I repotted my largest and oldest somalense today (potsize 21 cm/8.3 inches). If I recall correctly, I grew it from a seed back in '05 or '06. So the tree is about 10 years old. It has been neglected and pot-bound for years until I revived it last year. Never bloomed.

I plan to train it, get the branches under control, when the tree has established itself in the pot.

Mine coming out of dormancy. It's two years old.

May the next one will be different

Water!! It needs way more water than it's getting, Tracy, especially while in bloom. That pot doesn't look like it can hold a lot.

I really like that somalense, Martin. You've met this arabicum below, I'm just having it model my Staedtler Mars Matic 700 techpen. 28 years old now!

Thanks Marica. Yes Pagan I think you nailed it. Because I water this puppy every single day. She needs a bigger pot. I think I am making my media too chunky because I am watering quite frequently. I am so afraid of rot that I sift every component of my media.

Tracy, thank you. I like it, too. ;-) Hopefully I won't kill it like the two other larger somalenses! My largest survived but it has no roots now. Somalense is definitely very prone to rot.

Isn't that the double-flowering somalense you showed us a month ago? Nice colours!

Pagan, thanks. That's a yummy arabicum - and nice pen. ;-) I think that your arabicum has some "budding"/strobilation going on it's right side. ;-)

Ach. Radioactive glare.

That is fabulous, Tracy. Hurry up and start learning to graft already!

Tracy, that's a real beauty! Definitely worth grafting.

Thanks Pagan and Martin. I might try my hand at this grafting! Right now I have so many to repot that I can't think about switching gears! But it is on the To-Do list.

Tracy

One of my only somalenses was rotting back in April. I had to remove all roots and a part of the caudex. I left it to dry for a month.

Btw, this is another somalense from last year's batch:

Tracy, thank you. Perhaps it will grow buds on several branches now!

I repotted this somalense today:

Nice. The flowers have pointy tips? Are they curled pointy tips?

Pagan, thanks. The flowers were not really pointy. They were a bit disappointing. Too pink and lacking the prominent nectar guides (they were only faint and not extending onto the petals).

Back in February:

Too pink for me as well, but I really like the shape. You should get one of these, I'm sure there are nectar guides there somewhere.

Pagan, I want prominent nectar guides. Not the ones only visible using a filter. ;-) And btw, I have filters. Lots of high-quality filters. ;-)

Michelfrederick, nice. It looks big or am I mistaken?

As promised, the photos of my rescued somalense. I have counted 28 active/growing buds!:

I removed the whole root system including a part of the caudex. Now behold. The container is already bulging again which is a big surprise (= good stuff below the soil line ;-) ):

Martin. Should i repot it into a bigger pot for faster grow?

Stuart, take a look at the rootball to see whether the roots have filled the container or not. If that is the case, repot.

Martin. Thank you, I don`t know when i will do that because i has given it to my sister in law and it was one of my best somalenses. the others are not branching like this one does.

Stuart, you (or she) can always wait until the plastic container starts to "bulge" (= repot). ;-)

*Bump*! ;-)

This poor mistreated somalense (well, it is supposed to be a somalense) surprised me yesterday.

Flower bud!:

Dain, I like the flower. Intense colours. Your tree could be a somalense interspecific hybrid.

What does interspecific ?

A cross between a somalense and some other adenium species, e.g. "obesum".

If we go by Dimmit as benchmark before all these undocumented commercial interbreeding, yours look closer to true somalense, Dain. Bright pink to red outline, very light middle and nectar guides highly visible to the human eyes.

Pagan

Pagan, I am not 100% convinced but the flowers of Dain's tree do come close to true somalense. ;-) Wild forms of somalense often have star-shaped flowers (i.e. very pointed petals) with nectar guides extending onto the petals. But of course, variations do exist.

I do so love those pointy star-shaped ones, Martin. I think I'll even grudgingly tolerate a pink one, if its petals are really, really pointy.

Pagan, I could also tolerate a pink somalense flower. ;-)

From Dimmitt's Adenium Pages:

I know this this one is a hybrid, but it has decently prominent nectar guides, so I thought I'd share. It is three years old and belongs to my mother. It was a runt of the litter, but the flowers are nice.

Sorry about the blur. I think I may have missed one plant, too. I can't go back out now because we are having a very rare summer thunderstorm at the moment! These plants are just over one year, and seem to grow much more slowly than obesum.

Oh Martin I missed your May 4 post. I really like the form and shape. Will be interesting to see when you try to change the shape.

I wonder if Martin or Tracy would mind if this thread was continued, Show us your Somalense's Part# 2.?

Great idea Rick!

martin, send me your mistreated one and i will give it some TLC ….

Wondering if you have to prune nov somalense to get it to branch or leave it alone?

My baby Somalenses planted 23.6.17

Agartta they look great for winter baby's

Peter - yes the winter somalense babies are thriving well despite the cold weather. Most of the adult plants are still dormant.

Almost two years old somalense from seed