Growing desert roses Adenium plants Archives - Page 2 of 14 - Epic Grower LLC

February 10, 2020

Red Butterfly wing Plant

Questions about the Red Butterfly received. The Mariposa Christia Vespertilion is known as the Red butterfly wing plant. I’m assuming it is dormant because it just dropped all of its leaves. Does the plants leaves grow back on the same stems? Should I cut it back? If so, where should I cut it?

Answer: Mariposa Christia Vespertilion plant is a rare plant and there is not much information about growing it in various climates. The grow new branches most of the time when producing new leaves.

Red Butterfly wing plant Growing

Exotic grower has over 2,000 red butterfly wing plant seeds ready to plant. We plan to plant them this month to start new plants using heat mats and grow light. After about 4-5 months most of the Mariposa Christia Vespertilion seedlings go outside.

The red butterfly plants grow in indirect sunlight until they are put in 3.5″ pots. Once in pots Exotic grower gives them 60% to 70% sunlight (under shade cloth house). Based on growing the Mariposa Christia Vespertilion in south Florida we keep the soil moist but not wet.

Dormancy: Red Butterfly wing Marisa Christia Vespertilion

In our area (tropical climate) they do not go 100% dormant. The Christia Vespertilion drop about 80% of their leaves during winter in our area (SE tropical Florida). Exotic grower has many clients in various cool to cold climates. They protect the plants from the cold (container growing them). I would not cut the plants back until you see where new grow occurs. Yes, they will grow in the ground in SE Florida!

Exotic Grower pruned 90% of their seed producing stock to see the outcome. We hope they grow back with thicker trunks and more branches as they do in the summer. The red butterfly wing pants were last pruned in mid-summer 2019 (8 months ago). Our company is still experimenting with them to gain more growing information.

Seed Germination of the Red Butterfly wing Plant

The seed stock plants produces seeds year round in our climate. In cooler and colder climates do not expect seed growing until late summer. Seed germination rate is about 40%. It can take 3 months or more to germinate seeds. Once germinated it will take several more months until they are ready to transplant.

If you have growing experience with the red butterfly wing plant please send information to AdeniumRose Company LLC. Any information is appreciated.

December 30, 2019

Plant Grow Lights Learning

Question about using grow lights with adeniums and other plants. We have adenium desert rose plants in Austin, Texas. At this time of year we keep them inside as it frequently gets down to 40F at night. We are concerned that they are not getting enough sun. Would you advise a type of grow lights that works best with these plants. I tried to educate myself and came away not knowing what spectrum if best. Thanks for your help

Answer: Adenium Rose Company is not using any grow lights except for seed germination. Having said that we are in the process of building a vertical growing facility in North Georgia (Zone 6a to 7). We will be using 100% LED products. The grow light fixture will have true full spectrum. The grow lights units we are using will have adjustable light intensity, duration and green/red balance adjustment on the light fixture.

Grow Lights Basics LED’s

We have spent countless hours reading about grow lights, their specifications and quality of the LED’s. There is no one size fits all. The basic LED light mixes are full spectrum, bloom and vegetation LED. Then there are various generations of LED (generation1, 2 3 etc.). Some cost a fortune and cheap. Some LED fixtures have adjustable intensity settings, red/blue adjustments, timers and much more.

The units we are using will have adjustable light intensity, duration and bloom/vegetation balance adjustment on the light fixture. They will have UV and IR light too. The uMol spread will controlled by making by light spacing.

Our vertical growing area will consist of units with 4′ x 4′ shelving units. Each unit shelf spacing will be between 30″ to 48″. The grow lights fixtures will be on a pulley system to give the ability to adjust the distance between the plant and light.

Once we get a better handle on the grow lights products used and time using them we will create several blog posts but that will be towards the 2nd half of 2020.

July 30, 2019

Desert Rose Seedlings Adenium

Growing desert rose seedlings require patience. Many people purchase adenium seeds online and expect flowers in 12 months or less. Adenium plants, just like all desert plants, require patience and dedication. It takes time to fatten up the caudex and care when young to prevent rot.

First the Desert Rose Seedling Have Patience Part

If you want to give your desert rose seedlings the best start do not transplant them early. Many people tend to rush transplanting them. Over the years we have learned that it’s better to leave them in the growing liners longer. AdeniumRose Company / ExoticGrower Company waits until the seedling is busting out of the plastic of 1 inch liners. The liners are 1 inch wide by 2 inches deep.

When removed from the growing liner the caudex is a good 1″ wide and 1″ deep. The desert rose seedlings are placed in 3″ round or square nursery pots. At this point the adenium seedlings are approximately 8 months to 1 yr old. Yes, we do crop the seedlings about 2 months before the removal from the liners.

