Recently several people asked about how to create interesting adenium plant exposed roots (caudex) on their desert rose plants. First, the adenium plants will grow interesting caudex over time, however, they look can be approved by using standard bonsai methods. The best time to work on your adeniums plants root structure is when you re-pot the plant.
The first step when re-potting a adenium plant is to force the roots to spread out. Your desert rose bonsai plant roots are flexible but be careful not to break them. Since the roots will be under ground do not use bonsai wire because you will be able to tell if they are causing damage. Instead cut a ping ball in half to be placed under the roots you want to spread out. The roots will not be able to go straight down and will be forced to go around the plastic ball. You can use other plastic objects besides ping pong balls for your adenium plant bonsai shaping.
Make sure your pot is not too large but give roots of the adenium plant have around 2″ to spread out as they grow until the next re-potting. Depending upon your growing environment you should re-pot at least once a year to check the growth of the roots of the desert rose plants.
To help the growing of the caudex you will need to crop your branches to keep them shorter. When you crop a branch,the cropped branch of the desert rose plant will be replaced by 2..3 branches 95% of the time if the plant is getting enough light. As more branches grow so does the roots which makes the plant grow faster too! Make sure you use the right adenium plant fertilizer and soil mix.
i love that i have found this blog. so much information. thank you for your knowledge. i planted some seeds and they are growing nicely and at different heights. i was wondering about the roots. right now it’s just 1 main root. will they start to grow other roots and spread? here they are : https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1477543372507319.1073741840.1380286788899645&type=1
any help would be great. i live in toronto canada so we are having out winter. so i have them in a mini green house and i water them once a week if the soil is dry.
More adenium seedlings root will develop. I recommend theta you raise the seeds growing in a shallow 20 x 10 x 2 propagation tray and do not transplant then into individual 2″ x 2″ pots until they haev a caudex of 1/4″ or larger. The pots in the image are way way too big and too deep for adenium seedlings.
Hi
i have purchased a DR. The height of the plant is less than 10 inches. when purchased the plant was still in the small 6 inch nursery pot which leads me to believe the DR could be 1 year or so. my idea is to re pot the DR into a small bonsai port . in order to get the plant in the bonsai pot i had to cut the underground caudex/main root by a third but i have left the other tiny roots intact. the underground caudex/main root before cutting looked liked a white radish/ carrot. i havent re potted the DR and i have left the cut to heal. please guide me on what needs to be done? this whole thing of cutting it down happened just today. how long should i dry it for?. will the plant die if its out of pot? will this cause root rot? pls help
You need to leave it for a week before planting. Leaving it out will not cause root rot. Root rot is caused by water. It’s too late but I wold no have cut the roots off. I would have raised the plant so more roots are exposed which gives t a no bonsai look.