I told you all that I'm a bit restless, and was curious to see if I have more fat caudexes to discover among my pretties.

So... today it was Old Faithful's turn. See her before, once more:



It all started because I found this Mexican clay pot today... $20 @ Home Depot:



As much as I've read about what is a desirable pot for adeniums, I couldn't resist- I love clay pottery. It's pretty, was reasonably priced, and it had a big draining hole at the bottom. Not only that, it has 'feet' as well!

So... I got to work. It was a bit difficult because that adenium was full of weeds, and that thing was buried... really buried. I was happy to have chosen today to do this, because that soil was no longer good for Old Faithful. I rinsed the caudex, and it was full of what seemed salt to me.

Take a look!






There was no root rot. I trimmed a couple of branches, and I also cut a few of the roots, but wasn't sure how much. I actually like a bit of tangled look.

A little cinnamon (well, more than a little, for good measure) and this is the final product:




The photos are not ideal, it's been super hot, humid and bright. You know, a typical S. Florida day.




I hope she is happy in her new home and continue to give me so many flowers. The bonus is that I now get to enjoy the caudex too!!!

Should I trim those little roots sticking out a bit more, or should I let it be?

Excellent job! What a great caudex was hiding there...
I would leave the small roots alone for now, they may decide to die off on their own and if not - revisit the plant in a few weeks for a final cleanup.

Awesome!! I love the pot and the caudex looks very interesting... cool!!! I think it looks great!:tiphat:






RobertB

OMG

that is a great pot

I don't want to scare you but you never re pot a adenium if you have trimmed ,cut ,or broken any roots they will not heal if they come in contact with moisture or sand/dire even if you don't water right way when you do the sand and or dirt will wash the scab right off you will have exposed raw flesh and it will rot. as much of a great job I highly suggest you unpot and hang for at least 1 week or more. the cinnamon doesn't heal it has an antifungle to help prevent rot or stop rot but not under ground or in moisture.

its just what i have been told by several well more experienced people then me.

Thanks for the suggestion Mike. I'll keep it inside for about a week, since I didn't trim too much on this one.

Old Faithful is pretty low maintenance. I sort of ignored it for a couple of years.

I've been incredibly lucky that it didn't have root rot or much of anything else, aside from the odious spider mites that sometimes bother it.

I'm probably jinxing myself but I have several pieces that I cut off of another adenium and just stuck in some dirt, I didn't know any better. But, they have all rooted and are putting out leaves and blooms. So, perhaps if you let it get really dry between watering you won't have a problem.

Ok, ladies and gents... that was the Saturday project, this was today's project...

My mom came over and wanted to play with succulents. We made this together:



Then, she looked over at the other adenium she had brought me to unearth, like a week ago.

Mom: When are you going to work on my other desert rose?
Me: No time like the present!

Sooo... this is the desert rose before (yep, notice the wrong pot):



We rinsed the caudex:





It is still a relatively small plant. I mentioned to her about the excess of nitrogen, and she mentioned she was using 20-20-20 fertilizer. I'm looking into getting the 10-20-30 Melissa recommended for her plants and mine.

I was going to let it alone. The roots were strong and didn't need much trimming. I just wanted to change that pot. However, we noticed on the leaves, there was that sticky white film... mealy bugs? whitefly? I don't know, but I decided then to hack a few branches. Sprinkled with cinnamon of course.



So now it's hanging. Since I didn't do much to it, I expect to plant it in its new pot (with nice draining holes) in about a week. I love every time I get to garden on a weekend!!!!

Once the Adenium's roots have dried, and should be a little soft, you might want to pry them apart a little. They squeeze and constrict the roots that are under them. I use chicken bones to keep them apart, hahaha. I eat the chicken, boil the bones for an hour or more, bury the bones in a pot of dirt for a week or two, then they are far gone enough to not stink or anything. Once they are 'at work' holding the roots where you want them, they gradually rot, becoming fertilizer.

Here's a funny photo of a limb coming up from a cut---

Hi, all.

Melissa, you forgot one advantage to your chicken bone method: once you have removed the bones from the pot, you can add salt, pepper, parsley, diced onion, diced carrots and chopped celery to the liquid and simmering for 45 minutes, thereby making a glorious homemade chicken broth. My mom taught at a very early age that homemade broth is liquid gold. I freeze mine in 2-cup sizes, so when I need chicken broth, I just reach into the freezer.

Sylvain.

Oh, hey, I have always made broth! I don't add all those other things, but I do make soup. "They" have discovered that the stuff in stock helps with arthritis. The little bit of dissolved cartilage.

Melissa, I like you..

Sylvain.

Melissa that needs to be on the garden tip thingy!! Cool Idea...


RobertB!

Thank you! i would use all those extra ingredients, but I just keep a rather spare kitchen. Chicken water? haha
.This is Siam Golden Aroma, second blooming, and yes, a little fragrant first thing in the morning. I tried to pollinate it, using pollen from a white that was fragrant ONE time... Fickle plants!

Fickle, but we're kinda obsessed with them.

more fickle then most of them are Melissa

i am thinking as they cross bread so many times for color or smell we are loosing the natural defense these plants used to have!!

but most of us are looking for different better flowers so the demand is there.

So glad it bloomed correct this time for you and hope the bigger it gets the better it gets, id love to see the cross you might get!!

I'll post if the thing sets a pod. It'll be a week or so before I know, the flower hasn't dropped off yet, then the pod has to begin developing. S--L--O--W living plants!

The smelly white.