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Post by Dennis Z on Oct 21, 2014 20:49:51 GMT -5
Anyone here a fan of these intriguing succulents? Recently I've been a fan of Caudiciform succulents, so I went ahead and bought a desert rose (Adenium Obesum). It doesn't have a giant caudex so I was wondering if anyone has tips on how I can get the caudex to be huge. Also looking to purchase/trade for seedling adeniums or other seedling caudex-succulents if anybody has extras.
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Post by lloyd on Oct 21, 2014 22:06:01 GMT -5
The older they get the bigger the caudex.
I find them a fascinating group. Maybe one day......
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Post by sokkos on Oct 24, 2014 15:56:24 GMT -5
I've had two Pachypodiums in the past. One was P. lamerei that did very well in the greenhouse. It was producing multiple side shoots that I was going to separate and root individually but the plant mysteriously went missing a few months ago. I have a P. bispinosum that I picked up from a fundraiser at school. It's been doing alright but I've been really neglecting it. What's interesting is that it's in a 2.5" pot and the plant's only 5-6" tall, but you can already see a pretty prominent caudex forming. Adeniums have always done well for me, but as space becomes increasingly tight, I've had to let them go to other plant lovers. The last time I was at Metro downtown Toronto they have some Adeniums for sale in 6" pots for $20. The caudex was pretty impressive.
When I was in Hong Kong a few years ago, I spoke to a hobbyist who showed me how he cut the finer roots off leaving only the caudex, then went to split the caudex about two inches starting from the bottom. He then let the caudex dry until it was more pliable and potted the split caudex with the bottom flared out in a very coarse mix (it reminded me of bonsai aggregate). His plants certainly looked very nice with a nice flared base similar to a very old tree. I also saw that he actually grafted different Adeniums together to for massive plants! He just chopped off the top leaving a 4" tall caudex, then drilled (yes with an electric drill!) holes around the caudex and pushed in 'scions' that he cut off other Adenium. I did take pictures of how he split the base and how he grafted. I'll post them if I can find them.
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Post by Avery on Oct 24, 2014 17:15:07 GMT -5
Wow sokkos, very interesting!
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Post by Dennis Z on Oct 25, 2014 19:28:39 GMT -5
I've had two Pachypodiums in the past. One was P. lamerei that did very well in the greenhouse. It was producing multiple side shoots that I was going to separate and root individually but the plant mysteriously went missing a few months ago. I have a P. bispinosum that I picked up from a fundraiser at school. It's been doing alright but I've been really neglecting it. What's interesting is that it's in a 2.5" pot and the plant's only 5-6" tall, but you can already see a pretty prominent caudex forming. Adeniums have always done well for me, but as space becomes increasingly tight, I've had to let them go to other plant lovers. The last time I was at Metro downtown Toronto they have some Adeniums for sale in 6" pots for $20. The caudex was pretty impressive. When I was in Hong Kong a few years ago, I spoke to a hobbyist who showed me how he cut the finer roots off leaving only the caudex, then went to split the caudex about two inches starting from the bottom. He then let the caudex dry until it was more pliable and potted the split caudex with the bottom flared out in a very coarse mix (it reminded me of bonsai aggregate). His plants certainly looked very nice with a nice flared base similar to a very old tree. I also saw that he actually grafted different Adeniums together to for massive plants! He just chopped off the top leaving a 4" tall caudex, then drilled (yes with an electric drill!) holes around the caudex and pushed in 'scions' that he cut off other Adenium. I did take pictures of how he split the base and how he grafted. I'll post them if I can find them. Very interesting and informative. Pictures would be great, though I can kind of imagine what it would look like. Also weird how a plant would suddenly go missing. I had an african violet growing by a window before that disappeared over the course of a year. There's a ghost taking our plants, haha.
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