Month: November 2017

       It’s time for your adenium dormancy procedures to kick start.  Depending upon the part of the USA you are located your adenium plants will go into dormancy during winter. In some areas it means 100% of all leaves will drop and very slow or no growth until late winter/spring time will occur.

The southern states experience shorter desert rose plant dormancy but you still need to start your winter growing procedures.

Adenium dormancy plant care

First, you need to greatly reduce the watering of your adenium plant during dormancy. Make sure the soil is 100% dry between watering. Water 1 to 2 times a month depending upon your desert rose plant growing environment. Give the adeniums as much light as possible. Make sure you protect them from cold weather below 40 degrees.  If you have lamps/lights switch the bulbs out with grow lights to give the plants 4..5 hours of good light per day.

Grow bulbs have greatly come down in price and you can even get LED lights to conserve electrical power costs.  No you do not need a special fixture to for grow lights/bulbs.  Yes, we have used LED grows lights with success. Make sure you are using a full spectrum grow light

Fertilize your Desert Rose Plant

Even during dormancy we recommend some liquid fertilizer.    These are desert plants and in the wild they do not go into 100% dormancy.  Use Dyna-Gro Grow diluted 1/2 potency  during the winter once a month with you water.  In late winter you may want to switch to Dyna-gro Bloom right before you expect to see new leaves or unit you see desert rose plant flower buds.

If you have time released fertilizer hold off until spring before adding more.  You do not want to over fertilize the adenium plant during lower water consumption months.

Final Adenium Dormancy Notes

Unlike some other types on plants this is NOT the time to crop branches or roots.  Yes, you can repot your adenium plant but be careful not to break the roots. Once you repot the desert rose plant wait 3 weeks before watering.

The main exception to this rule are people in my area where the plants have a very mild adenium dormancy. Here is southeast Florida the plants will lose leaves and the growth will slow down. However, 90% of the time the plants start growing new leaves within a couple weeks so you can crop branches and roots during this period.

Have a great Thanksgivings!

  Question: On our adenium pot we are getting a crusty white substance.  I am concerned about the health of my adenium. I know root rot is a potential problem, so I want to make sure I shouldn’t be doing something to protect my plant. I purchased two other adeniums from a local green house and the caudex(s) of them seem firmer than my original.

Upon receiving my adenium plant I let it sit for about 3 weeks. Then my pot arrived. I followed the desert rose planting included sheet of instructions:

• Created a soil mix based on information from your site: perlite, silica sand, your fertilizer, coco fiber
• I Soaked the plant for 20 minutes in Dyna-Gro K-L-N

The very few leaves that were on the plant have fallen off (which I understand is normal form shipping, etc.) but nothing new has grown.  Areas of caudex is green which means it in good health.

I’m also not sure what the crusty white substance is that appeared on the outside of the bonsai pots after I watered them (24 hours after potting). They’ve been watered only once a week since and seem to drain well. I wonder if it is from the Dyna-Grow K-L-N?

Looking for any advice you may have.

Adenium pot Answer 

I would think the minerals deposit on your adenium pot is from the water seeping though the pot or type of deposit from something outside the pot.  The pot is porous so as the water evaporates it leaves behind mineral deposits. When you choose a pot, select one that is glazed around the side, but not on the bottom.  The bottom should have a least two holes and no glazing.  Glazing will prevent water evaporation on the sides.

You left the plant out for three weeks after receiving it (so almost 4 weeks) it will take a while to recover in addition it is close to dormant season.  When the plant is out of adenium pot over 7..10 days it will drop all its leaves to conserve water (normal desert plant trait) .

In your area (Northern USA) its the start of adenium plant dormancy. If you want new growth you need to give the adenium plant 8-10 hours of full sun light a day. Plus, warmth above 70 degrees  to make it think it’s still spring/summer. Otherwise you will get very little or no growth until next spring.   Adeniums go dormant during the winter months and drop leaves (usually all leaves in your area).

Dormancy period length  of your desert rose plant depends upon your growing area (amount of light, temperatures, humidity, etc).  Do not water your adenium pot more than 1 time every 7..10 days during dormancy.  Make sure the soil dries out completely between watering your desert rose plant.  The caudex (see image) has a good color and shows recent growth (green areas).  When you potted it do you make sure at 2 Inches of smaller fine roots are under the soil?