper tufa pots for Adeniums as long as they have good drain holes in the bottom. I used to soak mine with a solution and cannot remember the name, sorry. It was a purple solution when mixed and this was to reduce the affects of the lime in the cement used to make them.
    Many of the Australians have made these pots.
    Rick

  • Loveplants2 8b Virginia Beach, Virginia
    11 years ago

    I would love to make some of these containers...

    My friends on the Plumeria Forum down in Florida, use them for their Adeniums without any problem.

    Rick is right, just make sure they have drain holes and a good draining mix and you should be fine!!

    We would love to see a pic of your containers!!!

    Someone shared the recipe for making these containers and i think i will give it a try this summer!!

    Sounds like fun! ;-)

    Take care,

    Laura

  • Pagan
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thank you for your time and information, Rick and Laura. I'm relieved to know that I can proceed as planned. My adeniums (adeniae? adenia? Romani!) are currently planted in unsightly plastic pots.

    This is where I plan to move them. They are a bit wet now, I just fished them out of the container they have been soaking in for over a month (water replaced every week or whenever I remember...ish). They are about 10 cm deep and it is not visible in this shot but they each have 5 drainage holes, I just havent cleaned them up yet. My objective at the moment is for the plants to just please stay alive. I don't necessarily have space for hulking behemoths.

    It's hysterical red, I know. I just dumped the whole box of red stuff into the mixture to see what's what and here they are. Red. lol

    P.S. I grew up with plumeria trees. The flowers carpet the side of the road when they start falling and people slip on them!

  • karyn1
    11 years ago

    I've always wanted to make some hypertufa pots but have never gotten around to doing it. I think there's even a hypertufa forum on GW.

  • Pagan
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Yes there is, Karyn. That's where I learned to make hypertufa pots and I learned it for the specific purpose of making pots for my adenium.

    My suggestion? Do it now so when spring repotting comes around, you wont say "Man, if only I had hypertufa pots."

  • Loveplants2 8b Virginia Beach, Virginia
    11 years ago

    Hi Fakechuchi,

    I love the colors of your containers!

    So now you have me thinking of starting some now.... Lol!

    So you have blooms all over the road ... How beautiful...

    I am addicted to Plumeria and also DR's so to think of the blooms being that thick on any place makes my heart skip a beat! Do you still live near that area and do you also grow Plumeria?

    I did see the forums for hypertufa, I guess I will have to go and check it out too!

    Pretty work!!!

    Take care,

    Laura

  • Pagan
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Plumeria (known to us as kalachuchi) are grown for shade especially in churchyards. But they are fairly common and considered unremarkable because people just snap off a branch, stick it in the ground and voila! Shade and flowers.

    I'm now over 11,000 kilometers from that street, Laura; hence the impulsive acquisition of adeniums and dama de noche (night blooming jasmine), even though I've had zero experience with plants.

    That brings me to this photo of one of my three adeniums. It arrived with leaves which it has been dropping off one by one over the last month. I figured it was in UPS shock. But then it started sprouting flowers while its leaves continue to turn yellow then brown at the tips. Since it is doing what seems to be two contradictory things, could it be suffering from something I should fix? I have only watered it twice---when I potted it up and when I saw the red flower dots.

    I'm probably breaking some protocol posting this in this thread but I dont want to start a new one. Anyone who happens to be passing by and have a look at this ailing one, any insight would be appreciated.

  • karyn1
    11 years ago

    I have no idea what the leaf damage is from. It almost looks like a burn but am sure that's not the problem. As long as it still has foliage and buds developing I would continue to water though less then you would during the summer outdoors.

    I've heard of plumerias being grown in cemetaries in Hawaii, I believe. Are you originally from the Philippines?

    I also have a hypertufa question. You mentioned making them now so they'd be ready for spring. Can they cure in cold temps?

  • rcharles_gw (Canada)
    11 years ago

    I would tend to agree with what Karyn has mentioned fakechuchi.
    The Adenium does not look to me to be in full growth. Sounds like you just received it via UPS, so it could be a number of things due to prior to or during shipping. Does not look like you are going to lose it.

    I have had some hypertufa's in the yard I made many years ago. Outside 12mths. of the year and they are still going strong. So many ways to make them and alot of fun.
    Rick

  • Loveplants2 8b Virginia Beach, Virginia
    11 years ago

    Hi Fakechuchi,

    Your DR looks pretty good especially right after it was sent via UPS!! I think it is just adjusting to its new enviroment and it sometimes takes some time to get acclimated to its new home.

    What are the temps right now in your area?

    Do you have them in a fast draining mix?

    Have you or are you fertilizing now?

    It might be needing a little more water depending on your temps.. Is it inside under lights? In the full sun?

    Those answers will help determine what might be helpful with your DR. It looks pretty good considering that most of the leaves on mine have fallen off and they only have a few right now in the winter.

