With Fall just around the corner it is now time to check your Adenium obesum for problems before they go dormant for the winter. There is still some adenium growing time so take care of problems now. One of the most common problems is stem root and leaf disease. Stem rot occurs on the tips of the adenium desert rose plants and progresses down the stem. Leaf rot occurs in adeniums when the leaf is continually wet.
Fist, leaf rot in adeniums is the easy to treat. Just remove the effective leafs on the desert rose plant. Then move the plants location so the leaves dry out. When you water, try not to wet the leaves or put the adenium in a place where the leaves dry quickly. Do not water adeniums in the evenings. If you are in the tropics or desert this is not usually a problem because the nights are warm enough to dry out the leaves of the adeniums fast.
Stem Roots Rot
Desert rose plant stem root is caused by a fungus. It’s the most common problem with adeniums. The adenium rot is either black, dark drown or yellow. The actual desert rose rot part can be wet or dry and it processes down the stem of the adenium. When we see this we do not wait for he plant to fight the problem. We cut the effective part off the plant. When cutting off the stem make sure you look inside the stem. The cut the branch far enough down so you only see good tissue with discoloration. Adeniums may stop this rot by forming a abscission zone. This zone happens more in desert regains than in tropical, humid and cooler climates. One sure sign of stem rot on desert rose plants adenium obesum is when the leaves start to fall of on the tip and turn brown.
White leaf fungus on adeniums
There is one leaf disease reported that we have not seen yet. It’s a white fungal adenium disease that affects the leaf first and then kills the rest of the plant. The fungus will spread to other adeniums quickly. If you encounter this problem remove the diseased desert rose plant to an insulation area. If the problem gets to the stem then the plant usually dies. Again the main cause of this and other leaf problem is caused by to much water. It’s important that the leaf of the desert rose plants does not stay continually wet.
I have a desert rose plant that has been doing really well for months. Because of the harsh winter climate we have here in Wisconsin, I brought it in before the really cold weather set in. It is under a a good growth light and appeared to be doing well for the past month. In the past couple of days, the leaves just began falling off. There is nothing I can see wrong with them. I don’t get it. What should I do with it at this point? I don’t want to lose it 🙁
Mike
Falling leaves are normal when the plant goes into dormancy. Do not worry. The same thing has happen at our nursery and every year they come back stronger. Once you start to see new leaf growth I would give the desert rose some time released fertilizer (no later than mid January). How many hours of light are you giving them and how powerful are your grow lights. remember they were growing outside so when you CHANGED their habitat they haev to get use to the environment again. I would give them approximately 6 hours of grow light a day and in February increase it January to 8 hours to give the adeniums plants time to get ready to flower.
I found a small weed in my desert rose, I pulled it out and the pot was full of thousands of red ants.
InFact I got about 10 bites on my thumb. How do I get rid of them, without hurting my beautiful
Blooming desert rose, who also has babies
The problem is no matter what you do the you need to disturb the plant which will cause the blooms to drop. We would un pot the plant, wash out the pot and repot using fresh soil. Before replacing the pot in the same location get rid of any ants.
My dessert rose was recently re-potted by it’s first owner. I have had it just one
Week. I have it under a grow light and suddenly I have 3 yellow leaves. I gave it very
little water with some powdered wggshells. What can I do to help it?
Give the plant time. Succulents are not quick growers. They can take weeks to recover.
I live in Florida and The trunk of my desert roses are soft. I’ve changed the soil because I noticed that the soil they can with retains to much moisture. I have 9 of them that the trunks are soft. What should I do? Will they serve? I’m not watering them.
Soft or mushy. Mushy or oozing means rot (many articles on rot on this blog). Check there roots one more time. If you do not see very small roots then the plant may not be getting enough water. If it looks like the trunk shrinking them give more water.
Hello, I live in Southern California and received a desert rose as a gift. I have had it for around 3-4 years and it has had a soft trunk and stem for years. It is very small around 1-1.5 inches at the base and around 3-4 inches tall. It has not grown but does sprout small leaves. The entire plant is mushy and has been for years. I’ve read your supposed to cut out the rotting area but I believe it to be the whole plant, as I had no idea what I was doing at first. Is there a way to save it without cutting the infected area?
If mushy then it needs to be removed. If the whole plant is mushy then its lost. Sorry
I think the plant has gone dormant for the Winter. They need rest and will not grow all year round. They need a rest so feel free to turn the grow light to less time and let the plant until Spring. It is normal for some Adeniums to drop their leaves in Winter.
my desert rose had yellow worms on leaves and flowers. I pulled all off. I have yellow& brown leaves. Will my plant die.
NO, your desert rose plant should survive. Yellow worms or yellow caterpillars? If they are eating the leaves then they are caterpillars and many times once all the leaves are gone the adenium will come back stronger.
My Desert Rose plant has never bloomed, What am I doing wrong. I have brought it inside for the winter and it sits in front a window that gets light all day and direct sun light about 4 hours a day. I also noticed that the leaves were falling off a couple of days after I brought it inside. Also I have seen little white specks on the leaves, can this be a problem. Thanks.
The little white specks on the adenium plants could be spider mites or when you water do you wet the leaves? Now is the time adenium plants are in dormancy period of growth and they will loose their leaves. How old is your desert rose adenium plant? How long is your growing season? Adeniums not blooming may be due to age, nutrients in the soil and season of the year. Adeniums usually bloom in the Spring and in northern parts of the US in the summer as the days get longer. 5 hours of filtered sunlight (through the windows) is fine during the winter but to bloom they will need more light and warmth.
I have spider web leaves are turning yellow and falling off. What can I use or what should I do?
What type of plant? How often do you water and what part is USA do yo live in? I need a bit more details to give you a answer. Thank you
Live in Ohio, it’s a luxury Catus rose water about every 10 day.
Sounds ok except for the summer which I would were once a week. Make sure the water drains right away. The soil should not retina water and he water should nto accumulate on top of the soil.
what caused desert rose seeds to rot ,thank you bob
I need a bit more information on the seeds. Where did you get them? How old are they? When where they removed form the adenium plant? How old was the adenium plant? If they are rotting in the ground trying to get them to grow give me more details on the soil, light and heat of your desert rose seed growing condition. Sorry for not giving you a direct answer but there are many causes from adenium seeds not to grow.
something is eating the trunk of my desert rose. from the base up. it is only eating the outer layer of the knotted trunk. WHAT IS IT!? how do I save my baby?!
I also have something eating at my desert rose. What is the answer?
Answer: DO you have an image of the pest? Do you see yellow or orange butterflies around the plants? ABout the only thing we see eating our adeniums are caterpillars.
It could be snails. I had a great mystery about what chewed up the caudex and around branches of my adenium a couple years ago and I couldn’t figure out what it was. I have now just this year figured out it was snails! They eat the outer layer of caudex and branches as well as hang out chewing holes in leaves. I took action to rid my yard of them.
I have something that is eating the trunk and the branches but not the leaves. The branches get to thin that I can break them off and repot them. I haven’t seen any snails or caterpillars. Any thoughts?
Good Day: Not too sure to what eating your trunk. If you do not see anything during the day check at night because many insects attack at night not during the day. Do you see chew marks? If not it many not be an insect but the adenium plant not getting the right nutrients so the plant is dying back. Many people do not realize but most store purchased fertilizers are not very good because they are lacking vital macro and micro nutrients.Do you have images you can send??
how do you get rid of the catterpillars, they are eating all my foliage…live in FLA
This is the time of year for us (Flroida) to get caterpillars on the adenums plants. We are just starting to see them on our adenium plants and we are just letting them eat. Last year we sprayed the plants because the caterpillars where eating the leaves in mid summer. Since its fall the plants will start to grow slower and maybe go dormant in a month so we felt the caterpillars were OK now. If the growing season extends into late December (like last year) it will give the plants time to produce fresh leaves. If you want to get rid of the just pick them off or use a natural soak based insecticide.
Dab Don’t Water the desert Rose for a least I month and give it plenty of sun. If it looks to be dry on the base you can water it but cut back the amount of water you use. The desert rose it a drought plant and can go a long time between watering.
This same thing is happening to the two in our front yard. The driveway curves into it. I often step on snails at night by mistake. Something is definitely eating the outer bark off both and the middle of branches getting thin. It looks like something with front teeth that chip away only at the outer bark. I get the impression it happens at night. I don’t see snails in the day unless it rains. I would never look at this and think its a snail. It looks like something a rodent with fur and teeth would do. I live in south Florida. Very interesting
Determining the pest is not always easy especially when the damage to the adenium plant occurs at night. Snails do eat adeniums (use snail bait around the base of the plant). Also, some other critters check them out too as a food source. we haev a problem earlier this year when we plants a few in the ground and determined it was snails. We use snail bait. We determined it was snails by placing all round the plant small bowls of water so if was a small crawling pest goes to the plant it will be caught in the water so we can see the critter. We have possums, quarrels, all sorts of birds and other critters and they do not seem to be attracted to the adenium plants.
My plant suffered the same problem. Only the outer layer of the trunk skin was eaten/bitten up. It did not involve the part below the soil surface. What exactly is it?
I would need to see image.
Use little paper cups full of beer at ground level. Place around the area and they will be full of drowned slugs and snails in the morning. You will have to try putting rough rocks down and snail bait. (The expensive one)
I just got a bare-root desert rose through mail order. Most of the leaves have Blackish brown spots on the backs of the leaves. Did I get a diseased plant? Should I return it?
