Question about the adenium plant seeds. I have what looks like seed pods on my plant for the first time in about 12 years these seem to appear after I planted new adenium plant near by in pots. One question is did this happen due to knew plants in the area. If i plant the pods how will i go about starting a plant from seeds. – Carolyn (I put your question on the blog for all to hear the answer about adenium growing).
Answer: Yes and no. The same plant can pollinate its own flowers to produce adenium seeds. You can cross pollinate one flower with another to create a new hybrid flower. Most of the time adenium plants need to be many years old before they produce seed pots. We have had a few adenium plants produce seeds as young as 4 years old, however, most are 8 years and older before the desert rose plant start to producing viable seed pods.
Depending upon your growing location, soil, water and other things will all effect whether an adenium plant produces viable seeds. Usually the younger the desert rose plant the less likely the seeds will produce healthy plants. Your adenium plant is 15yrs old so the seeds should be easy to grow. if you plan to collect the adenium seeds we highly recommend that you do NOT take the pod off the plant. Instead wrap plastic around the pod before it splits open to catch the seeds before they go airborne. The adenium seeds from the pods have whiskers to help them float away in the wind once the desert rose seed pod splits.Also, remember that the adenium seeds do not always produce the same flowers as the mother plant if the mother plant is a hybrid adenium plants.
I have noticed soft scale on my adeniums! What do I do? Can I trim them back and use insecticides or coffee grounds? I am sure they are not armored scale though. Help!
Here in south Florida (tropical climates) adeniums plants have many possible problems. Is the scale a light gray color? There are different kinds of scale. You can try the coffee grounds or take a small piece of the desert rose plant to a local nursery. We use a natural insecticide soap on our adenium plants if they are having problems. The soap makes the chemicals cling on the leaves longer. If its just a small part of the plant consider cropping the branch. This will do two things: get rid of your problem and then create several branches replacing he one bad one. However, before you crop do spray or treat the whole plant with the coffee or soap. You can even dip the adenium plant in the solutions for a few minutes instead of spraying.
My Desert Rose which I LOVE has just popped out a huge seed pod! I didn’t know what it was at first but then I was thinking to myself one day and thought “DUH” LOL. She’s right at 5 years old and I’m so glad that I’ve had it this long. I plan to keep her 60 more if she’ll survive. I live in NC and although we have cold winters I just bring it in and let it go dormant. I just let the leaves fall down on the soil and I water it about once a month to every two. I just transplanted it to a new pot this spring so I’m hoping by next summer the caudex will have gotten a lot bigger! Out of all the plants I’ve had and seen come and go this is by far my favorite plant ever. They’re beautiful, resilient, and easy to care for! I hope y’all enjoy yours as much as I do mine! <3
I have had 39 baby desert roses from a neighbors seed pod some of them are 4 to 5inches high some are 8 inches high why are those others taking so long to grow and just now I just noticed my oldest plant has a 3 inch seed pod how long does it have to stay on the plant.We get a lot of raining storms here on the east coast of florida so I will be moving it in and out of the carport so it doest fall off.Ive never seen a seed pod that shape before it looks like a u shape very tiny thank you
Adeniums are slow growing plant which is why they are expensive to purchase. It take about 2..3 years for the plant to haev a caudex of 1.5″ to 1.75″ across if you properly fertilize it and so forth. Otherwise it may take longer. It usually takes 3 yrs before they flower. Not all seed as strong as others so in any one seed pod of adenium you will get mixed results.
How long do I leave the seed pod on the desert rose?Also does anyone know anything about tuberoses I have 15 pots of them all with stalks and buds and only a few bloomed bud drop and they turn brown some are flowering some not.1 pot has 5 stalks in it.I thought maybe that was the problem.But the desert rose seed pod how do you know when its ready to come off?Thank you Katcorby@gmail.com
I would put a plastic bag around the seed pod so when it opens you capture the seeds. Do not take the seed pods off and manually open the pods. Let nature do its thing and wait for the desert rose plant seed pods to open on its own.
can also use soft thin very stretchy jewelry/craft elastic and wrap around the pod. It will stretch with the pot and not constrict growth. I also covered mine with a light airy soft mesh that organic garlic came in. (looked like a sock over pod) I got 120 seeds my very first Desert Rose and first seed pod and my first try at hand pollination.
