Category: Growing desert roses Adenium plants

Adenium bonsai starter plant project

Several clients requested a sequence of steps in creating a bonsai adenium plant from a standard size 4.5” pot size desert rose plant. The first step is to following the instruction received with the adenium plants and soak them in a rooting hormone like the one we use Dyna-Grow K-L-N. After soaking the desert rose plant for 30 minutes do not water it for 2 days. Now to creating a bonsai starter plant.

The adenium plants from the AdeniumRose nursery can all be made into classic bonsai plants. First you need to select a bonsai pot based on the plants style. In our example, I’m using a standard 4” x 6” x 2” bonsai starter pot with plenty of drainage. You can select a round one, an square, oval or other type of bonsai pot – just make sure the pot is less than 3” deep and gives you around 1.5” all around the root system for 1 year of growth. Do not select an oversize pot which will actually slow the growth of the root system.

The soil we use is “soil-less” which basically means it contains no dirt which is offered on our website designed for cactus, succulents and other water thrifty plants. It’s a fast draining non-binding (does not form a top crust or clumps). The bottom holes of the bonsai pot are covered with screen material to prevent the loss of soil during watering.

Adenium Bonsai Orientation

Now I orient the adenium bonsai starter plant in the pot to see how I want it to be placed in the pot. Since the branches of the plant has a natural up curve I will use that as the focus of the design. The last 6 months I placed the plant on an un-leveled surface to force the branches to grow at an angle towards the sun to give it a curve. This is a common way to change the growth direction of branches when they are too young to wire.

Now put ½ your soil into the pot and then the plant. If the adenium bonsai plant does not stand properly on its own get something to support the plant as we are doing here with a wedged shaped rock.

Bonsai Adenium materials

All the rocks we use are non-porous so fungus will not grow on it. Now put in the remaining soil around the desert rose plant leaving some room for decoration rock on top.

The decorative rock on top is not just for looks. The rocks hold down the soil so the perlite does not float to the top. The perlite in the soil gives room for air flow in the soil. Air flow is important to prevent rot root with succulent plants.

This adenium plant will grow in this port for approximately 1 year. I may wire the branches when they get thick. The plant used is a variegated sapphire adenium plant.  The main appeal to this desert rose plant is it unusual leaf type.  As this desert rose plant grows we will start to wire the branches them towards the left to give the appearance of wind blowing.

Adenium Plants growing questions

We received a couple questions about growing adenium plants just received or recently received. The adenium plants from Epic grower LLC are growing in southeast Florida which is a tropical environment unlike any other areas of the USA.  It’s hot, extremely humid (90 to 100% everyday), very long hours of sunlight (10+)  plus we get many inches of rain every week during the summer. All of our plants are grown in the open in plastic nursery pots – no cover, no screen, nothing. The soil never dies up during the summer months.  The soil is critical here to prevent root rot and we have to fertilize every week since the nutrients in the adenium plants soil is leached out due to the rain. Yes, we do lose a percentage of plants to due root rot (about 2%) or other issues. We would lose many more if our soil was not correct.

Question from a client:

Just a quick question. I bought 4 jumbos last July and up to now they have no leaves but there are couple flower buds on two of them. I only water them little ( just enough to wet the caudex)  once every two days since I planted them in a pot. the weather in San Diego has been 75F during the day and around 60F at night. Most of my adenium has very little leaves. Is it because I gave them not enough water? I’m so afraid of root rot.

Answer:

If you are using the right soil you should not get root rot – use plenty of perlite (75% of mixture). Perlite gives the soil space to allow air flow which is critical to prevent rot root. The roots need water and nutrients. Water transport the nutrients to the roots so if you do not have enough nutrients or water the plant will grow slower. Use coir instead of dirt soil. Do not use moss in the mixture. In this blog there are many articles on soil. Use the search feature (top of blog) and put in the word “soil”.

Question from another client:

I received my order few weeks back. I checked my order and one plant that is 3 in 1 has all of its leaves are dry up. I was thinking when I plant it down new leaves will come out. Typically the leaves turned yellow and new ones come out. This plant came with leaves wilted. I planted in a pot with new soil for about 2 weeks now. As of today, no new leave comes out or any new development.

