In wishing for my adeniums to spread their roots rather than growing like carrots, I've put a lot of them in shallow pots. It's a bit hit or miss and now and then, they push themselves into weird angles and threaten to tip over.
My favourite tool for fixing the problem is an old toothbrush. Gently poking the potting medium into place with the back of the toothbrush to give better support and then using the bristles to softly get any soil off the bottom of the caudex and roots that end up above ground.
I straightened up a few today, starting with this one, designated 2C.
2C was sown March 31 2021. In November 2021 - January 2022, I had an infestation of spider mites that resulted in a lot of my seedlings ending up like this:
2C was not in a great shape either. I'm not sure what exactly the stuff around the soil line was, but it was a hard crust that was not only on the plants, but on the pots and tags too. Most of the seedlings that got it died. I tried carefully scraping it off and while the plant survived, it was hanging on by a thread.
A year and another round of spider mites later, it was getting mushy in the scraped parts and I was pretty sure it was not going to make it. Still, I did what I could and cut away all the brown until only fresh green/white remained.
This is how it looks now.
Scarred, yes, but alive, with roots thick enough to be pushing it out of the pot. Dry and firm (the brown is from cinnamon).
Which brings me back to the toothbrush. By gently brushing the above soil roots and codex, there is nothing to potentially keep water there and get the rot started as long as they're not overwatered. I'm trying to remember to do this every so often and I'm cautiously optimistic as I have not discovered rot on any of the adeniums this winter. It probably also helps that I've grouped up most of the arabicums and socos to make sure I don't water them as often as the somalense and obesums.
