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Why would you do this to a plant?

I picked up an Adenium obesum (desert rose) today cos it had a nice looking caudex, numerous top growths, was in nice condition and marked down. However it had a top dressing of gravel that was glued down. I had to snap the "patio" of rocks in half to get the plant out so I could wash off all the peat and pot it up in something proper.

You couldn't water through the layer of glued rocks and if the plant lived very long in that setup it would be constricted by them. They also had some Ficus or something that had some glued down top dressing... What is the point of doing that to a plant?

Here it is after repotting into a 6" pot of clay gravel, cherrystone grit and some fine shredded coir and a non-glued topdressing!
adeniumobesum.jpg

I like the number of branches and it has a great Jabba the Hut looking root system that will only get better with the deeper pot but the branches are all rather thin (sharpie marker diameter and less). Will they thicken up if I allow them to grow unpruned or will they just get longer but not much thicker?
 
Most store plants like bonsai stuff they do that which I hate so much I a bonsai tree from walmart it looked nice, but the rocks were ugly and glued on so I had to take the rocks out after that I never bought a plant from walmart too much trouble.

whatever reason they do this it is the dumbest thing I've seen also alot of stores will glue flowers on cactus plants to make them look more apealing to the customers.. ???

Oh BTW nice plant I don't know anything about it, but I hope it grows well for you now it's in your hands. :D
 
Happens all the time..
they probably glue the rocks so they will stay in place during shipping..
also, if the soil is bone-dry in the store, you cant tell..
makes things easier for the store staff..they dont have to bother with watering..

and bonsai at Walmart is NOT bonsai!
(or lowes/home depot/target/the mall/etc..)
not even remotely close..
most are dead before you even buy them..(especially junipers..they stay green and look "alive" for weeks after they die..)

http://wiki.bonsaitalk.com/index.php/Beware_the_mallsai

http://www.growing-bonsai.com/mallsai/the-mallsai-trend/

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/bonsai/msg071454507728.html

Scot
 
Congrats on that find! I like your new Adenium! I don't think I've ever seen one that full.

They put those glued on rocks on everything. They should come with a warning to immediately remove them. My best friend recently sent me a very nice ginseng ficus from a Japanese restaurant gift shop. The tree is great, but it also came with the glued on rocks that I had to remove.

and bonsai at Walmart is NOT bonsai!
(or lowes/home depot/target/the mall/etc..)

I couldn't agree more. If you want a real bonsai, go to the garden center, buy stock material, and make it yourself.
 
mallsai = mall bonsai
wallsai = walmart bonsai

pretty common terminology in the bonsai world unfortunately... poor things.. its like deathcubes for us cpers
 
its like deathcubes for us cpers

basically yes..
except with death cubes, with good care you can end up with a nice CP..
with mallsai, with good care all you end up with a nice houseplant! ;)
which is fine..if dont pay more than a few bucks for it..
but you are unlikely to get a decent bonsai out of mallsai..

most mallsai are worth about $3..they are just houseplants, nothing more..
(or in the case of juniper mallsai, they are simply small nursery plants)
but they sell for $10-$25 or more because people are tricked into thinking they are actually bonsai..totally not worth it.

Scot
 
hmm..I have to say im actually impressed with Lowes..
check it out:

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=howTo&p=LawnGarden/BonsaiBasics.html

They actually tell people Juniper plants should be grown outdoors!
amazing..
(most juniper mallsai are sold as indoor houseplants..)

nice to see some responsible information!
of course they still sell the junky mallsai..but at least they give people proper information about them..

Scot
 
I like how they say, "bonsai are grown from regular trees and plants available at any Lowe's garden center.", and then list Shimpaku. Were that the case, I would have owned stock in Lowes yrs ago before I got 200+ (literally) of them elsewhere. LOL Mostly, Lowes just sells that horridly painful procumbens 'nana'. Absolutely nothing they sell even comes close to a Shimpaku's quality in my opinion.
 
The Ficus "bonsai" was pretty silly looking. If I want a bonsai I'll do it myself (doing is the fun of it). I got this cos I was looking at Adeniums on Ebay and this was better than any available for what I wanted to pay.

I also picked up a different but similar species which has a neat caudex that gets red mottled in time (starting now) and has leaves like a shelfflera, this is Adenia glauca I want to prune it and make it stumpy like the other but I'm a bit afraid to hack off the sole growing tip!
adeniumglauca.jpg
adeniumglauca2.jpg


This one was potted normally (no glue) but still had to be freed from it's peaty tomb.
 
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