Answer:

Adeniums are desert plants. The majority of the time we cut off all leaves prior to shipping because the plants go into water conservation mode (leaves dry up and drop along with any buds). If you planted it per the instruction in the packing slip (right soil, root hormone, etc) the plant will recover faster. New leaf growth depends upon nutrients in the soil, amount of sun and hours of sunlight.  When we receive plants from Thailand (no leaves) it takes 4..6 weeks for the plants to recover (start to grow leaves). We are located in Southeast Florida so the plants get 9..10 hours of 100% unfiltered sun with temps at night between 78-83 degrees and day 88-95 degrees everyday during the summer (which here is late April through October). This is optimal for succulent type plants. If you lived in our area you know summer does not start on June 1st.

It is normal for the adenium plants to produce flowers first and then leaves.  Several of the just released jumbo size (releases this week) and standard size adenium plants bloom before we saw any new leaves. They were received in June and we started to see buds late in July (6 weeks later) and then leaves.

It’s mid summer and there is still another 2 months of good growing season left in most parts of the USA.  Now is the time to give the plants a boost of nutrients including some time released fertilizer.  The summer rains and numerous watering of your adenium, plumeria and hoya plants have depleted the nutrients in the soil which needs to be replaced.  This is especially important to the adenium desert rose plants, plumeria plants and other non-house indoor plants.

It’s easy to overlook the micro-nutrients during the growing season because the adenium plants and plumerias look so green.  However,  the current condition of the plant is due to the previous 30-60 of nutrients in the soil.  The desert rose plants and plumerias have been sucking up the water and grabbing what they need to grow from the soil so now the soil has less nutrients.  In order to prevent the desert rose plants and plumeria plants from dropping leaves early you need to give them a boost. If you have not fertilized on a regular basis then start slowly at 1/2 strength for the first 3 weeks.  Also, make sure you include silica in the micro-nutrients (Pro Tekt) otherwise the plant will lose its ability to obtain the nutritionist you are supplying.

If you have hoya plants then it’s time to add some general liquid fertilizer such as Dyna-Gro grow to you weekly watering. Hoyas, use more water so the mineral are depleted faster.  Yes, you can use a time released fertilizer but most lack many of the micro-nutrients hoyas need to bloom.  Many of our publicalyx varieties of the hoya plants are blooming now at our nursery including red button and splash.

The publicalyx hoya plants are great fast growing and produces tons of flowers.  Hoyas are great indoor plants to grow in 60-70 percent light.   The carnivorous plants (pitcher plants, Venus fly traps, etc.) are great companion plants to the hoyas since they like similar environments.

Do you bonsai your adenium plants? Do you know that pot selection is very important in creating the proper bonsai look and to get the desert rose to grow wider caudexes?

   *****  WAIT DO NOT SCROLL DOWN THE PAGE.  READ THE ARTICLE FIRST AND SEE IF YOU CHOOSE THE SAME POT  *******  

I just replanted a few adenium plants at our nursery to help clients understand pot selection and how to start adenium bonsai plants. I used desert rose a plant that had problems a several months ago (rot areas) but have recovered so the bonsai adenium plant will already have some character. Do you see the healed area on the side of the adenium plant?

The plant in the first image has NOT been bonsai wired yet. It was growing in the small oval pot that is about 3″ deep and 6″ inches wide (bottom pot in image) . All the roots you see were under the soil line and the caudex is about 2″ across.

Now, look at the pot selection and see which one would you use? One option is a shallow about 1.5″ deep but longer pot and the 2nd desert rose pot option is one about 3″ deep but not as long. Both of the pots are Bonsai pots.

Think about orientation of the desert rose plant before you determine which pot you would use. Do you want to make a adenium plant canopy tree, wind swiped, forest or hanging. Yes, if you are into bonsai you can use the fancy words such as hang kenjai, sokan, moyogi, etc. but for many of us using simple terminology helps when starting out and if you are like me I always use simple terms even after many years of doing bonsai plants.

Basically, ask yourself what do you like and how is the plant currently growing. There is no right or wrong in your final plant look – just what is pleasant to your eyes. I am not a bonsai expert by any stretch of the imagination.  I just look at the adenium plant and experiment with it. Keep it fun and simple is my motto. Yes, I do wire some of the adenium plants especially when I want to make a canopy type plant but I do not always wire. I do not plan to wire the plant in the image for now.

In the next image you will see what I selected and how the adenium plant was oriented to give it a more interesting bonsai appearance.

OK, we are far enough down the page to give you the next image of what pot I selected:

I selected the shallow pot and then added an accent rock to the desert rose bonsai scene. I wanted the adenium plant to look windswept. I exposed more roots to let the image flow from one side of the pot to the other as if the desert rose plant is being pushed by the wind.

