My Pachypodiums and other Caudiciforms

[Smotzer]

That should be easy, set it up like a chicken barn, they have fans to blow air through them

exactly!!

 

[Smotzer]

@jrh3 and as far as plants go I highly reccomend any of these species, or just cacti and succlents in general (which i'll post some more of those on here), theres such a wide array of different types of plants in these sections, theres always something new to try and grow and become fascinated with .

 

[Smotzer]

I think next I’ll move into one of the jewels collection my only Euphorbia esculenta! and for the first time( unless I missed it) it bloomed this year!

 

[Smotzer]

Here’s Euphorbia poisonii, like all the Euphobias I’ve attempted to grow from seed they were pretty difficult to get conditions right for germination. Not the best looking guys but still a cool species. This seems to be a spinier version of this species

 

[Smotzer]

A poor looking grafted Euphorbia unispina I did.

 

[Smotzer]

Here’s Adenium obesum

 

[Smotzer]

Next are my Adenium arabicum which are literally just as old as the A. obesum posted above, but no where near the same size. Soooo slow growing!!

 

[jrh3]

Do you have an online shop your prefer ? Or just get them locally?

 

[Smotzer]

@jrh3 Well all of these, with a few to come exceptions, are all seed grown. I get my seeds from a grower who also goes collecting in Africa and Madagascar. Pachypodium seeds are hard to come by, but if you would like some when I place an order, which I plan on soon, I would be happy to include stuff you wanted and then ship it to you. What species are you maybe wanting? If theres anything you want Id also be happy to root around in the succulent world and people i know to see if i can track something down for you!!
I dont know of anywhere locally to get these plants or seeds.

 

[jrh3]

@jrh3 Well all of these, with a few to come exceptions, are all seed grown. I get my seeds from a grower who also goes collecting in Africa and Madagascar. Pachypodium seeds are hard to come by, but if you would like some when I place an order, which I plan on soon, I would be happy to include stuff you wanted and then ship it to you. What species are you maybe wanting? If theres anything you want Id also be happy to root around in the succulent world and people i know to see if i can track something down for you!!
I dont know of anywhere locally to get these plants or seeds.

Let me do some research first, I will let you know. Want to do a little studying up on the different ones.

 

[Smotzer]

If you have any questions feel free to just ask them here! Ive been really succusful with growing and keeping them over the last almost decade.

and im going to post a few more species tonight

 

[jrh3]

Have you ever tried growing Adansonia grandidieri? I know they are trees but they sure look interesting.

 

[Smotzer]

Gandidier’s boabab!! I actually have tried growing then but I did not prepare the seeds the right way, and only had one germinate and it didn’t survive. At the time I couldn’t find much information, but since have found out what to do correctly. If you plan to try and grow them, you need to clean the seed well, if it’s not already cleaned, then you need to hot water scarify the seeds, simply place them in really hot but not boiling water and allow them to cool down and soak for 24hrs or more. And then plant them shallowly, in a well drained mixture, some peat, sand, and crushed stone, and then coverthem with sand lightly and water them occasionally till they germinate. Could be a couple weeks till that happens.

 

[Smotzer]

@jrh3 I just asked around, and there are a few places you can get Adansonia sp. seeds, A. digitata is what is the most common, I would be hard pressed to believe if you ordered A. grandidieri off something like amazon that it would actually be that and not A. digitata. Also my friend currently has Pachypodium rosulatum subsp. gracilius right now, and a subsp. of P. lamerei, and P. gaeyi. And I can defintely get you Adenium obesum seeds.

 

[Smotzer]

I think next I’ll share my specimen Crassula species with y’all, both were gifts from my old greenhouse professor at school. Up first is my probably 10-15yr Crassula ovata ’Gollum’ that I have been selectively branch training, as well as cascade training for the 8yrs

 

[Smotzer]

Now here’s an old jade! My straight Crassula ovata. My old greenhouse teacher had been there for 19year prior to when I met her and she gifted this to me. 7yrs have passed since then. So it’s at least 26 yrs old. You’ll see a big scar in it, there used to be a giant leader growing straight up that was about 3ft tall amd full of branching, but it rotted out, as a project, how I got the plant, I removed the whole top and cleaned out the entire middle of the trunk. Today many years later that holes had completely healed over. now I’ve just been letting it grow and re-establish. It’s trunk is larger than my hand wrapped around the trunk, my fingers do not touch!!

 

[Smotzer]

Dioscorea elephantipes was a really fun plant to grow from seed and watch the caudices grow and get that awesome look! They come from South Africa and it is said that if cared for some can live around 70 years!!

 

[Smotzer]

@jrh3 the above mentioned Dioscorea elephantipes can be grown indoors, and makes an attractive house plant, can live inside year round, or you can move it outisde in the summers, but if you do it may go dormant for a period of time when you move it in during the winters! fairly easy to grow from seed, and just needs to be watered with fertilizer when you water, with a good fast draining soil.

 

[pannaking22]

That D. elephantipes is incredible! What lighting requirements does it have? Might have to try my hand with a few seeds if they're pretty straightforward.

 

[Leila]

Definitely the thorniest of the lot the Pachypodium lamerei (the tall awesome ones) View attachment 334509

Oh wow! These are beautiful