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r/Pachypodium

New to these plants, have many questions!
▲ 23 r/Pachypodium

New to these plants, have many questions!

  1. It came in a 4 inch pot but it seems to have so very few fine roots - does that bottom section act as a root itself?
  2. If i don't really care to have a fat caudex can I just pot it in a smaller terra cotta pot? Or will that fat root continue to grow downward?
  3. I don't know if I like how the form of the stems? with the leaves look. If I cut that tallest section off would it hurt the plant?
  4. The body is a little spongey, is that okay?
u/Similar_Praline_5227 — 1 day ago
▲ 14 r/Pachypodium

My list of what actually makes a fat seed grown pachypodium. Discussion welcome!

Hey everyone, I just wanted to share some potential information and see if anyone agrees, disagrees, or has more to say on these factors that seem to contribute to the best wild looking home grown pachypodiums. Here’s a list of a few things that I think matter the most:

  1. Zero Fertilizer. Natural pachypodiums grow on sandstone cliffs and rocky holes in madagascar with zero nutritional value to the substrate. if you do fertlize, it shouldn’t contain nitrogen to prevent the plant from being overly vigorous and opportunistic. it ruins the shape forever. Root vitalizers like menadael could be great options for boosting vitality and root growth without compromising shape.

  2. Full Sunlight. Again, just mimic the conditions in madagascar, if you want to baby your pachypodium, it won’t look like the ones in nature. There’s no shade cloth in madagascar and the compact ones are out in the intense sunlight. The wild ones often get sunburnt too which give them that orange or discolored skin in some spots.

  3. Mineral only soil. Zero organic, either use decomposed granite, perlite, pumice, or a combination. Vermiculite can hold water longer but that’s up to your own preference since if you add that, you probably don’t need to water as often. But if you want it as natural as possible go without it but water and replenish that moisture every day or every other day during the heat of summer.

  4. Wind. Thigmomorphogenisis is slept on I think. Madagascar is windy, open and often geologically unprotected especially on the plateaus and cliffs. I believe the fattest plants are beaten with the most wind because it signals them to thicken and sturdy up their roots and caudex to avoid being blown away or damaged. You can even see this in other species of plants, for example some bursera fagaroides on the windy cliffs stay low to the ground, branching low and horizontally and rounding out their caudex for stability and lower center of gravity. Meanwhile the ones with more protected conditions tend to have more open air freedom and instead “stretch their legs”. In any case wind creates stronger more resilient plant cells and fibers which help the plant retain a sturdier structure to resist damage and swaying. Apparently ethylene is released internally when the plant detects strong wind and movement forces which signals lignification.

  5. Large day/night temperature swings. I don’t have much of a backing for this, but again madagascar definitely has desert like temperature swings when the sun is out vs not. I believe the bigger the caudex the better the heat retention (from all that water and mass) for keeping warm at night once the sun goes down. Curious about thoughts with that, it’s just a hunch.

  6. Genetics. Of course this is out of anyones control, but shape is generally based on genetics first. I think you can get a pretty ugly seedling but still give it the right conditions and it will eventually become fat like we all want though. If you get seeds from an etiolated, branchy soft grown plant with weak structure then expect the offspring to have that coded into it. A lot of japanese grow with great conditions but there will always be ideal shapes that come out of the mix and also non ideal shapes. They keep the best shapes to further cultivate and breed to optimize genetic outcome. I could do a whole separate post about the methods they use to grow though but it’s a lot.

There’s probably more, but that’s what I have brainstormed for now. Most plants are grown in greenhouses with little to no airflow (at least without big fans), and even lower light depending on how much protection there is. I have seen the difference between those greenhouse plants vs the ones grown on a windy island in japan (@hide.garden on insta) where his seed grown plants are raised in harsh conditions with unprotected wind, sun, rain, and everything else. There’s a massive difference! I’m even sitting here at the beach writing this and feel a constant 14 mph gust blowing past me and realize that might be the biggest factor to the secret with these. Think about the giant fat adeniums on the windy mountainside in socotra, there’s gotta be something about that spot specifically that gives them that much girth besides just age.

Everyone always complains about seed grown plants never living up to their wild counterparts whether is pachypodium or not, but maybe we need to try harder to give them the same conditions!

