Hi Everyone,
I'm new to adeniums, but not new to ATP. My fascination with plants that are different, passi's and sculpted form daylilies, amung others, has led me to adeniums with their unique shapes.
A few weeks ago I bought some seeds from Mike and they have been planted two weeks this past Saturday. So far 30 of the cutest, little sdlgs have poked up. Thank you Mike, for making it possible for me to try growing these in Vt.
One thing I hadn't seen mentioned in any of the threads on seeds/seedlings was them growing upside down. I've had 3 that did this...never seen a seed that didn't know which way was up before Is this normal for adeniums? I've turned them right side up, one might have a very strange caudex as I didn't notice it soon enough and it has curled.

You can see it in the bottom edge middle of the tray. He's actually still upsidedown in the image...I noticed it just after taking the photo

With that many seedlings you are already hooked, Mike does a good job I have never has any upside down, what are the names and possable colors of your babies.

I agree, Mike has done a great job of hooking me!
So far there are 12 My Yellow Dream x Naked Paris, 2 Flame of Love x True Yellow, 1 Heirloom x Arctic Snow, 4 Star in Style x not sure and the rest are fun ones called Free Ask Me gift seeds from Mike that were open pollinated. As to what colors they might all bloom I really am not sure, I think the H x AS will most likely be white? I have noticed some of the little caudex's are green, yellow-green or have redish colors, do you know if this may be an indication of later bloom colors?

Mike do you have a yellow, for sure.
I want to repot my large plant should I wait untill it stops blooming?

I would not repot a plant while it is blooming if you can avoid it.

Hi, Char! Welcome to the 'pond'! Yes, sometimes the little ones get confused, and go up instead of down. Best to do what you did and help them along. Keep in touch!

with both I would not and hate to repot anything that is in bloom it puts the plant into some shock and the first thing that a plant will do that gets put in shock is drop flowers then drop leaves. this is self preservation. Now when i ship plants in bloom or have buds I take all precautions to try to keep it from shock.

First i feed the plant a transplant/ root stimulator and do this 4-6 days before. then its not right most the time but if i am trying to save blooms i trim some extra leaves to reduce amount of energy that plant needs and i leave as much of the soil intact that have the feeder roots. I will wrap in wet moss or paper if i think it needs it or i wrap in plastic to lock in the moisture that i have gave it, BUT you can never tell if all this will work. I have a few adeniums that if i bring in doors to enjoy the blooms they will sense a change they will drop flowers and then leaves start turning yellow until i get back in its resting home.

mike

Char said:
One thing I hadn't seen mentioned in any of the threads on seeds/seedlings was them growing upside down. I've had 3 that did this...never seen a seed that didn't know which way was up before Is this normal for adeniums? I've turned them right side up, one might have a very strange caudex as I didn't notice it soon enough and it has curled.

You can see it in the bottom edge middle of the tray. He's actually still upsidedown in the image...I noticed it just after taking the photo

This may interest you...:

http://www.siamadenium.com/Art...

RobertB

Very interesting link. Thanks.

Sylvain.

RobertB, I still cannot quite understand,
"The ending of seed pod will be root part and Top of it will be branch part."

'Branch' meaning the stem or the end, or the outside or the inside or the bud end?? The photo does not help at all!!!

Seems to me that the 'end' of the pod, the part farthest away from the plant, would have the leaf part of the new plant, and the stem end, the part connected to the mother plant, would have the roots. BUT my first effort with marking seeds made my thinking backwards.

Huh?????????

This is a great link, Thank you Robert!
The red dots would appear to be very helpful if they were put on when the seeds were taken from the pod. The seeds I had were not marked and even if they were, I took the thin brown covers off after soaking. My eyesight isn't the greatest to be poking anything with a toothpick and I had read another thread where someone had done their seeds that way. Not knowing which end was up, I placed the white rice-like seed flat in the little trench. Now I'm not sure who didn't know which way was up, me or the seed
The little kids are growing well so far. They get carried inside at night, our temps have been unpredictable with several nights in the 40's last week, then back outside in the morning once it warms up.
How does everyone get pods? Do you hand pollinate or is some bug/moth doing it for you?

Pods are from bugs, mine are assisted by a little butterfly called a Skipper. Also thrips, itty bitty guys that crawl around inside the flower.

Hand pollinating is the way to go if you want to make a cross between two types of flowers.