Once the adenium plants are in 3″ pots we then wait until they are busting out of those pots before we move them up to the next size. Remember, we are growing these outdoors under a shade cloth (70% sun). Yes, we have automatic watering and fertilization system in a very warm and humid environment (Tropical SE Florida). Your results may vary. Be patient.

Now the Desert Rose Seedlings Flowering Part

Contrary to many peoples opinions, adenium seedlings may flower within 1 yr. The trick is to use the right nutrients starting when the desert rose seedlings are about 8 months old. We use Dyna-Gro Bloom when we want to test a few seedlings for flower type. Now if you do this you will cause the plant to focus energy on blooming not growing.

When you buy a plant at big box stores (home improvement stores/nurseries) they force blooms this way. If the plants are not blooming they lose sales. We do not recommend using a bloom formula until the desert rose seedlings are 18 months old. Wait until they have a few branches and the caudex is at least 1″ wide.

Desert Rose Seedlings Pot Size

Ok – you now know how Adeniumrose Company grow adenium seedlings in liners. What pot size should you use for seedlings? This depends greatly on your growing environment. If you do not regularly tend the plants you may need to use larger pots so they retain some moisture longer. Desert rose seedlings require monitoring. If you do not want to monitor your plants or you are not automated (water/fertilizing) then do not buy seedlings.

Since you are not a nursery use pots that breathe. We use bonsai pots and Terra cotta type pots only when planting for clients. Yes – some are glazed but not on the bottom. The size of the pot for desert rose seedlings should not be more than 1/2″ – 3/4″ wider on each side of the plant. If the caudex is 1inch use a 2.5 to 3 inch pot. Desert rose seedlings could use a pot 2.5 to 3 inches deep.

Remember to use the right soil and give the plant plenty of water during the growing season. If you have questions please post them in the comment area below.

Have a great time growing your desert rose seedlings!

April 30, 2019

Potting Exotic Plants Root Health

Potting exotic plants with root balls or starting to create a bonsai plant requires a bit of work. Do not just pour soil around the plant without reviewing the roots. You obtained a quality rare plant, exotic herb or cactus plant and now you need to pot it. How do you handle the roots? How deep do you plant it in a pot? What’s the root crown?

exotic plants bombay bonsai — Exotic Plants include Pseudobombax. This is a 15yr old bombax in a bonsai pot just starting to leaf out!

Pot for Exotic Plants

Whether your exotic plants have massive root balls or just starting out you need to take care of it. Determine the size of the pot needed by how you want to grow the plant. Bonsai? In the ground? Container planting with other plants? The right size pot is critical when considering water retention, root development and style. The bigger the pot the more soil and water it holds which could cause root rot.

The first image shows what you can do with tropical plants and bonsai work. Psuedobombax in naturally grows 30 feet tall and very wide if in the ground. It’s a caudex form plant as a bonsai. The 2nd image is another bombax about 15yrs old. Notice the pot is very shallow. Every year the roots are trimmed on these exotic plants and the soil is refreshed.

If your exotic plants are non caudex tropical or non desert/semi desert then an oversized pot will not cause problems in most cases. If you are growing rare desert or tropical exotic plants including neems or moringas then the size does matter.

It’s always better to start the plant in a smaller pot rather than an oversized one. Your pot should allow for 2 inches of width growth along with 2-3″ of depth unless you are doing a bonsai plant. The inches are based on the width of the roots of the plant.

Exotic Plant roots and Improving Plant Growth

Check the exotic plant roots before selecting the pot size. The roots and all about the roots. If you have chop sticks or thin bamboo sticks then get them ready for usage. Many tropical exotic plants, desert and semi desert plants come with tight balls of roots. The tiny end roots (usually light color) need space to grow and collect nutrients. You create space by spreading out the roots before potting. Yes, you can damage the roots by pulling on them by hand to spread them out but there is a better way.

Use chop sticks (we do this) and gently spread out the root balls. Loosen the roots starting at the bottom by pushing the sticks and pulling slowly. Pretend your exotic plants has “Afro” hair. If you pull hard on hair it breaks just like roots. Yes, if the plant root ball was oversized for the previous pot its a bit tough to spread out. Once you spread out the roots measure the width and then determine your pot size.

If you plan to bonsai then you spread the roots out wide. If the roots of your exotic plants do not stay in place consider wiring down the roots. Use rocks under the plant to force the roots outwards or other method of root spacing. Remember the object is to give the small roots room to grow and collect nutrients.

