BCSS - Forum

Hello,

I seem to have acquired more Pachypodiums lately than anything else and I’ve a horrible feeling I’ve killed my first one.

Therefore is there a book considered as definitive for caring for these etc. Ideally it wouldn’t be the 3 figure price of the Crassula book that I want is

Cheers

I can't think of a book that deals with cultivation in any detail.

Water them when they show signs of growth and stop when the leaves start to yellow. Keep the Madagascan species warm, give smaller plants a little water whilst dormant and that's about it. They don't in my experience respond well to being shipped as seedlings, I've found young plants that I've bought difficult to establish especially late in the year.

Having grown Pachypodium for many years, I am currently reading "Pachypodium & Adenium" by Gordon Rowley published in 1999. It does cover all aspects of cultivation in depth - propagation, stem cuttings, root cuttings, grafting, seed raising - and species specific cultivation, and I'm learning things I didn't know. I also have "Pachypodiums in Madagascar" by Walter Roosli but that is more showing the plants in habitat and only has a very small section on cultivation. I don't know how much "Pachypodium & Adenium" by Gordon Rowley costs or availability (I borrowed my copy from the Branch library) but it's the best I've seen so far.

'A Guide to Growing Pachycaul & Caudiciform Plants' by Philippe de Vosjoli is excellent... with photos too.

My husband is a devoted grower of these plants. He says Pachypodiums in Madagascar by Walter Röösli is terrific, but only covers Madagascans...Rowley's book is fab but so expensive now. Frustrating. The Vosjoli book is very good but not strictly specialist, if that matters. Meanwhile, a very well drained substrate, min temp of 12C, preferably higher, and no water after leaf drop in Autumn.

Thanks for all the advice guys. Yes the Rowley book is similar in price to the Crassula book I want!

I’ll check out the other books though too.

My young plants are seemingly looking well but the first one I had seemed incredibly greedy for water and I suspect I overdid the watering trying to force it to grow

Keith's Plant Books has the Röösli...It's not expensive.

conolady wrote: ↑Sun Jan 13, 2019 4:23 pm Meanwhile, a very well drained substrate, min temp of 12C, preferably higher, and no water after leaf drop in Autumn.

My Pachypodiums (brevicaule, horombense, decaryi, brevicalyx, saundersii, succulentum, densiflorum, mikea, lameri ramosum\) don't lose their leaves in winter, despite not being watered now for 3 months. The minimum temperature is set at 10 Deg C but can fall a couple of degrees below on occasions. They grow in 3/8" pumice with a 20% mix of coir which is a very free draining substrate. Obviously, I have to add a weak fertiliser with each watering as that mix is nutrient deficient. Rutenbergianum on the other hand have mostly lost their leaves, but I think they may need slightly higher temperatures and it's the first year I'm growing those.

About 8 years ago I "accidentally" ended up with 64 succulentum plants. After a few years I potted a few on in the pumice mix and noticed that they kept their leaves in winter whereas the soil based mix ones lost theirs. More went into pumice and the story repeated itself. Seems to work for me and since then I've extended it to all Pachypodiums. They seem to recover and get growing a lot quicker in spring as well. Large size cat litter (or similar) seems to work just the same, I think it is the free air circulation around the roots that may be what helps, but I'm drawing conclusions here.

Works for me.

Deltron wrote: ↑Sun Jan 13, 2019 4:03 pm 'A Guide to Growing Pachycaul & Caudiciform Plants' by Philippe de Vosjoli is excellent... with photos too.

This book has just been offered on the Succulenta forum for 25 euros: https://succulenta.nl/forums/topic/te-k ... rm-plants/