I’m curious to know everyone’s thoughts. I’m not expert, but I definitely have a hyper fixation on pachypodiums specifically, and trying to get seed grown plants to emulate their wild counterparts. If all goes well, i’m sure these conditions will also produce harder grown fatter dorstenias, adeniums, pachycauls, and other caudiciforms. Is wind the secret nobody looked far enough into?

reddit.com
u/Relevant_Fennel4203 — 2 days ago
▲ 0 r/Pachypodium

Gracilius Deformation: Dehydration or Rot

  1. Looking forward to a productive conversation. I
  2. I know for a FACT this plant is NOT poachedf
  3. ANY attempt is made to discuss anything but the topic at hand, you will be BLOCKED. Im not here to entertain/argue with "Kens and Karens" who yell "THAT IS A POACHED PLANT!" without any solid evidence. You cant prove it was poached, you can only speculate and hurl accusations.
  4. I got this plant last week. It is currently in the gritty, mostly inorganic substrate shown in the 1st photo, NOT the 2nd.
  5. The caudex was firm when I got it, but the deformed caudex was as it appears: indented. I Had it out in 100 degree temps ALL day yesterday. Noticed again that the crown it is slightly deformed and a bit soft, and in that spot only. I took it out of the pot, looked at the roots and it seems fine. Base is firm. Watered it last night. This morning its still a bit soft in that area. Is this problematic?
u/Jesuislefeu — 3 days ago
▲ 20 r/Pachypodium

Pachy Gracilius Deformed Caudex

This plant was a gift from a grower on the west coast who is related by marriage. It was seed grown and I am told was cultivated in a greenhouse and then set outside. ALL THE SPINES ARE THERE. This is NOT a WILD and poached plant, so STOP before you START!

I dont want to hear ANY comments about poaching because this is NOT a poached plant and that is NOT the topic of this post.

I got it last week and replanted it. When looking it over, i saw no rot on only a few dark spots near the root that are not mushy. I did notice that the caudex wasnt the usual uniform globe shape.

Its potted in inorganic soil. I should also note that it is slightly etiolated.

After repotting I watered it and it has been getting full sun and loving it. Today I pressed on the little malformed part and it is SLIGHTLY soft. The other side of the caudex is fine and firm. Could this be rot that you cant see? I hope not! I really like the plant.

u/Jesuislefeu — 3 days ago
▲ 1 r/Pachypodium

Pruning a Pachypodium Gracilius

Someone on instagram reached out to me after I posted my plants and got a gazillion likes. He has a collection of Pachypodium Gracilius. While some look seed grown, others...well, take a guess.

Whatever the case, people must remember POACHING IS WRONG and there are no two ways about it!

Anyhow, today he sent me a pic of how he pruned a Gracilius. I have the nagging feeling this is NOT how you prune these things. Maybe the proper way to prune can be made known in this post so others dont make the same mistake.

u/Jesuislefeu — 2 days ago
▲ 53 r/Pachypodium

Humble beginnings

Recently purchased my first pachypodium. Generally, I focus on true cacti but I was intrigued by pachypodiums and wanted to venture out. I'm definitely trying to learn from your posts, but I was enthused to see the little leaves poking through today. Pot will be upgraded shortly and I did get it in better soil conditions compared to what I purchased it in. Still, I hope to continue absorbing knowledge from all of your posts and make this little one successful. So this is just a celebration of a little leaf.

u/FromRot — 4 days ago
▲ 29 r/Pachypodium

Pachypodiums (gracilius) fertilizing

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.

u/Wise-Two-6938 — 4 days ago
▲ 26 r/Pachypodium+1 crossposts

Pachypodium brevicaule white flowers

This is a bit of a cheat as only purchased at the weekend but glad to get larger plant mine isuch smsller

u/Agave_Addict — 5 days ago
▲ 15 r/Pachypodium

Is this cresting?

The growth point on this pachypodium got damaged and the new growth is looking obscure. Is it cresting?

u/General-Donkey-6572 — 4 days ago
▲ 108 r/Pachypodium+1 crossposts

My Namaquanum leafing out, hoping it gets taller this summer

u/cpm725 — 6 days ago
▲ 46 r/Pachypodium

Still no leaves on my Madagascar

And I’m worried. I repotted and everything looked healthy. I’ve never gone this late into summer.
Year 5

u/Bulky-Guarantee-2801 — 7 days ago
▲ 51 r/Pachypodium

First Pachypodium rosulatum seedling batch

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 .

u/Wise-Two-6938 — 7 days ago
▲ 27 r/Pachypodium

Not sure what I’m doing wrong

I’ve had this issue with this Brevicaule x on and off for a year now where the leaf edges turn either purple or a slight yellow tinge. No crispy bits, no mushy parts, never had root rot. it just keeps throwing new leaves and the new ones stay nice until they start doing the same thing. I will note it is fairly root bound and under strong lighting. Had this since it was the size of a ping pong ball and didn’t have this issue until this past year

u/Dramatic-Ebb-5549 — 7 days ago