Month: March 2017

When creating an adenium bonsai plant in a particular style you need to have a plan of attack and patience. Desert rose plants are not fast growing plants, however, they are very forgiving when creating an adenium bonsai.  Do you need formal bonsai training or special tools? No – just follow a few simple steps.  If you like the shape of the plant as-is (natural adenium bonsai)  then just do nothing like many collectors. However, if you want to create a windswept look, canopy or other bonsai style then you will need to do a few things including wiring branches.

Shaping Adenium Bonsai Plant Canopy Style

Adenium branches are soft and easy to break so you must wait for the branches to thicken up a bit before wiring.  If the branches get too long crop (trim) them back to force thickening of the main branches.  If you are creating a canopy style adenium bonsai then wiring is not needed.  See the image to the right with many branches. This adenium plant was trimmed/cropped/pruned (whatever word you want to use) to force more branches to grow.  We wanted three or more branches to come out for each main branch cropped. The thicker the main branch the more branches will pop out of the side below the cut.

This adenium bonsai branches were cropped three times before 3 or more branches developed for each branch cropped.   Look at the thick branches of this desert rose bonsai. There are four main branches and each has several smaller new branches coming out. The over-all height of the total plant above the soil line is below 12″.  The caudex is 5″ across and 5″ deep (5 yr old plant).  This adenium Bonsai we just listed and sold today (less than 3 hours on the AdeniumRose website).  AdeniumRose Company plans to create bonsai started plants  and listed them as Adenium Bonsai on the website. Due to the nature of creating a bonsai I do not have a time frame of when ones will be listed.

More Adenium Branches = Larger Caudex

Once each of the new branches thickens up we will crop them. The whole idea is to have a wide canopy with tons of short thick branches. The great part about making a canopy type adenium bonsai is the more branches you have to fatter the caudex will become!  Keep the plant short and remember to arrange the root system to spread out (see previous article).

Do not worry about flowers are this time. Your main goal is to create a bunch of branches with leaves.  If the plant flowers it take energy away form the branch and leaf growing process.  The leaves need nutrients so use the proper fertilizer on a bi-weekly basis during growing season.

Several people have requested more information on how to grow wider caudex which is the exposed root system that makes adenium plants special.   There are several steps and methods to create wider caudexes and create great desert rose plants.  First, you need to use the right type of pot, soil and provide the proper nutrients for your adenium plant.

The Pot and soil

There are several articles in this blog concerning the soil.  Instead of rewriting articles for the correct desert rose soil please use the top search and insert the keyword soil.  Needless to say, if you do not use the right soil and nutrients, the adenium plant will suffer.  Make sure you fertilize on a regular basis to prevent shock.

In order to grow your adenium caudex wide you need to use a shallow pot if at all possible. If your pot is deep you can fill the bottom of the pot with rocks except for the top 3…5 inches depending upon the size of your adenium plant.  Our jumbo plants are grown in 12” to 18” wide pots that are 5” to 8” deep.  In the deeper pots we fill the first 3 inches with rocks and then put weed block/Gardner cloth above the rocks.   Then we plant the adenium above the cloth. The cloth helps retain the soil. If you use this method you will need to repot every year because the cloth will decompose.

Wide caudex – Spread out the roots

When you pot your desert rose plant spread out the roots. Yes you can use bonsai wire to assist.  Be careful not break the roots. If you do break roots or cut the roots let the plant set out for 7 days before planting for the cuts to heal. If you have a nice ball of roots put a large rock or ball (ping pong ball?) in the pot and then arrange the adenium plant roots around the ball to force the roots outwards.

Nonporous rocks work great too.  In 6 months repot the desert rose plant and use a larger rock or ball.  The advantage to using rocks it that you can find different shapes to sculpture the roots in particular arrangement. Remember the roots below the soil now will be exposed to the air in the future as you grow your caudex larger.