January 2015 - Epic Grower LLC

January 25, 2015

Spring adenium plants, cactus and succulents

Forever Love new 2015 adenium flower variety

Spring is a few weeks away in South Florida (we do not know the meaning of winter). The spring adenium plants are almost 100% leafed out and recently added to the Adeniumrose site. There are a few new desert rose flower types and some old ones not seen for a couple of years. Now is the time to look at your adenium plants and change their fertilization schedule from maintenance to growth. We recently increased the percentage of Dyna-Gro Grow and Tekt used so the plants have the nutrients needed for spring growth. The percentage is now the recommended amount by Dyna-Gro. In November, December and first part of January (semi-dormant time) we reduce the percentage by 50%.

The adenium seedlings in the larger 3″ pots, transplanted from the 2″ size pots last November, are ready to be cropped. AdeniumRose company will crop 50% of them within the next 1..2 weeks. The remainder will be available on the website. The 3″ seedlings, on the average, are 2..3 time larger than the standard seedlings.Seedlings tend to grow tall with very few if any branching the first year therefore we crop to form larger caudex growth and branching. Do not expect seedlings to bloom this year. Desert rose plant seedlings usually take 2 years before thy bloom.

The plumerias are all growing well and they started their spring growth. Some have leaves and others sprouted leaf buds. We do not expect to see the flowers for 1..2 months. This past month we received 15 different type of plumeria cuttings to grow. 90% of them are dwarf plumerias meaning they grow smaller branch segments and if grown in the ground they will stay in the 6′ to 8′ height range. If grown in pots the pot size will determine the plumeria plants size. It takes several months to grow a good root system from plumeria cuttings so Epic Grower Company does not expect to release them until mid to late summer (we will wait until they flower for the first time).

January 14, 2015

Adenium plants, succulents and cactus growing

Spring is just a couple months away and here in South Florida winter never came yet and may never. The November shipment of adeniums plants are leafing out and will be ready in late February/March to added to the AdeniumRose Company website. Now is the time to fertilize your adeniums plants. If you do not fertilize on a regular schedule then start with a diluted amount so you do not shock the desert rose plant. If you are using time released fertilizer then put a tablespoon of it on the top of the soil if you have not done so in the last 2 months.

If you have problem blooming adeniums then consider Dyna-Gro Bloom. Use the bloom fertilizer twice a month through February in the southern states and through March colder states or until unit you see flower buds.

In the southern states now is the time to crop the desert rose plants branches that are too long and/or take off branches below graft lines to force new growth on the hybrid branches. Remember grafted adenium plants only grow the adenium hybrid flowers on branches above the graft line. Branches that grow below the desert rose plant graft line will produce other flowers sometime standard adenium flowers and sometimes a different hybrid.

In the colder states crop the branches when the day temps are averaging 60 degrees or higher before cropping the adenium plant branches. If you have long summers like we do in South Florida wait until after they bloom before cropping the branches of mature adenium desert rose plants but no later than late July to give the plant two months to grow new branches before cool weather sets back in.

This is NOT the time to start adenium seeds. Wait until March and no later than June to start growing adenium seeds. If you have seedling wait until March before you crop the desert rose plants to force mulch-branch growth. Yes Epic Grower Company still has a few seedlings in the 2″ pots available now. larger seedlings have been replanted in 3.5″ pots and will be available in February.

January 6, 2015

Adenium seeds growing and flower types

Question : Hi Guy’s:I have had a few Desert Roses for 12 months or more and they are growing very well. have recently acquired a few more, but they are all similar in coloring and I am desperate to get as many colors as possible, so my question is: As I live in Australia, can I buy packs of seeds of each of the different colors, or can you recommend an Australian Nursery (preferably in Queensland) where I may be able to purchase good seeds or seedlings. We have a 5 acre property and we want to make a bit of a show-piece featuring Desert Roses and Frangipani’s along with Orchids and some hardy ferns.Many Thanks Christine

Answer: Good day Christine! We are locate in USA (MIAMI, Florida) so I not familiar with adenium nurseries in your area – Australia. Many people in the internet say they are selling seeds for a particular flower color/type; however, most are lying. A few mention that they cannot guarantee that the plants grow from adenium seeds will look like the parent plant but most do not. The simple truth is that when talking about hybrid seeds (any adenium flower type that does not naturally grow in the wild) only a small percentage actually will grow flowers like the parent plant. This is why if you want a particular adenium flower color or type is best to get a grafted desert rose plant. When plants are grafted the person who does the grafting takes a branch from a parent adenium plant with a particular flower type and place it on a desert rose stock plant.

When a grafted desert rose plant branch grows it will flower like the parent plant. If branches develop on the grafted plant BELOW the graft line then those branches will produce flowers like the stock plant not like the ones on the grafted branch.

When you do obtain desert rose adenium seeds is best to start to plant then in mid spring for best results. Do not plant the seeds later than early summer because you want the adenium seedlings plants well established by winter.