When you pot the plant do not bury the root ball deep. It should rest just at the soil level or not more than 1/2 below the soil level. This insures that the roots will get air! The root crown is the top of the root.

Check other pots concerning fertilizers, soil types and root hormone (we use Dyna-Gro K-L-N). Not all soils or fertilizers are the same.

February 1, 2019

Desert Rose Winter Dormancy Growing Question

desert rose winter jumbo flowers — Possible flowers types for Yellow Jumbo adeniums received January 2019

Q: The Desert Rose Winter dormancy in NY. I am interested in purchasing a adenium 3-in-1 type from AdeniumRose Company / ExoticGrower. I have 2 planters that are 3 feet tall. My thought was to put one on each side of my front door on the porch which gets direct sun. I would like to purchase 2 before they sell. But I would not want them delivered until June as I live in New York.

How long will you hold a plant. Also what type of soil should I purchase?

A: The planter is very tall for the 5″ wide for a desert rose 3-in-1 plants. They average 10″ inches tall which would do great in 8″ wide pots about 8″ to 12″ deep. If you use a 3′ tall pots then fill in the bottom with rocks (2 feet). Cover the rocks with a cloth to prevent the soil from sinking down into the rocks. Finally, plant the desert rose plant using proper soil.

Just received many extra large (caudex 5..6 inches across caudex with an average height 14″) and jumbo plants (caudex 7 to 10 inches across caudex with an heights 18″ to 26″ tall we will be released in March (not 3-in-1’s).

ExoticGrower hold plants up to 45 days not 4 months because it’s very busy starting this month and would be very easy to lose plants kept too long.

Desert Rose Winter Dormancy Varies

There are many articles on soil to use on this blog. Use the search area and put in soil. yes, AdeniumRose Company / ExoticGrower does offer soil for adeniums and other type of succulents/cactus plants.

During desert rose winter dormancy period if you have a warn location with some sunlight inside then the plant will survive until spring. Adenium plants are in dormancy during this time of year. I some areas dormancy means complete leaf lose and in others just no growth. Many collectors use grow lights to keep the adeniums growing during the winter months.

The AdeniumRose Company growing area in southeast Florida allows year round growing of adeniums with minimal dormancy. This is not true for all plants grown such as plumerias which lose 100% of their leaves from December through late April.

September 5, 2018

Adenium Hybrid Seeds the truth – desert roses

adenium hybrid seeds seedlings about 6 month old — 6 month old adenium desert rose seedlings

Adenium hybrid seeds question about adenium seeds pods and seeds of hybrid plants. I have been growing a desert rose for a few years that I purchased at a local store in my areas. I didn’t know anything about it when I started growing it. I have fallen in love with the plant. It is beautiful and last year it gave me some seed pods. I now have babies growing. I have been reading and learning about the Desert Rose. I found your site and I would like to order some more plants. I love getting the seeds and growing them. I noticed on your site that you have some plants that are grafted. The 3 and 5 packs I am looking at say they are grafted on a caudex. If a plant like this produces seeds, will the seeds match the color of the grafted blooms?

Answer: Adenium hybrid seed pods will develop on grafted plants however there is a catch but first a true story. AdeniumRose Company would rather tell the truth than propagate half-truths. We have purchased seeds from various countries and people including on eBay (not anymore). There are shttps://www.adeniumrose.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1&zenid=7030c19aebd0fce911ca2d8eed113cc5everal adenium seed sellers on eBay who show hybrid rosy adeniums. They show blue adeniums, orange, totally black, and one even has a drop down menu when selecting or seedlings. We challenged one of the popular vendors by asking them if they guarantee that the seed will produce the flower indicated. The vendor reply by blocking us from buying from them. In otherwise, they would rather deceive a buyer than tell the truth.

Adenium Hybrid Seeds and the Truth

The simple truth is that adenium hybrid seeds collected from hybrid adenium desert rose plants will produce a plant with flowers of the hybrid plant maybe 5% of the time. If you buy seedlings its the same no matter what the seller says or shows on eBay, Amazon, esty, etc.

Presently, reliable adenium seeds and seedlings are available for NON-Rosy adeniums in the following colors: standard adenium plant flower, all white, pink, red, dark red, picochee and now Double Pink.

Why Grafted Adenium Desert Rose Plants?

People grafted adenium plants for two reasons: 1) ensure the flower type form the grafted part of the plant produces the desired result and 2) grow fat caudexes faster by using an mature plant as the base. Planting branches directly in soil will not produce a fat adenium.

Hybrid plants are created by pollinating two different adeniums and then waiting several years to see if it produces a new type of adenium flower. It takes time and years to get new flower types. Once they get a new flower type then they start the grafting process.

