Greetings, all. Firstly, please chalk me up as someone lured in and caught by the new Caudiforms and Pachycaul Trees forum. As mentioned in the various posts leading up to the initiation of this forum, there be little detailed information on these genera even via Google's mighty reach, and when I came across talk of this forum, I was very happy to follow the various threads to the root of it all. So happy in fact that I immediately registered just so I can start pestering you all for information! :) I have somewhat recently been given a few Pachypodiums and Adeniums to care for, just as Autumn is making its presence felt, and Ol' Man Winter is knocking at the door. I was bitten by the Cacti and Succulent bug last year, which saw my collection go from none to a few hundred, and while I've done a bit of research on how to coax most of those plants through Winter, I know I know too little about Pachypodiums and the few Adeniums I have to know what I'm doing. Typical mid-Autumn New Zealand generally means cloudless days, but with very little sun/heat intensity, meaning the night-time temperature is also starting to drop. At the moment I'm keeping these plants inside, just in an east-facing window, because I remember reading somewhere that these plants are sensitive to night-time cold. Although the spot they're in isn't especially warm. Leaves are starting to fall off most of these plants, but my reading tells me that this is normal for the plants heading into dormancy this time of year, and I should withhold water until new greenery emerges. My brood is as follows: P. namaquanum P. brevicaule P. lamerei P. succulentum A. glauca A. globosa So, should this very basic strategy see me through the winter? Will the plants need more light and/or heat than they are currently getting? I have come across mention that P. namaquanum especially is actually summer dormant, and that I should water it throughout the winter months . . . if so, is this true for any other of the plants listed . . ? I'm very quickly falling for the sculptural, statuesque form of these plants, and would be very sad to see them fail due to lack of appropriate care on my part. With little experience with either genus, I'd be very grateful for any advice or feedback anyone can give at this point, or to just point me in the right direction. I'll endeavour to double-check my species and take/post some photos soon if this will help my survival rate. :)
I have posted a few care/culture guides in this forum (read the thread titles). The most useful would be the Highland Succulents web link. This goes into quite a bit of detail regarding care during dormancy, etc. Mark
