This plant had root rot problems last year on two roots section. I had to cut it all the way back to the trunk of the desert rose plant about 1 year ago. This is not a small adenium. I started to work on it a couple years ago to create a canopy bonsai style adenium. The flower type on this one is called saptaweekum which is a very large flower type (the largest I have seen). In the image you will see the two areas where the roots were cut back: one all the way to the trunk and the other cut back to just above the large exposed root/caudex section on the left.
The canopy extends over 27″ from left to right. The height of the plant is about 22″ inches and the caudex is about 10..11″ across (it’s in a 16″ pot). The adenium plant started to flower about two weeks ago and still has some blooms on it.
The root rot was first notice last year when all the other plants started to leaf out and this one didn’t. Some take a couple weeks longer but this one just showed very little growth. The desert rose plant was taken out f the pot and then we noticed root rot. on two of the roots. As stated in other articles when you have rot you need to get rid of it 100%.
We did not repot the adenium plant for 3 weeks. Adenium plants can last several weeks bare root. The larger the desert rose plant the longer it can survive. Once planted, we wait one week to water and fertilize. Yes, we did drip it in Dyan-Grow K-L-N for 30 minutes before we potted it. One month after we potted it we put it with the rest of the adeniums which received regular fertilization using Dyna-Gro Grow. Time released fertilizer was given right before fall.
It took a year but the desert rose plant is 100% recovered and growing great. The areas where the rot was cut out gives the plant some character.
Good Day: Do not reuse the soil because if you have root rot them the soil is wrong. Top soil is not used for adeniums. In the search area on this blog insert soil. It will respond with several articles on proper soil mix and how to tell if the soil is right.