'The Hand' is an example of the unusual natural caudex you can find after repotting:



My daughter asked me if I purchased 'The Hand' because of the caudex and I don't recall seeing the caudex this way. I bought it for the beautiful bloom that I didn't have yet.

So I went digging for the first photo when I first purchased it and it did confirm that the hand wasn't visible at that time.
April 23, 2022


Would love to see what others discovered while repotting, especially if there is a before photo.

I think it should be called "Toes" especially when looking at the Big Toe on that baby !

Hand, Toes... they both are great names and both sound mafia-related!

I think the reason I called it "The Hand" is the upper part it looks like the back of a hand. I wonder what it would look like when it gets bigger!

Another unusual caudex from an estate sale! I had to sledge hammer the pot when I got it home and it took 3 men to get it off the back of the truck. Got it off the truck, potted, growing happily and it broke the pot whilst we were away. I had a 30 inch pot filled with herbs, drug out the herbs, wrangled it to its new home and got it potted . WHEW!

@HappyPlants99 Debi to the Adenium Forum! That is definitely a HUGE beautiful caudex!

Great purchase! Do you have a picture after repotting? It is going to look amazing when it blooms!

Wow- that is a great looking caudex!!! I got one of mine from an estate sale too. Somebody has to keep them growing!!!!!

Meet "Handette" this looks like it has 5 fingers:








Now I have two hands 🙌 the left and the right!

It's like finding the other glove you've been missing!

Yes

@Kaktus, I cleaned "Handette" but is this enough cleaning? Should I remove all the feeder/hairlike roots?

"Handette" looks like it should be grasping a rock or something from the other side, it's got a perfect opening!

It looks great Gigi, you may further clean another half if you want, but I think it is ok now.
I will put some Styrofoam cuttings/cubes in between the fingers, to force them open a bit, preventing them to attach together when they grow big in the future

Great suggestion Floridian, maybe I will let it grab something.

Thank you TJoe, I didn't realize they could attach together if I don't put anything in between the fingers.

Not really that they will attach become 1 root, but they will grow big and leave us with almost no gaps between them, this is the example of what I did on the euphorbia knuthii, leave some gaps between the roots.

now here it is:




She is sitting or grabbing a McDonald's toy. I like to collect these when they have cute toys, inspired by TJoe's innovation but never really used them before.


And I buried the caudex for now so it will not get too sunburned and to give it the chance to get bigger.