Good Day: the majority of the plants shipped will arrive with either dried out leaves (during the summer) or dining leaves during the winter. Adeniums are very strong plants and survive trips of 2..3 in transit. Many growers cut the leaves totally off before shipping the desert rose adenium plants. In fact, all the adenium plants we receive from Thailand are total without leaves. Out normal shipment consist of 1000 desert rose plants of which we lose less than 1% of them to problems in the first two months. I would contact the seller and make sure they are know of the problem. If its a company then they will give you instructions. Usually, when we get emails concerning plants we tell the client to track the desert rose plant for a couple months to make sure they are ok. This is what I would do: (1) take off all the leaves of the adenium plant (2) Wait 2..3 days for plant to heal where you cut off the leaves (3) soak the roots in super thrive for 30 minutes, (4)plant it using the proper adenium soil, (5) water the adenium plant in 2 days after soaking it in the super thrive. (6) keep the desert rose plant in a warm sunny location.
Thank god I found your website. I have desert rose for a number of years. The branches has gotten longer, more than a feet long. Nice leaves has grown on the branches, and flowered as well. However, the leaves has turned yellow recently and dropped. Now what’s left is empty branches and bare plant. What should I do? Prune and replant the branches into new plants? Any ideas? I need help! Thanks.
Good day: Without knowing what part of the country you are in it’s hard to say why you are dropping leaves. Adenium plant leaves start to drop in the fall and depending upon you climate you may loose all your leaves or just some of them. Its not a deciduous tree but it does go dormant during the winter. Now this winter has been a bit strange going from cold to warm to cold again so your adenium plant may be going dormant again. As long as you do not see root rot or black tip rot on your branches the adenium plants should start to come back in March. DO NOT prune your plant until it gets at least 5 leaves on the adenium plant so you know its out of dormancy!
Thank you for your reply. I m in Malaysia whereby climate is mostly sunny and humid or heavy showers at times. I leave my desert rose out on the open where there is plenty sunlight. Does it give you more idea on the problem?
still the same answer. I’m in Miami Florida which is a tropical climate too. Our plants loose about 80% of their leaves in December and then start to grow them back this month. the winter is the dry season here so less water.
Thank you very much for the reply. Yes, recently the leaves start to grow on one of the branches. The leaves are big, green and round, looks healthy. However, it looks really odd, as the branch is bald, about 30 cm long and only the leaves are found at the end. If I may have your email, I can send a photo for you to illustrate it. Thank you again.
Hi I live in Queensland Australia we are heading into summer . The flowers on my plant are slightly deformed curled . My plant is 11 yrs old .
Not sure why ? Should you water the leaves when you water the plants ?
Thanks Sue
Do not water the leaves. This is not a tropical plant. Curling leaves can mean insects or nutrient problem.
My desert rose lost all its leaves around November. I live in central Florida so I thought that winter coming in it was going dormant. I only water about once a week (its in a large pot and gets about 3/4 cup of water). There are no leaves as of today, only stalks and the stalks have a white fuzz at the tip of them. Is the plant dead? or what.
Good Day: Your adenium plants should be starting to sprout new leaves very some (ours are here in Miami including many are starting to show flower buds). The description of the desert rose plant problem leads me to believe that you have spider mites on the tips. Are the branches of the desert rose plant soft or hard to touch? If the tips were black them it would be tip rot which you can just cut off the branches until you do not see any black or brown in the center of the branches (inside). Tip rot is caused by the leaves retaining moisture (on the leaves) for a prolong period of time and cause adenium plant decay.
I would expect that your branches are firm and the problem is spider mites. If that is the case then cut off the tips, wait for the cut to heal and then treat the whole adenium plant with a soap based insecticide. Also, if you have other plants in the area treat them with the insecticide too because they pest travels and many times you do not see it until it becomes a problem because they usually attached themselves under the leaves where you do not look.
At first my desert rose was blooming and beautifully thriving, then the leaves started to turn yellow and fall off. It is now necked and it has white fuzz or cotton looking stuff on the tips of the brances. What do I do?
Crop off the tops to a point where the inside of the plant is normal color. its either a fungus or microscopic insect.
Thanks. The stalks are firm without any black on them. I’ll do as you say and wait and see what happens.
I stay in Mumbai . Leaves of my plant have got some brown spots on it and gradually it becomes yellow. It’s summer time here. What is the problem ? How should I treat it ? It has affected other leaves of branches too..
Brown spots on adenium plant leaves are usually due to too much water staying on the leaves. Desert rose plants do best when you water the base of the plant but not the leaves. We have the same problem here in Miami due to our tropical climate during the summer the adenium plant leaves do get brown spots. We have too many plants to setup individual water taps for each pot (over 1,000 3yr old adenium plants and over 1200 seedlings). Our water system gets water from a well that we do check on a regular basis for problems. The other problem that can cause yellowing on the adenium plans are the lack of nutrients. The adenium desert rose plants are easy to grow but once a year (we do it twice do to too much rain) you should provide nutrients to your adenium plants.
Q: Hello! I live in north central PA, and its mid March. Two weeks ago I bought a beautiful desert rose adenium plant, with a large round caudex, in flower. I kept it more or less dry, but then read I should water it when in flower. So I watered the adenium. Anyway, i noticed leaves turning yellow and dropping, along with flower buds. The nursery potted the desert rose plant in coconut hull fibers, inside a plastic “azalea” planter, which was sitting in a slightly larger clay pot. I lifted the plastic pot out of the clay pot, and checked the bottom. White mold (fungus?) was all over the bottom. I immediately started to keep the plastic pot outside the clay pot, to get better air flow. I put the plant on a warm air heat source at night, to dry it out. Yesterday, I watered it a little more, but then lifted the entire plant outside its plastic planter. The white fungus is growing throwout the side of the root-ball. I suppose this is from lack of proper drainage, and potting the Adenium in coconut hulls, without sand or perlite mixed in. Should I try to get as much of this coconut planting mix off the desert rose roots, then replant it in the clay azalea planter, but with some course sand in the bottom, and sand mixed into the coconut fibers? I also have a nice bonsai planter, I could use, not as deep but wider. Or is this white mold stuff normal on the roots? Is using pure coconut hulls for the potting soil, a major problem too? Thank you.
Good Morning:
First take the adenium obesum plant totally out of the soil. You need to treat the fungus with a fungicide now! The fungus will keep growing as long as if has food (roots/water/moisture). The adenium plant will survive a couple of weeks without water or soil. Number two-get rid of the plastic pot all together. Just use the clay pot for the desert rose plant. Clay breathes and will soak up excess water from the surrounding soil. Yes, using pure coconut husk for the adenium plant is wrong. Yes, you do want some coconut husk but not more than 10% of the total soil mixture for your desert rose.
I have a desert rose that is full of buds, but they turn brown and fall off before opening..any ideas?
Good day:
There can be several causes for adenium buds to turn brown and drop: 1: Fertilizing while budding or near budding. 2: too much or too little water, 3: a warm to cold to warm temperature change or 4: Just replotted the desert rose plant during or near blooming season. I need more information to better determine your cause. Usually this happens when the plant needs energy/resources to grow so it does not bloom. Another cause can micro-nutrients. maybe your plant needs more/proper micro-nutrients for the adenium plant. However, adding the micro-nutrients now will cause the plant to enter a grow spurt and cause any other buds to fall most of the time when growing adeniums. We use super-thrive when we transplant the adeniums and when we have a heavy raining season we give them with diluted super-thrive. Usually we do not like to use super-thrive more than 1..2 times a year but never in or near springtime when the adenium plants bloom.
I live in Puerto Rico. Around a month ago I received 6 Adenium grafted plants from Thailand. Three out of six started to grow small leaves but the other three look to have stem rot in some of the grafted branches. I cut a portion of the branch but the problem is the grafted portion is not long enough to cut it until a clean portion is seen. If I have to cut it until a clean portion of the stem, the grafted portion might be eliminated. There are located in an area where the water and sunlight is controlled. What do you reccomend?
The problem with all grafted adeniums is the size of the graft. If you get tip rot on the adenium plant and the core is brown down to the graft you will loose the entire graft. If you do not remove all the dark areas including dark or brown areas in the core of the adenium stem then the complete desert rose plant will be lost.
Sorry it sounds like you will need to cut below the graft to get rid of your desert rose plant problem. It does not matter if you grow the desert rose adenium plant in a controlled environment or not you need to get rid do the bad parts.
I have a group of Adeniums in 10″ plastic containers that are over a year old. There are fewer and fewer leaves and the few leaves that are being produced are getting smaller and smaller. The plants have been fertized within the last month, but that didn’t seem to help. The plants are looking pretty sticklike these days with such little foliage. Like you, I’m in South Florida. We sprayed for mites a couple of weeks ago, but that didn’t seem to make much difference. There is some spotting on the leaves as well. Any ideas?
Good Morning:
First thing s first. I highly recommend not use plastic pots for growing adenium plants. They do not allow air circulation, moisture removal and they will cause root rot if you do not use the right soil. You need a porous pot – clay not glazed pots work best. I need more information on fertilizer used and type of soil used to grow your desert rose plant. If you sprayed for mites using the proper insecticide it should not cause problems. Are you watering the adenium plant two times a week? Does it dry out between watering? Are you growing the desert rose plant outdoors or in doors? Please let me know.
I have a Desert rose plant and I have noticed very tiny black bugs on it can u help me please? I live in East Texas.
Good day: I’m not sure what the bugs you have since I have not seen black bugs on our adenium plants. However, I would recommend that you spray the plants with an insecticide soap (not oil based!). We have used earth-tone with great success and other people have mentioned safer products for their adenium plants. Do the bugs haev some orange on them? Are they multi-part bugs sort of long an skinny?
Hi. I recently bought a desert rose. While removing it from the plastic pot it came in, a large thick piece of a root snapped off. I put the broken piece in soil hoping for growth. Can you grow another plant from a root?
Do not replant the adenium desert rose plant until the root heals over. I would wait 7 days before planting it. No do not expect anything from the adenium plants root. You can grow cropped branches but not from roots.
Just black very small, my 5 yr old grand daughter showed me. I didnt see them at first because they are so small. I am getting ready to repot it. I was going to spray it with a diluted solution of Dawn and water.
