caudex1.... Can't thank you enough for posting those great photos. The plants are very diverse, but all have their own special beauty...if you can call it that. Question: In the photo of the very large Cypho.... it is shown planted in a low, show-type pot. Is this how you now grow this plant, or is this how you pot it for shows and display? Do you still grow it in the raised bed? Thanks, Frank

mrlike2u... Thanks for the speculations, predictions, and musings. I will never know unless I give it a try. The converted wastepaper basket that is pressed into use as a pot has very thick, rigid walls. It's going to take a lot of force to split this pot. I'm hoping that the buried caudex, over the years will take on the shape of the straight-sided, cylindrical pot. Since the caudex has already grown to about 3-1/2" - 4" in diameter, that leaves only a few inches of growing medium surrounding the caudex. The pot walls are now only a few inches away from the caudex. I think you are right...as the growing mix compresses and compacts, I think the caudex will follow the path of least resistance and will elongate at the top, and at the bottom...which is fine with me. Eventually when i uncover the caudex, maybe it will look like a short but thick trunk. Remember...it's the Baobab profile that I'm after. Bottom line...I'll have to try this technique, and I will document the process with some photos, showing either the progress, or the death of a Fockea edulis. What ever happens...it should yield some interesting results. Next season will tell part of the evolving story. Thanks for you interest. Frank

Well, today I bit the bullet, and got 'er done. Everyone recommended I add "oil dry" to the mix, so I went down to the local NAPA store and got the smallest bag they had....probably enough to last the rest of my life unless I spill the grease the next few times I fry fish. Since I had already made enough mix to fill the selected pot (thats a joke!)and it contained sand which some of you recommended against, but I couldn't get out, I just added a measure of the oil dry to the existing mix. Next step was removing the plant from its pot....Turning it over and tapping the pot on the bottom did NOT work! I struggled for over ten minutes before I convinced that plant to turn that pot loose, and when it did come out, it just kept on, and on, and on coming out. You've been to the circus and seen 10 clowns get out of a car the size of a large suitcase......Well, I'm convinced Adeniums taught them how to do that. There was more plant in that pot than I would have ever thought possible. None of the pots I had considered using was going to work, so the search began all over again. I finally found one thats a bit small, but will work for a while. Photo #4 shows what I got out of that pot. There was a large swolen root that had been just below the surface, and another much smaller root on the opposite side. I trimmed all the small roots off the smaller one, and left both of them on the plant, thinking they might add interest in later years (hows that for a new grower being optimistic). There was a small cluster of roots on the back side of this photo that was growing above the old soil line, and a little "button" of an old root stub that was starting to grow a new root, so I took both of these off flush with the Caudex. I removed a few of the more flimsy looking bunches of tiny roots, and thats about all. Photo #5 shows what I put in the new pot. The swolen root is on the left, and the one I am going to try to get to match it is on the right trimmed of all its small roots. Photo #6 is the final product. The plant is raised about 2 inches, and shows the large swolen root on the right, and the new smaller one on the left. You can see the spot near the center of the Caudex where I cut off a small patch of roots that were growing above the old soil line. I intend to leave the plant on the porch for two or three days to allow it to dry and heal the cuts I made, then will slowly reintroduce it to the sun until it is again in pretty much full sun, and being fed and watered on a regular basis...like every couple of days. I know I probably did as many things wrong as I did right, (I would consider 50-50 a real accomplishment) But I do believe things went pretty well, and now the challenge will be to grow this (to me) strange new plant. Thanks everyone for the help and encouragement. I have been lurking around here for some time, soaking up the knowlege you good folks have been putting out.....I guess today was exam day...Thanks. Bill

Thanks, everyone, for the replies. And I apologize for my untimely response. It would seem that I need to adjust a setting to let me know I've received responses. To update, I ended up not taking it back because I procrastinated and then became busy work-wise, so I felt too much time had passed. But I did buy another from Lowe's (the first one was from a well-respected nursery in Jupiter, FL), and the Lowe's plant seems to be doing very well. I'm sure the employees thought it a little strange as I reached half my hand down inside the plant's container before buying it ;-) I'm on the forum today researching repotting and pruning (I'm scared!!!). Gritty, coconut coir, etc., etc..... It's only the end of April and it feels like July, and water retention vs. PWT is my hangup with regard to media. Greenclaws, "aerating" the pot was just the best way I could think of to describe carefully adding some slices around the pot to better oxygenate/aerate the soil. Something I'd read somewhere. Just typing that sentence is feeling a bit embarrassing. I did not do that with the new one. Ray, that was a weird cold spell, if that was the last one! It had been so warm and then back in warm skivvies. But it did give me a chance to play with a belated Xmas present, a little greenhouse :-). And thanks for a referral, particularly one within the state. I will be checking out Out of Africa very soon as I've already been thinking I would love to grow some from seed. Hyn Patty and AJ, thanks for the vote as well to start some plants from seed. I've seen some blogs documenting the process, along with some experimentation, and it looks like something that would be really rewarding to do. Ray, living in Orlando, which can be hotter than down here (Palm Bch Co.), what kind of soil do you use? Do you go gritty? I have two of the three ingredients. My big ol' bag of #2 cherry stone came in yesterday. The PBF is a challenge for me. I bought a bag of a suggested mulch, and I purchased the reptile bark, and neither look like they would work out without me breaking it down by hand piece by piece, which I would do if I had the time, but that would take a LOT of time! Thank you all again for offering your help with my sad first DR. I'm off to see about my settings so I don't miss any responses in the future.