Hey, Hi, Jonna! You were on Dave's Gardens. I hope all is well with you, way down there in Mexico.

We do live on a shrinking planet. The Caribbean is quite well populated, not sleepy huts on beaches. We even have a Home Depot here, tho' we've nicnamed it China Depot. St Croix has about 50,000 people, and even rush hour traffic on the two lane roads, haha.

Heh! Rush hour traffic on a sand road is a lot more relaxing. We've had a place on the Caribbean coast of MX for about 15 years, don't live there it is a weekend place. So, I have some idea of the beauty and ease of getting around. Mostly though, I was thinking that islands tend to have lots of rules about plants entering. It's no easy thing to import plant matter here. I am often envious of the many hybrids available NOB (north of the border) and wish I could find named varieties easily. I do get mail here, I live in a large city, but it generally takes a couple of weeks from the US or Canada and if it contained plant matter I doubt it would make it through customs.

It's good to see you here. I am trying to read and post more often here than I did on Dave's.

Hello Jonna, welcome,

Jonna
Wow i wish i could help you. I have an import permit but not export i have a few friends and business clients that ship world wide im going to ask around and see what we need to do to get you some of the things you want ( if it is possible) sometimes having someone trying to get plants in is easier them you ordering and being on that side. i love a challenge!!!.
Nice to meet you Im in Florida and had done a few co-ops and made lot of new freinds i was on daves for a long time till i posted a few things that there admin did not like and i speak my mind and they banned me i acually posted the link to this site and the told me i could not promote MY website dave and i had a good laugh at that.


ok QUESTION anyone use artificial lighting and heat to keep adeniums from going dormit and continue to grow? NEED ADVICE i need to push these purple rose to be ready for the market in the spring!

thanks mike

Thanks Mike, it will be interesting to see what you find out. I have gotten some hybrid tropical lilies brought in, they were imported by a regular importer from a friend of mine in Florida who is a commercial developer. I had to pay quite a lot for them because of the middle man, it was worth it for a few lilies but it isn't something I can regularly do.

Can't help you with artificial sunlight but here is one of mine blooming in the natural stuff. Don't mind the tin foil on the caudex, it is to keep my cats from using it as a scratching post, something they like to do.

that is a great plant i have a lot of mine just stopped blooming and there setting more the artifichial lights are for the purple rose adeniums i just got they are grafted in Thailand and we just got them the grafts are about 60 days old and the scion is about 9 months old so there still very small.i want to have them at least double in size if i cant get them to bloom till they go outside in the spring that will have to do but i cant afford them to go dorm it i have a lot of money in my plant stock.

i am getting back in to plumeria and i also got them grafted in Thailand and they need re-potted so i have decided to let go dorm it and ill re-pot in bigger pots for spring hoping they are going too bloom this next year.

I am now trying to figure out when to plant my amaryllis for market have about 65 need to have in middle of bloom for the holiday for my 2 consumers im supplying the weather cant make up its mind 45-60 at night and 75-87 day that is to big of difference to figure growing times.

at least it is keeping my mind off my back surgery on 11/24 im freaked out BAD about it.

mike

Jonna, in general, kitties will use, even prefer, their own scratching post, if you give them one. The easiest for me is a two/three foot piece of coconut tree trunk. It doesn't shed much or at all, and costs zip, if you're there when someone cuts down the tree. I guess any palm trunk would work. Or any tree, but a barky tree can get messy.

I guess the Thailand nurseries might all be out of business by now. So sad, the flooding. Most of the population lives on flat land, and the hills are wooded and sparsely built upon.

Unfortunately, we have too many cats. My partner volunteers at an animal rescue place and we have failed too many times at fostering feral kittens. We get them tame but we fall in love with them and they end up staying. So, no more fostering and we are at our limit with 6 cats and 3 dogs. They do have scratching posts, several, and they use the fish tail palm in the yard but they also really like those big caudex's on the desert rose and the pony tail palm. They killed a really large pony tail palm (Beaucarnea recurvata) by girdling it and my not noticing it in time.

It is such a shame what is happening in Thailand, really horrible. I have friends leaving for Bangkok on Nov 2nd and they are trying to decide if they need to change their flight. They are mainly going to Cambodia but Bangkok was the direct flight.

We are also looking at a hurricane, Rina, that is due to hit directly where our condo is on the Caribbean coast a couple of hours from here. Not too bad, it has been downgraded now to a Cat 1 but the storm surge is always a worry. Friends arrive tonight to stay with us rather than ride it out with 4 kids, I'm glad they made that decision.

Jonna, I have been wondering if you were in Rina's path. I need to look up Merida, OK. I hope this storm doesn't keep going and head east, like Lenny and ... um, the other one. The worst hurricane to hit St Croix was on an October 29th. My best wishes for good luck to you and yours!

So off topic, but the animal shelter on St John, the tiniest of the US Virgins, has a no kill policy. The cats get a few days at the shelter, then they are 'fixed' and turned loose! There are feeding stations here and there, but still, that's just not right. Poor birds! And, owell.

I have two grafted Adeniums that are overgrowing the -- ?? bottoms. I think I'll try burying the stems and see if the enthusiastic things will sprout roots. Then I'll have a really wierd creature on my hands, or possibly in my pots. Any comments?
.

i HAVE A FEW NEW ONES THAT ARE GROWING FROM THE GRAFT BUT SEE A LITTLE SPROUT LIKE YOURS THIS WILL BE WHAT EVER THE SION IS OR SEEDLING IM LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING DIFFERENT BLOOMS ON ONE PLANT. i AM PLANNING ON GRAFTING A FEW OF MINE WITH 5-8 DIFFERENT KINDS OF BLOOMS I THINK IF I CAN DO THAT IT WOULD BE A COOL PLANT IF IT BLOOMS WHITE, PINK,RED, WHITE INNER WITH RED OUTER , WHITE INNER AND PINK OUTER AND A FEW OTHER . ONE OF MY PROJECTS FOR NET SPRING/SUMMER

I think that would be really cool!

Hi, everyone.

My grandfather used to graft everything in sight. We had an apple tree with 4 kinds apples growing on it: Mc Intosh, Lobo, Cortland and Melba. It was interesting to see, but he never could stand to have me around him, so I was never taught how to do it. I guess I could learn how to do it, one of those days.

Take care, all.
Sylvain.

I was on a benefit house tour last Sunday and saw this really large adenium at one of the houses so I took a picture. It looks like it doesn't get much care but it is just blooming away. With the pot it was taller than I am so over 5'8".

Can you imagine what the base looks like??? Wow! That is a nice DR.

I agree, Charleen! Though the plant could eventually break the pot.

Wouldn't it look neat though with the caudex exposed and perhaps trimmed a bit? I can't remember whether it was one of the houses for sale or just donated for the tour.

That's the natural size, I'm in the "no-cut" school. Yes, lifted to show off the caudex would be great!

I'll eventually find the photos of an eleven year old plant a friend let me re-pot. You should have seen his expression when that huge caudex came out of the pot! teehee, the man had no idea what a caudex was. Now he's hooked.

Here's a photo of a root that got big, after the top had been exposed. You can see where the soil was.

Can it be too early to lift a plant? I mean, can the plant be too young if there's a caudex formed?

Usually I lift a plant just a little at about a year old, meaning, only an inch or so. Supposedly they do a disporportionate ( a lot) of growing their first three years, then slow down.

I imagine the base is square, don't you Melissa. I'd love to see it. Keep an eye on it Jonna, ask them to call you if they ever repot it. I 'd love to see pictures...