I mentioned to say re potting not reporting. I don't know how to edit post on my phone...sorry about that!

Nice looking youths. I've got a number of these from this years seeds. Can't wait for warmer weather to pot some of them up.

this was my first year growing them from seeds...I've got 24 more waiting to be repotted. they were alot of fun to grow from seed. I got my seeds from an eBay seller. I was really happy with the germination rate. I planted them around aug-sept. 2015. right now I have too many adenium and dorstenia seedlings to grow another batch of fockea edulis(unless mine flowers and goes to seed it's self this year) I won't be buying anymore... I am going to keep what I have, and see what shapes I get out of their caudex. Last May I got my big Fockea and it was the size of these seedlings I kept the caudex under soil until this week. I finally felt like I could raise it. the growth on top was really slow til now, but down below it got to the size of a big baked patato. Right before I repotted it, it put out about 6 inches of growth in about a week on two of its vines. I'm hoping it will really take off in its new pot once it gets over its initial shock.
thanks for taking the time to check out my plants. I would love to see pictures of your Fockeas sometime if you get a chance.

I bought this as F. crispa. I have a hard time telling F. edulis from F. crispa. The caudex is about the size of a fist above ground. I haven't checked to see what the roots look like in a couple years.

Great plant! How many years old? I wish I had a crispum! Crispa?

I got my biggest one at the start of last spring, It was the same size of the seedlings on this thread, I told myself I would raise it when it was the size of a baked potato. When I repotted it I put it in terra cotta bulb pan it was around 10 inches round. I kept the caudex under the soil and the top grew but very little. I was getting discouraged because I was reading about all the top growth other people were getting and mine wasn't doing anything on top. When fall came I brought it inside and put it under grow light. Then in dec it put on 6 inches on one vine and 6" on another. When I went to check the caudex it was the size of a baked potato so I raised it and put it under the grow lights again. It's doing good now. I pruned back one of the vines about 4" on accident, but it's healed and started putting out more top growth. I'm curious how it is going to grow in the hydroponic type media I have. I guess time will tell.

Do you think the slow release fertilizer has made any difference? I may use some this spring.

It helps me, I seem to burn my plants when I try liquid and sometimes I find I don't have a lot of time so knowing the slow releases in there helps a lot. I am getting better at using liquid fertilizer though. I'm used to plants that are heavy feeders so I cut the strength back a lot and I give my plants micro nutrients once a month and some NPK once a month. I know people in the adenium forum that water every time with a little nutrients. I found that to be a pain unless I pre set up gallons with nutrients in it.

An older plant. One with caudex submerged and bulging the pot at bottom. Seed pods. The next generation.

Bill, that and those are fantastic - legions of them on the rise! The potted one that grew on my stairs railing flowered but it never got seed horns. Did you pollinate them or did the Flies of Fallbrook take care of that for you? I don't remember the flowers as being anything more than musty-smelling. How come you don't have it in the ground? I'm told there was one that was PIG'd at C&J that would get a yearly offering of steer manure, only to double its size every second year. Great growing, mate.

I believe you need a male and a female (or at least 2 plants). Flies did the deed. I have a couple in a raised bed. I have not manured them. Do you think horse manure is any good. Have lots of that.

This was the submerged plant in picture #2. I see why the bottom of the pot was distorted. There is a method to my madness (madness to my method?) I'm still trying to find way to get a fat round caudex with a small tap root. I'll keep trying.

This is a fantastic photo and should be used in your next passport, Mr. S.. Yes, I'd bet you'd get significant growth on a plant in a pot in the ground, or better yet, in a raised bed type-of-setup, with a layer of manure. That looks like Summer Show winner material, actually. That's just delicious tuberiferousness and you can send it to me when you tire of seeing it grow larger than life. Really.

Its dinner time,...... can one peel it and eat it?

Well, as the name indicates, it is, but

_______________quoted text_________

'Though the name 'edulis' indicates the plant is edible (It was eaten by the native population of Southern Africa), a long and elaborated cooking procedure is however required to rid the plant of the alkaloids which are present. [We do not suggest plants for consumption!]'

__________end quote_____________

Aloe not what an amazing looking specimen. It will clean up nicely... Are you into bonsai? I want to root over rock a few but I need to do more research on the best way to do this.

Aloebot, Fockea Edulis are so great to grow from seed. I'll take pictures of my seedlings when I get home they are in 3 inch pots I had enough time to get one into a 4 inch pot. I still need to do the rest. I hope I get pods on my big one this year! My dorstenias always get pollinated so I think I won't have a problem making sure my Fockea gets pollinated.

Bob, if there are tubular roots already you can force appropriately-sized rocks between / among the roots. If not, better to let them have freer root room to root into the very same, so that you can depot in six months or so and start training their roots to grow along a particularly-matching rock.

