And here's a group shot of six of my eight Head Explodes seedlings. The one in back is the biggest and has 4 nice branches started.

Not quite as fat as Head Explodes, these four seedlings are another variety of super compact arabicum called Diamond Scintillation. These were sown two weeks earlier than Head Explodes so they're 10 weeks old. Except for the one on the far left--which has two main stems--they all have a LOT of branching going on.

Mike,
Those are very impressive seedlings. Not seen those forms before.
I do really like the short chubby ones, but I do appreciate all the different forms which are grown naturally and not manipulated.
The one thing with the short and chubby, is that they require less space.

Wonderful group of plants and thank you for posting the photo's.
Rick

Mike, those are beautiful short and fat babies DR.
I know why your seedlings are short and fat. You let them drink coffee every morning? And you bought the coffee from McDonald right?

Hehehe
Marie

Those look great Mike! Adorable, but with an attitude. I agree with you about the appeal of short and fat Adenium.

Curious how often you water and feed them.

Daniel

Mike,
Your arabicums look great! Where did you get seeds from? I guess I'm ready for it... ;)

Aggie

As for the McD's coffee cups....I discovered that they're a more heavy-duty styrofoam than your ordinary styro. cup, they make much better temporary pots for fast-growing adenium seedlings. McD's coffee is the ONLY thing I will buy there--I don't eat their "food". I haven't tried giving it to the plants.....I wonder--you throw all your old coffee grounds into the composter, right?

Watering and feeding.....almost all of my older seedlings (2 months or older) are potted in my constantly changing version of Al's gritty mix. My main ingredient is pumice, with additions of lava rock, Turface, diatomaceous earth, etc. depending on what I have on hand. And I use 1/4" pine bark fines (found on Ebay) and/or coconut coir. I still have to get gypsum. So, I'm watering my seedlings at least every other day, some smaller ones daily. My larger (blooming size) adeniums get watered 2 or 3 times a week. Feeding I do once a week roughly, at a much lower dose than recommended on the label. I also use Superthrive every few days (a couple of drops in a liter spray bottle, sometimes with Nitrozime marine algae extract added. And when transplanting or re-potting, I use Liquinox Start Vitamin B-1 transplant solution.

The seeds for these and several other types of arabicum seedlings I've got came from Ray Saraburi in Thailand originally. I saw photos on Facebook on the JK Adeniums page (they're a re-seller of Ray's seeds) of some of these astounding plants....so, in order to hedge my bets with regards to actually GETTING some of these seeds (neither Ray nor JK Adeniums includes phyto. cert. so you're taking your chances ordering them) I wound up placing FOUR separate small orders--two orders with JK Adeniums, one was confiscated by U.S Customs in LA and one that all the seeds were smashed flat because JK didn't use a bubble wrap envelope.....so, 0 for 2 so far! Then I placed another order in a group co-op buy via another different re-seller of Ray's seeds in Malaysia--this batch arrived safe and sound and were sown Oct. 2. Then I went in on an order with a good friend who contacted Ray himself directly.....despite the language barrier that order also was successful, and my seeds from it were sown Oct. 13.

The prices for the seeds were very reasonable for the most part, a bag of 10 seeds of Thai soco Khao Hin Zon or PBN for about $1.50, same for arabicums like PMK (Petch Muang Kong) and RCN.....whereas the new hybrids, the super-compact arabicums like Head Explodes, Diamond Scintillation, Beefcake, Gold Bracelet, etc. were $1.25 or $1.50 each.

Wow! That's some great growth for being only 2 months old. I want to get some of those arabicum hybrids now.

I have some seed from Laura that just started sprouting, and some more seed that I need to get into some soil.

Mark

Mark--2 months for the one batch, 10 weeks for the other....all under T5 fluorescent lights. In the spring I want to make a couple more orders for more of these seeds--I don't dare order seeds like these during our brutal MN winters.....although....I gotta admit I received seeds from Laura in VA over a week ago and I know we were having below zero temps at night at the time. And I got excellent germination from her seeds--I have 12 seedlings from 14 seeds so far and they look as healthy as any other adenium seedlings I've had. I just don't have the room for more plants now unless I get another light--and that ain't happening until next summer. I'm toying with the idea of trying home-built solar panels to help cover my electric bill from lights and electric heating mats....ahhhh, the adenium addiction in the semi-arctic USA!

Here's a couple more photos to show the prolific early branching these seedlings are prone to....the first photo shows two 10-week old seedlings of Gold Bracelet. It's difficult to see clearly, but the lowermost leaf on both has three new growths starting!

This photo shows arabicum hybrid Diamond Bracelet on the right--it's only 2 months old and look at the strong branching already! The seedling on the left is obesum Blue Spirit (seeds from Ko) the same age and it also has some nice branching going on.

Mike,
Those are pretty amazing seedlings. So squat and healthy.
Rick

Mike, how do you start the seed? Do you soak them?

Or put them in pots then in a baggies? Or do you use the paper towel method.

Wow, lots of great branching on those little guys! How many hours of light do you give them?

Thanks!
Mark

All my adenium seeds I do the same way pretty much: soak seeds for 2 to 3 hours in warm water (I add a drop of Superthrive to each little 1 oz. plastic cup, each cup is for 20 or more seeds--depends on how many come in a packet).....except I and a few others found that soaking the arabicum seeds from Ray Saraburi for more like 6 to 8 hours or more worked better but their germination rate was still slow. I had one random seed come up almost 5 weeks after the seeds were sown.

I use whatever containers are on hand--certain leftovers containers from eating out usually have clear lids so they work nicely. I'll use ziplock baggies if my container doesn't have a clear lid. Then my seeds are sown in 100% coir in the containers and placed on electric germinating mats. I have never tried the paper towel method.....maybe someday.

My lights are on a timer set for 16 hours of daylight and 8 hours of dark. Adenium seem to do quite well growing under lights as long as they also get enough heat--this comes partially from the lights but more so from the mat. My only real problem, aside from quickly running out of room due to the plants' rapid growth rate, is my running battles with red spider mites.

Sweet, thanks Mike!

I usually soak my seeds over night then place on the soil and cover with a little sand.

I am trying different methods out.

Thanks again!

Mark