Here are a dozen and a half plants, all germinated about 10 months ago. Other than the tall one ("Green Giant"), they were all up-potted into 3 1/2" plastic pots in January. The Green Giant is still in its original 3 1/2" clay pot. Six of them were up-potted again yesterday and are now in 5" plastic pots.

I have uncovered the base of the Green Giant so you can see its caudex/roots development. Is there anything I need to do with these plants now or just let them grow?

Ken, Just let them go and keep the roots covered. Do not raise them at this age. You will find that the roots underneath of the soil line will become much larger and quicker if left underneath soil.
Looking good.
Rick

Thanks for the information, Rick. Do I just leave them be through the summer?

Yes, you can leave them. You mention about "Green Giant" in same 3 1/2" pot. Might be worth potting it up into a 5"-6" pot. Keep at same level on caudex.
Rick

OK, I can do that easily. I would put it in a nice, shallow 6", ceramic pot, but since I need to keep it at the same depth, I will have to go with a more standard plastic pot.

It is funny how this one plant is at 16" and the rest are anywhere from 6" up to 10". They were all germinated at the same time, all within days of each other. Some have branched but this tall one shows no sign of doing so.

Thanks again, Rick.

Reading along, since I was about to ask similar questions.
Ken, you might remember that one of the parents of these seeds is a plant which I used to keep at eye-height level by regularly trimming it. If I wouldn't have done that, it would surely have hit the ceiling in the greenhouse!! The trunk was shaped a bit like that of Adenium somalense, comparing it to pictures of that.
That's what makes seeds like those fun, we really have no idea what exactly we have here.
Btw, yours look terrific!

Ursula. These plants have been fun to watch as they develop.

Both yourself Ken and Ursula are right. It is quite interesting to say the least, seeing the differences from the same seed pod grow. I was sent some seeds from my sister-in-law from Nassau of an Adenium which grows outside their home. I started them, but only got two to germinate. Still have the one and it is now 3yrs. of age. It is very small for it's age in comparison to any others started around the same time. Normally I would not keep any small plants such as it, but I wanted to do so because of where it came from.
I kept a few different variants of same seed lot just to see the difference in growth, characteristics and bloom. Can definitely see where, you get what you get with these Adenium seed grown plants.
Not a bad thing, interesting with possibilities of good things.
Rick

Ursula said:Ken, you might remember that one of the parents of these seeds is a plant which I used to keep at eye-height level by regularly trimming it. If I wouldn't have done that, it would surely have hit the ceiling in the greenhouse!! The trunk was shaped a bit like that of Adenium somalense, comparing it to pictures of that.

drdawg said:

Ken, I planted some A. somalense last December. The caudex of your "Green Giant" resembles the caudexes on my somalense seedlings. The stems are supposed to grow quite tall as compared to other adenium varieties. I'm in the process of up-potting them...will take and post pictures later.
http://adenium.tucsoncactus.or...

I know this is probably a stupid question, but does this mean that the plant may be Adenium somalense and not Adenium obesium? I have all those plants germinated (seeds from Ursula) with obesium labels.

Ken, if you recall:
I have three plants - a very small Adenium multiflorum 'Mombassa', a " regular/common Adenium obesum, and this third plant which surely is not pure Adenium somalense, but probably some hybrid with some somalense thrown in. Perhaps!
All three flower on my deck during the Summer months, but I never have gotten seed pods on the small multiflorum, only on the other two.
I think you and others mentioned that all are Adenium obesum, the others are subspecies? So your labeling would be correct in any case.

Got it. Thanks, Ursula. Unlike lots of my orchids, the labels will remain as is.

Ursula is right on! The A. obesum "Green Giant" appears to have genes/traits that gave it the caudex resembling A. somalense.

Many of my A. obesums have genes/characteristics from other subspecies. One I call, a wannabe Anaconda (somalense), another I call a wannabe Thai Soco, and another, a wannabe arabicum.

One happy party/ pollination mix up!

Hey, if I planted this "Green Giant" in a shallow, 4" deep x 6" wide ceramic pot, would that work? Perhaps being in a shallow pot would force it to grow its caudex/roots above-ground? Don't have a clue.

Ken, with somalense traits, and from my research, I recommend growing in deep pots, not shallow. They need a deep pot for their roots. The beauty of this one will be in its tall stature and tapering caudex. Somalense caudex are not lifted.

OK, will re-pot it in a 6" wide, 8" deep, gallon pot then.

Here we are almost a month later. The "green giant" is in a 7.5" pot and 8 plants are now in 5" pots. The next to the last photo is of a plant that I thought was a goner. It looked like it was rotting half way up the stem, so I simply buried it a bit deeper to see what it would do. That was one of the plants that I elevated a couple of months ago. By the way, I don't see that my tap-root trimming or elevation did a doggone thing, other than almost killing this one plant. It may still die but I think its going to be a survivor.

Two of the plants, one on either side of the green giant, are catching up to its brother. Several of the plants have branched and several more look to be growing branches, as you can see in the 3rd and 5th photos. All in all, they appear to be growing well and are getting lots of sun. I am going to go ahead and put the green giant outside in the Plumeria Patch, along with his brothers and sisters.

Ken, thanks for posting updates and pictures of your very first adenium experience/experiments! It's nice to see others' works. Your babies are looking real good.