Category: Growing desert roses Adenium plants

Spring is just a couple months away and here in South Florida winter never came yet and may never. The November shipment of adeniums plants are leafing out and will be ready in late February/March to added to the AdeniumRose Company website. Now is the time to fertilize your adeniums plants. If you do not fertilize on a regular schedule then start with a diluted amount so you do not shock the desert rose plant. If you are using time released  fertilizer then put a tablespoon of it on the top of the soil if you have not done so in the last 2 months.

If you have problem blooming adeniums then consider Dyna-Gro Bloom. Use the bloom fertilizer twice a month through February in the southern states and through March colder states or until unit you see flower buds.

In the southern states now is the time to crop the desert rose plants branches that are too long and/or take off branches below graft lines to force new growth on the hybrid branches. Remember grafted adenium plants only grow the adenium hybrid flowers on branches above the graft line. Branches that grow below the desert rose plant graft line will produce other flowers sometime standard adenium flowers and sometimes a different hybrid.

In the colder states crop the branches when the day temps are averaging 60 degrees or higher before cropping the adenium plant branches. If you have long summers like we do in South Florida wait until after they bloom before cropping the branches of mature adenium desert rose plants but no later than late July to give the plant two months to grow new branches before cool weather sets back in.

This is NOT the time to start adenium seeds. Wait until March and no later than June to start growing adenium seeds. If you have seedling wait until March before you crop the desert rose plants to force mulch-branch growth. Yes Epic Grower Company still has a few seedlings in the 2″ pots available now. larger seedlings have been replanted in 3.5″ pots and will be available in February.

Question : Hi Guy’s:I have had a few Desert Roses for 12 months or more and they are growing very well. have recently acquired a few more, but they are all similar in coloring and I am desperate to get as many colors as possible, so my question is: As I live in Australia, can I buy packs of seeds of each of the different colors, or can you recommend an Australian Nursery (preferably in Queensland) where I may be able to purchase good seeds or seedlings. We have a 5 acre property and we want to make a bit of a show-piece featuring Desert Roses and Frangipani’s along with Orchids and some hardy ferns.Many Thanks Christine

Answer: Good day Christine! We are locate in USA (MIAMI, Florida) so I not familiar with adenium nurseries in your area – Australia. Many people in the internet say they are selling seeds for a particular flower color/type; however, most are lying. A few mention that they cannot guarantee that the plants grow from adenium seeds will look like the parent plant but most do not. The simple truth is that when talking about hybrid seeds (any adenium flower type that does not naturally grow in the wild) only a small percentage actually will grow flowers like the parent plant. This is why if you want a particular adenium flower color or type is best to get a grafted desert rose plant. When plants are grafted the person who does the grafting takes a branch from a parent adenium plant with a particular flower type and place it on a desert rose stock plant.

When a grafted desert rose plant branch grows it will flower like the parent plant. If branches develop on the grafted plant BELOW the graft line then those branches will produce flowers like the stock plant not like the ones on the grafted branch.

When you do obtain desert rose adenium seeds is best to start to plant then in mid spring for best results. Do not plant the seeds later than early summer because you want the adenium seedlings plants well established by winter.

Happy holidays from Epic Grower Company.  I hope everybody had a fantastic Thanksgivings holiday. Now is the time to start thinking about taking care of your adenium plants to get then ready for spring and summer flowering. In all states of the USA the adenium plants should be either in very slow growth mode or dormant do to shorter days and cooler weather.

Even in South Florida the Adenium plants, desert roses, have lost many of their leaves and the succulent plants are growing very slowly now..  We have cut back on watering the adenium plants but still fertilize using Dyna-Gro grow and Dyna-Gro Pro Tekt once a month (alternate type of fertilizer every two weeks).  The reason we still fertilize during the slow growth period is because we do not want to shock the plants in the spring. People who start fertilizing their cactus, succulent plants right before growing season tend to shock their plants which sets them back about 3 weeks and cause leaf loss on desert rose plants. In colder climates where adenium plants may not grow at all during the winter use time release fertilizer or Dyne-Gro grow once a month. Be careful about over watering during winter months!

Just a reminder about current coupons available through December 31, 2014:

1. 10$ off coupon on on a minimum purchase of $50 to clients.  Code: Special10Coupon

2. Special 15% for orders of $60 or more.   Code: SPEC15%Holidays

3. Free shipping coupon. Good towards orders of $97 or more. SPECIAL NOTE on Free shipping: This coupon excludes Soil purchases and pots. If you add soil or pots to the order we will contact you and cancel the order sorry.

Only on coupon can be use at a time. You can use the coupons at the adeniumrose company website as many times as you wish until the expiration date.

Yes, we received a new shipment of adenium plants and plumeria plants which will be ready in a couple months. Also, if you looking for succulents and other cactus look for new cactus plant listings and succulent plants at the same time.  Thank you, stay safe and happy holidays from AdeniumRose Company.

