How exciting! Good job! Those seed pods are coming right along!

Tom

Congratulations on your new hobby!

Silvia

Thanks. I guess in a few months I'll be germinating seeds :-)

tom... tell me what i should see in these pics.

Michael, the SEED PODS. I'll post a picture later once they've grown more. They look very much like plumeria seed pods, except they are in pairs.

Tom

Congrats Tom...I've gotten a couple of them before, but I never did anything with mine, mostly because I only had one adenium and didn't think it was pollinated? Good luck with yours!

Interesting N, it was rather difficult to do and I really had my doubts that either of my efforts were successful...I was under the impression from my reading that the plant is laid out physiologically to minimize any possibility of self pollination, not sure why though.

Here are two sites that provide useful info on how to do this:

One

Two

Tom

LTY,

I know you're an adenium addict, I thought maybe you'd give this a try but unless you have a greenhouse it's probably too late in the season for you to try this now, right?

Tom

Mine are blooming so I have flowers right now, just no time to play. I have found seed pods in the past - they came about with no assistance from me. I just cut them off. Next time I might collect the seeds. I'm so eager to see how yours turn out.

Temp is no problem - it was in the 80s today in Jacksonville.

Tom - congratulations on your pollination! I am lucky to have a couple of my adeniums with seed pods too, but I guess they were pollinated by the bees that were always on the A. blue basil next door to them. I was searching for information to find out when to harvest the seeds and came upon this site. Very interesting. Good luck with your seeds.

Ginny

Here is a link that might be useful: Adenium Seeds

Tom, thanks so much for the link...it was very interesting but a little too much work for me,lol...

If I ever get any seed pods again...purely by accident like
lovetheyard and Ginny, I will give it to a friend of mine that I give all my hoya seed pods too...she has the best luck propagating these. I'm sure she will have much better luck than me. I don't know what it is about seeds with me...I have the worst luck getting them to grow :o(

Ginny, thanks for that great link also!

Good luck and Please keep us posted!

LTY - I guess it is possible for them to self-pollinate but I just don't know. I have no idea if the pods you got would have been viable if they weren't cross-pollinated.

Ginny - are you going to try to germinate any of your seeds?

My adeniums were all inside the pool cage until 10 days ago so I'm certain the pods were my doing. I bought some seeds to see what it's like to germinate them. I'm sure these seeds were many months old so I guess I should be happy with a 50-60% germination rate...should improve with "fresh" seed.

Tom

Hi N,

Looks like we were posting at the same time ;-) I'll add pictures to this post as things progress....

Tom

I have several different varieties all in big pots next to each other, so they were probably cross-pollinated. You know, we have to keep them in pots in Jax so we can lug 'em into the garage - we get freezes here.

Tom, those look great so far. How long did it take from planting to where they are now?

I had 3 different colors in pots sitting close together and 2 of them have seed pods. I am going to plant a few to try if I catch them before they pop open and disappear. If they have 100 - 150 seeds per pod I'll have some to share if anyone is interested. Just email me and when they are ready I'll get back to you.

Has anyone that planted from seed gotten blooms yet?

Ginny

Tom, thanks for the pictures...they look GREAT!! I'm sure you were the pollinator of your seed pods especially like you said it was inside your pool cage. Looking forward to updates.

Ginny, all you have to do is put an old stocking(knee highs) or soft light weight fabric over the seed pods...and use a twist tie to secure it...so when it matures and pops open it will not fly away. This has worked very well for my Hoya seed pods that I give to my friend.

Good luck!

Tom, I too have been bitten by the adenium bug recently and would like to try to do some crosses in the near future. I have a couple of nice picotee varieties and some splash varieties that should make some good offspring. How many tries did it take you to get pods? I've done a little research one it, and it looks pretty complicated. I'll try to add some pictures, but I've never tried posting pics before.
Rob

Wow, it worked the first try (at least on my computer!). Here a a couple more I may try to cross.
Rob

{{gwi:966114}}

Tom and Rob, they are just beautiful! I know my thumb is not that green. lol

Ginny - those seedlings are two weeks old, they came up in only 3-4 days.

