I was hoping that when I made the second post, that it'd be about one of my seedlings blooming. That isn't the case. I figured maybe if I finally complain, one of them will do something about it. Let's see, where did I leave off of two years ago... Oh, yes! Sharing my successful cross-pollinating attempt between my adeniums and the seeds that came from it.
I held off until Spring 2017 before I decided to surface-sow 20 seeds. This is because I was still nervous about a failed attempt during Winter 2016 where I bought seeds to participate in a
Community Grow Out. All of those seedlings died. They had a good start during very late summer and didn't seem happy during Winter under a grow light, I don't know. But anyways, I digress.
On April 15, 2017, decided to start with 20 seeds so that I'd have lots of seeds waiting for further attempts should I suffer another severe setback because I never really have luck with seeds of succulents. I thought I had a picture of when I set it up but it appears the picture I have is of when the seeds started germinating about a week later on the 23rd.
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| April 23, 2017 - Desert Rose seeds germinating |
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| April 30, 2017 - Desert Rose seedlings growing |
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| June 6, 2017 - Still going strong! |
Then there was an issue that forced me to repot the seedlings. I thought I took a picture before I did the repotting but I guess I didn't. The storms got stronger in July and I wasn't paying attention and the mix stayed too wet that rot was appearing. I was scared that the seedlings were way too young to be repotted into gritty mix but I took the leap, again relying on the fact that I had more seeds to grow if I had to start over again.
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| July 23, 2017 - 13 adenium seedlings repotted into gritty mix. |
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| July 23, 2017 - Showing the damage on "Three Musketeers" |
I didn't want to waste gritty mix on the remaining three which I've come to call "The Three Musketeers".
I threw away the remaining seedlings that were shriveling up and soft. I thought I took a picture but I guess I didn't. One of the shriveling seedlings that I tossed aside had actually recovered and started sprouting leaves. I stuck that in a flowerbox full of normal dirt as an experiment. After a bunch of storms, the tip of the plant shriveled up and lost its leaves so I yanked out the seedling to see the roots and tossed it away again (keep this in mind for what's coming later).
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| August 17, 2017 - It adjusted pretty well to the gritty mix. |
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| August 17, 2017 - Three Musketeers are still going! |
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| October 20, 2017 |
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| October 20, 2017 |
This was when temperatures started dipping way too low for my comfort and I started bringing them in during nights before putting them back outside for the day. This continued well into December.
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| December 23, 2017 - Approaching Christmas and they're all here still! |
Winter finally made a permanent appearance in January that I set up the seedlings in front of the heating vent with the grow light panel I used last year. I was nervous that the seedlings would struggle and die like the batch of seeds I bought the previous year so that was a nail biting time.
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| January 6, 2018 - Seedlings under grow light. |
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| January 6, 2018 - Seedlings under grow light and in front of vent for heat. |
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| February 6, 2018 - Back to a out-during-day-and-under-grow-light-at-night routine. |
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| April 2, 2018 - They survived the winter much to my relief. |
Then, come the 24th of April, I decided that, hey!!! Since all my seedlings survived the winter just fine, why don't I plant the rest of the seeds to see if any are variegated or whatever else?! I mean, gosh, they say that germination rates are terrible the older the seeds are and they're from 2016, right? I'll just nurse what comes up! They can't all be alive and kicking, right?
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| April 24, 2018 - It's go time! |
Look at that bad boy! All those seeds! So old! So old and only a few are to come up!
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| May 10, 2018 - Seedlings coming up... |
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| May 15, 2018 - That's... a lot. |
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| May 23, 2018 - All starting to stand up! |
Then on May 27th, I was moving pots around to make room in the back of the wagon when I came across a strange lump. I picked it up and I could not believe what I was looking at. The seedling that was growing in the dirt box last year. It was STILL alive. I don't know how! How did it survive the whole winter out there? We had days of frozen temps with snow sticking around...
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| May 27, 2018 - Discovered seedling from last year... |
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| May 27, 2018 - Immediately potted in gritty mix. |
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| June 13, 2018 - Seedlings still going! |
I guess it was kind of disappointing that there's no variegated or anything new or funky. Many of them seem to be normal and happy!
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| July 4, 2018 - Give me freedom! |
The seedling I always kept next to the Three Musketeers finally burst through its cup which was kind of amazing to see. It was quickly repotted.
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| July 4, 2018 - Repotted in a random pot! |
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| July 4, 2018 - Seedlings still going! |
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| July 4, 2018 - Seedlings side profile. |
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| July 16, 2018 - Three Musketeers next to split its cup! |
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| July 27, 2018 - Everyone together in one shot! |
That's pretty much where I am today (I apologize for the two weeds in the cups. I kind of used them a as a 'water' meter in case they needed watering. Bad idea, I guess!). I do sometimes dance back and forth when it comes to the little seedlings because of the rot the older seedlings endured last year around this time. I'm guessing because there's so many seedlings in it this time, that maybe it doesn't stay wet too long. I don't know. I haven't experienced any issues yet. They're still happy so far... but I know they'll have to be repotted eventually.
I have in mind some idea of maybe using a somewhat long tray with gritty mix and working them in row by row so that I can put them under the grow light come winter or something. But man, it probably won't work out that way. I know I can't do them in separate cups right now because that'd take up a LOT of space.
Hopefully making this post will prompt one of the older seedlings into blooming but I don't know! Sorry about all the pictures. :D
First post:
Desert Rose (Adenium Obesum) Seed Pods and Seeds