"
Bob, I believe Jeff has the right idea. Submerge the caudex of the fat one you pictured bare root in a 1 to 2 gallon pot with very good draining mix for about 6 months (this growing season). Take it out of the pot then and you might have a few emerging fat roots that you can then put over your chosen rock and re-pot submerged in a 5 gallon or larger pot to put on more size and root growth on the rock. In a year or two you should have a really cool bonsai Fockea.

So I was repotting a few more of my Fockeas I found one with three long roots one being the tap root, they all kind of looked like tap roots though. So I took a rock about the size of a potato. I put the roots over the rock and I potted it in a 6" round pot I buried the rock with the caudex, fed it, watered it and put it in my grow tent. I'll check it in 6 months for its progress, I figured I will probably continue to put those three roots and any others that may develop around the rock, around a bigger rock as it progresses. At the end of each three roots, the plant had a lot of feeder roots. They are in the soil under the rock. I have 1 gal grow bags I have potted some of my other ones in. It's about 2.50usd for a bag of 25 grow bags. I am going to get some bigger sizes to continue training my plants. I got some more rocks the size I need today so I will probably look for some other good ones to wrap around them. I still have about 15 fockeas I need to re-pot. Thanks for the tips!

Ps Aloebot I had a typo in an earlier post I meant to say what an amazing specimen. I don't know where the "not" came from. Anyway I hope I have a Fockea the size of the one you showed one day. That one is ready for a bonsai pot!

I have taken some more out of pots to give more room and fresh soil. I am also taking out my raised bed plants to see what's going on with them. Let me know if you would like some more pictures. I also have some other F. species as well. I have decided that I don't actually have any F. crispa (F. capensis) because the description I read states that the leaves are very tomentose. Mine are not unfortunately. Therefore I will be looking for sources of true F. capensis.

More pictures, Senor Guillermo!

Hey Aloebot I would love to see pictures of your Fockeas. I think a lot of people get Edulis and crispa mixed up because Edulis tends to get some pretty curly leaves and people just assume. Under listings for crispa (capensis) on eBay sometimes they have some crispa's listed but I am a bit skeptical as to whether they are really actually crispa and not Edulis sometimes. If I come across a reliable source I'll post it. I am trying to see what low temps Edulis can handle and still survive. I live in sunset zone 14, usda zone 9b it can get in the low 30s and even dip into the high 20s for a couple nights in the winter. I am wondering if I keep mature plants outside and cover over the caudex with soil and wrap the pot with bubble wrap or cloth if it will go dormant and survive the winter with no water or just a small drink in the middle of winter. I have a few that will probably be in 1 gallon pots next winter and I would like to either put them in some type of dry bare root storage packed away with no or low light or just wrap them and keep them outside and get them going again in spring. I know I won't have enough room to keep over 20 one gallon Fockea bags in my house along with ALL my other plants that need to come inside. I barely made it out of this winter! I still lost a few of my other plants but I have so many Adenium, Dorstenia, and Fockea seedlings it's getting a bit crazy! Those are the 1gallon grow bags I am using for them also another one of my seedlings I just planted.

Hello Bob; The seedling pictures are cool. Those bags look like a good size to grow these up in. Thanks for looking for F. capensis listings. I agree with your skepticism about Ebay listings. I believe the Fockeas are much more tolerant of lower temps than your Adeniums. I'm in N. San Diego county and rarely get into the low 30's. I have only had frost once or twice in 23 years here. Mine stay out all year. Some up against the NE side of pseudo lathhouse, some under Philodendron bushes, some in raised beds. I have not lost leaves in winter on any but one (the one shown in above pictures). Many have most if not all of the caudex below soil level. I believe the only culture issue I have had was with the picture above I hoped was F. capensis. You can see a 1 cm hole in the middle left portion of the caudex. When this was only about 1" diameter caudex it started to rot at that point. I was growing the caudex high above soil level and it got sunburned. Happily it cured itself and now has a character spot. I don't leave any caudex out in full sun now unless it has a dense set of leaves to block the sun.

This is closer to what I am trying for. Was in a 2 or 3 gal pot.Blurry picture. This was in the raised bed.I believe this is F. angustifolia. I bought it as F. cylindrifolia which is not a recognized name. The leaves look a lot like Petopentia natalensis but are pubescent and do not have purple on the undersides.This was in the raised bed. I had to snap off the bottom as it had grown through the hardware cloth that lines the bed. I've dusted with hormone/fungicide. I like the neck at the top and have hopes it will fatten up more below that.

The plant I believed to be F. angustifolia above is not. I found my labelled Raphionacme flanaganii and this is the same. This also explains why the leaves resemble Petopentia natalensis since it is related to that plant. My labelled F. angustifolia is coming into leaf now so I can have a picture of it in the future.