You "Ricks" is getting confusing. Sorry.

I'm not confused.

RickCorey strives to share valuable plant care information couched in laymen's terms that could be better understood by us.

RickCorey said:It delights me greatly that we now understand enough about soil and plants that things like "burn" and "well-drained" can be understood at the level of chemistry and physics.

RickCanada strives to share valuable information specific to adenium culture.

I appreciate both of them!

And then there's Ric. You are younger than I, KD.

Oh no! Another acronym, Ken? I can't take this abuse any more....

Perhaps I should just go back to using the term "solarium", or if that's too highfalutin, just "sunroom". Ursula has a similar structure as I, but hers is much more of a greenhouse, built for growing and propagating plants rather than for human inhabitation. I think that's right but @Ursula can correct me if I err. I my mind, and I'm no architect, a sunroom will have a solid roof but a solarium will have a glass roof. Again, for those in the business of building such things, correct me if I'm wrong. Our new space has glass walls and a glass ceiling, at least a glass ceiling over half of the structure. But it is as much a living space as a greenhouse space. If anyone has a better term than "solarium", please drop it on me. I am all eyes and ears.

Hey Ken, I was funning with you about acronyms...certainly meant no harm. Had nothing to do with your solarium...wish I had one too!

I hear my name again!
Rick Corey, that is good information.
I keep a fishtank over the Winter in the greenhouse, twice a week many of my plants get watered with Aquarium water and my Adenium seedlings ( seeds from the same plants as Ken's, but started in April 2015) get a bit of that too once in a while.

I see that talk of my greenhouse is coming up, I do have the Geneva greenhouse built by Florian and it has a glass ceiling and it is part of the house. Yes, you can make it to be an extra room to sit in. That idea went out the window during the first year, I just choose to fill it with mostly Orchids up to the gills. Nothing wrong with giving our favorite growing space a name to refer it by.

Absolutely no harm taken, KD.

No problem, Rick (RCanada). I should remember to put a simple answer at the top of the post, and then put "If you're interested ..." before I go on and on and on.

That way there's a clear point to start hitting "Page Down".

So many things are different from garden to garden, and gardener to gardener, that I have the belief that ANY simple answer is wrong for someone, somewhere.

Of course, "You COULD do hours or days of research before guessing what to try next" is advice that 70-80% of people have NO desire to follow! (But I love doing that. I can do research without kneeling or even bending over!)

RickC, I love reading all this info and is a great past time of mine when gardening has taken a hiatus. For myself, I need to read some, absorb it, question it, then make sense of it and read on. Just my make up. Then, it is not tried until I have to tell someone else. I find then it (info) is even more clear.
Enough of my rambling.

All good to hear and we all take away something from it.
Rick

>> Then, it is not tried until I have to tell someone else.

I usually find out whether or not I REALLY understand something when I try to explain it. If it comes out sounding lame and confused - that means I was confused.

My theory is that when someone REALLY understands something, their explanation will be so simple that it sounds obvious. The question might have taken 300 years of work by thousands of people to FIND the answer, but once the right answer is found and well understood, a good explanation will leave a student thinking 'THAT'S totally obvious!"

(I'm not sure the opposite is true. Sometimes when you read something in a textbook and it sounds fishy or like someone is glossing over important details, hoping you won't notice the hand-waving, it's because the author didn't know the RIGHT answer, he only knew the double-talk he was taught. But sometimes it just means that the right answer was complicated and the author decided that "simple" was better than "right" for his book.

And sometimes it means the answer was right but I didn't understand it - either the author was unclear or I was dense.

OK, I guess the other opposite is sometimes true, too. Some clear and simple answers are wrong, too! Listen to any political ad or debate.

For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.
H L Mencken

I am also a newbie to growing adenium and mine are about 2 inches tall now with lots of leaves. Let them outside in the deck today in overcast sunshine. They are coming back in now along with other seedlings that need to be sheltered from the rainstorm forecast for tomorrow.

Salemmc said:The desert rose has been growing misshapen leaves and I need to put it in a larger pot soon. (It's in a salad bowl because I don't have anything large enough for it until the gardening centre opens)

@Salemmc
Welcome to ATP! I am bringing your attention to this forum as there is a lot of information here you can glean for the care of your tree.

Your Adenium obesum tree has a very nice form. Love the large caudex and the numerous branching. I know you are aware that she needs to be planted in a container that has numerous drain holes at the bottom. I would stay away from clay pots unless you are willing to water more often as they wick out moisture from your potting mix too quickly.

The media you have her in right now would be okay with a little more coarse perlite mixed in. During warm active growing periods outdoors adeniums require more water, but it will not tolerate a constant wet medium. Water when the top inch of the media is dry. A balanced liquid fertilizer is okay when applied at 1/4 to 1/2 the recommended rate and about every 3 weeks.

Again, welcome to ATP, Salem! There is so much more to Adeniums than meets the eye, so please do ask any time you have a question.

@DrDawg My BFF calls her glass room addition, the "Sun Room"

I have a non-thriving 3 year old adenium. It is in a shallow clay pot and has been about 4-5" tall for a loooooong time without progressing. It has leaves and 1-2 little itty bitty branches. It was a gift as a 1/2" seedling. It's been so long I have since lost the tag and have gotten what it is? I think it's pink? No red? No, IDK? Anyway. The leaves are a very light green and have been that way forever. It has a cute little caudex. But other than that it is very non-exciting. What gives? Why is it not growing? I have posted pictures of it before. I am sure it looks the same as when I posted last.

Cheryl, adeniums are quirky to say the least. I also have adeniums that remain small...some kind of genetic thing going on I think. Sooo...what I have done with these is to change out their media into a grittier mix (keeping the root ball intact so as not to stress the plant further), and placed them in ceramic bonsai containers. They are my special little ones and I love them!


These adeniums are all about the same age. (Magnify the pic to see the other two.) As you can see, the three little ones had remained small so I transferred them into ceramic pots in gritty mix. They are doing quite well...in fact, one of the little ones looks like it's got tiny flower buds growing out..

Which ones are these smaller ones Kadie? The one in the middle ( teal green pot) is an interesting shape. The two larger ones are gorgeous. I love their caudex's and the way the look in those Panterra bowls.
Rick

That's really something, KD. Adeniums, unlike most plants, are certainly not "cooker-cuttings". I am seeing the same phenomenon with my 9 mo. old plants. All are taking on their own growth-personality. Mine are all obesum and none have that interesting caudex formation yet.

Cheryl, our addition was a "sun-room" as well until the cost passed a certain point. Then it because a "solarium". @Ursula has named it the "OPP room", orchid and plumeria paradise.

Ken it is funny how our perception changes as we increase the budget.

As my adenium babies germinated half were short and fat and half were tall and skinny. When the weather warmed I put them outside and the short fat ones have thrived but the tall skinny ones all croaked. They all just keeled over the same day, it was very strange.