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elucas101

New DR 'Twins' With Seed Pod!

elucas101
11 years ago

I called a nearby nursery today to see about their plastic pot supply and they generously agreed to give me 20 of their 3 gallon pots. I asked if they had Plumeria and DR and they said they had both! I couldn't wait to get over there and see what they had. I don't get my hopes up when it comes to finding these plants around here because they are usually nothing to get excited about. Their Plumeria were pitiful.

They had 4 DR, and they were in need of some TLC, but this one caught my eye and I decided to take a chance on it. You can see what a hot mess it is but they had 2 plants in this pot for the same price as one of their others ($24.99), it has an opened and unopened seed pod on it. It doesn't look like it's been repotted in a long time so I'm hopeful there's more to these under the soil line. I can't wait to go home and take them out. They feel a tad soft under the soil line which worries me but they may be fine, they don't feel squishy. If there's anything wrong under the soil of course I'll take them back.

So what do you think about these 2?

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Comments (12)

  • kayjones
    11 years ago

    Well, that was a lucky purchase - keep us posted on how it does for you.

  • Marie Tran
    11 years ago

    Yes, I want to see after you repot. I hope they both have bigger caudexes under neat of soil.
    One unopen seed pod is extra without charge. Very lucky buy.
    Marie

  • averil
    11 years ago

    Oh wow! Ive never seen adenium for sale in the uk and those plants are awesome. The seed pods are amazing. Im jealous!! ... sigh!!! I shall crack on with my little seedlings :)
    Averil

  • karyn1
    11 years ago

    Very cool! I bought a pot that had two big DR's in it. The biggest was about a 6" diameter. I posted about separating them earlier this year. I was able to tease them apart and there was a big soft (and squishy) spot on one. I cut it away, dusted it with a fungicide and allowed it to dry before potting it up. It's growing just fine. You had better wrap the horn of the seed pod that's sticking out of the pot. It looks like it's about to split.

  • elucas101
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Kayjones, thank you, I hope it was worth the money! I'm really taking a chance on it because I can tell it has been a little neglected. The guy at the place told me the blooms are dark pink.

    Marie, thank you so much! I tried to look past the rough exterior, hoping it's a gem inside. And yes, hahaha, the unopened seed pod at no extra charge!! The guy picked a few of the seeds from the opened pod - I let him have them because he gave me so many pots. I still got a lot of seeds from that pod, which I will give away to people that want them.

    averil, I wish you had more resources there to find your DR :( - there is a very good seed supplier in the UK though so there's that, but you know my 2 plants that I find nicer than most in nurseries here, I got on eBay. If I find DR for sale around here, most are not really worth the money or that interesting looking. So crack on with your little seedlings, as I think you may come up with something just as or more interesting than many folks are trying to sell!

    karyn, I'll have to go back and look for your post, I'm very interested to read about your experience separating them. It can get quite tricky! I had to cut a couple of spots, not too many and I did dip in Rootone but I then potted them up right away. (I hope that's ok!) I totally forgot to wrap the pod, hopefully it's still there when I get home!

    Ok, coming up next, the separation of the (almost) Siamese twins and their transformations!

  • elucas101
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Once I got home with this hot mess, I wasn't sure where to begin! I pulled them out of the pot and they were pretty root bound, not to mention a tangled mess. I started rinsing and spraying the old dirt off of them to see them better. I decided to start untangling by cutting any little roots or branches that would be above where I wanted the soil line to be for a smooth caudex. I was hoping I would be able to manipulate this without knocking the seed pod off.
    {{gwi:342080}}

    {{gwi:342081}}

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    Then I started to stick my fingers in and begin to feel how exactly they were entwined so I could see what may come out and what needed to be cut. Some of the roots that were heavily tangled were softer but not discolored in any way - pure white flesh -it just seemed they were squeezing each other to death.

    So I kept gently pulling and prying, and because some of them had a lot of give to them I was able to make some progress.

    {{gwi:342082}}

    {{gwi:351272}}

    I tried to cut only what I seemed to really need to for now and then I figured I can reassess these plants next spring when they have recovered a bit. Finally, I am able to pull them apart.

    {{gwi:342083}}

    One of them was "hugging" the other one and then the other roots had grown to intertwine with each other and you can see they were really squeezing each others roots down.

    And here they are, DR1 and DR2.
    {{gwi:351273}}

    {{gwi:351274}}

    The one that was "hugging" has a cool caudex, the other one just kind of looks like a big potato! LOL!

    And here they are, all cleaned up and ready for their reveals:
    {{gwi:351275}}

    {{gwi:351276}}

    Next spring, they will be pruned back "like I mean it" as Laura would say! LOL!!! I hope they start to thrive and get healthy now that they have some room to grow and aren't choking each other!

    From this:
    {{gwi:351270}}

    To this!
    {{gwi:351277}}

  • karyn1
    11 years ago

    They look great. I really like the shape of the one in the tan pot. You did a good job pulling them apart. I can't see anywhere that you cut out rot. I had to cut away about a 5th of the caudex to get rid of the rot on one of mine. It's doing well several months later so I'm sure yours will be fine. I'll try and get a pic of the area I had to cut away. You can still see almost a tunnel thru the caudex on mine.

  • averil
    11 years ago

    I was holding my breath looking at those pics. It was like watching open heart surgery ha ha. They certainly look super!!
    Averil

  • Loveplants2 8b Virginia Beach, Virginia
    11 years ago

    Emily,

    You did a great JOB!!

    Bravo!!!

    I loved all of the pic too! Couldnt wait to get to the end to see the final repotted trees. I love them both, but really like the one with all of the interesting limbs.. Remids me of one of those apple trees in the Wizard of OZ!! LOL.. LOVE THEM!

    Great job on taking pics for us to see!!

    I think you have two beautiful trees and im sure they will thrive in your care!!!

    You just reminded me that i need to tie up my pods. They open so fast then the seeds are gone in a flash!!

    Thanks for the great pics and showing us each step you made.

    Strong WORK!!!

    Laura

  • elucas101
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thanks Karyn! Yeah, I really didn't see any rot, some of the roots were a bit soft so I was worried but they were clean, white flesh when I cut a few pieces off. I'd really like to see your pictures, that's amazing you could cut out so much rot and have the rest thrive afterwards!

    Averil, LOL! I was holding my breath there for a bit too - it was touch and go for a while there, not sure if we could go forward but sure we couldn't go back! Thanks so much for the kind words :)

    Laura thank you so much! And I love that - it really does look like one of those crazy apple trees, doesn't it?! HAHAHA! I like that one a lot, not sure what to do with the "potato", it's a bit boring after the other one!!! And you reminded me in time to put stockings over the pods too. I got over 60 seeds out of that one and it was already open! Between your seeds and mine we will be enabling these people really well, won't we? You always do such a great job documenting, thanks for your sweet compliments about the pics.

    As a side note - I had no idea how much of a task it is to take those fuzzy ends off of the seeds - they are CRAZY until you get those things off and since there are 2 on each seed you have a job there. They are made to float and cling and boy, DO THEY!!!

  • jandey1
    11 years ago

    I'm late getting back to this post, but WOW!! E, you are one lucky ducky! Fabulous find just for the twofer, but to get the seeds on top of that is amazing.

    I love the wonderful looping root on the hugger. That is going to be dramatic as it grows. Both are already beautifully shaped. If they're seed siblings, they still look different enough in growth habits.

    E, I see an adenium nursery in your future, lol!

  • hookilau
    11 years ago

    O man, that's an insanely lucky find! I really enjoyed the pictures of the process. The final product was equally as enjoyable. Can't wait to see what they look like next season.

    Antoinette

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