I live in Houston Texas and have a 3 year old desert rose that has been doing great until recently when I repotted it. I have noticed that one of the tubular roots (about 3″ in diameter) going down into the soil is rotting. All of the branches above the root ball appear normal, and new leaves are sprouting all over What should I do? Do I see if the plant will heal iself? Do I need to take the adenium out of it’s pot to cut off the root, or can I cut it off without repotting? Please let me know my best coarse of action, thanks
The amount you need to cut off is determine by the coloration of the roots. You need to cut off all roots that have any trace of black or brown in the center of the adenium root stem. 95% of the time when the root has rot in a desert rose plant it will not heal itself. The adenium plant root rot will go up the plant and destroy it all. You can cut without re-potting if you can get too all the bad spots that need to be removed.
Thanks for the advice. I think I am going to have to pull the adenium out pof it’s pot just to make sure I get all the rot. My other question is I read in an above posting that you advised someone not to repot until the root heals over. Do I need to leave it out of the pot until that happens (and if so, leave it in sun/shade?), or can I repot right away after cutting out the rot?
You need to leave it out of the soil to prevent fungus and other problems. Protect the cut area from water and I would recommend fresh air but not out in the sun. We keep our plants cropped/or healing in a covered patio area out of rain and direct sun light.
Hello
I have bought some grafted adeniums a week ago. Today I noticed that one plant has yellow leaves and two others are yellowish and soggy at the root. Could you pls advise me as to how to treat my plants? Thanks
Soggy is not good. What type of soil are you using? You need to take the plant out of the pots to get the roots to dry out and prevent root rot if possible. If the roots are rotted you will need to cut of the rotted areas and then let the cut heal befor replanting.
Hi,
I think you may have answered this already but just in case…
I have had my desert rose for several years now. I have overwatered in the past resulting in yellowing and lost leaves, but have since cut back an increased sunlight whenever possible and have had good success. Last year I even got some flowers! However today I noticed that the exposed root looked odd in one spot .. I went over to check and the entire base was mushy! Like the inside has just turned to mush:( Stranger still because the rest of the plant looks perfectly normal (hence not noticing it sooner). (Although the branches seem a tad floppy now that I’ve taken it out of the soil and tipped it this way and that.) I saw a crack in the root and began to investigate .. The insides appear rotted and soggy .. brown and slimy in places, moldy in others. It has reached *almost* up to the point where the branches begin splitting off from the base. I’m assuming if I am to save it at all I need to cut off the base immediately? Then can I place the rest in water and try to root it or would that not work? Thanks in advance!
Correct – you need to CUT away ALL soggy, brown or black root areas even if it means cutting away all the roots. Then let the adenium plant heal before replanting. Remember to use super thrive or other rooting hormone before re-potting the desert rose plant. DO not place the plant in water! Adenium plants do not root in water at all. They root in dry soil
Thank you!
I live in Tampa. My desert rose is probably about 5 or 6 yrs. It has bloomed each year, but less and less. It is now coming out of dormancy and the leaves are curling at the edges. The leaves did this last year, as well. A couple of years ago I repotted because the soil didn’t seem to be draining well and I thought the pot was too shallow. I put it in a standard clay pot and added a lot of sand to the potting mix. Do you know what is causing the leaf curl? Thanks.
Good day: Do you fertilize using time release low nitrogen? This year has been a bit strange in getting the adeniums plants to bloom. 90% of ours have not bloomed yet. We get flower buds in January then another cold spells comes in early February and wipes them out. Then they bud again and another cold spells comes. Now the desert rose plants are budding again and I expect no more cold spells so we expect to see many flowers in a 2..3 weeks. Anyway curling leaves usually means they are lacking nutrients. Use a time replaces fertilizer and super thrive after they boom or now if you are not concern with blooms this year. Also, make sure the sand you used is not limestone based (90% of the sand sold in Florida is ground limestone! Limestone retains water, causes fungus and and causes other problems with adeniums.
Hi, I recently planted some seeds using Cacti potting mix and placed them in my hot house in hteir trays. One tray started sprouting then within a day or two just stopped and hte other two have not sprouted at all. I am in Brisbane QLD and just wondering if it is getting too cold or what I may be doing wrong?
I assume you are referring to adenium plant seeds. Usually adeniums seeds take 5 to 10 days to sprout if they are good seeds. The problem is getting good seeds. May people sell seeds on line that are very old or bad. When haev purchased adeniums seeds from various sources and none of them are consistent in the quality of seeds. You need to keep them above 75 degrees so you may need a seed bead warming mat. Also, we used quad band led lights going 10 hours a day to grow our adenium desert rose plant seeds. You need to keep the temperature constant and the soil moist. Use use propagation soil mixture that contains core – do not use a peat based soil mixture to grow your desert rose seeds. Try seeds from a couple different sources. I hope this helps a bit.
I have two Desert Rose Plants. I live in Dubai, and have lots of flowers on my plants. There is a black almost beetle like bug about 1cm in length appearing on my plants, they are eating the leaves and flowers, and black spots are all over the places where they are munching. How do I get rid of them and what are they?
I’m not sure what type of bug you have. I would suggest saferbrands soap based insecticide for adeniums. The the soak helps the insecticide to stay on the lease so when the bug eats it they die.
They are root weevils. Most difficult to get rid of. I have the same infestation and for the last 4 months I am checking the adeniums at night by torchlight and hand picking them and squashing them to the floor. They make u shaped cuts on the edges of the leaves. Check the soil, maybe there are the larvae. I am against the use of chemical pesticides so it’s taking me ages to get rid of them. They hide somewhere in the plants during the day and come out at night. I live in Dubai too, in Jumeirah. Try and pick them out on a daily basis or else they will lay 100’s of eggs. Do those bugs have faint grey lines on their t bodies.
my desert rose flowers seem to wilt and die in like a week after they open up….no noticeable pest lots of sun fair amount of rain. can i send you a pic so you can see ? thanks
I need more information. Have you recently fertilized the adenium plant? Has your weather gone from warm to cool back to warm? We have adenium buds 2..3 times this year and in between we had cool weather that caused them to drop the buds. Now that we are finally entering summer the plants are starting to bud again and we expect flowers on the desert roses soon!
I have five (5) desert rose plants,some in plastic pots,one in clay pot. I live in N.C. moved from Florida, where plants were bought.This is my second yr. in N.C.and I have always kept them indoors in the winter. I recently moved them outside but, with the crazy weather 75-80 days 45-55 nights I think the nights were too cool. It seems two of the plants root balls seem to be mushy. I have done nothing to correct this problem, afraid I’d kill the plant. After reading your blog, I think they’re suffering from the cool/warm/cool situation.How can I fix this and when should they be repotted ? They have bloomed since my move but, not abundantly, can I use potting soil or should I use soil for succulents when I repot? These plants are
about five years old. I want to take care of these because they’re fairly uncommon in this area,N.C., and are beautiful plants.
Good Day:
I would first pull the plants out of all plastic pots especially in your location. Plastic retains water and does not allow the soil to breath. Desert rose plants are desert flowering succulents. Desert means low water with a perception of always being hot. Actually some deserts get down right cold (freezing at night). Anyway back to you questions. Mushy root balls are either not enough water so the adenium plant roots caudex has reduced in side (soft do to not enough water inside the plant) or too much water which means root rot. If you have root rot you need to remove all the rotted portions. Any part of the adenium root that is not white/green inside needs to be removed (brown or black remove it all!). Even a very small speck of black or brown rot will grow larger in the adenium desert rose plant. Sometimes we have to remove all the adenium caudex roots, let the plant heal for a week and then start growing the desert rose plant as if it was a cutting. DO not using POTTING SOIL! There are many soil mixture information on this blog for adeniums. Regular potting soil retains too much water for adenium desert rose plants.
I’m getting ready to repot my roses but I still have questions.
I purchased cacti soil, rocks,super thrive,do I need to also add perlite? Four of the plants seem to be healthy and should be okay but, one, the largest, the caudex is mushy, yellowish and this seems to be going 4-5 inches up some of the stems. Should this be cut away or is this just from too dry or too wet? Should I also fertilize the repotted plants.These are on my deck and get full sun (80) until about 4-5 P.M.so should I bring them indoor for about a week after repotting?
Caudexes get soft for two reason: too much water causing root rot and too little water causing shrinkage. During our dry months if we do not water the plant enough the caudexes will get soft. However, once we start watering the adenium plants the caudexes of the adenium plants firm up. New adenium roots under the soil line tend to be a light cream/yellow color sometimes. Cut away a portion of the roots to see if brown or back inside. If you see any discoloration then you have root rot and all of the effective parts need to be removed.
Also, when we receive plans from Thailand the caudexes tend to be soft due to not being watered for 2..3 weeks. 99% of the time the deser rose plants come back without any problems.
My dessert rose have a white staff (fungus?) at the end of each branch and all the leaf fell. Help!!! What I can do?
The fungus needs to be cut off. It may not be a fungus – spider mites sometimes looks like a fungus. Either way you need to completely remove the effective part, let the branches heal for a few days out of the sun and then spray the branch just insects its insects not fungus.
I purchased 2 desert roses last year. They have and still have been growing great. Pruned in spring. Lots of new growth. Live in zone 9 louisiana. Just noticed on 1 it has black stuff growing on the bottom stems and base of plant. It looks like spikes and when I lightly touched one of the spikes it was like powder. Have them in large clay pots. Water about twice a week. Can you help me identify what this is and how to treat it?
