Hi -

When did you repot it? My large Arabicum is pretty much dormant right now, so I wouldn't be doing much with repotting or root pruning at this time. My obesum had slowed down considerably for a while, but now seems to be putting out some new leaves. Both are under HID lights - where do you keep yours this time of year?

Tom

You are only asking for trouble working on adenium in the off season. I can do a lot of drastic things to them from about April to September. I pretty much leave them alone outside those months.

randy

My trick to keeping them larger and healthy has always been keeping them in smaller pots although big plants. Sometimes you have to use wire to keep them from tipping over. I find their roots can be sparse and shallow in number and can easily be prone to rot, unless of course you have them growing a a good gritty mix. Also keep the in CLAY pots..The dry out time of the soil has to be quick between each watering..

I plant them in a gritty mix, and stick them in the fullest hottest sun possible. Then summer them outside in full sun to give their roots a chance to develope strong and healthy.

I hope you do well in the future!

Mike,

I have a question for you. How many commercial adenium growers use clay pots on their inventory? :-)

Drainage is more important than composition of the container. I've seen beautiful plants grown in rusted coffee cans.

randy

Hi rjji,

Up here, everyone of them from what I have seen.. Must be the area I am from. Clay has always worked wonders this particular plant, in my case, in my cloudy long coool days.

I'll tell you though, you know how to grow in most anything, because I have seen you beautiful plants first eye. Bravo!

Have agreat day Rjji...

And thanks for past help and attention!
Mike..:-)

I believe clay is just a preference for Mike, and I can see why. I, too, prefer a container that "breathes". Unglazed clay is my choice, too.

Plants will survive in many types of containers... this much is true... but the longer some of us garden, the more we tend to gravitate toward certain ways of doing so. If something different works for you, stick with it.

The key word Mike might have missed in my question was "commercial."

I quit using clay on adeniums about 10 years ago.

I agree that with hobby growers it's a matter of personal preference. I prefer plastic for a number of reasons.

I can't afford to put every adenium I have in clay. The type of clay pot I would want is too cost prohibitive and doesn't produce any better results than plastic of the same shape under my care and growing conditions.

A breathable pot may not be that important if you are underpotting in the first place when compared to plastic with 6-8 drainage holes where water runs through the mix like water out of a hose.

Clay is not flexible. I've had adeniums break clay pots. Plastic is flexible and gives. I can tell when it's time to repot an adenium in plastic without picking it up. And I can almost guess what the growth under the soil line is like with the way a plant misshapes the pot.

I would venture to say the vast majority of problems people have with adenium is using a poor quality soil mix or too big a container full of too much soil that stays wet too long when they don't need to be wet.

randy

Randy, I have a question for you..lol By the way, I still can't get that image of your beautiful variegated Jade out of my head...:-)

How the heck to you stop top heav adeniums from falling over in plasric pots??

Clay is heavier, and mine would still have a tendecy to fall right over in those...

Yes, what Jodik said is true about why I personaly prefer clay...Goog guess Jodi..:-)

Thanks alot...:-)

Take care

Mike,

Fairly easy fix. Don't allow plants to get top heavy. Grow adeniums in pots wider than they are tall. Roots will naturally fill the pot. If you use a tall narrow pot,they will grow to fill that. If you use bulb pans or similar type pots, the roots are much more stable.

Don't be afraid the make a stable platform by pruning. I show this extreme example to give you an idea what can be done once you get comfortable with root pruning.

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As with just about any plant, it's much easier to start working on the plant at a much younger stage and develop it over time.

randy

the one I referenced in my first post looked like yours (not the size tho!) in that it was well leafed and has a flower bud. Definitely not in a dormant state.

The media I'm using is a mixture of aquarium gravel, small marble chips, lava rock, a small amount of pine bark. Terra cotta pot. water just runs through it.

I'm going to water it weekly, and see what it will do. That's about my only choice at this point.

Just because an adenium doesn't show signs of dormancy doesn't mean you can mess with it in the off season.Only exception would be someone close to the equator As long as you continue that practice you will have problems with them. There is more to the whole picture than that.

randy

Thankyou for that Randy.

Talk to you later..:-)

Mike

I have the start of new growth on my plant. I'm going to move my status to 'guardedly optimistic.'