How to make your desert rose produce seed

Hi to all, first thing, congratulation Doris, seems you learn how to pollinate your ADR really well, now you know how really easy it is to get seeds pods from them, I'm happy for you and I'm glad I could pass what little I know to others. Thing is the more you do it the better you get at it, pretty soon you'll have so many you won't know what to do with them, LOL!

Jim, for being the first time you ever planted ADR seeds, you've done a pretty good job, even if you would have gotten only one it would have been great, so to get six germinating on your first try is great, I remember the first time I planted ADR seeds I got none at all to germinating but I did get some knowledge from it that I used the second time and so on, you learn from the mistakes and correct them until you become good at it.

Mellisa, did you get to transplant your seedling, looks like you learned from the rainy experience you recently had with your seedling. Like I said, one learns from the mistakes one makes.

Thanks budgielover for the photo of the honey bees, nice to know their still around in some areas, at least there's still hope for them to make a come back and use to enjoy there company and help.

Wilfred

Wilfred, what has happened with Honey Bees is that somehow aggressive African Honey Bees got mixed in with American (South, Central, North, and Caribbean) Honey Bees. The 'Africanized' bees are very aggressive about defending their home.

So, if someone stumbles into, or even near a hive, the bees attack. If you even park a running vehicle nearby, they might attack. That would be a horrible way to die! So some people try to get rid of all the bees.

The people who try to protect borders are doing an honorable job. One person posted that they'd smuggled some seeds from Hawaii home from a vacation. During the time the big seeds were in the plastic baggie, a beetle came out of one of the seeds. This is the way that bad insects and other stuff, like the Pink Mealy bugs that are wrecking Caribbean Hibiscus, spread and become established with no controlling local predators to control. I believe a small wasp was finally imported from South East Asia, where the mealy bugs came from, to try to control the invaders.

Aquarium keepers in Florida imported Lionfish, and finally these voracious fish have gotten into the Florida sea, Bahamas, and Caribbean, and they're spreading everywhere, eating every fish, lobster, shrimp and crab in sight. It's an uncontrollable disaster, because these fish live all the way to 600 feet deep.

So, Import hassles are to be encouraged, not sneaked by. Whew! Off soapbox! I'll go take a photo of my plants, and post only about them in the morning!

Boy, this thread is getting long! haha

I am going to CT. for a week next Thurs. so befor I go I will take pictures of my 5 babies one is a little different it is like 2 single fat ones .
Wilfred if I have luck getting them to grow all the way I will have seeds to share with anyone that wants them, first let me ask a question, in all the reading of your posts, am I correct in thinking that the seeds are fluffy, and light, so would I need to send the pod intact, or just be careful in opening it up and sending seeds in a small plastic packet.
Thanks for all the instructions, and help.


Doris

Hmmm, doing somthing wrong here, this is my second attempt at posting, I think my fingers are not listening to my brain, whatever!, good morning folks, I wanted to post a picture of my seedlings, I think they will make it since this is the second day in the pots and they don't look wilted or limp. Jim

Hi Jim, the seedling in the pot is just perfect, your did a great job, now one thing you have to remember, you got the perfect pots mad of clay so that miens that you must water them every day thoroughly since clay pot help to dry the growing medium faster. Now the people who plant in plastic pots need to be more careful with the watering since plastic doesn't aid in anything in vaporising the water in the growing medium.
You can fertilizer half strength your seedling to give them a boost since the potting medium you use has very limited nutrients to help them grow a little faster.
On the other hand don't over do it, to much fertilizer can do the opposite effect, even kill it, fertilize it once a week if you use half douse and every two week if you use full strength, also when you fertilize it, the growing medium should be moist and not completely dry when fertilizing the plant to avoid damaging the plant's roots system from fertilizer root burn.

Doris, just open your seed pod inside your house were there is no wind to blow them away, if you send a whole seed pod they can rot during the traveling time do to the humidity the seeds contain in them, seeds are actually a miniature plant in a capsule that it removes when it is wet. Plants from seeds grow very rapid the first year and you can get bloom from them the first year also.

Mellisa I was thinking the same thing on how long this thread has become with 164 replies and 1,462 viewed, never thought it would get that long when I started it, just would like to know how many people has this tread helped since most of the people who see it don't write nothing nor tel you if it helped them, that why I sometimes don't write anything about other plants in other forums, seems like there is no interest in it from others, I almost never wrote this tread in the beginning, thought about it for weeks, lucky for those that are interested in it since I almost didn't.