Question: how do I prepare the seeds for sowing? thank you and best medium to plant in
We use a coir based soiless propagation mix for seedlings. It contains about 70% coir and 30 perlite.
Sir, how many flowers can be pollinated in a single plant, my adenium is 6+ yrs old, wat is the right time to pollinate.
Currently we do not hand pollinate adeniums so I’m not qualified to answer this question.
Once the adenium develops seed pods,is it okay to leave it outside in the rain?
yes
How do I ensure plants I have hatched from seeds produce the same color as the hybrid they came from?
There is a big misconception about adenium seeds and the parent plant. When growing adenium plants from seeds there are several factors that determines the growth rate, flower color and germination rate. Firs, the easiest question to answer is about the flower color type of the parent desert rose plant and adenium plants grow from the seeds from the plant. If the parent plant is NOT a hybrid then the plants produce from the seeds will be just like the parent 98% of the time. If the adenium seeds are from a hybrid then only a small portion of the plants grown form the seeds will have flower just like the parent.
There is NO WAY to make seed grow a certain flower type which is way plants are grafted! Grafting entails taking a branch from a plant that has a desirable flower type and putting it on another adenium desert rose plant. As the added branch grows ti will produce flowers like its parent plant above the graft line.
Greetings to you. In regards to grafting, I know that it will flower, my question is, will it also produce seed pods? a lady told me that if a desert rose is grafted, it won’t produce seed pods? Please enlighten. Thank you very much for looking into this.
Regards from the Outback here in Queensland, Australia
Maya
Grafted plants will produce seed pods. However, 90% of the seeds from grafted plant do not bloom like the grafted part.
thank you very much for this information. in saying won’t bloom like the grafted, it is not a guarantee that you will get the same flower of the hybrid? again, many many thanks.
No most of the time it produces standard desert rose flower not hybrid.
thank you very very much admin, that information is highly appreciated, something that I can share with friends who are also passionate with growing desert roses.
many thanks from the outback Mt Isa Qld. Australia
Wait until the start to naturally open.
I had a seed pod that has now split and I collected the seeds. What do I do now? This is the first time I’ve seen this and was going to just leave it. I live in the central states so we take our plants indoors in winter. Any help would be great. Would like to have more plants but do not know how to start.
There are several articles on this blog about growing from seeds and seedlings. The main question is whether the seeds are good or not. Many young adenium plants produce seeds that are not viable. Anyway the best time for your area to grow seeds unless you have growing lights would be starting late April and no later than late June. Grow them all in one container and when they have 3..4 leaves transplant them in separate containers. Keep the moist at all time. We keep ours in very wet soil for the first 6 months of growth.
Two straight, direct question.
How long does a seed pod normally stay on the parent before opening?
Does it change color before opening?
thank you in advance for your information.
Ron B.
Adenium seed pods will split and then release the seeds. Do not remove the seed pod. Instead place a plastic bag around the seed pod so when it opens you capture the seeds.
How long??? I have 5 double pods on one plamt n one large pod on a cutting in the same pot which just out grew the largest pid n is vhanging to a light pink color. So. Whats the time span of the pods.
the adenium seeds pods can take a couple weeks to open. Put a plastic bag around it to catch the seeds when it opens.
I have had my desert rose seven months. It now has huge seed pods. They have been on the plant about 1 month. They are getting bigger but show no sign of maturing. How long does this process take?
I takes about 45 to 60 days for the pod to burst on a mature plant. Many times pods are produce on smaller desert rose plant which takes longer to open and do not germinate. I would place a plastic bag around the adenium seed pod so when it does open you do not lose the seeds.
Hi
I have heard that if you pot young desert roses (different coloured ones that haven’t flowered yet) into their own pots but still keep close to all the other ones they will tend to all come out the one colour instead of the colour they were suppose to be. Is this true?
Have you seen Big Foot Lately? NO its not true.
I have a a desert rose plant that produced a seed pod. I had no idea what it was a first but then it opened and I saw the seeds. I read that it is rare for them to self pollinate. So I am wondering how to tell if the seeds from her pod are viable. Do they only produce seed pods if they have been pollinated?
