u/Wise-Two-6938

Picked out the largest 18 from the batch of densiflorums from Walmart back in March and moved up to 6 inch pots. Wanted to give them an inch deeper organic material and also 2 inches on the diameter to allow roots to expand and fresh fertilizer. Here are pics details in posted order
1 - 4 inch very well established pachy’s densiflorum
2 - thin knife blade stuck down along several edges of pot to loosen roots from terracotta pot
3 - plant easily pulled up gently by pulling on a few leaves. Notice roots undisturbed
4 - new 6 inch terracotta pot filled about a third with pea gravel
5 - added 1 inch layer of my pachy mix
6 - placed plant in center and filled in all way around
7 - packed media down with finger all around
8 - added 2 teaspoons of Florian nutricote 180 day formula
9 - added a thin layer of decomposed granite aka chicken scratch to keep top from washing away
10 - my pachY mix contains coir, fir bark fines, perlite, coarse sand, 30/30/30/10 pct roughly
11. - florikan nutricote pellets is a controlled release fertilizer that I also use on
my orchids
12 - pea gravel from Lowe’s, rinsed
13 - decomposed granite aka chicken scratch
14 - finished product, this repotting g gives plants more room to expand and a bit more organic material to feed roots for the next 4 months before it’s time to move them into greenhouse

Although my phals are recovering a few species are blooming. First 2 are bellina clones. Notice the smaller newer leaves due to recovery from storm damage. Also first pls t still has flower spikes from last year and just started pushing flowers. Second phal clone has new flower spike and just started opening buds, 3rd plant is a seedling of coerulea cross and also the 4th plant is a coerulea seedling first bloom. Last plant is a violacea clone called ‘dark indigo’

Didn’t know there was Cognac in Taiwan.
First time bloom clone, very nicely colored bought at a Miami show from a vendor from … wild guess?, yes Taiwan. This type of bifoliates cattleya can be a risky venture for growers that like to over water their plants (me included) as it really demands a thourogh and complete dry between watering. So I used a 4 inch net pot with chunky bark and seems to be doing ok.

I think am getting as much growth as I can from my Pachypodiums. These seven plants were bought at PFN and shipped to me. Fairly priced but baronii were a bit steep cause , you know, they’re baronii. First pic is when I got them July 29 2024 and immediately potted them in 4 inch pots. Rest of pics are taken today 2 years growth since the first pic and most , except baronii already bloomed and produced seeds. I usually scour pachY vendor web sites for culture tips and something from Out Of Africa site stuck with me. The line is ‘are you growing your plants or are you just keeping them alive?. They also suggested that biggest mistake hobby growers do is over water in winter when plants are dormant and underwater during growing season.

Fresh seeds collected during the past 30 days. 22 sown and 22 sprouted. Nothing special done to seeds just separated them from tufted end and removed a couple of poorly formed seeds and stored wrapped in paper towel into an open zip lock bag in my home office.
Mandritsara is a very rare and hard to find plant and seed. Second pic is of last seed pod on mandritsara mother plant opened up.

Have had a busy summer with 3 rosulatum subspecies seeds. I sowed cactipes, gracilius and mandritsara on July 19 and I peeked this morning and they are sprouting already. Seeds were allowed to ripen fully trapped in organza sacs and just counted and stored wrapped in paper towel. No special treatment of any kind. Also sowed saundersii that were collected in March of this year and they have not sprouted yet, they are a larger tougher seed that looks like will take bit longer to open up.
Second pic is last mandritsara seed pod opening yesterday, only had about 20 seeds on it.

Picked and reached my final limit 2 densiflorums and as of this posting there ten small and somewhat rooted and leafed Pachypodium densiflorum at Lowe’s just east of I75 exit 399

I visited one of the local Gainesville (FLA) stores and lo and behold there was a costa farms free standing specialty cacti and succulents 3 shelves rack. it had quite a few Pachypodium densiflorums mixed in with other succulents and cacti. If one store has them I would surmise that at least a bunch of their stores have them as well. The price is $8.98 a dollar more than at Walmart but still a great deal. These are leafed out and have some roots. However depending on your culture in your area, you may want to gently flush out the peat moss and repot with your stuff and your type of pot.

Have had this for 3 three years as a rosulatums from (now closed) Paradise found nursery as a rosulatums
, or possibly an hybrid.
Short flower spike screams not a straight rosulatum and possibly a hybrid with Brevicaule… ?

One of my brassavola cucullata family plants with a nice showing of four buds. I am not going to count the pollinia sacs to correctly identify it but will check the blooming season for both and adjust tags as necessary

One of a batch of 20 seedlings from an open pollinated flower on a multi petaled grafted adenium from last years spring. Several other have already bloomed but none have had a flower near this size. The pod has produced a mix of single and multi petaled plants. The plants are not fast growers as most adenium but it has been fun watching them grow.
It is in a 4 inch plastic pot

I have read many different ways to fertilize Pachypodiums, including adding a minor element mix treatment above and beyond the regular water soluble once or twice a month during growing season let
Me state that I am a lazy grower and if there is easier way to grow pachy’s I will look for it and find it.
Being an orchid grower as well, I use a controlled release fertilizer called nutricote 6 month or 9 month formula. When I pot pachy’s with new media I add a teaspoon on 4 inch pots and tablespoon on 6 inch pots,of this nutricote as top dressing. then cover with chicken grit granite (about 1/4 inch) to keep all from washing out during waterings and or rain. This keeps my maintenance to only water as needed , no fertilizer needed as nutricote has all and will be used by end of season.
It seems to be doing just fine and plants are showing their appreciation of a good diet.
This a Pachypodium rosulatum ssp gracilius starting to form its natural shape.

My first attempt at Pachypodium seed sowing. These are rosulatums ssp rosulatum from my own mother plants (PFN sourced) from last spring and got about 90 pct sprout rate. Have done many adeniums seeds and in comparison pachy’s are way slower growers. Will try more seeds in next week or so in better mix. Have saundersii, cactipes, gracilius. Rosulatums, rosulatum ssp mandritsara all ready to be planted and may even have some to trade or sell, possibly on palm street .

Yes, this is a monster plant naturalized in the center of a three roebellini palms cluster in south Florida. Original from a compot I got H&R in Hawaii and shared with my friend. It is in a perfect spot gets plenty of light, a dedicated patron who feeds it and vacuums out the. Seeds from the palms as needed. This has been huge but it now has reached monster stage. Estimated number of flower spikes is around 75.

A little aerides roses alba that I have for 3 years from a Miami orchid show Thai vendor. It was a small rootless plant that has really not grown well. However it is putting a log tail pristine white flowers.
Edit: correct name is rosea, not roses, my bad

My Walmart/costa farms/suspected Chinese source rootless Pachypodium densiflorums have been up potted from 2.5 inch to 4 inch pots. These were all well rooted now and the root system was not disturbed at all to do the up pot transition. Media was still very fresh and could probably also last through next year when they move from 4 to 6 inch pots.
They now have the rest of the summer and fall to grow and fill the pot with roots for next spring bloom. Was thinking of doing a breakdown of materials uses with a maybe a few if there is any interest

A family portrait of my baronii siblings, the biggest one has massive leaves. I grew baronii from out of Africa 25 years ago and don’t remember the foliage being that big. Hoping to get some flowers in near future

Looks like all of them have leafed out and some have roots pushing through bottom of 3 inch terracotta pots.
I can easily lift the pots by pinching a few leaves safely. No sign of any bloom effort and I expect that there will be no bloom out of these batches until next year. One of my other older Densiflorums has already bloomed. Looking forward to all of these (36) to bloom at same time next year