Wilfred

Just a photo of something else I like to grow, Crown Of Thorns.

Doris, and don't forget to turn off your air conditioner when you open those pods, or trust me, you'll be looking all over your house for the seeds, been there done that LOL Jim

Thanks Jim but I don't like air conditioning so no problem, I will be very careful, when do you know they are ready?

Nice Crown of Thorns! Wilfred, do you do polination on all the plants that you grow?

I try to pollinate all that I can and learn in the process as I do so, some are easier than others to pollinate just have to learn how to do it by imitating natures way of doing it.

Wilfred

Here's another Crown Of Thorns.

I remember the first Crown of Thorns I ever saw, tiny flowers, but fascinating.

Thanks Mellisa, glad you like the photos, Crown Of Thorns have three bloom sizes, the tiny one you mentioned 1/2" bloom, the medium size 1" bloom, and the large size 1-1/2" bloom, mien are the medium size blooms.

Wilfred

Update on my seed pods, don't worry the little bugs are DEAD *LOL*

Next

I have tried 4 times to post the next picture so far it didn't show, try again

OK now last one.

This is so much fun! THANK YOU, Wilfred!!!!!

Doris, great photos posted you have, think you got more than five pods that are going to develop on your plants from what I could appreciate. Thanks for posting them, maybe others will be motivated a little more now and not give up trying.

Mellisa, glad your having fun, that's whats makes it worth it.

Wilfred

Wilfred, I hope you're enjoying us too!

And I see the wild 'bush' that's just on the other side of the fence in the last photo. I have the same thing, a constant war to fight it off! haha.

Doris, are those pods the result of hand pollenation?
Silfred, all the flowers on my D.R. have fallen off and no sign of seed pods, I won't get discouraged and will just wait till the next blooms come out. I think maybe I will give up on the white one though since you say it's near impossible to hand pollenate them. I wonder why that is, --same flower, just a different color! Any thoughts on why it's more difficult? Jim

Jimsned2 yes they are, I have had them inside so no bugs, the one with no seed pods also have no flowers, they all dissapeared at once, waiting for more to show up.

Doris

Mellisa, The fight against the weeds is a hard one alright, it grows faster than one can cut it, especially when it rains, it looks like if one was fertilizing it to grow.

For some reasons the white one are harder to set pods than the rose colored ones, I think most of the blooms on them are sterile that why it so hard to pollinate them, white DR are usually sold as grated plant and I really don't trust the seeds they sell as white Desert Rose, last time I purchase some and planted them I got after a year waiting was white with some pink in them and not purely white ones like I wanted, I think they used pollen from a light pink DR to pollinate a white one to get seeds from it. I've been pollinating a white one I have for years and just recently got a small pod developing on it but it has stayed the same size for quite a while now and it seems to have stopped growing at all. well if it does give me at least one seed in the pod it would be a first for me. I was wondering Jim, are your DR from seeds or are they grafted.

Soon I'll be seeing Doris posting photos on how to pollinate DR since she has become an expert in pollinating DR already also, great job Doris.

Wilfred

wilfred, I know that they were imported from Thiland, and I don't see any sign of a graft on any of the three that I have. Mine are the purest of white with no hint of any other color. When I bought them they had no flowers or buds on them and I think I only bought them because they were the most expensive, I figured there must have been somthing special about them, the lady at the3 nursery was Vietnamese and spoke very little english, bot, boy does she ever have exotic plants I couldn't find anywhere else.

Doris, ON YOUR WINDOWSILL! ,boy, color me envious, I don't think I have a window sill that would get enough sun, the whole idea down here being to keep the sun out of our homes, Hurricane shutters and that sort of thing. I worry with my seedlings on the porch where it's bright, but certainly no direct sun, so all day long I move them, into the sun, then a thunderstorm pops up, and it's back to the porch, the poor little guys arn't going to know where they live.

Four petals! Really nice. Does the plant have all flowers with four petals?

Nice symetry

Wilfred with your detailed help it was not hard to do, I pollinate brugs all the time but could not see how to get to the pollen on the Rose untill you explained how to do it, now I will have seeds for anyone that wants to D mail me.


Doris

That was just one bloom on the plant, I pollinated it to see if I can get seeds that produce plants with four petal blooms, that would be different for sure.

