Month: March 2014

Question:  I have an adenium, desert rose, which is about 30 inches tall in a 15 inch clay pot in full sun within our screened pool area.  We live in the Sarasota FL area and for the most part it stays outside all year long.  About a year ago I repotted the plant and used a miracle grow cactus soil, however, at no time have I had any luck keeping a lot of leaves on the plant although it would flower profusely.  I have provided it with biological products as well as N P K with micros. with out luck.  This leads me to believe that there something wrong with my choice of soil.  Any guaranteed suggestions?   – Gary

Answer:  We are located in south Florida about 280 miles southeast of your location and we already had two periods of growth since December and two periods of leaf fall. The possible answer is the weather going from cold to warm to cool to warm and then to cool and now getting warm/hot again.   Also, I would need to know about your watering cycle and what fertilizer you used.  Miracle-Gro, Scotts, Peters, and several other fertilizers with micro minerals are lacking some minerals needed by succulents, cactus plants and other plants.  Miracle-Gro cactus soil which has Miracle-Gro fertilizer has too much peat in it so you need to be careful with your watering. All soil gets depleted which is why people fertilize their plants so changing the soil will not solve the problem.

You may need silicon for your desert rose pant  which is a mineral needed by the plant to absorb the nutrients. It makes the adenium and other plants stems and leaves stronger and more tolerant to weather changes too. Benefits of silicon include greater tolerance of environmental stresses and mineral toxicity or deficiency. Silicon deposited in cell walls forms a protective barrier, defending your plants from water loss due to high temperatures. Dyna-Gro designed TekT product (this is what we use at AdeniumRose Company) to increase the strength of cell walls also results in drastic improvement of stem and branch strength. Since, silicon is rapidly bound in leaf tissue and deposited in a non-translocatable form within 24 hours of uptake, a continuous source of soluble silicon throughout the plant’s life is very important.

Now about guarantee resolution of your adenium plant problem – with plants just like nature there are no guarantees of what will work to solve the problem but the above is our best guess based on the information received. People collect adeniums fro the caudex style and flower types,  desert rose plants are not bushy leafy plants. Most of the leaves and flowers grow toward the end of the branches.

Question: Which plants can grow in full sun in Phoenix, Arizona?  – Linda

Answer: You are in the perfect place to grow any of the plants on the AdeniumRose site.  All the adeniums, Echeverias, prickly pear and other succulents/cactus will do great in your area in pots or in the grown – they are all desert plants.

Are you creating a cactus/succulent garden in the grown or do you plan to put them in ceramic pots? If you plant to use pots make sure you use the right soil and pots so the roots get plenty and water them well twice a week during the summer. You are in a desert which means the plants when kept in pots will get very hot during the summer. In your area I would stick to light color glazed pots (they must be unglazed on the bottom and have good size holes) or non-glazed ceramic pots.

Do not use plastic pots for the cactus and succulents in your area.  Stay away from dark colors to help keep the succulent roots cooler. Check out the bonsai pots on the Epic Grower site or your area. I would get a bit oversized ceramic pot one to give you more room for soil which will help keep the roots a bit further away from the ceramic so they stay cooler.

If you plan to pant the cactus and succulents in the ground I dig a hold about twice the size needed. Put weed control fabric in the bottom of the hold and then 3” of rock and another layer of weed control fabric on top of the rocks first. Then add the proper cactus soil and pots. The first layer of fabric will keep the rocks from sinking into the ground and the 2^nd layer keeps the soil above the rocks. The rocks allow air to flow up and make sure water drains well from the cactus planting area.

Question: Hello, I am looking to buy cactus and succulents for our home and office. I
would like to know which plants are better indoor and which survive well
outdoors. We have had a large succulent collection before moving to Florida
but unfortunately many died when changing climate and moving indoor to
outdoor. I hope to keep healthy plants going in our new house and office. We
are in Tampa Florida. I am also looking for large aloe plants. I hope to
hear back from you and I appreciate your time. Thank you! -Carlos

Answer: The Echeveria’s, adeniums and other succulents are great for your purpose and so are many cactus plants. I need to know a more details about what happed.  Rot root? Bugs? Etc.  AdeniumRose Company has clients in just about all states except for Alaska. As long as you take proper care including using the right soil and fertilizers they will grow anywhere. Here in South Florida adn yoru area (Mid-west Florida) our main concern is too much water when growing succulents outside which is 100% controllable using the right soil.  Off the shelf cactus soil contains too much moss which retains water which is bad for Florida tropical climate. You need a coir based soil (see our blog www.adeniumrose.com/blog for proper mix). Yes we offer soil on our site which is the exact soil we use on our succulents and cactus.

Since you are moving plants from indoors to outdoors (rotating them) I suggest that you keep three sets of cactus/succulent pants unless you are using grow lights in-doors. Cactus and succulents need good light. They will survive indoors with low light for a couple months before they start having problems.  First the cactus and succulents plants will go dormant and then start losing their leaves if they have leave

s.   If you can replace regular light bulbs with grow light bulbs so when they are in your office they still get some of the proper light they need woudl help.

Once you have three sets of cactus and succulent plants rotate them in 3 month cycles so no plant is left in low light for more than 3 months out of 9.  When in-doors reduce watering make sure the soil is dry between watering. Remember the cactus and succulents plants will assume that winter is coming. so they will start to go dormant if kept in-doors too long with not enough light. The problem is that cactus plants here are use to hot and wet and them you are taking them into a dry cool climate. Also you may want get Dyan-Grow Tekt to help strengthen the plants against disease and help the plant to take in nutrients. Also use a a good time release fertilizer 6-6-10 or liquid Dyna-Gro Grow.