Rob, you're adeniums are striking. What's that first one? I'm partial to the violet/purple colors, always my favorite orchids. I only made two attempts on two flowers so in retrospect it really wasn't that hard, probably not more than 15 minutes each, I'd say it was worth it....

All my mature adeniums are unfortunately HD NOIDS. Two aren't even obesum, they didn't flower and one has a very distinct leaf that looks much more like an oleander.

I did buy a grafted Purple Pentagon, and I have a few 3" seedlings in the purple variety, but you know how that goes, until they flower who knows what I really have.

The seedlings I started are Siam Violet, but with so few, and genetics being what it is, who knows what I'll end up with. If I get even one purple I'll be happy, then I'll try cross-pollination again and as a backup learn grafting :-)

Tom

YaknFish, send me an email, it's obvious we are both yak fishermen.

bernie

Watch out Rob, Bernie will have you trying to make fertilizer out of the fish ;-)

Tom,
The purple one is Siam Purple (some nurseries call it Siam Violet, but I think they are the same...each nursery gives them their own name!). It is grafted, not a seedling. I also have a small Purple Pentagon that is just now starting to form buds for the first time.
I also got seeds of Siam Purple from Thailand and they are about 5-6 weeks old now. Here is a picture of my seedlings (5 different kinds, not all purple).

{{gwi:679814}}

I just started growing adeniums about 5 months ago, and now I have 30+ plants in pots (all obesum and one arabicum)and over 120 seedlings! I think I've gone crazy :-)

Bernie, you're right. Even more than gardening and desert roses, I love fishing from my kayak. I do mostly freshwater bass fishing, but also some inshore trout and snook fishing. Sorry, no fertilizer, almost all catch and release. What city are you in?

Hi Rob,

I saw your pics at the other forum, nice job! If you had an email link here I'd have warned you not to post over there, they are fairly snobbish.... I can't wait to see if you get any purple blooms from your Siam Violets, given your numbers compared to mine I'd say my chances are dismal but who knows, maybe I'll win the lottery ;-)
Drop me a line at my email address will you? I'd like to get some seeds if you think where you got them from was hassle free. Looks like you had a good germination rate.

Bernie's in PSL so I'm sure you guys will be headed on a yak trip soon.

Tom

Seed pods today:

{{gwi:664357}}

Pollen donor:

{{gwi:664360}}

Tom

Yaknfish, Nice colors on your Adeniums, don't see those very often.

Tom, I love your DR...the shape is really NICE, thanks for posting. Seed pod is coming right along!

How do you get that shape? I have a couple seedlings that I got from a swap they are only about 2 years old. Then I have an older one that at least 8 years old but it does not have that stump. I've been trying to figure out how to do that.

Tom,
I too have the Adenium bug through a very generous trade I got 19 different varieties but I've been told they don't come true from seed. There is a very well known hybredizer (spelling ? it's late) in Tawain by the name of Mr. Ko you might want to check out his web site. I have also been told that if you soak your seeds overnight you will have better results my seedling are about 5 inches tall and I lifted them from their pot and replanted with the roots more above ground is that how you get the base? Lets keep this thread going I want to learn more and would rather it be here in Florida been to that other forum too lol.

Katie

Thanks N, I've got a lot to learn.... And I agree about Rob's babies. He's got that down already ;-)

Trini, first off is genetics, not all adeniums are the same, some are bred for great caudex development, some are bred to be great bloomers...then comes the part of how to develop the best caudex you can, and bear in mind that if the plants were not truly seedlings, but instead were cuttings you can get a somewhat fat base but won't get a real caudex.

Katie, agree. It's a crap-shoot but who cares, I'll love them anyway, just need to figure out how to get the best base development from seedlings. Post some pictures of yours, please!

Tom

Tom

I believe all mine are from seed. The big one my hubby bought in the store and the little ones I got from trade and they were about an inch or two tall when first received.

