Actually, I'm starting to think it's a problem of being underwatered... late last summer when I had the same problem, I greatly reduced watering, and nothing changed. I checked the soil (gritty mix) again and it's totally bone dry. I had been watering pretty frequently, but very little each time - maybe only 20-30ml each time. The trunk only started to become a lot more solid when I began watering about a month ago, so maybe I just need to water a bit more each time I water. There are lots of new, white roots growing and no new signs of rot... it had been unusually sunny for about 2 weeks so perhaps the plant needed a bit more water during this period? I'll try watering a bit more each time I water, and maybe reduce the frequency a bit. Will keep you posted on how this goes... Thanks again for the suggestions!

Hi Sharon, didn't see many seeds for sale other than tourist type pkts of palms/cycad/strelitzia in the beach shops along the Paseo, and as I have several already I didn't purchase. No doubt there would have been more choice had we found the true gardening shops. The only 'plant' I bought back were the 4 little snapped off pieces from underneath the Crassula I posted about a few days ago, it was such a lovely colour. Think they had been there for some time as they were rather dry and the ends were quite calloused over. Maybe knocked off by a clumsy dog trying to balance on 3 legs? lol!! Sorry to read your babies are suffering, damping off is normally due to a combination of wet and warm....just the conditions the babies need to sprout and grow for a few weeks after germinating. Try to keep them on the drier side now theyre a little older as they can cope with cooler conditions if grown dry as opposed to cold and wet. You have email btw, Gill.

So Adobowizzzy, I received my order today from Adeniumcenter, he gave me extra seeds which is a star in my book. I also bought some black RCN of the dwarf variety. Everything was neatly packed and labeled, paperwork in order. I'm not sure if you are mistyping or if spell check is being your worst enemy but the correct term is Adenium obesum. I am constantly battling with spell check in my posts, assuming this is the same for you ;) The answer to your grafting question is yes, they can be crossed for grafting between A. arabicum and A. obesum. Tracy

I would have used Aluminum wire, I think that is the most recommended for Adeniums but not exactly sure. I don't have any though, So I just went ahead and used some galvanized steal wire that came off a roll of chicken wire when I first opened it. It was very flexible and I just wrapped it around carefully holding the wire and winding it around the stem. I heard galvanized steel is poisonous to junipers and some other conifers. So I will be watching it closely. I will probably check to make sure the wire isn't digging in to the plant to leave too much of a mark in 2 weeks and I will remove it probably in about 4 weeks. This is my first time experimenting with wire on Adeniums so I will update how it goes on this post as the information comes in. I am over wintering them in a hoop house in zone 9b. I cover them at night inside my open ended hoop house ( I have not closed the ends off with plastic yet) The days are in the 80s and 90s here and the nights drop down to 55-59*F at night. I have a different structure over them inside the hoop house to cover them at night. When the temps drop to 50*F and lower come winter I will put on the ends of the HH. I was going to check out aluminum wire at the jewelry section at Michael's for my next plants next season. I know they make it especially for, and sell it on bonsai sites though. I got most of those plants in the pictures from Out Of Africa 2.5 weeks ago, and they hardly had any leaves. They've been starting to push out though, and all the branch tips are showing signs of leaf growth. I hope to order more multiflorums from them come spring time if they have any left. I also recently started 22 arabicum seedlings and I am sowing 140 more in about 2 weeks. All different kinds of arabicums. I hope to sow several hundred obesum seeds come spring and grow them for grafting stock for the arabicums I am growing. These plants are so far a lot of fun.