Author: epic_admin

In our area, South Florida, growing season is just about year round for adenium plants. During the winter months is our dry season so with summer around the corner  with its constant daily rains now the time to check you desert rose plants condition.  If you are in a true winter area you need to do this in the fall before your rain season starts.

Do a soil drainage test to make sure it does not hold water that causes adenium root rot. Now, make sure you have plenty of air space around the container for the same reason. If water drains from the pot but puddles on the self it can cause fungus growth under the leaves of the desert rose plant from evaporation.  In our area fungus is always a problem with the summer rains and very high humidity.

When you do water try not to wet the leaves. If you have hard water consider an alternative because acidic water tends to sour the soil too fast and may cause root rot on your adenium. Water desert rose plants preferably in the early morning, and allow them to drink up throughout the day. Watering adeniums can be done daily to every few days. Never allow your desert rose plants to sit in a saucer of water and do not allow them to dry out too often which causes adeniums to go into early dormancy.

Growing adeniums is easy if  you take a few precautions. Look in previous post and Epic Grower company website for more growing information and tips. Also, if you plant to bonsai your adenium plant now is the time to wire wrap before the leaves start growing. It’s always easier to wrap when the adenium plant has less leaves.  Remember you want to do a loose wire wrap around the branches to allow room for trunk and branch growth on the desert rose plant.

I just received a questions about how long it takes for an adenium seed to germinate. The answer is simple if you have the right growing conditions. First, growing adenium plants by seeds is a low cost method of starting a desert rose plant collection. You can obtain adenium seeds for a few dollars  (packs of 10 of 20) of various flower types. However, you need to remember until the seed bloom you will not know if the plant flower is anything like the parent plant. Only a percentage of adenium seeds will grow into plants with the same flowers of its parents.

Now back to the question. If you have fresh adenium plant seeds and you are growing them in the right condition they will germinate in 5 to 7 days.  yes, I have see some germinate in three days and some 2 weeks.  But 95% will germinate in 5 to 7 days if the seeds are fresh. The majority of the ones that take 10 to 14 to germinate tend to be weaker plants and older seeds.  We have had great success growing adenium seeds under LED lights using tri-band and even some dual band lights. After the seedlings are over 3 months old the adenium plant seedlings are totally removed from the LED and grow under natural light.

We use standard 10×20 trays (the ones with holes/slots all around the sides) and keep the desert rose plants moist by misting them using spray bottles.  Yes, we dome the trays until the adenium seedlings are 1 month old.  If you have any questions concerning growing adenium plants and seeds please let me know. Have a great time growing and collecting adenium, desert rose plants.

Several people have asked about the Ebay plants offered by EPic Grower Company (Azurite Ebay name) verses the ones offered on the website. when bidding on the adenium, desert rose, plans offered on Ebay, you will receive the exact plant you see in the image. On the website we pick the plants.  So whats’ the difference?

People collect adeniums, desert rose, plants for the flowers and the shape of the actual plant. The caudex, exposed root system has a natural bonsai look. Many prefer to see the exact shape of the caudex of the adenium plant before buying.  The AdeniumRose company has hundreds of adenium plants and seedlings at any one time. the AdeniumRose website shows the flower but not the caudex because listing every plant separate would be a huge time consuming task. Instead, we list the quantity of each desert rose plant we have in stock based on the flower name.

Also, Ebay allows us to offer larger adenium plants and sometimes desert rose plants of a particular flower which we have only 1..2 of them in stock.  Plus, we will be listing some true bonsai shaped adeniums too on Ebay.  When you order from the website our staff select the adenium plant Our staff does pick quality ones based on stock on hand. They first look at the overall health, number of branches and then the adenium plants caudex.

Several people have ask about the grafts and the age of the plant we use as the base of the adenium graft. First, the base adenium, desert rose, plant we use as grafting material is an 3yr old Adenium with a caudex of approximately 3″ or larger. Adenium plant that is 3yrs old is well established, it has been growing outside in the elements so it disease resistant and the trunk is large enough to accept a good size graft or several adenium hybrid grafts.

When grafting we select a adenium branch or branches that are at least 3″ long from a plant that is 3..5 years old. We do not graft adenium seedlings or branches from young adeniums for the same reason we use at least a 3yr adenium stock plant to graft onto. The healthier the adenium plant and adenium graft the better chance the graft holds and stays healthy.

Grafting adenium plants is not a hard process. However if you do not take proper precautions your adenium, desert rose, plant graft will fail. You need to use very healthy plants, sterile tools, proper size of grafting area,  proper wrapping and other procedures to get the adenium graft to work. The Epic Grower Company waits a full 8 months or more which means 2 flowering cycles before offering grafted adenium plants. In addition the plant must be growing outdoors at least 6 months to make sure its healthy and resistant to problems. Desert rose plants are very hearty and graft well under the right conditions.

This is a followup article on names of plants, adenium plant flower colors and images that are photo shopped to change the colors. First the majority of the plants and seeds of hybrid adenium, desert rose, plants come from Thailand, India or other Asian countries.  Part of the problem is the language and part is true distortion of the actual plant flower color to sell more adenium plants

The majority of the Ebay adenium seed selling members greatly alter flower image colors. Not all of sellers alter images of the adenium flowers but a majority do. Even the names distort the truth of the adenium plant flower colors.