Can you post a photo of your plants Jim, sometime grafts are done so well that in time you can't tell it was grafted. this plants are priced base on how old they are, how rare the color of blooms, how big and well branch they are and how hard it is to propagate them (clone). Dose the Vietnamese lady sell only ADR or does she sell other types of tropical plants.

Doris your lucky you can have nice brugmansias to pollinate them, I have three of them but they do not seem to do well in the heat over here and only white one has produced occasional blooms from time to time, other two haven't grown much since last year, I think one is suppose to be pink and the other one orange but not sure, tags got weather damage. Had two others, yellow and a darker pink but they died the first week I got them. You are a kind person Doris, from what I can see, you don't have the seeds yet but already your willing to share them, hope you get seeds by the thousands.

Wilfred

Now all I need to know is when do you know they are ready *S*
Also if you would like some Brug cuttings let me know.


Doris

Hi Doris, hard to tell by the size of the seed pod since they can grow different sizes, from 2" to 6" and some grow fat and other skinny, from what I've observed from them is that they get a dull appearance when they start to ripen and they change a little in the color tone. I'll check my seed pod to see if I have any on that is ready, if I can I'll take photos later in the day to show you.

I'll wright you a D-mail in the afternoon.

Wilfred

Doris, many thanks for your D-mail, I'm excited about the prospect.
Wilfred, I will take pictures of the plants to-day (God willing) also will post a picture of two Passion flowers along with the trellis I put in yesterday, any advise on them would be appreciated. Oh, by the way, how long do you keep your seedlings in the small pot? I'm figureing till they develop a caudex, or seem to be root bound, am I right?

Jim

Hi Jim, you can keep them in small pot until it starts to deform the pot if pot is plastic, if pot is made of clay you have to check the bottom hole from time to time to keep roots from coming out the hole, if you leave DR in clay pot to long you might have to break the pot to get them out.

Jim make sure you don't place the Passion flowers near a tree or any other bush for that matter, the can grow pretty big and they can cover a tree in a couple of months if it reaches any of the trees branches and eventually kill it. give it plenty of water or leaves will fall of

Doris as soon as you notice a slit on the seed pod it ready to pick, seed pod usually turn a little dull and changes color a little. BTW what does the *S* stands for, fill a little dumb asking but I can't figure it out, I'm not to good at letter for written words, only know a few.

Wilfred

BTW, sorry to say I lost one of my favorite DR, My landlord had some delivery guys delivering some construction ( 1" x 4' x 8' ) panel and I don't know how the heck he let one of the panels fall on it and completely destroyed it. You could imagine how I felt when I found out, landlord felt so bad about it he wanted to pay for it but he has been so kind to me that I couldn't accept, I just try and see if I can graft any of the stems that didn't get crushed by the panel. this is the plant before the accident.

Oh, bummer! Nothing so sad as a smashed plant! Been there. Good luck with salvage operations!

*S* might be for 'smile'.

Good morning everyone, Wilfred, now I'd like to know how long do you wait with the seedlings b-4 yoou start drenching them as you described to get the salt out of the water, mine are still about an inch and a half tall with four leaves, I found one of them had tilted over and think maybe one of our infamous ducks might have steped on it. I proped it up but am thinking of repoting it and maybe put it a little deeper in the soil, what do you think? Also, I was wondering how many of your desert rose are in the ground as opposed to in pots? I'm just curious. I have nine in the ground, had ten but the mail man stepped on one little one that happened to be a white one. I apppreciate the info on the passion flowers, I was under the impression they needed very little water. I do have them at the base of a trellis but very close to my black sapote tree and will make sure it doesn't "travel"mover to it. My black sapote is my pride and joy because so many have told me it can't be grown in Florida, and mine is healthy and robust. I expect it to fruit next year. Jim

Drenching, may I guess? When the white stuff is on the outside of a clay pot. That's salt?

Melissa your right, also on top of the potting mix you can notice it when it dries, looks like white powder stuck on it. I try to do it once a month to ovoid the salt buildup wish can harm the root system of the plant.