It sound like some type of micro insect. I have not seen what you are describing in our area. I would recommend treating as if the spikes are insects and use a soap based insecticide. Fungus does not grow in thin spikes as far as I know. I know spider mites look like white spikes sometime on the under side of leafs so maybe this is something like them.
from where i can purchase to india
I’m not sure. We do not purchase plants from India. 99% of ours come from Thailand.
my adenium bud lose shape and fall before bloom whats the reason
This is a common problem this year. Did you recently fertilize the plant? Never fertilize the plant during blooming season. If the plant has experienced the cold weather turn warm and then col again it will cause bud loss (NY is still having it). Also, not enough water can cause the problem. Here in our area we experienced the cool to warm to coll to warm whihc resulted in lost buds. However, I glad to say the buds are back and starting to flower (Very late this year for our area).
I need help with my mother’s desert rose. We live in AZ. Every year the plant is brought indoors when the temps drop down to the mid 50’s. Usually in March, it is brought back outdoors when the morning temps are in the 60’s. It has always done just fine. This year however, the plant remained inside until last week. It receives a few hours of morning sun, which I know is fine, but on the patio, it gets about 1.5 hours of evening sun. And it is hot. It has been reaching just over 100 daily. I’m not sure if the plant was put outdoors dry. Two days ago I noticed some of the leaves were limp and there were good size brown spots. Not just at the ends. More towards the center. I’m guessing the heat has taken a toll on the plant. So yesterday morning, I watered it and moved against the house. This way it remained in shade most of the day. My question is – should the plant be moved back indoors until the weather cools and should I water it a bit more to compensate for the limp leaves? The caudex is still firm, so there should be no damage to the root system. Any help would be appreciated.
Brown spots on the leaves (if the leaves are not dried out) usually means the leaves are getting wet and staying wet too long. Adeniums are desert plants. The heat will not hurt them as long as you water them on a regular basis the leaves will sprout. If you do not give it enough water the desert rose plant it will go dormant and loss the leaves.
(Singapore)
My dessert rose is flowering very well BUT theres very few leaves. Leaves turned yellow quite fast (before the leaves are fully matured)
Its been like this for the past year.
I do see some stems “rotting” but probably 3 times so far in a yr.i juz cut it off n that usually occur in small branches. I watered then once every 4 days n they r placed under full sun.
Can anyone advise me? Tks.
Your climate is not to different than ours. I would recommend a time release fertilizer and possible re-pot with fresh mix including dipping in super thrive before re-potting. Yellow leaves are caused by a change in the climate (seasons), lack of nutrients, lack of water and not enough sun. You get enough sun in your area and watering twice a week should be fine.
Desert rose plants stem rotting is a common problem in areas that get a lot of rain. Its caused by two factors: high humidity and water sitting on the leaves to long. We have this adenium plant problem in Miami, Florida due to our tropical climate. Make sure the plant is not having water drip on it and in the very rainy part of the year try to protect it from some of the rain. Tip rot you will loose all your leaves. Cut off all tip rot and then let the plant heal in a protected area so the cut part has a chance to heal.
I have several Desert Rose plants, all in pots, all in the screened in pool area. East Florida climate. They are spread out in each corner of pool enclosure. Blooming and looking terrific. However my oldest one, about 3 feet tall, has always had problems with white fungus on the underside of the leaves, and right at the shaft of the flowers, with white specks on top of the leaves. Roots are fine. Has been flowering profusely in spite of this. I sprayed it with Daconil fungizide the other day , and it dropped all the leaves days after. A week later No sign of life… Really bumped out about that. Should I prune it way down, or is this a total loss?
I believe the fungus might have been spider mites that are so small they look life a fungus. Adeniums plants and fungicide do not mix well. I would think they will survive but it may take 2..3 weeks for new leaves. Do not prune the desert rose plants with no leaves unless the branches are soft and show signs of rot.
Ok, thanks, I will wait and see. What can you do against Spider Mites, in case I would encounter same problem in my other Desert Roses, without damaging the plant?
Uses an insecticide soap. Several comments/articles on this blog about it. thank you
I have a desert ros that was about 18 inches in height and had a fairly large bulb. It was growing well but a few days ago I noticed one of the stems started to rot so I cut it off and today the main stem/branch was completely bent over and at the base it appeared to be rotting. I cut it off and there is not much left now apart from the large bulb. I had it in a greenhouse as it is winter here so I moved it outside again but under cover. Can you make any suggestions or do you think I will lose this one? thankyou
Sorry about your problem.There is no great solutions to your rot problem. You need to cut it all out form the stems to the roots. If you leave any rot it will just continue to spread. The adenium plant may be a total loss based on your description.
There Is a Spider constantly on my desert rose is this good bad or indifferent
Thanks,
Spiders catch bugs so it’s ok to leave on the plant.
thankyou very much
We live in mazatlan, mexico and have a four year old desert rose. In the last 24 hours the branches have started drooping and it is getting worse. What should we do? It is outside all the time, the leaves and buds are fine. In the evening and early morning before it gets too hot, we have noticed ants running the branches into the dirt. It is currently in a plastic pot and we’re not sure of drainage.
Check to see if the branches of the adenium plant are soft or soggy when you squeeze them. If they are you may have branch or root rot. You need to make sure you have good drainage. If you are using plastic pots you must have excellent drainage and the proper soil to prevent rot. We recommend non-glazed pots or similar pots that are porous with holes in the bottom to allow water to drain. I would remove the plant from the pot, wash the roots and check for rot. Then put the adenium plant in a cactus type soil mix (check this blog for adenium soil). If you see rot you need to remove all of it and cut the roots or branches back until you do not see any more rot.
So glad i found your site. Very educational. I’m from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I’ve planted my adenium from seed for 8-10 years. They (About 10) have thich caudex and I frequently trim them. Always kept a lookout for tiny caterpillars. Malaysia is tropical, with occasional rain, so I leave them out in the open. Water them with a little water everyday. All is good. I have just discovered one particular plant, its caudex is turning a little soft when I squeeze on it. I cannot pin point a specific part of the root that has rot, just that it’s turning a little soft. I’m worried. I have removed it from the soil since yesterday and it’s lying flat. I’m thinking of letting it air dry before I put soil back on it.
1. Is what I’m doing correct? How long should it be left without soil? Is there any thing else I can do to speed up the recovery? How can I save it for sure?
2. It seems to be raining on and off these few days. I’ve been bringing them in under the shade when it rains, bringing them out to the open for sunlight again when it doesn’t rain. Is frequent re-locating OK for the plant? Is it recommended to be moved? I’m trying to prevent it from getting too much water from the rain.
Really appreciate if I get advice from you to save it.
Thanks in advance!!
2.
Yes removing the plant from the pot is the first step to determine if the problem is root rot or use a soft caudex. Are the caterpillars just eating the leaves of the desert rose plant? If yes then they are like the orange caterpillars we get here in south Florida. every year we get them during the summer and we let them have fun. They do not hurt the plant and after then are gone the plants bursts out with new leaves and sometimes new branches. Plus as an added bonus many times the plants blooms again!
Hi, I live in Michigan and I’ve had my rose for about 6 months. It has lost several leaves, the tip gets a black spot and then the leaf turns yellow, dries up and falls off. I have been giving it a small maybe 1/8 cup of water roughly every three – four weeks, but I believe I am giving it too much water because this always happens within 3 days after watering. It is in a clay pot and gets indirect afternoon sun in my living room. It has been warm here upper 80’s during the day, 60’s at night.
I don’t think I’m getting water on the leaves.
watering every 3..4 weeks seems way too little during growing season. I think you are not giving them enough light. The temperatures outside are find for the adenium plants. BY watering too little you may be shocking the plant every time you give it water. Make sure you haev the right soil so you can water them at least once a week. An let them haev more light. The tip so you need the branch of the leaves? If its the leaves hen you haev black tip and you need to treat with fungicide and give it more light!
I live in Oklahoma and I have a very healthy Desert Rose, but I notice there are 2 large stalks proturding off one of the limbs. They resemble the start of a flower getting ready to bud, but they are about 3 to 3 1/2 inches in length. What is it?
Sounds like yuo have seed pods. When the pods open you will get a bunch of seeds with fibers sticking out of them to allow them to fly through the air. Before the pod opens put a plastic bag around it to capture the seeds before they fly away and then plant them. Search this blog for growing adeniums by seed
I live in lower Fl. on coast, and have 2 very large desert roses in full sun on my patio. Unfortunately they also get full rain. I repotted both this spring, into large plastic pots that I can’t move easily. Used cactus soil with mixture of sand (don’t know if it had limestone). One rose has small curly leaves. The other has perfect leaves but I had a problem with rot. I’ve cut several branches down to correct level and most have healed, however, one got away from me and I had to cut a notch into the caudex to remove all rot. Should that plant be kept shaded & protected from rain til it heals? What kind of fertilizer to use on them and when should it be applied (they are both blooming)?
Answer: Keep it in the shade until the cut heals. The desert rose plant with curly leaves give ti some super thrive and/or time release fertilizer of the proper type for adenium plants. I highly recommend not to use PLASTIC in Florida unless you are 100% absolutely sure of your soil. It sounds like you are not sure if you used limestone based sand which is whihc 99% of the people down here sell as sand (in Florida) because of all the quarries close by. If the sand said silica then its OK, otherwise I would not use it for he desert rose plants.
Mike
I received a desert rose back in May. I live in Richmond Va where the summer weather has vacillated between very hot and humid to cooler and humid.
I re-potted it in Moisture Control Miracle Grow soil. It is blooming; but some of the leaves are turning yellow with big brown spots on it and some of the buds are turning brown and drying up.
I am reading that I have over watered it and have sprayed the water on the leaves. I am doing everything wrong. I know I need to transplant it into a clay pot, when do I do this? What type of soil do I use? My desert rose gets full sun about 6-8 hours a day.
