Q: Please help!! I purchased the soil mixture and fertilizer for my desert rose plant. I soaked the adenium plant in the K-L-N solution plant in before replanting it about two weeks ago. It was doing fine for two weeks and now all of the leaves are falling off and a couple of the branches are wilting at the ends. I’m located in Tampa Florida which is getting tons of rain still.
Answer: When you replant Adeniums it normal for leaves to fall off due to shock. How much time after you soak the plants did you water the adenium plant? When you transplant adenium plants you need to give them 1 week without watering and protected from the outdoors.
Q: I understand the shock part, the plant actually continued to thrive and bloom flowers for two weeks, now it’s having the problems. I didn’t know about the second part though I watered it same day and put it right been outdoors. What should I do?
Answer: Ok – take the desert rose plant out of the weather today – do not water for 1 week. In fact you can should un-pot the plant for a week and replant it so you can check the root which is what I would do. The roots damage easily during repotting which is why we do not water the plants for a week after re-potting them to give the plant time to adjust, heal and absorb the nutrients of the K-L-N. Since you watered the adenium plant right away you wash off all the nutrients needed by the plant to heal and grow. Also by putting the plant back in the weather (getting lots of rain – my son lives in Tampa and he said they are getting lots of rain still) do not give the roots time to heal/adjust to being repotted.
Q: Should I just put it in an empty bucket for the week then soak it in the nutrients again before reporting? After a week goes by and I repot the adenium plant should I wait to water it for another week and keep it inside?
Answer: Yes take the adenium plant out of the pot, check the roots/branches. If you see any problems remove the bad areas of the adenium plant roots now. In one week check the roots again and make sure all bad parts are gone and the cut has completely healed over. If not healed over yet give a few more days. Adeniums plants can last 3..4 weeks out of a pot. Once you are ready to replant the desert rose plant (make sure the cuts are completely healed) then soak it for 30 minutes and pot it. Then leave in protected area that gets sun but no water for 1 week before moving completely outdoors. Also, you are getting into the slow grow season so it will not grow as fast as it did in the summer.
Q: One more question in addition to my last email, what are some things I should look for in the plant and roots when I remove it to make sure it’s ok and no damage that it’s healthy?
Answer: this blog has many articles on root rot and tip rot. If you seen any soft mushy brown or black areas they need to be cut off the adenium plant. Adeniums will in many cases natural heal/stop rot but in wet climates such as yours adeniums usually does NOT heal as easily by itself 90% of the time.
Special note: This person is in Tampa which is not as topical as South Florida but is still south of most states which gives Tampa a longer growing season. Even in the winter their temperatures are very mild and maybe 3..4 days a year get temps below 40 degrees so adenium plants grow year round outside. If you are in a northern area this not a time to re-pot plants. You can obtain new bare root plant now to have them established by spring but if you have plants ready in pot wait until about 1.5 month before spring or after the desert rose plants flower next year.