I would plant them and see what happens. It would not haev developed a seed pod if it did not pollinate.
I have 2 seedlings from the seeds I planted! 🙂
I’ve just had my first seed pods grow also. Funny thing is that ALL of my desert roses are out the back of my house in full sun, BUT, this was on its own out the front in an area with reduced sun light?? (Goes against everything really) I’ve only JUST TODAY planted the seeds from this HUGE pod which produced……
247 seeds😲😲… surprise eh. Not sure on its age, but it’s an outcast of sorts, had the best flowers of all my adenums, but also has a very long trunk of approx 2&1/2 foot with almost NO growth at the bottom.
Keep you updated if the seeds grow😊
I have many seed pods developing for the first time (the plant is about 8-10 years old). I was wondering if allowing them to develop will hinder caudex development? Since I live in a zone 5 climate my goal is a fat caudex, not numerous seedlings. Thank you!
NO it will not hinder the caudex. Yes some nutrients will go to the pod but it will not hurt the plant. If you are interested in growing the caudex faster then take the pod off and do regular fertilization during the growing season.
I have two seed pods about 7 inches long. They are a darker reddish green with a noticeable crease. I don’t know how long they have been there. How much longer do you think before they will open
Put a plastic bag around the pod and wait until it bursts open which can take a few months. The plastic bag around the adenium seed pod will catch the seeds before they float away.
I live in West Ctrl FL. I have 5 different Desert Rose plants all with seed pods. The pods start drying out on the ends while still on the plant. I have yet to have one open ON the plant. I see the recommendation to place plastic bag over pod…will it still open since it is drying and won’t the bag trap moisture and cause rot? Thank you!
Not all adenium seed pods nature. They do not open until the dry out (pod cracks) so they may still be ok.
When Adenium seeds are harvested, in the spring, right before the rainy season starts, or in the fall? Seeds which I once purchased in the fall had a high mortality rate before spring. I realized many have shriveled and turned brown AFTER I stored them. What is the proper way tio stored them? I am planning to buy a small batch of seeds ahead of ime in order to try it. All seeds which spring will be grown as potted plants for bonsai.
It all depends upon your growing environment. We grow our seeds starting in March. Seeds purchased will have a high mortality and 90% not bloom like the images you see online. We have tried many sources for adeniums seeds (Taiwan, India, Thailand, etc.) which we purchase 5,000 at a time. All have varying survival rate (90% down to 20%). we self harvest seeds throughout the year and if you maintain them (keep them dry) they survive until spring time.
Can i cut the furry ends off the seed before sowing them?
YOU can remove the seed from the furry stuff that allows then to fly in the air(spread).
My desert rose pods took about three months roughly before they begin to split..The first pod I harvested..I got 30 seeds..The pod was not very big…I was too curious to collect them.since it my first..Lol..The pod has changed colour…and I saw the seeds peeping through..I used a Sharpe knife to remove the pod.
Some one once told me it’s best to sow the seeds fresh..
So far so good.24 seedlings have popped up..they r now a couple of weeks with two leaves…
Keep up the work collecting the seeds from your desert roses.
I saw seed pod its colour is mehroon howmuch time it will take to mature
It depends upon the time of year and your growing environment. 1 to 2 months
A friend sent me some large pods (approx. 250mm long)
They are green. Will they ripen off the plant?
We highly recommend not to remove the seeds pods until they start to split (open) if you plan to grow them.
I have a question about the plastic bags, living in Florida with all its humidity have you never heard of the pod getting moldy?
No as long as you put holes in the bag for air flow.
Can to many seed pod harm the pant I got 18 and my plant is looking bad
Not sure what you are asking. Please send images
My desert rose pod burst open today. How long before I can plant under a a grow light.
Right away. The fresher the seeds the better.
Good evening from Queensland Australia, I have 50 Desert Roses all grown from seed, it has been a good season for blooms, they are about 18 months old, now I have seed pods on a lot of the plants, can I remove the seed pods before they mature and if I can are there any special requirements I need to follow, they are all beautiful but I am running out of space for more plants.
Wait until the start to burst open.