May 16, 2018

Grafted Desert Rose Plant Ground Growing

This is an article about grafted desert rose plants growing in the ground. Its a expanded response we sent to a client who is having a problem with one of her adenium plants.

Questions: I have two hybrid grafted desert rose adeniums plants from Adeniumrose Company LLC (that’s us!). One is doing great (tons of flowers) and the other having a problem – all the leaves fell off and no new growth. I planted them both the same time directly in the ground. I believe they are draining water well. What went wrong? P.S. I just pulled up the one desert rose plant having problems and it has root rot!

Grafted Desert Rose How To Growing in Ground

Answer: First thing, if one grafted desert rose plant has rot then you need to monitor the other hybrid desert rose closely since its in the same environment. 95% of our client do not grow them directly in the grown. All adenium plants grow at different speeds especially when grow in the ground.

Most clients who grow their grafted desert rose plants in the ground use the pot method. Use a terracotta pot (it breaths) with the bottom 1/3 fill with non porous rock rocks. On top of the rocks use a cloth to keep the soil from filtering down onto the rocks. Then plant the pot in the ground on top of 4″ of non-porous rock.

The key is great drainage to prevent rot during the heavy rainy seasons! Root rot is the number one problem when growing in the ground. The second is nutrients in the soil being depleted.

Put the pot all the way in the ground except for the top 1.5″. Leaving a bit above the ground gives you better fertilizing control and the ability to easily remove the plant with the pot in the future.

Pot Size to Use For In Ground Growing

Adenium plants do not like large open spaces. They prefer cramped quarters. when selecting a pot to use in the ground for you grafted desert rose plant it has to be porous. The size (ground growing pot) should exceed the width of the plants caudex by 2 inches but not more than 3 inches. Use a deeper pot to allow 2″ of root growth downward before reaching the rocks.

Make sure the pot has holes in the bottom! Use a rocks to protect the hole from being clogged. More than one hole or large holes are better!

Climate Zones and Fertilizing For In Ground Growing

It’ important to remember to add time release fertilizer in the soil when potting the grafted desert rose plant. During the rainy season add more every three months and give the plant a boost of Dyna-Gro Grow micro nutrients every other month.

Do not grow your adeniums in the ground unless you are in the right climate zone 9-10. If your area gets below 50 degrees then you will need to bring in the plants when the weather changes to Fall/Winter to protect the desert rose plant from cold temperatures.

April 22, 2018

Bug Pests on Adeniums, Hoya and Rare Plants

Adeniums, Hoyas, rare tropical, fat plants and other unusual plants have the some of the same problems as regular foliage or vegetables plants – Bug pests. We have received many questions about bug pests and what to do. First there are bad bug pests and good bugs. Many beneficial bug include ladybugs (beetles), some caterpillars, lacewings, praying mantis and beneficial nematodes.

Bug pests Control – Not All are Bad

Once a year during late summer our adeniums becoming a feeding ground for an orange stripes butterfly caterpillar. No we do not use sprays or anything to stop the leaf striping bug unless it gets out of hand. During this time we make sure not more than 25% of the plants are being stripped.

Why do we not wipe caterpillar out? Because once the adeniums are stripped of leaves they come back with more leaves and branches! The caterpillars help us! If more than 25% are being stripped we manually remove the caterpillars. These are good bugs to us!

Bug Pests Aphids and Spider Mites

In our area we very rarely get have bug problems. We see spider mites sometimes if we fail to spray the plants once a month. Once a blue moon we see aphids on the tropical which ladybug releases twice a month for one month works. Remember we have a large quantity of plants so we are proactive in bug pests efforts.

Insecticide soaps products work great for small plant grouping. AdeniumRose Company is required to spray the plants once a month to be class III certified. However, we use natural remedies to prevent losing beneficial bug pests if at possible.

The monthly bug pest spray AdeniumRose Company LLC use that meets the Class III requirements is Bayer Advanced.

When using an insecticide read the directions carefully. Spider mites, aphids and other pests hatching a cycle. If you have a problem remember you need to do a series of applications 5…7 days apart for a full month. Even if you do not the bug pests anymore still spray because the eggs are easy to overlook!

February 16, 2018

Adenium cropping and late winter fertilizing

Adenium cropping and other questions form a client in Arizona: Hi! I’m a fairly new adenium grower ( I have five desert rose plants) in the Phoenix area. If I order a 3-in-1 plant, do the flowers bloom around the same time of year. Also, I see lots of colors on your your photo gallery. Do you have all those colors listed?

Adenium Cropping Time – Now?