Jim I have three in the ground right now since I'm tyring to incorporate them in a landscape I'm doing in the side of the house I'm leave in, I have a rented room here, house is not mien so if I move plants in the ground stay with the house, plants range from 2' tall up to 4' feet tall. There planted next to some Crow Of Thorn plants and a pond with a pot fountain I put with some other plants that get along together as light, watering and fertilizing is referred to. Rest are in pots, the more valuable ones in clay and the ones I sell to maintain the cost of my plant hobby in plastic pots. One time I did a land scape for my ex-sister in-law were I planted more than twenty Desert Rose plants for her new house she had recently purchase as a present to her, that really looked nice when they bloomed.
Also like to mention that if you were able to grow the black sapote tree in Florida when every one else has failed, you must have a really green thumb you didn't know about, if your are able to do that then the DR shouldn't be any problem for you to grow, you just needed some info on how and some practice doing it, I'm betting you will soon get good at it.BTW Jim, does your passion flower plant puts out fruits or is it just ornamental, if it put out fruits make sure your trellis can support the weight, they can get quit heavy at times.
Before I forget Jim, seedling should not be replanted deeper since this can cause them to rot, just replant them at the same depth is was.

Wilfred

Good morning all from the sunshine state where it is raining steady right now and I think will continue all day. Thank you both Molamola and Wilfred for the salt information, I'll keep a sharp look out for the white stuff. Since it's a slow steady rain I've decided to put my D.R. seedlings out in it for awhile, I think rainwater is better then our drinking water. Winfred, my Passion fruit is of the edible variety and is about three feet away from the sapote tree. I'm curious to see just how large (or small) the flower is when it blooms if I can get it to survive that long. I'm sort of glad it's raining right now, I've been going at it too hard and too long in the yard and appreciate the rest. I still have to get that picture of the white desert rose, but today is not the day to do it. Have a great day everyone.

I just found this tread, Thank You Wilfred, so much helpful information. I am going to try your method starting tomorrow.

Some thing that I have learned that might be useful to some one (especially those who live in areas that get alot of rain) After I plant my seed moisten them I cover them with saran wrap then put a rubber band around them to hold it in place. It controls how much water they get and the gnats can't get to them plus the condensation will keep the top moist. Two important things when using this method; #1 take the plastic off for a little while at least every other day to let air get to them. #2 check them everyday, once the sprouts have reached the plastic, take the plastic off.

Those that have problems with the fungi gnats, if you put a layer of clean sand (Do Not use beach sand, the salt will damage the plants) on top of the soil in your pots the gnats will not bother them the sand dries really quickly so the top stays dry but the soil under neath will be moist.

I hope these tricks help a few people.

One of my favorite DR's

Just took a picture of my seedpods, all I can say is WOWEEEEE

Great photo Doris, how many pods did you get finally, I imagine you didn't think you would get so many did you, that's from one plant so imagine what you get when you got more plants, I usually pollinate only 20 plants from time to time because so many seeds I couldn't plant them all, some times I would end up trowing out more than a thousand seed at a time, as seed pods matured. Some people may think I'm crazy throwing out the seeds but you have to remember it cost to much to maintain so many plants and this is not the only type of plant I propagate and grow, right now I have more than a hundred Desert Rose, and at least half of them I've haven't been able to transplant them to individual pot, I was thinking in selling seedling at a dollar ($1.00) each plus shipping and handling to help me with the cost of maintaining the ones that are not for sell but haven't decided yet, don't know if it would work. I was selling clay pot with several plant in them for $25.00 $50.00 locally but some people found them expensive over here so I stop doing it, at that time I thought it was a good deal for the customer since pot would have from 7 up to 15 plants in them and plant alone in plastic pot sell for $5.00 or more at the garden centers. This is a photo of one $25,00 of the two pots that was left over from my attempt to sell them, clay pot cost was $7.00.

Wilfred

Here's a close up of the pot.

Wilfred

Wilfred

Instead of throwing the seeds out, why not sell them on Ebay? It is simple to set up a paypal account and a sellers account on Ebay. Start with the seeds and after awhile sell your seedlings on there.
Just a thought.
Tina

Wilfred, sit down. The photo is one of the two I bought a month ago, after looking and going home saying "NO!!" twice. I just had to have those two plants. The clay pot was seven dollars. The one in the little plastic pot, I just bought that one a couple of days ago. It had a bud that didn't make it home with me, I believe it has purple edges.

OK, here's why you need to sit down. The first two cost $29 each, the third, $19. The one gallon water jug is for size reference.

Oh, edited to add that the plants that aren't blooming aren't selling. But the blooming plants did sell.

How old would you guess these to be?


This message was edited Sep 29, 2009 8:14 PM

This message was edited Sep 29, 2009 8:21 PM