Sorry for the delay we had some problems with the blog where the answers were not posted. Anyway, the moisture control miracle grow is not the proper type of soil. It retinas water when adeniums like soil that does not retain water. Now is the wrong time for the adeniums to bloom. In your area and further north they will start to go into dormancy due to fewer hours of day light. Correct do not spray water on the leaves and would consider replacing the soil with soil designed for cactus type plants. You may even want to add 40% more perlite to most store bough cactus soil. The problem with store bough cactus soil is that they haev peat in them which retains water. We get rain ever day during the summer here and the soil we use has 70% perlite which allows AIR to circulate in the soil to prevent root rot. 6..8 hours of sun a day is great! As we get closer to Fall/Winter the plant will loose most if not all of its leaves in your area and you will need to bring it inside during the evenings when the temperature averages below 45 degrees. During dormancy reduce watering to once ever week.
I recently purchased a desert rose plant from local building supply store here in Northeast PA. It is about 1′ tall and in a 1.25 qt.pot and indoors.It gets about 3 hours of direct sunlight through a eastern facing window. I watered it twice in a 1 month period. Last watering was about 4 days ago and now I notice black spots on the leaves with some slight yellowing. I need some advice on what to do. Thank you.
I sounds like you live up north. This is the time the adenium plants will start to loose leaves and go dormant. If you want it to last longer with leaves you will need to get it more/longer sunlight.
What do I do with the plant during it dormant stage?
Reduce watering. If you have not already give it a bit of time released fertilizer (not liquid at this stage). Right before spring before you see any buds give the adenium desert rose plant liquid fertilizer for one month (2..3 watering) as a bloom boost (10-20-20 or 10-30-20). try to giev it sun light as much as possible. Even during dormancy it will grow.
Our desert rose has grown many new branches and leaves and were very excited. That is till I noticed the leaves have something growing on them underneath and on the top. They are brown spots concentrated on the center of the leaves (the vein area on both sides top and bottom). At first I thought it was some type of egg but too many leaves have it. It can be removed with my fingernail. What can this be? What can I do for this?
It sounds like either a fungus or tip rot. I would cut off all leaves that have the black stuff under the leaves. Adenium plants leaves will get black spots do to water staying too long on the leaves but they do not rub off with a fingernail likes yours is doing. If you notice the black stuff on the branches of the desert rose plant you will need to trim them back too.
I was given Dessert Rose for my 40th birthday and it was flowering beautifully with lots of foliage for over a year. A little while back, the leaves started to get brown spots on the bottom (which came off when wiped), and now the tip of the stalks (where the flowers are or where the new leaves start to grow) started getting white sticky stuff which seems to be preventing from the plant growing. Leaves are falling off and when new leaves start to grow, they become deformed as this sticky material prevents the leaves from expanding fully. We live in Northern Australia.
Good day: I would go ahead and crop/trim off the tops of the branches. At the same time remove all the leaves. It sounds like you haev a fungus or bug similar to spider mites. The brown spots under the leaves could be cause by too much moisture / humidity. But he white stuff on the tips is the main concern. Let the adenium plant heal over for 1 week in a dry location.
I live in the northern part of Pennsylvania. My desert rose seems to be going into dormancy (losing leaves). Why do I do during this stage? Lighting? Watering? Trimming? Fertilizing?
Thank you.
Its time to reduce watering to once a week making sure the desert rose plant dries out between watering. If you use artificial growing lamps you can extend the season. Many people use grow light up north to get the adenium plants out of dormancy early to get more flower periods. If you want to do this you will need to increase the light starting in late January to 6..8 hrs a day. Farmtek.com is a great source for plant grow lights that work and fit most regular lamps. Also, to induce blooming I would give it liquid fertilizer twice in the month of February. Use something like 20-30 -20 or 10-20-20
Grew this adenium from a seed. I stay in Mumbai, India. I have attached the image in Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151901590226136&set=gm.215903695199903&type=1&theater). Need to know what to do next…Need info about fertilizers.
The Facebook page can not be seen now for some reason. I clicked your link but it will not open. Do a blog search on this blog about fertalizer
I have a problem with my desert rose. I have had it for two years and it has done wonderful. This summer I re-potted it but I did it in regular potting soil and it did great all summer. Since I live in IL I had to bring my plant indoors. It was doing ok until the last two weeks now. The whole plant is soft, the leaves have fallen off, the skin is coming off and you can see white mold on it now. I have taken it out of the potting soil and let sit for two days and the base dried and started to become harder again. So yesterday I went and purchased miracle grow soil for cactus and a shallower pot and re-potted it. This morning the whole plant is limp and falling over and the stems are cracking. Please help me save this plant. It is very special to me because it was my Grandmothers and she loved it dearly. I really need to save it!!
Good Day: Well it sounds like root/stem rot to me and the only way to get rid of rot is to cut it all off. However, it sounds like it progressed to much to save the adenium plant. Soil it VERY important. We do not recommend many cactus soils due to the peat moss content which hold too much water for adeniums. If you use store bought cactus soil get a bag of perlite too and mix it with the soil 50/50 (50 of cactus soil and 50% perlite). Also, put rocks on top of the pot used for your desert rose plant to keep the perlite in the soil. Anyway, all soft tissue and bad color tissue needs to be removed, however, it sounds like most of your adenium plant it that way – sorry.
My boyfriend got me my dessert rose four years ago when he asked me to be his girlfriend. We moved from Florida to Michigan this past year and the plant was doing fine inside in the window. Last weekend, though, it was 70 degrees, so I out it outside on the porch to get it more sunlight. I accidentally left it there overnight. It was in 30-40 degree temperatures for over 24 hours. The leaves turned brown but did not fall off. When I examined it today, I realized the branches seem almost empty and sort of wet, not the dry and hard texture I expected. The very base of the plant seems normal, but there seems to be some darker discoloration there too. Is the plant dead? Is there anything I can try to save it?
You will need to REMOVE all parts of the adenium plant that has discoloration (every LITTLE BIT!!) It may mean removing most of the desert rose plant branches and part of the trunk of the desert rose plant. Cut about 1″ off each branch that is soft on the adenium. Look at the inner color. If its not white (see any brown, black?) then cut more off until you get to a portion that is all normal color. Make sure you get all the rot off otherwise it will start up again and kill your whole plant.
Hi ! We live in Clermont, Florida. Our desert rose is beginning to lose some leaves. They are turning yellow and dropping off. At the top if the leaf, next to the branch or stem there appears to be a black fungus. What treatment do you recommend?
You need to remove all fungus – cut it off. Fungicide does not work on adeniums because the fungus gets inside the plant. You need to cut until you do not see any dis-colorization in the stem of the adenium plant.
Good morning! We live in Oman and my desert rose have two different tipe of leaves, bottom leaves are long and very green and top leave are roundish and soft green! We’ve bough it already like that and it is around meter high It has a lot of leaves and is blooming fine! Looks like it is very old plant! Should I trim long leaves or is it fine like it is?
As well when we bought this plant it had seeds which I collected and now have 4 small desert roses around 6 months old with very nice shiny green leaves but they are not blooming? Is there somthing I need to to do? They all are in clay pots! Thanks for advice!
You haev a grafted adenium plant. the plant type/flower type below the graft is different than the one above the desert rose graft. If you allow the branches to grow below the graft then you will haev two different flower types on one plant. However, it will take energy away form the grafted part. Only trim the branches if they are long and thin to force more branches on he adenium plant. The seedlings will not bloom until they are about 3 years old. 75% of the time the grow from seeds desert rose flowers will look like the non-grafted part of the adenium plant.
Hello…so glad to find your site!
I live on the west coast of Florida in Sarasota which is zone 10. I have two desert rose plants on my lanai. In the rare occasion that temps drop in the 40s the plants are moved inside…otherwise they are outside in shaded area except late afternoon which gets sun.
My 3 year old plant is dropping leaves on a regular basis and neither plant has bloomed for over a year.
I water on a weekly basis from top of plant and fertilize with a slow release about once a quarter.
HELP!
Thanks,
Jim
Sarasota does get cooler weather than in Southeast Florida. The adenium plants will go into dormancy the first part of winter. They should show signs of new leaves in your area in late February. You may need to give them a bloom booster fertilizer which is usually liquid. You are using time release fertilizer but what is you n-p-k of the fertilizer?
Sir. my rossy adeniums plants buds fall bown before it blooms .when i watch i saw white and green spider in my plants is it harmful to plants. also i want to know what will we do to controll spider mites. also i want to know whether i can purchase adenium to india online from thailand
Good day: We presently do not ship adenium desert rose plants out of the USA. the spider mites on the adeniums can be controlled by using earthtone brand soap based insecticide. The spider mites will cause tip rot and other problems if not controlled
the caudex, exposed root system, of a desert rose plant can be treated as a bonsai. when your re-pot the plants spread out the roots before putting back in the soil. You can place a plastic object under the roots to force them to spread.
Hello,
I have a desert rose plant since November, thats 3 months now. I got it full of leaves, no flowers. I live in the middle east, gulf region, which is hot and humid, except for days like this when its very cold. In the beginning i used to water it everyday, till i read that i shouldn’t. Afterwards the leaves started to fall of after turning yellow and having parts of them eaten. Then, i brought it inside to avoid the cold air, when i noticed the upper portions of the branches turning green.
Is it dying? I would really appreciate your advice.
Yara
Goo Day: the adenium plants, also know as desert roses, do no bloom until spring to summer. it the branches are turning brown or black then yes its a problem. But if the are green towards the end then that’s fine – it means the branches are growing a bit.
Hi. I bought my first desert rose in mid November full if leaves and flowers. I live in central California and had the plant indoor. There wasn’t much sun in the room where I had the plant. The leaves started falling so I moved to another part of the room. All of the leaves fell off so I thought it was going dormant. I moved the plant to a corner inside our home. I still water it once a week. Soil us pretty dry by the time I water it. Plant is about 1 feet high and the root is about 6 inches. I just noticed that my plant is really soft to the touch including the root. Plant feels like it has loose skin that you can peel off (I did not peel anything off). Reminds me of a baked potato. I left the plant outside for the past two days for some direct sunlight to see if that will help. Weather in California has been pretty weird. Not too cold lately. Is there any hope for my plant or is it too late?