I tried the accent rock in three places and I like it under the trunk of the adenium plant the best. Is this the pot you selected?

Next year I plan to crop the upper main branch to create more branches to match the adenium bonsai plant lower branch to give it more balance.

Update on 3-in-1’s and additional jumbo adenium plants. Hopefully we will release more desert rose plants on Sunday or late Monday. About ten to twelve 3-in-1’s extra large and 3..6 more jumbos should be ready. This is be the last release of 3-in-1 and jumbos for several months.

The 3-in-1 adenium plants are all grafted with 3 different hybrid flower types.  The current plants growing by AdeniumRose Company in S. Florida have red, red-violet, pink, pink with red stripe, very dark red, white, and other colors. There are several with no color labels. In the past some desert rose plants received had yellow and yellow variations but we have not seen yellow on the current desert rose 3-in-1 plants. All of the adenium plants were grafted in Thailand. Once the desert rose plant arrives and passes USDA inspection we drip them for 30 minutes in Dyna-Gro K-L-N solution before potting. K-L-N is a rooting hormone solutions with important micro-minerals. It’s used whenever we plant any cactus, succulent or other plant. Once the plant is potted we do not water it for3 days to give roots time to heal and absorb the Dyna-Gro K-L-N nutrients.

After the desert rose plants are outside/potted for two weeks AdeniumRose Company starts to use Dyna-Gro Grow liquid fertilizer on the adenium plant. We do not use time released fertilizer until the adenium plants have been growing at our facility for 3 months.

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.

Happy holidays and have a great New Year!  We have received several questions concerning adenium plant growing recently concerning problems and growing adenium seedlings. This past month we received questions about growing adenium seedlings now verses the proper time in the Spring.  Unless you have a controlled environment (amount of day light, temperature, etc) now is not the best time to grow adenium seedlings.

In North America, most adeniums are in dormancy or very slow grow period.  We start growing adenium plants from seeds in late February or early March.

Watering during the winter period

Adenium plants, even when they are dormant, need water and nutrients. In their natural environment adeniums go in to a semi-dormant period (slow grow the period) but  not true dormancy as you may encounter. Water the plants once to twice a month depending upon your growing environment. Make sure all the excess water drains 100% and the soil is 100% dry between watering.  If your pot does not have drainage holes – replace the pot. Putting a layer of rocks in a pot’s bottom with no drainage will not prevent root rot even if its a terracotta pot.

We use time released fertilizer during the winter months and once a month we use Dyna-Gro tekt to help the adenium plants to stay strong and have the ability to absorb nutrients.  Desert rose plant start their new growth cycle in late February or March depending upon your location and amount of light the plant receives.  As you water your desert rose plants the minerals in the soil are depleted so it’s important to replenish the nutrients.

AdeniumRose Company just received in on September 8th thirty adenium plants that have three different flower types on each plant. All the desert rose plants three-in-one have caudex above soil line of 3″ wide or larger. When they create these plants they take a large or extra large adenium plant and graft rosy adenium plant flower branches types onto it.

The first image shows 10″ pots along side  4.5″ and 6″ pots. The 3-in-1 adenium plants are in the left two rows in the round 10″ AND 6″ POTS pots.

The 4.5″ adenium plant pots (far right bottom) are the standard adeniums with caudex of 1.75″ to 2.5″. The desert rose plants in the 6″ pots have a caudex of 3″ to 4″. The adenium plants in the 10″ pot have caudex of 4.5″ and large plus the underground root system are larger too than the 6″ pots.

The second image of adenium plants are all three-in-ones.  All the desert rose plant flower types according to the Thailand supplier are rosy adeniums. Rosy means the flowers have multiple layers of petals similar to a rose bush flower.  Notice the height of the plant too.

The larger the pot size the taller the desert rose plant. Not all desert rose plants are tall some are wide and have a compact adenium form. Please note these are not release to the general public at this time (September 2015). If you are a seasoned adenium plant, desert rose plant, collector we will offer them to you as you see them in the image (yes, some are already sold). Otherwise we have a planned release date of January/February time frame in time for spring in most areas of the USA.  Contact us through our web site at www.epicgrower.com contact page if you want these adenium plants now.

Several clients have ask for the list of the Jumbo and extra large adenium plants received from Thailand on September 8th, 2015.  AdeniumRose Company usually waits three months before offering the desert rose plants received to allow them to leaf out.