Trini,

Just a suggestion...and only "if" you want to try it? Try Up-potting or raising the caudex a few inches. You will have to remove the plant from the pot and raise it a little, maybe 2"-4". When I first bought mine 4 years ago(6")pot...I did this at least twice a year. It is now in a 16" pot. I was very lucky that mine had a very nice caudex underneath all that soil.

Good luck and post pics "if" you decide to do it?

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:49419}}

Trini, just because it's a seedling doesn't mean it will have a great caudex, genetics again.... At this point I'm not sure what it takes to get a great caudex, I'm a newbie too. I'm like LTY, I bought some HD fatties, planted them deep for a few years, then started lifting them to see what I had. That's not how it's supposed to be done though I don't think...just look at Pug's success with hers!

Tom

This is a little one...I cut the top off recently to see what would happen. Drives my husband crazy that I do that. The caudex shot is right next to it.

I was trying to attach pics of the bigger one but for some reason it is taking a very very long time.

I transplanted the big one as suggested. It only has three long stalks....I cut one off a few months ago to see what would happen...but I was too afraid to cut too much...now I wished I cut it down more. I am dying to cut the other two stalks down. I also want to cut off the other little ones top but I wanted to see how the one I cut did first. so far I didn't kill it, and it has only been a couple weeks but I don't see new growth yet.

Pub I can't believe how nice and fat that it. I love this plant.

Hubby showed me how to do it. This is the big one...small caudex and long stalks.

You're doing the right thing cutting them off. I agree with PUG, you'll need to cut those tall lanky one's off to within 6-10" of the base and raise that base at least two inches, but you might as well wait until 2/1 now since we're going into what little dormant period we have....Lots of potential there.

Tom

Adenium obesum should be cut back hard for fullness - here is a video that explains:

Hard Pruning Adenium

The websites below are full of information on growing, grafting, propagating and diseases of adenium obsesum - - and how to grow a large caudex! This might keep you busy the rest of the afternoon - LOL!:

Adenium Culture: Producing Large Specimens Quickly

An Adenium Website

THE ADENIUM STORY

Here are all of the adenium videos on YouTube - especially watch the one called "rempotage adenium". It is not in English, but you will see how to root-prune and replant:
YouTube Search for "Adenium"

A photo album full of pictures:
nrsundaram's photos

Ya'll have fun now, ya hear?!

Tom-Love the caudex on your pollen donor plant...that is really nice.
Pug, that is probably the most awesome DR I've seen. That is the same huge one you've posted in the past, isn't it?
Trini, I agree with Tom. Your big plant has a really nice caudex and great potential, but it needs to be cut back hard.
LTY, thanks for the links. I'll be spending some time going through them. Here is a site that I really like. Very informative. I keep going back and rereading the different pages and looking at the different cultivars. I have a big wish list of their plants!
Rob

Here is a link that might be useful: Tropica Nursery

Thanks for the kind words!

Rob, yes this is the same DR that I've posted before. I only own two, that one and another in a small bonsai pot...only about 6" tall.

I also agree...a hard prune would be a good move...it will branch out nicely in several weeks.

I took the plunge and chopped all of them down :-)

I cut them down and then read the articles on here. Luckily it is still very warm out and the plant gets full sun. I am so impatient.

Trini,

Just a word of caution...especially because you live in zone 10 and like you said it is still very hot. Be careful since you removed all or most of the leaves? Keep an eye out for sunburn ...if it were mine I would only give it some morning sun, before 11 or noon or maybe put it under a tree where it gets filtered sun, and gets some shelter from the intense hot afternoon sun...once it starts to leaf out...slowly acclimate it back to full sun. Just my opinion. Good luck!

Thank you. I will take your advice.

Great links LTY and Rob, thanks. Hopefully we'll all get better at this with time...I've definitely got the bug!

Trini, keep us posted with pictures of how things are going. Since I get no frost here I'll bet I could just about cut mine back at any time but to be safe I'm going to wait until I see trees around the neighborhood start budding, which is usually mid-February.

Tom

Tom, those are a lot of seedlings. I didn't realize they come in different colors. I love the red ones on the link above and would LOVE to get some red seedlings.