Case in point is “Purple  Rain”.  Look at the the adenium images images in this article. You and will notice its not actually purple. It’s more like a dark magenta with a purple tendency.  It’s a great medium size adenium flowering plant but it’s not purple.

The image in this article is NOT altered at all. It’s still a fantastic looking adenium plant. The color variations on the pedals makes this an adenium I highly prize. Just beware of altered images and names people give to adenium plants. To see more images, 100% NOT altered, visit a AdeniumRose Company website photo gallery.  Collecting adenium plants is a great hobby and come back for more images/articles concerning adenium growing and plants.

If you look at various adenium plant selling sites you will notice a wide range of names and colors. Adenium plant flowers come in many different shade of white, reds, pink, yellow, burgundy almost black and mixtures of these colors.  However, you need to be careful in when selecting colors on websites because many of the images are graphically changed. One of the worst ones we see on the internet are magenta and black looking flowers on the adenium plants.

Look at the image on this post and you will see a middle of the road red and a true magenta size by side. There is a color different but not the extreme over saturated magenta you see on some Ebay seed selling auctions. You will notice the adenium succulent plant magenta color flower is a red magenta not the more purple you see on Ebay.  The adenium plant flower picture were taken in normal sun light.  Notice the magenta color does have a bit of  richer magenta pedal color towards the edge of the adenium plant. The images of the desert rose succulent plant where not enhanced in anyway. It is a shade of magenta but do not get fooled by images you see on Ebay.  If you want to see true images of adenium plants check out adeniumrose website or photo gallery. Images of UN-enhanced succulent desert rose adenium plants will start going up on the photo gallery this week.

Adenium plant seedlings grow from seeds is not a challenging process. One of the best ways to obtain adenium plants is either acquire seedlings or grow them plants from seeds. Growing from seed is an added expense if you do not live in a tropical or warm desert climate. You will sterilized soil, growing flats and a water system unless you want to slave over the growing by doing everything by hand everyday when growing adeniums. the seedling image on this article is an adenium approximately 5 months old in  a 2.5″ x 2.5″ container. It was transplanted to this container from a community adenium growing tray when it was 3 months old. it will stay in this pot until we do the first clipping in spring to create multiple branches on the adenium desert rose plant.

When growing adenium plants from seed expect about a 80% germination rate and 70% survival rate to 5 months old. Also, when received seeds of a certain adenium flower type do not expect all the seeds to look like the parent adenium plants flower. In fact, sometimes only 50% look like the parents if the seeds are from hybrid plants. If you have a limited growing season we recommend obtaining seedlings or 3yr old plants for you collection. In the tropics (Miami, where AdeniumRose company is located) is a tropical climate. Our growing season is 8 to 10 months. Our winters are very mild with an average daytime temperature of 74 degrees.

If you live in a cool climate you will need to set up a special growing room to grow adenium plants by seeds.

This image was taken two months ago of a striped adenium flower. This is the first bloom since the graft and it is showing its first couple leaves that are just starting to pop out. Right after the adenium, desert rose plant, bloom we took off the flower buds so all the energy goes towards leaf development. Many times when we received grafted adenium plants, the flowers bloom before we see any leaves. The flowers takes a lot from a plants energy and 99% of the time we snip off the flowers on any new adenium graft until they are at least 6 months old.

Notice the triple layer of pedals. Some adeniums layers of pedals are clustered in the center as this adenium pant and others have the flower pedal look of a rose bush (see previous posts). This adenium plant will have a more pronounced yellow color in the center leaves as the plant ages and once it received fertilizer. As a general rule we do not fertilize new adenium grafts until they are 4 months old. Only time release fertilizer is used except when the leaves needs some copper or other micro minerals for leaf color or growth.  The same holds true for seedlings except we wait until 6 months and adenium caudex development of at least 1/2″ to prevent plant shock. Also, this weeds out adenium seedlings that are exhibiting natural bad growth from adenium seeds batches.

This is a great example of a triple layered pedal grafter adenium plant from Thailand. This one was imported to the USA four months ago.This adenium flower two months ago and shows a great medium size flower with a very slight pink tone in the center pedal layer. Notice the shape of he pedals and the even distribution.  this plant will be available in very limited quantities in December once the AdeniumRose Company site is ready.

Grafted adenium plants received from Thailand are plant and grow in |South Florida  for at least 3 months before they are released released for clients in ensure quality of plant an flower.  AdeniumRose  Company received 14 of these white flower with slight pink center adenium plants with caudex size of 3″ to 4″ across.  Since this adenium, desert rose plant the common name, flowered it has fully leafed out and increased in size. All the adenium plants received are in great shape and growing fast in the open (not under lights or cover). growing the grafted plants in the open in full sun light makes them stronger and gives you the assurance that adenium plant you received is very healthy.

Continue to visit this blog for more photos and tips on caring for adenium plants. If you are in the south Florida area look fro announcements soon concerning the farmers markets locations that will be offering our these grafted adenium, desert rose, plants. Have a fantastic Thanksgivings!