Do you notice any discoloration of the roots or branches? The adenium plants go dormant and will loose some or all their leaves leaves during the winter months. Also, they may go a bit soft but still have a firm area under the softness. It sounds like you purchased a plant that was already in trouble but you just didn’t know it. Adeniums plants you see in bloom in October, November and other late fall and winters months are forced to bloom so they can sell them in box stores (Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes, etc.). They are usually over watered for the time of year when the watering shoudl be reduced. Many times when an adenium plant is over watered you will not see the problems until 1..2 months afterwords because the problem starts below the soil line. If the desert rose plant is all soft it will be a total lose.
Hi,
I live in Hyderabad ,India.pls can you help me?
I have repotted an adenium plant when it was flowering during winter.The buds have bloomed but later it had lost all its leaves.Its been a month since then.Now the climate is becoming a bit hotter here,the plant is also in full sun.I am watering it less frequently now.Can I fertilise it now when it is in a dormant stage ?What is the correct soil mix? Can I use coarse sand, red soil in equal ratio for repotting ? Can I use soil meant for bonsai plants for Adeniums?
You need to water the adeniums more during hot weather not less. Yes, since you lost the buds you can fertilize the desert rose plant now. Normal bonsai soil retains too much water and has too much organic material. is you are using silica sand then use it mixed with equal amounts of non-porous rocks to equal about 70% of the mix. Add in 10% potting soil and the rest coir.
I recently received a desert rose from Thailand. When I opened it I noticed they cut the leaves off and it was black were it had been cut on both stems,and also the stems were soft. I cut one stem completely off and the next day I noticed a hole were I cut the stem. I also forgot tto mention it had a slight smell of roten potato smell when I first opened it. The roots look very healthy but the only two stems It has are soft. Please help I want to save this poor black bird desert rose.
Sorry for your problem. The problem with buying from Thailand is just what you described; a good percentage of them have problems and you need to know the time of year to purchase them. AdeniumRose Company have purchased several thousand adeniums over the last 2..3 years fom Thailand. We have tested several adenium plant growers and there are some good ones and some we would never consider again. Even know we haev three good suppliers (none are great) and we expect to lose 5% to 7% due to rot adnother prolbems with every shipment. You need to remove all parts that are soft and if all the graphs are soft you will lose the good adenium flower type and revert back to a standard adenium flower type.
I purchased a desert rose that was tall and lanky. I cut it down, re potted it in fast drying soil and it started shooting new limbs with healthy leaves. Then it stopped. Leaves are still green and healthy but stopped growing. Now the caudex has turned soft and started shriveling. It’s getting softer and softer …. Leaves not dying . What’s going on? How can I fix the problem?
It sounds like root rot. Pull the plant out of the soil. We highly recommend waiting 2..3 months after you re-pot a plant before you crop any branches. The re-potting already shocks the plant and cutting/cropping branches at the same time make the plant more disease resistant. If you see any rot at all you will need to completely cut it off and let the adenium plant heal for 5 to 7 days before using Dyna-Grow K-L-N which is a rooting hormone with silica and other micro-nutrients which helps the plant to grow stronger faster.
my desert roses leaves are curling my friends says this isnt good whut say you
Your plants need micro-nutrients that they are not getting. The leaves curl is a malnutrition (Not getting the right micro-nutrients) issue. Most store bought fertilizers do not have the right mix of ingredients to get he plants to absorb the nutrients they need. Go to the website http://www.adeniumrose.com and click on Growing Healthy Plants for a diagram that explains the different things plant need (not just adeniums) to grow well, resist disease and develop great looking leaves.
I have noticed a white cotton like substance on the back of the leaves of my ADENIUMS. Can you tell me what I can do to clear this up .I just bought it today and noticed it when I was putting into a bigger pot .Thank you !
Take the plant back. it sounds like spider mites and they will travel to all your plants!
I have a small desert rose. I wanted to knick off one of the small branches to root and went a little more deep than I wanted to with the knife. It is a very small (5mm) hole, but went beyond the “skin”. What do I need to do? Should I fill it somehow?
Let the hole heat over for 1..2 weeks before getting the area of the adenium plant wet. Over time the plant will grow and the hole will recede.
My plant had small caterpillars and what appeared to be a long web, removed and sprayed with soapy water solution and now all the leaves are dropping. Will the plant be ok ? Any suggestions ?
Yes it should be OK. Didi you just use soap water or did you add another chemical??
I have had a desert rose plant since two years and it flowers twice a year – beautiful crown of flowers – however ever since i bought it, it has always had one long stem and never brached out further. It has only 5-6 leaves and the flowers sit on the top like a crown. It had tiny stems at the bottom but they have not grown since two years! I live in Middle East so sunshine and warmth is ample. The plant sits inside the house very close to a sunny window. I wonder what I can do to make the other two stems grow.
Adenium plants need to be cropped to help the plant grow larger caudex and to create more branches. More branches equals more leaves faster and healthier growth. So yes crop the branches. If the plant is grafted make sure you crop them above he graft line! ON this blog search cropping for more details. Also, you need to fertilize the desert rose plant. It may be lacking micro nutrients and silica.
I live in Tampa Florida and my desert rose is about three years old, I have only had two problems, caterpillars which I sprayed and they went away and now, about 3 months later I have notices this large mass growing in the dirt around the base on one side of my desert rose that looks like yellowish colored mushrooms.
What caused this and how should I treat it?
OK – it seems your soil mix holds too much water. We are in the Miami area so just like you we get daily downpours. However, we never get mushrooms because the soil mix we use drains fast, has very little organics that break down and does not crust over. if you use weed killer you will hurt the adenium plant so the best thing is to re-pot the desert rose plant with the proper soil mix.
What do you recommend for a soil mix and where is it sold at?
There are several soil mixture fro adeniums posts in this blog. Most collectors of adeniums make their own mix based on their location (environment). Some buy store bought cactus soil and then add more perlite. On this blog on the top right search area put in Soil and you will see many posts on soil and mixes.
I just purchased 4 plants from a shopping channel. All but one seems to be doing ok. I just noticed that the one has a soft trunk. What should I do?
TIA
Contract the shopping channel – it sounds like the adenium plant has root rot.
I have six really big desert roses. I noticed a few months ago a Fungus I guess it is growing from the bottom and now is almost covering the entire plant on two of my plants. Now it looks like small air plants attached on these infected plants. Can you please tell me what it is and how I can treat it. I understand that I am watering wrong and will stop watering from the top but what is causing this fungus and air plants? I live in S.W. Florida and yes, the plants are in plastic pots, will change that quickly. Please help!!! Thank you.
Send me images if you can. We are located in Miami so our weather is about the same. You get tons of rain and this year looks like another one of those wet ones (raining everyday!). Anyway the main cause of fungus is too much water and/or the wrong soil. So use terracotta types pots that are NOT glazed on the bottom or use 100% unglazed pots. All pots have to have several draining holes from adenium plants and all other types of cactus/succulents. What color is the fungus? Old plants in our are tend to get things because of our tropical climate. We have an adenium (very large) over 5″ tall, many thick branches with a based of over 57″ around. It has some type of light/white scale on part of the plant (towards the bottom). We decided just to let it be and it’s not causing any damage to the plant (4+ years now with it). It is saying on the oldest part of the plant. No air plants on it however. Air-plants such the life out of plants by grabbing nutrients through the branches/trunk – take them off! What color if your fungus? could it be root rot? if its a green or black fungus and its growing on you plant you will need to treat it because it it most likely fungus that grows on damp plants.
Can anyone help me with this problem?
Just sent reply on this one – sorry for the delay.
I will take pictures today and post them on Monday. Thank you so much for responding. Mary
I was given a white Adenium a few months ago. It seems to be going downhill since then. I repotted it using bark and perlite and charcoal. I only water it when dry. The leaves are all turning yellow and dropping and the stems are soft. However the leafless stems that I have removed are still green. Any advice?
Thanks
I would not use charcoal because when it breaks downs it contains chemicals not good for the adenium plants – also charcoal retains woo much water. In the top search area please enter in soil and you will find many articles on the proper soil for adeniums and similar succulents.
Hi, I live in Mumbai. My company gifted me three Adeniums in June and I love them like my babies.. Initially, they were doing great and blooming wonderfully even though it was monsoon back then. I moved one of them to bigger earthen pot because the smaller pot was an extremely small plastic pot. However, now it has lost all its leaves. The other two are also losing leaves, but not as much. Could this be because of the change in soil? I have used ordinary mud from the local nursery. Do adeniums need a particular type of soil? Also I have kept them in my window where there is ample light but no direct sunlight though they bloomed really well in the same window during monsoon.
Please see the blog articles on proper soil and when you transplant plants they go into shock so we use Dyan=Gro K-L-N to help them recover quickly and to give the roots a boost.
I have a desert rose plant the limbs on it is drooping three leaves on it is brown and don’t want to lose it my grandson bought that for me what do I need to do so plz call help me I live in Texas it has produce beautiful flowers one time
There can be several reasons. Soil, nutrients and change of weather. If you just had a col spell your plant my got into dormancy and loose lease. If the plant has not been re potting in over a year with then that can cause distress due to lose of nutrients int he soil and finally adeniums do need nutrients/fertilizers.
Hi. I have an adenium which has gotten quite soft on the tips of the stem but the base of the trunk is still hard in touch. The leaves have started to get yello and fall. What should I do?
http://www.pinterest.com/elianasiaili/adenium/
If the tips are the wrong color (black/brown) you need to remove them. Many times bad branch tips on adenium plants is an indication of possible root rot. You may want to check the desert rose plant roots for problems.
Help with damage control!
I have done so many no-nos I’m not sure my plant will survive. 🙁
My husband bought me a desert rose and it grew to the point the pot was too small. We re-potted last month (November) and used regular soil that we had left over from when we planted some peppers. Now I see that’s not the ideal type of soil.