I have plants that have multiple very leggy stems. Is it a good time to do adenium cropping or should I wait? I’m assuming I will lose all the blooms this year then? I have my Adeniums under a covered patio right now… is March first safe to move them back to sunlight and is there a blooming fertilizer,user I should use? I have not fertilized them since November.

I’m sorry for all the questions but no one seems to know a thing about them around here.

Many thanks

Answers: You can crop your desert rose plant branches once you start to see new growth or after flowering as long as you still have 2 months of growing season left. Remember, if you have a grafted adenium plant, do not crop near the graft line or you may lose the hybrid flower type.

Adenium flower in your area form spring though early summer. Some colors take longer to bloom than others.

Currently, we only have the ones listed for sale are in stock. We expect a 2nd release of more flowers varieties sometime in March. The photo gallery is used for reference. We bring back favorites and hard to obtain such as the very ram/hard to propagate ram head/sheep horn adenium which we expect to release late this year.

Fertilize after Adenium Cropping

We use Dyna-Gro Bloom in later winter (Jan through February). We switch to Dyna-Gro Grow in March. Once the rainy season starts in June (we get tons of rain – it is not unusual to get 3..4 inches a day) we add time released 7-7-7. Special note: Whenever we crop a desert rose or repot we always use Dyna-gro K-L-N rooting hormone. K-L-N excels in stimulation fine root growth and gives the plant with it needs to help reduce plant shock when reporting.

During the dormant (semi-dormant here in Miami) periods we use Dyna-Gro Grow once a month (Nov/Dec/Jan). Your area has cooler winters so your dormant period maybe from November through February. I think we have 3..4 days below 50 degrees this year at night.

Use the top search block to enter search terms fertilizer and cropping for longer answers.

P.S. Go USA Olympics!!!

January 23, 2018

Grafted adenium plants 3-in-1 desert roses

grafted adenium plant 3 in 1 — Two flowers on a the 3-in-1 adenium plant

It’s been a busy month getting the grafted adenium plants ready for spring. The early release of the desert rose 3 flowers in 1 plants this week resulted many questions. What flower types will be on the adenium 3-in-1 plant?

Is there a difference between a grafted adenium plant and non-grafted plant? What size are the caudex (fat part of the plant)? How deep should I plant the adenium caudex or how much caudex should I expose?

Grafted adenium plants

Adenium plants are very popular due to the varied flower types. In nature, you will not see rosy desert rose flowers. Rosy adeniums are ones with multiple layers of petals. Rosy desert rose plants are hybrid created using cross pollination for the most part to get the usual colors and petals. Yes, sometimes a regular adenium seed will produce a non-standard flower type but it’s very unusual.

Be careful of companies selling seeds showing a hybrid plant as reference. 93% of the time seeds will not produce the hybrid flower type shown. The only way to make new plants to produce a particular flower type is by grafting.

Grafting is taking a branch from a know flower type adenium plant and attaching it to a standard adenium root stock (base). The flowers from the grafted branch will produce the same flowers as the parent desert rose plant. A Parent plant is where you obtained the cutting to graft. If you let branches grow below the graft line then the flower type from that area will be the type of the base/root stock. Force more growth above the graft area be removing any branches below the graft line.

3-in-1 Flower Types

3-in-1 plants received from Thailand are labeled with three single letters (r, y, w, p, or v). Over the years we know not to believe the letters on the labels. Desert rose plants marked R could mean red, red stripe, red shades, red with violet, red with white, yellow with red, etc. The same holds true with the other letters. AdeniumRose Company does not guarantee the flower types on the 3-in-1 adeniums. 3-in-1’s adeniums will have three different types on each plant. If we waited for them to all bloom it would greatly increase the cost of the plants due to time involvement, individual plant tracking, imaging and labeling.

3-in-1 adenium plants are created on 4..5 year old root stock with caudexes of 4″ to 7″ wide. Desert roses are seasoned (additional growing after receiving form Thailand) at our nursery approximately 4 to 6 months before releasing them on our site. Yes, they are grafted adenium plants.

Planting grafted adenium plants for bonsai

Several clients have asked, “how deep do I plant my adeniums”. On the average, AdeniumRose Company plants 1/3 to 1/2 of the root system (2″ to 3″) below the ground. Lift up adeniums plants to expose more root/caudex every 6 months during the growing season or at least once a year.

To widen the base (caudex) use shallow pots. Force the roots outwards using rocks under the center of the desert rose plant. Use small non porous balls (golf, ping pong) non cloth/leather balls to the roots spread out not down. Crop long branches to fatten the lower branches and trunk.