However, if you are an experienced adenium plant, cactus or cactus grower and you want a large or jumbo size adenium plant now before your dormant period  please let us know.  Use the AdeniumRose contact page for requests.  I will update the list here once ever week until they are listed on the AdeniumRose site.  If you request a certain plant and it already sold we will let you know. No we do not have images of the  individual plants or flowers. The list has the size of the plant and the flower based on the Thailand grower. Thailand growers are not 100% accurate so the actual flower color may be different than whats listed.

All are suppose to be ROSY type multi petal adenium plants “desert roses”.  These plants, due to their size, are heavy (3.5 to 6 pounds each) and large (wide and high) so we will need to send an shipping estimate.  The size difference between Jumbo and an extra large is based on the caudex size, height and weight of the plant.  The desert rose plants that are listed as special have more interesting shapes and/or many more branches than normal.

J = Jumbo   XL-Large

2 in 1 = two different flowers types in one plant

3 in 1 = three different flower types in one plant

Size -> Caudex width x caudex depth x height above coil line

		Type
G1	A	J	6 x 6 x 22		violet	Sold
G1	B	XL	7 x 4 x 12		violet	$49.95
G1	C	J	7 x 5 x15		violet	$64.97
G1	D	XL	6 x 4 x 14		violet	$49.95
G1	E	J	6 x 6 x 19		violet	$64.97
G1	F	J	6 x 6 x 23	special	violet	Sold
G1	G	XL	7 x 4 x 16		violet	$64.97
G2	A	J	7 x 4.5 x 16		red w/pink	Sold
G2	B	XL	6 x 4 x15		red w/pink	$49.97
G2	C	J	7 x 6 x 24	special	red w/pink	Sold
G2	D	J	7 x 4 x 17	special	red w/pink	Sold
G2	E	XL	8 x 4 x 10		red w/pink	$49.95
G3	A	J	7 x 5 x 23	special	Red	$67.97
G3	B	XL	6 x 4 x 21	special	Red	$59.97
G3	C	J	6 x 5 x 23		Red	$64.97
G3	D	J	6 x 5 x 23		Red	$64.97
G3	E	XL	5.5. x 5 x 15		Red	$49.95
G3	F	J	7 x 4 x 19		Red	$64.97
G3	G	J	7 x 4 x 18		Red	$64.97
G3	H	XL	4.5 x 4 x 21		Red	$49.95
G3	I	J	7 x 4 x 21		Red	Sold
G3	J	J	7 x 8 x 21		Red	$64.97
G3	K	XL	6 x 4 x 123		Red	$49.95
G3	L	J	7 x 6 x 24		Red	Sold
G3	M	XL	6 x 4 x 15		Red	$49.95
G4		XL	7 x 5 x 13		Red w/white stripe	Sold
G5	A	XL	6 x 4 x 14		Deep Violet	$49.95
g5	B	XL	6 x 4 x 19		Deep Violet	$49.95
G6		XL	8 x 5 x 14	special	Two in one Violet and red	Sold
G7	A	XL	8 x 4 x 16	special	red with pink rim	$55.97
G7	B	XL	6 x 4 x 17	special	red with pink rim	$55.97
G7	C	XL	6 x 5 x 14		red with pink rim	$49.95
G8	A	J	8 x 4 x 16	special	yellow	Sold
G8	B	J	7 x 5 x 22		yellow	Sold
G9	A	XL	5 x 4 x 22		Yellow w/white stripe	$49.95
G9	B	XL	6 x 5 x 20		Yellow w/white stripe	$49.95
G9	C	XL	7 x 5 x 13		Yellow w/white stripe	$49.95
G9	D	XL	7 x 4 x 20		Yellow w/white stripe	Sold
G9	E	XL	5 x 5 x 17		Yellow w/white stripe	Sold
G9	F	XL	5 x 4 x 17		Yellow w/white stripe	$49.95
G10		XL	6 x 4 x 12		Yellow w/white stripe	$49.95
G11	A	XL	6 x 4 x 14		Dark red	Sold
G11	B	XL	6 x 4 x 13		Dark red	$49.95
G11	C	J	7 x 4 x 16	special	Dark red	Sold
G11	D	XL	6 x 5 x 19		Dark red	$49.95
G11	E	XL	5 x 4 x 14		Dark red	$49.95
G11	F	XL	5 x 5 x 14		Dark red	$49.95
G12		J	7 x 6 x 22	special	3-in-one red/yellow/pink	Sold
G13		J	7 x 5 x 17	special	white with red rim	Sold