We had it outside (we live in Florida) and it rained hard for a couple of days. Our newly re-potted plant got soaked.
Then we had a couple of nights with temperatures in the 30s. I covered the plant but it still was kept outside until last night when I sat down to learn more about it’s care. Now I’m freaking out. It has lost some leaves and my poor tortured plant is clearly unhappy.
How do I undo all this damage? Do I re-pot in a cactus mix? Do I check the roots for rotting? Do I wash the roots before re-potting? Do I just leave it alone and hope the soil dries out and then re-pot? I don’t want it to die! :'(
Yes take it out of the vegetable soil which is designed to retain moisture. 100% wrong for desert rose plants. Check roots for problems too.
Thanks for the tips! I re-potted in soil for cactus plants and I washed the old soil from the roots. It looks much happier and has sprouted new shoots. Thanks again!
Hello,
Today I was cutting back branches on my DR when I noticed a rotten root. It was rotten into the stem of the plant so I took the plant out of its pot and tried to cut it all away. I’m worried that since it had its branches off first, then got carved into deep for the rot, that it will be too much shock for the plant. I plan on waiting about a week then dipping the roots in K-L-N and then repotting it in your soil mix. Does this sound like the right plan? Do you think it might have been too much for the plant to handle at once?
Here’s an image of it post-extraction. [IMG]http://i62.tinypic.com/2qsyx40.jpg[/IMG] (url- “http://tinypic.com/r/2qsyx40/8” ) The brown left on the inside was the plant starting to heal over i’m guessing.. like an apple core turning brown after you eat it.
Thanks
I would wait 2..3 weeks instead of one week before repotting to make sure not rot comes back. Desert rose plants can stay out of soil for 4..5 weeks without any problems. Using Dyna-Grow K-L-N will help the recovery process and after being out for a pot for 2..3 weeks let the plant soak in the k-l-n mixture for 30 minutes. Once you pot the adenium plant wait at 1 week before watering the plant to give the k-l-n time to do its thing.
I purchased a desert rose at the end of Summer 2013. All of the leaves dropped when I brought it inside for the winter (zone 5b). This past summer, it has attempted to grow about five new leaves. They get to be about a quarter of an inch long before shriveling up and dying. I water at least once a week and it has good drainage. I did notice white, fuzzy insects on the initial leaves, which I promptly picked off and cleaned the leaves with warm water. How can I initiate healthy leaves to grow?
It’s a bit hard unless I have more information. They need least 8 hours of strong sunlight or supplement with grow lights. You may not be watering enough. In the summer our plants get either water or rain at least every other day. Are zone is more humid and hotter than you area but as long as the soil is very airy more water will not hurt. Also, use a supplement such as Dyna-Grow Grow to help it along. Plants lose leaves early due to mot enough water, nutrients and even sunlight. The white fuzzy stuff may be spider mites. Make sure they are gone because the suck the juices out of the leaves desert rose plant.
Hi, me and my team have Desert Rose and this plant has little insects that are yellow and it also has black like “balls”. These yellow insects are very small and they stay in one spot but mover as well. Our plant also has white spots and we have no idea how to remove these creatures, we really need a your help with answering on how to remove them and what they are doing. If you are wondering this plant is placed in a school environment because this is a group of students and a teacher in a club who do our best for our environment and we would like advice on the plant so we can prevent this from happening again.
Use a soap based insecticide such as nutra brand. The small yellow insect sound like aphids but adeniums are not usually something aphids attack. Black balls not sure. When bugs attack a plant they go after the nutrients in the leaves and the leaves will turn color and fall off. At this time of year I would remove all the leaves because the growing season is just starting for the adenium plants. This way you get rid of the pests and then spray the plant with the insecticide. Follow the instructions and keep any from children for a few days after you spray the plant.
I live in Kansas and have several desert roses. Most are full and bushy, but a couple are very tall and have few branches. They seem to flower just fine. When is a good time to crop them? They are all currently in the house and most are in their dormant stage. I have never cut any of their branches.
Since you are not in the growing season for your area you can crop them now or wait until after they flower.
Hi There. I live in Australia. I recently moved from the Top End which was a Tropical Climate to the South which has a Temperate Climate. My desert roses are very young (6 months) and during the move the were exposed to too much water. When I finally recieved them (8 days travel time) from the removalists they were very soggy. Yep. Soggy!! I’m so worried I’m going to lose them. I have had them out in the sun every day for over a week and they are still very damp. I haven’t watered them and bring them in out of the chill wind at night. Can you suggest any thing to help insure the survival of my desert roses?? Please Help
Sounds like they rotted. If they do not firm up then they are lost. Sorry
Hi there
Would much appreciate if you could give me some advice .
I live in Portugal , someone give me a desert rose but because of the cold weather I don’t know how to treat it
I brought inside all the leaves turning brown and fall
I repot it with equal quantities of charcoal chicken grit (oyster shells) and some organic potting mix and orchid potting mix
The cortex is green and seems Healthy , the temperatures here are between 0 and about 15 or 20 C
My question is should I fertilise now and what kind of fertiliser.
Orchid fertilise can be used,does a 17 /17/17 can be used ?
And when can I bring it out
Thank you
Ana
Adeniums are not orchids. They require different fertilizer. Try to find fertilizer that first number is less than 8 and the others between 10 and 15 at the most.
thank you so much , going to the nursery looking for it xx
I’m from Malaysia and its mostly sunny and humid here. My boyfriend bought me a miniature potted red rose for Valentine’s day and after a couple of days I noticed the leaves are drying and falling off even though I made sure it gets enough water and sunlight. Theres brown spots on the leaves and the flowers are drying. I don’t know what to do
The adenium plant is called a desert rose but is NOT a rose bush. The plant your boyfriend purchased is believe are miniature rose bushes not an adenium. Please check the plant name and if a rose bush look up on Google how to care for miniature roses.
I live in India- New Delhi.
Had an adenium plant which was doing quite well, caudex became huge in span of 8-9 months and flowers were coming in bunches of 5-6. All the leaves from bottom to top were green and healthy. In the month of December (Peak winter) After pruning I repotted it in a bonsai pot with the potting mix suitable for adenium. Within a month the caudex and upper stem looked watery and spongy. I tried to pull the plant lightly and it came out of the pot. Roots of the plant were rotten and gave an indication of dead plant.
In the month of February I bought a new smaller plant and potted in the same pot with same potting mix. Again I can observe same problem on the caudex and stem, though I have not pulled it out.
Can you please guide me to make it survive.
I think plant is getting proper sunlight and not watered enough.
Too much water. Also what do you call suitable soil for adeniums? when you water the water should pour out the bottom. If the soil retains too much water it will rot.
HI! I’m in college in MI with a desert rose I purchased a couple of years ago and it has always been an indoor plant. I don’t often get direct sunlight in my room so I move it around regularly to other locations so it gets varying intensities of light. It has grown branches that are now several inches long (and in a very shallow well-drained pot, only 4-5 inches deep). It has always had varying leaf sustainability and does better when I don’t pay too much attention to it. Recently it’s starting growing new green leaves, which it hasn’t for a while and I’m very glad, I water it more regularly now, but its dark green long term leaves are turning brown at the ends like burned and drop off. I don’t know what’s wrong or if it needs more nutrients or what but I can always provide more info if needed. It had one tiny bud of a flower this year that died overnight after I discovered it but that was prior to this winter.
Please let me know what you think about better care. I’m considering moving it to a bigger pot this summer but some articles recommend a broad shallow dish and so I made a ceramic one.
A shallow pot is fine for adeniums. The main thing you may want to consider is fertilization because the soil gets depleted. You need to set a routine to add fertilizer once a month if liquid (Dyan-Gro) or time released twice a year and a Dyna-Gro Bloom starting in January until you see the first buds.
I am in Sarasota and they live in a screened pool lanai. Unfortunately im not sure what I’m doing wrong but I’d like to clarify a few things before I kill more of them. I keep them in clay pots with the soil the nursery had them in. I have a green thumb for most plants but I’m doing something wrong… I have had several over the years. What usually happens is the branches or the caudex of the plant get mushy. How often should they be watered during dormancy and not? When I know I’ve had mushy as my issue my inclination is to cut back on water but then that doesn’t help either. When the branch mush occurs, I know to cut branches back to where it’s white/green again. Is branch mush caused by the roots in the soil being rotten or will cutting the branch back only suffice? Also, what can you do for a plant which has a partial or fully mushy caudex which happens often too. You’ve mention cutting roots off. I’m assuming to correct you take it totally out of the soil and cut any roots that are dark and bad branches off til green as well? Can you cut off what’s mushy from the caudex and it’ll heal too or what percentage of caudex mushy usually means it’s a loss? After doing the removal of mushy when it occurs, I’m assuming you leave it out of rained upon and sunny areas and let it heal a couple of weeks and then repot? If the caudex is mushy and considered a loss but there are some branches that show green and look ok, can you propagate it via cutting or would you graft it and if so would you use rooting hormone? I’ve spent hundreds of dollars on some spectacularly rare plants over the years and it breaks my heart when they die. I need to figure out where I’m failing here. I’d be most appreciative of any help you could provide. I’m about to buy more and this time I’d love for them to thrive and I’d like to try to save my few ailing ones. I had issues with orchids years ago so I volunteered at a nursery friends shop and got those down but my friend passed and his nursery closed so I’m hoping someone out there can help me save my beautiful adenium a-current and future.
Usually mushy limbs means root rot. Whenever I see mushy limbs I un-pot the plant and look at the roots. There are no half way methods to do it. You need to see the roots right away. 99% of the time root rot is due to improper soil and drainage. Nursery soil garden mixes (Miracle-grow mixes, etc.) are not correct for adeniums and especially due to the tons of water we get during the summer rainy season in Florida. You can cut away mushy caudex but make sure you let it heal for 2 weeks in a warm, dry and only partial sunny area (40% sun). yes, you can propagate with limbs but limbs plants form very poor caudexes and take forever!
