Caudex, frequent pruning? How often is frequent? Thanks..I wrote down each plant you listed, now I know what to expect. My heart is set on Ipomieas and Pelargoniums, (flowers.) Among others. I never should have looked at your photo album..lol.. Are you familiar with Furcrae and Begonia Richardsiana? I bought a Ficus in a small pot at, lol, Walmart.. Cost, 9.99 appeared to be in good health, so home it came. Its roots are large, leaves deep green and shiny, no insects. Problem is, I don't know if it needs repotting, root pruning, etc. It's been in the same pot it came in, 1 yr, possibly 2. Don't know its species..I'll post a pic, maybe you know. Thanks for all the help, Caudex. BTW, I bought seeds..perhaps some, if they sprout, will be caudex? Dorstenia foetida and crispa..Ochna serrulata. Anacampseros mix...and pachypodium rosulatum. Know any? I may go with Haworthia limifolia, Karen. Here's a pic of the Ficus.

Are you talking about Rare Plant Research? I picked up several species from them a few years back. It looks like they still carry a number of Burseras that I haven't found anywhere else. I also got some from MiniaTree on eBay, and a couple from Arid Lands. There are still several more species that I'm looking for, though. A lot of them just are not available. -Chris

Phil I come back and look at this thread a lot to see your pictures. I wish I had seedlings like yours. I don't think I give mine enough nutrients. The leaves are SO small I dont know what I am doing wrong. They are now between 1-2 months. I may have to look into using poop. I will try to get pictures up later from my phone. At what months did the leaves start to getting big maybe there is still hope for mine.. How long have you been growing with lights? Jericson I just took a couple of my seedlings out of the aerogarden and wanted to plant them in a hydroponic media of growstones and coir croutons. I carefully removed the moss around the roots some of the roots got pulled off and I put them in low light for now with some bush doctor boomerang. I also added some slow release fert. My other ones have such massive roots systems I am afraid to damage them, Would they rot if I put them right in the hydro mix and leave them in the rooter? I dont want them to rot. I was thinking maybe there are enough feeder roots that I wouldn't have to worry if I let it dry out between waterings... I knew I would have to deal with it one day. I hope the ones that got their roots pruned do okay, they were mostly feeder roots. I cut some tap roots but left most of it. I wanted it to fit into the net pots better. they are 3-4 inch net pots in hydro mix and it drys out in about 24 hours. I am going to start treating it like an ebb flow.

Well, I recently lucked out into a second one of these plants. Recognized it immediately & scooped it up for a song. The person who donated it brought it out in the cold & I think it got a bit frosty, they didn't think abt the cold, 30ish. Foliage seemed a bit damaged. Well a month later, was looking OK like it might be fine. It was on a table w/ other plants, where I sit & quilt w/ my sewing machine. Sometime later I look up & it's been decapitated -- ACKKKKK!!! I was so intent on pushing this quilt thru the machine I completely missed what happened. Could have been an hour later or a day later, who knows. It was beautifully shaped w/ a caudex, which my 1st one doesn't have, Man, oh man, I almost cried, look at this poor thing. I even tried to water root the broken off stem tip of foliage but it was too short a stem to support in water. Am trying to will the thing to regrow.