This article by Epic Grower Company helps address several questions concerning growing adenium seedlings once they are well established (4+ months old). First desert rose seedlings require much more attention and water than mature adenium plants. Currently in south Florida we are still keeping the adenium seedling the soil wet (make sure you have the right soil so there is plenty of air in the soil to prevent root rot!).

Depending upon your location you will need to give the seedlings 10+ hours of strong natural light per day or use grow lights. At the same time keep them above 67 degrees which means in northern area you many need to get a plant warming pad just like people use when germination seeds. Seedlings are not mature until they reach about 1.5 years old. As seedlings, eh adenium plant will grow faster than mature plants if grown in the proper manner. Many of AdeniumRose adenium seedlings are over 8″ tall which caudexes of 1″ across in 3.5″ pots and now ready to be cropped in January/February depending upon the weather (these were started as seeds in June).

Yes, we still have about 400 seedlings smaller 2″ pots that were planted in late August of which 90% are ready for 3.5″ pots (these are ones one being offered at a special price at www.epicgrower.com). The 2″ pot seedlings are just now being adjusted away from constantly being in water to a moist soil mixture with plenty of air in the adenium plants soil mixture. In December 90% of adenium plants will be repotted into the 3.5″ pots.  When the adenium plants were put in the 2″ pots from the germination trays the 2″ pots are then kept in tray that has a water reservoir so 50% the roots are always in water. No if done right you will not get root rot. Yes, you will lose some weaker plants (about 5%). Then main thing is to germinate the seeds in early May so the adenium seedlings are ready for the 2″ pots by July.

Once they are in the 3.5″ pots we do not all let the soil to dry out whatsoever. remember we are in a tropical environment unlike all other parts of the USA except for Hawaii and Puerto Rico. We do not get a true cold winter. A cold snap here is when the night time gets in the 50’s so you will need to adjust based on your desert rose plant growing environment.  Our winters are our dry season where in other parts of the USA it the wet time of year.

Also, we continually feed the adenium plants and seedlings Dyna-Gro Grow and Dyna-Gro Tekt (alternate watering).

Several people have asked about coupons for adeniums, succulents, cactus and plumerias plants supplies and miniature gardens for the holiday period. Here are the three coupons that start tomorrow November 1, 2014 through December 20th, 2014:

10$ off coupon on on a minimum purchase of $50 to clients.   Code:   Special10Coupon

15% on orders of $67 or more.  Code: Spec15POff

Free shipping on orders of $97 or more excludes SOIL. Code: FreeHolidayShip

Have you considered a Bonsai or miniature garden with cactus and succulent plants as a holiday gift?  The Bonsai and Miniature kits come with everything a person’s needs to create lasting growing work of natural art. The cactus and succulent miniature garden kits comes with live plants, sand, decorative rocks and much more depending upon the one you choose.  The kits for holidays comes with easy to follow instructions with tips on how to arrange the live plants (center piece is an specially selected adenium plant), soil, rocks and accent pieces.  Yes, we can even put a green greeting card in it for you!  Cactus plants, succulents, and miniature gardens kits are great for the holiday.

There is no limits to how to arrange your miniature or bonsai garden.  Use your imagination to create a river or pond. What about a using stones to make a path thought the miniature gardens around the succulents and cactus pants.  Its a great way to introduce plant care, growing and arrangement to young adults and children too!  Visit our Facebook page www.facebook.com/epicgrower too for more images and information.

Q: Please help!! I purchased the soil mixture and fertilizer for my desert rose plant. I soaked the adenium plant in the K-L-N solution plant in before replanting it about two weeks ago. It was doing fine for two weeks and now all of the leaves are falling off and a couple of the branches are wilting at the ends. I’m located in Tampa Florida which is getting tons of rain still.

Answer: When you replant Adeniums it normal for leaves to fall off due to shock. How much time after you soak the plants did you water the adenium plant? When you transplant adenium plants you need to give them 1 week without watering and protected from the outdoors.

Q:  I understand the shock part, the plant actually continued to thrive and bloom flowers for two weeks, now it’s having the problems. I didn’t know about the second part though I watered it same day and put it right been outdoors. What should I do?

Answer: Ok – take the desert rose plant out of the weather today – do not water for 1 week. In fact you can should un-pot the plant for a week and replant it so you can check the root which is what I would do. The roots damage easily during repotting which is why we do not water the plants for a week after re-potting them to give the plant time to adjust, heal and absorb the nutrients of the K-L-N. Since you watered the adenium plant right away you wash off all the nutrients needed by the plant to heal and grow. Also by putting the plant back in the weather (getting lots of rain – my son lives in Tampa and he said they are getting lots of rain still) do not give the roots time to heal/adjust to being repotted.

Q: Should I just put it in an empty bucket for the week then soak it in the nutrients again before reporting? After a week goes by and I repot the adenium plant should I wait to water it for another week and keep it inside?

