I have 20 adenium seedlings, each with four to six pairs of leaves.

Right now each is a couple inches tall. It is somewhat difficult to tell the difference between some of them because they are pretty similar.



For now I can manage all of them fine. But if each one were an adult I would probably have no room.

I'm curious how those of you who grow lots of plants from seed to decide which ones to keep?

Do you go by the widest caudex even if that plant is much shorter than the others? Or by general vigor as a seedling even if that one has a thinner base?

Right now I think I eventually want an adult plant with a wider base without much regard to the flowers, but when they are only a few months old, how do you tell which seedlings will catch up and which ones won't?

At this point you can only really cull for vigor, but at this small size it's hard to do that. Seedlings can be slow but steady growers. It may appear they aren't doing anything for weeks, and then one day you walk by them and you realize they've grown quite a bit! They can also stall out at this size and do nothing for weeks or more, only to (seemingly) be jump started by a repot. It doesn't seem to be indicative of their ultimate health, but just some weird aspect of their seedling growth. I've had this happen with seedlings of the same type, growing in the same size pots, growing in the same soil, in the same sun conditions. Once I repotted the "stallers" they took off like nothing happened!

Plus you have to be careful - if you are growing mixed hybrid seeds, some that appear to be less vigorous may just be genetically smaller, more dwarf plants. Just keep an eye for those that appear healthy, and cull any that may be sickly or more finicky. At small seedling size, though, sickly ones will usually cull themselves. Yours all appear to be pretty healthy.

Really, if you have room, I would grow all of them out (or as many as you can) to blooming. They only need to be in about 6 inch pots max at that point, so won't really take up that much room.

Once they bloom, culling will be easier based on flower & flowering qualities.

Oh, as far as size/thickness of the caudex, that will vary from plant to plant. This may have no real bearing on anything, but in my experience it seems that letting seedlings dry out between watering - just kinda dry, not super bone dry - helps build up caudex size.

My thinking for why my seedlings appeared to to that is this: the caudex stores water to help them make it through the dry times. If they have a constant steady supply of water, then they have no reason to build up a thicker caudex for more reserves. However, if allowed to dry some between waterings, this spurs them into building up some bulk.

Again, there's nothing scientific or proven about that, just an observation I noticed with my seedlings.

You responded too late, sorry. I've already made decisions and given most of them away.

Sorry! I didn't even notice the date of your post. I haven't been on much lately (been out playing in the dirt! ).

No worries, this forum tends to be inactive for long periods, then there's a flurry, then nothing for months at a time!

I've since begun discussing my Adeniums in the Cacti and Succulent forum. It's much more active, and more friendly by default of being more active. lol