One moment.
Growing Pachypodium.
6 on the bench·Written at the bench·Updated 2026-09-16
Al has not recorded the Pachypodium guide yet. These are the notes for caudiciforms as a family, which cover most of what matters; the Pachypodium guide will replace them here when it lands.
Fat-stemmed, fat-rooted plants that store water for the dry season and grow in bursts. The rule at the bench: read the plant, not the calendar. Water when it is in leaf, stop when it is not.
Caudiciforms · family notesUpdated 2026-09-16
- Light
- Bright light with several hours of direct sun on the foliage. Shade the caudex itself if it sits in afternoon sun; a sunburned caudex scars for good.
- Water
- Water thoroughly when in active growth and the mix has dried through, then nothing until it dries again. In dormancy, a light drink once a month at most, and only if the caudex softens.
- Soil
- Sharp-draining mineral mix: at least half pumice or scoria, the rest screened bark or coarse coir. Terracotta or an unglazed pot with one big drainage hole.
- Dormancy
- Most drop their leaves and stop for part of the year: winter for the summer-growers, summer for the winter-growers. Leaf drop is the signal to cut water, not a problem to fix.
- Hardiness
- Frost-tender as a group. Keep above 40°F, and keep the roots dry whenever nights fall below 50°F.
- Feeding
- Balanced fertilizer at quarter strength with every third or fourth watering while in leaf. Nothing while dormant.
- Repotting
- Every two to four years at the start of the growing season. Keep the caudex at the height it was; burying it deeper invites rot.
- Watch for
- A soft or wrinkled caudex in growth means thirst; the same in dormancy means rot, and the answer is dry air, not water. Mealybugs hide in the crown and under the lip of the caudex.
There is a longer read on Pachypodium from the bench.
Read the long-form guide →— In stock now
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