Answer: Yes take the adenium plant out of the pot, check the roots/branches. If you see any problems remove the bad areas of the adenium plant roots now. In one week check the roots again and make sure all bad parts are gone and the cut has completely healed over. If not healed over yet give a few more days. Adeniums plants can last 3..4 weeks out of a pot. Once you are ready to replant the desert rose plant (make sure the cuts are completely healed) then soak it for 30 minutes and pot it. Then leave in protected area that gets sun but no water for 1 week before moving completely outdoors. Also, you are getting into the slow grow season so it will not grow as fast as it did in the summer.

Q: One more question in addition to my last email, what are some things I should look for in the plant and roots when I remove it to make sure it’s ok and no damage that it’s healthy?

 Answer: this blog has many articles on root rot and tip rot. If you seen any soft mushy brown or black areas they need to be cut off the adenium plant. Adeniums will in many cases natural heal/stop rot but in wet climates such as yours adeniums usually does NOT heal as easily by itself 90% of the time. 

Special note: This person is in Tampa which is not as topical as South Florida but is still south of most states which gives Tampa a longer growing season. Even in the winter their temperatures are very mild and maybe 3..4 days a year get temps below 40 degrees so adenium plants grow year round outside. If you are in a northern area this not a time to re-pot plants. You can obtain new bare root plant now to have them established by spring but if you have plants ready in pot wait until about 1.5 month before spring or after the desert rose plants flower next year.

We received may questions concerning the flower type and the seeds to grow them. There are MANY dishonest people seedling adenium sees on Ebay and on the internet.  On the AdeniumRose Company website it clearly starts when buying seedlings that the adenium seeds used are from hybrids and only a percentage will look like the parent plant.

Lets explain the misconception people having when buying and growing adenium plants  from seeds.

Rule one: If the adenium seed is NOT from a hybrid desert rose plant then the resulting plants will 98% of the time look just like the parents flowers.  Please note 97% of the adeniums you see selling on the internet, in Lowe’s tm, in Home Depot tm and other places are HYBRID plants.

Rule Two:  If the desert rose seeds are from a hybrid plant then only a portion of the plants grown from its’ seeds will have flower just like the parent. Currently Epic Grower Company does not offer adenium seeds. The plants that produce adenium flowers that do not look like the parent adenium plant are then check and if the flower type looks interesting/new the adenium grower will use the new HYBRID FLOWER TYPE plant to crop branches from it to make more of the same plant.

Rule Three: There is NO WAY to force a seed to grow a flower like its parent adenium plant which is way plants are grafted. Grafting a branch for a hybrid adenium plant onto a standard adenium based forces the plant to produce flowers like the hybrid above the graft line. The flowers that grow below the grafted branch will be normal adenium flowers.

Question: Hello again, I ordered the violet Harry and fertilizer, soil, and pot. I’m
assuming since it is a hybrid that it is grafted in some way. Are the
grafted areas low enough for pruning? What happens if I cut below the graft?
Will the original flower grow from that stem? Also I saw that you use gro k
h l now instead of that other stuff when re-potting. I ordered some but was
wondering if it works the same way. Do you soak it in the gro stuff like you
would that stuff you used to use? Sorry I’ve had so many questions but I’m
excited and this should be the last one.

Answer: Yes the adeniums are grafted plants.  If you prune(crop) below the graft you will loose the hybrid adenium flower type. If branches grow below the graft then the flowers from those branches will be of the base adenium plant flower type. When pruning (Cropping) adenium plants you want to leave 2″ or more on the branch to give the plant room to grow new branches.

When you receive your adenium plants you will want to soak the plant (roots) in K-L-N (we use to use super-thrive but K-L-N does a better job) for 30 minutes.  Start using Dyan-Gro TekT in one month and then every other month. The adenium plant time release fertilizer should be applied twice a year: once after blooming and once right before the desert rose plant goes dormant.

Q: I live in New Hampshire. will the desert rose plants, adeniums, grow in may area?

A;

A: Yes we have clients in Maine, NY, MN, ND, Washington State, etc. However, you need to grow them in containers, use the right soil and fertilizers. In the northern states many collectors have greenhouses or a window sun room so you can extend the growing season due your longer winters. The adenium plants, desert rose plants, do not like weather below 40 degrees what so ever. If you do not have a green house or large window facing south to extend your growing season you may want to get a growing light. Do you have to have longer growing season and light to grow them – No. However, they will grow much slower and may not flower in the Spring/early summer as easily. You will need to use fertilizer to help them grow and bloom.

During the winter water them once a month. Use time released 6-6-6 or 6-6-10 fertilizer during the summer months and in the Winter.  Use Dyna-Bloom and Dyna-Grow Tekt starting in late winter (March in your area) for two months every other week or until you see flower buds just starting to form.

The grow light or large south facing window is more critical during the late winter early spring in your area. You need to get the adenium plants to warm up (60 to 70 degrees) with longer hours of daylight start to grow to get flower in late Spring/Early summer.

Adenium plants do go dormant and if the plants does not get enough light (6 hours) and warmth starting in late winter (March) to get out of dormancy you may have a hard time getting the desert rose plants to bloom. In England desert plants such as adeniums are very popular, however, they have green houses or growing windows. Their weather the Northern New England states in the USA so if they can grow the desert rose plant and other succulents so can you.