    I also have heard of Plumeria being the "Graveyard Tree" Especially in Hawaii. It is so easy and tolerant of the dry conditions and doensn't need to much attention in areas like the islands, Thailand, Mexico etc. It is just here in the US that they are hard to grow ( outside of CA, FL, TX) and it is and can be a challenge to grow these beautiful trees in areas here on the East Coast. To think i could just break off a cutting and stick it in the ground and it would root sounds like a dream!! We work so hard to root these cuttings and wait for years to see our first bloom. I guess that is what brings us such joy when we have to work hard at something that we love!!!

    Thanks for the pics of your containers, they are just beautiful. I will try and make some this spring.. Hopefully, i will succeed ! ;-)

    Oh.. As far as you posting another question~ This is your thread,, so you can ask all you want!!! ;-) Even if it wasn't most around here ar really nice and it doesn't cause a problem here on this forum. That is why everyone here at this Adenium forum are so wonderful!!!

    No one wories about little things.. we are just here to learn. That is why i like it here.. Great people!!

    Thanks again,

    Laura

  • Pagan
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thank you Rick, it's good to know that this adenium is not, in fact, dying on me. It's been here for a month now, the only one that did not come from adeniumrose.com and the only one that arrived with leaves (the other two were bald and funky). I have not done anything to it other than water it about three weeks after potting it up. The other two have only been watered once, when they were potted.

    All my adenium are in a mixture of pumice, perlite and some soil (about 10 percent or so), Laura. I have no special set-up for them, they just sit at the south window in a room that I keep at 21C and 50% humidity (for myself, I'm a tropical plant too). I have not fertilized any of them at all. The bald ones have green bits on the tips and one has actually sprouted leaves.

    This leafy one, on the other hand, has had yellow-tipped leaves when it arrived and I would pluck them out as they die. If it is acclimatising to my room, it's taking forever! That's why I worried there might be something else wrong with it that needs to be fixed.

    I will keep an eye on it and hope it does not get worse.

    I have not actually seen kalachuchi trees in cemeteries back home but they are, indeed, known as "flowers of the dead".

    Anyway, I read from someone in GW that she always makes her hypertufa pots in the winter and they turn out fine. So I took her word for it and went all-out making the molds myself, out of Amazon boxes. I suspect it is the drastic changes in temperatures outside that could potentially weaken them but if they are in a relatively uniform environment indoors while curing, they will cure fine. The key is to cover them up after taking them out of the mold and forget about them--something which I did fantastically. Go for it, Karyn. Just wear gloves and don't snort the peat!

    Maybe this will encourage you:

  • Pagan
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I swear, every time I sit down to read about adeniums here, I always end up deep in the archives and emerge with a serious case of information overload.

    I ended up ordering seeds from Mr. Ko, whom everyone seems to recommend. The packets will now travel from Taiwan to here and then one of them will go back around the world to my sister. Adeniums are apparently all grown from cuttings there, haphazardly stuck into the ground and allowed to grow every which way.

    That said, there is a neighbour down there who has this pot of adenium in complete disarray. As I looked at it closely, I am suspecting that those brown things sticking out of the branches might actually be seed pods? {{gwi:338805}}From February 7, 2013

    I defer to the expertise of everyone who has seen adenium seedpods live and in person, since I only just found out about the existence of adeniums myself. This weekend, she may (a) lurk and snag a pod or (b) actually ring the house and ask for a pod in a civilized manner. That all depends on how many dogs there are.

    Anyway, this last picture is of the first of my adeniums that has been moved to its permanent pot (it's the middle of winter, I know, don't stone me) and looks fine, no? It's been a week in all that redness. If anything, the leaf growth appears to have sped up. Why it decided to wake up this time of year, I have no clue. I was expecting it to stay twiggy until the spring thing comes around.

  • greenclaws UK, Zone 8a
    11 years ago

    Funnily enough I too come here to look for one thing and end up spending much longer browsing than I intended as it's rather addictive isn't it?

    That certainly does look like a seed pod, they are like double horns. Not that I've ever seen one or be likely to see one here in the UK, but yes, it is a pod.

    I would go down the line of asking the owner for one, you never know, they may have been waiting patiently for one to form only to have it snatched. They may well appreciate you asking and be only too pleased to give you one.

    The DR in it's new pot looks good. I have some new growths sprouting on a couple of my plants here, so with your climate that is no surprise really. Some will not go dormant at all I guess.
    Gill from the UK.

  • Pagan
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I suspected I had these pictures in my archive---ancient adenium and plumeria trees growing (you guessed it) in one of the oldest cemeteries in Manila. The photos were taken over a decade ago when I didn't know what they were.

    This one is a really old (i.e. I remember it from when I was a wee lass), probably adenium?

    {{gwi:338808}}


    Below is one of the main roads inside the same graveyard, lined with blooming plumeria trees. I can see two in this photo. {{gwi:338809}}From February 8, 2013

    Who knew?!

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