I just recently got 2 small desert roses that were started from seed and 2 that are a little bigge. One of each of them has a soft stem and some yellow leafs. What could be wrong and what can I do?
soft stems can be caused by several things: Too much heat. Not enough water and much more. rot rot. Branch rot.
CONDITIONS: Plants are in clay pots within screened in lanai pool area in Sarasota Florida. They are in soil that the nursery had used. They live in diverted by screen full sun and do get some rain through the screen during inclement weather.
PROBLEM: Previous frustrating history of mushy branches and caudexs.
CLARIFICATION NEEDED ON: Mushy branches mean remove from pot, cut off all dark roots and dark branches until green area and no brown and then let heal for 2 weeks in non sunny or rained upon area and repot?
Can caudex that’s mushy undergo the same surgery? If it’s mushy, what percentage of caudex soft would you call a loss?
If caudex is too damaged but branches are green would you graft or try to root a cutting and would you use a rooting hormone when doing either?
How much would I water the plants in the lanai area? My inclination due to mush is to cut back on water but this doesn’t help either.
I just got a bag of cactus mix. If I mix 50/50 with perlite if I repot will that be ok or if it has sand, I should get something else?
PLEASE help, I’ve invested hundreds of dollars in very rare adeniums over the years and have lost too many. I’d love to learn and have them thrive. I have a few to save and will be investing in more at month end. Your assistance from a fellow enthusiast is most appreciated!
Yes all mushy areas, all brown areas until you get the green outer and white inner. Two weeks to heal. Remove all mushy areas!!! Do not put SAND your your mix. Snad in Florida is limestone based which is bad! Cactus mix then add 50% more perlite is ok!
How can I post a photo of my adenium so you recognize the disease ?
You can send the picture to sales@adeniumrose.com. presently only comments can be posted. You can post on our Facebook http://www.fcebook.com/adeniumrose page.
My desert rose is having problems. I have had it for 6 years. When I got it for a gift it was nine inches tall. It is now three feet tall. I have become quite attached to my Little Man. I have not had any problems with it unitl now. Some of hte leaves ar sticky. There are a fuzzy brown spot in the veins of the leaves. On the backs of the leaves are tiny dark brown dots. Do I need to severely cut my plant back. Will it bounce back once cut back? I live in Little Rock, Arkansas.
I would do the following things to the adenium plant: (1) remove all the leaves (2) spray the plant with a 3-in-1 (Bayer advanced is what we use) (3) Do not cut bake the branches unless they are rotted (spongy, black)
I have two desert Rose plants which recently bloomed beautiful flowers, however on one of them, at the base of the flower there is a white soft substance on most of flowers. I used a fungicide, but the white mossy growth is still there. Plant seems to be doing okay, leaves are normal. I don’t want to loose this plant, any suggestions on what to do?
I would remove all leaves and treat for possible spider mites.
I have a desert rose and the leaves are turning yellow and have brown spots on them. I live in Harlingen, TX the temperature is usually 80 plus during this time of the year. I keep the Desert Rose in direct heat. It does have flowers in it and continues to have flowers. However, I’m worried that about the leaves. I’ve noticed in the morning it will be wet due to the moisture in the air. Humidity this time of the year ranges from 70%-100%.
Any tips would help. Thank you.
We are in Miami where humidity is in the high 80 to low 90’s every day from mid spring to mid Fall (many times longer). Anyway, moisture is not a problem is you haev the right soil. Yes, you may get some spots from time to time on the leaves due to moisture in humid climates but it does not hurt the plant the majority of the time. The main problem with moisture is soil mineral deletion. I would give the plant Dyna-gro Tekt to add strength to the plant immune system and use some time released fertilizer during the rainy season and Dyna-Gro grow the rest of the time.
Hello, I have a large well established adenium swazicum that I bought last year. I repotted it in March and it began to leaf out and has been doing very well. I am just now beginning to get some beautiful buds. However, most of the leaves on my plant have turned brown and curled at the ends. The tips started doing this in april, but the plant seemed healthy so I though I’d let it be and see what happens. Well the curled brown edges are increasing and almost every leaf except for new leaves are doing this. It is in 50/50 cactus soil to perlite media and I water every 2-3 days depending on the temperature. I live in bakersfield, CA which is a very hot desert climate. When I repotted I added a tablespoon of time released osmocote 14-14-14 fertilizer. I have not been able to find any information online to help me solve this problem. The plant appears to be healthy to my novice eyes, I’ve had several new branches sprout this year, but the crisped tips are rather unsightly and I want to make sure it is not an indicator for something worse. Thank you for your help.
14-14-14 is the wrong fertilizer. The first number needs to be well below 10. Als0, osmocote does not have the right minerals. The curling is usually a sign of too much of a certain nutrient and possibly a lack of a mineral. I would switch to Dyna-Gro Grow and Dyna-Gro Tket.
When should I fertilize again? Based on other responses to questions it looks like I should not fertilize while it’s bloom, which it’s doing a crazy amount of at the moment 🙂
Wait until after it blooms.
Hi! I’m in Tampa and just got a young (about 1′) desert rose at a great deal because it is rainy season. Its one smaller branch is broken and healed over. Will it grow leaves, etc? Or should I cut off the branch and try to root it?
Sounds like a seedling. Yes it will heal over and should grow 1..3 branches where the old one was located.
Hi, I’ve had an adenium for 4 years now and it’s doing great! It’s a real beauty and she’s thriving! I’ve reported her again a month and 1/2 ago, no rotten roots, she’s healthy and she’s double her new leaf’s size! But…. it’s been 2 times she grows buds and loses them before they open 🙁 why?! Now she’s growing a new bunch and I’d like to know if there’s some kind of voodoo trick to get her to keep her buds so she can show me her beautiful flowers? Yes it’s a she 🙂
sounds like its missing some nutrients that the plant needs or letting the plant dry out too long between watering when its budding.
Hi my adenium plants have a problem. Some leaves dry out at the tips. This has affected only some plants but it seems to spread. What can I do about this? It is winter here in Brisbane Australia. But this problem seems to continue in summer as well.
Are the tips black? If yes – tip rot. When you say dry out are they shriveled and soft? If yes – Possible root rot. Its your winter time where they exposed to cold weather?
Yes it is Winter time here and when we water them we use cold tap water. One of my plants died of possible root rot.
Tips are shriveled and brown (look like dry leaves) but I am not sure whether they are soft. Some of the brown tips have black dots.
I grow them in plastic pots and my medium is not very draining as well. I am planning to change them to clay pots with good draining medium. How should I prepare the medium and when is the best time to repot? This is the last month of Winter here. Should I remove the old medium from roots or repot the root ball with the old medium?
Thank you very much for your advice!
It sounds like tip rot to me. I would un-pot the plant now and check the roots – do it now. Remove all the tips that are are bad until you get to good stem color (cream color inside no brown or black). If there are any rot on roots remove all rot! Once you do that leave your adenium out for 7 days for the cuts to heal before repotting them in proper soil. Then dip the plant in a rooting hormone (we use Dyna-Gro K-L-N and let them soak for 30 minutes). Re=pot them and wait another 4..5 days until you water your desert rose. See other articles in blog about rot (Put in search area top right) and soil too.
Thank you very much for your valuable advice. Should I leave the plants inside eg. garage or outside in the sun once unspotted and rot removed? Should I soak the roots in any fungicide as well?
Warm dry place. Out of direct sunlight. Indirect is ok.
I live in Phoenix, AZ and purchased a small (approximately 6″) adenium last summer from the Desert Botanical Garden. It did very well, lost its leaves when it started to get cold. I brought it in under the patio for the winter and moved it back outside when it warmed up. It has grown about 12 inches since I moved it outside. It has a nice tuft of leaves at the end of the trunk, but the trunk is not sturdy enough to stay upright. It bends and falls over. Is there a problem? Do I need to stake the plant? It has not blossomed yet. When can I expect blossoms? Thank you for this site. It contains most useful information.
I have not seen adenium plants branches or trunks not being able to support the leaves. I have seen some flowers on the adenium plants that are too heavy for the branches but not leaves. If your trunk has folded over I would suspect root rot causing the trunk to start to rot. I would check the roots.
Help…
I have been looking for the Desert Rose for a long time and finally found one. I took it home and repot the plant in a pot with 3 water drainage holes.
It has been 2 or 3 week and not the stems and stump are mushy even though they look woody and all of the leaves have dropped.
How do I save my Desert Rose…Help
Sounds like rot to me. You need to cut out all rotted areas. In the search line type in rot and you will find many articles. Yours may be a total loss.
I have 2 beautiful adenium plants that always have done well here in sunny, hot Tucson, AZ. They flowered as normal in May but since then, although they are covered with green, healthy leaves not a bud or a blossom. I have tried giving them Miracle Grow but no blooms. I water them once a week due to the extreme heat here – 105 or higher – the past few days.
Any advice would be welcome.
I would increase the watering to twice a week. Adenium are not year round bloomers. Larger adenium plants will bloom for a longer period but form different branches. if you went to force blooming then you will need to get a bloom fertilizer. Miracle grow is OK but it is missing several micro-nurtirents needed by the adeniums. We have great success with Dyna-gr Grow and Dyna-Gro Bloom for the adeniums.
I live in Dubai I have had a large desert rose plant for a number of years and it has been transplanted twice without a problem. However, in the past couple of months it has started to lean over all in the same direction as if the stems are in a strong wind pushing them over. Any idea what causes this and how to rectify?
Adenium plant branches are not sturdy until the get very thick. Are the branches long? If they are you may want to consider cropping them to force growth of the branch thickness and more branches. if the branches are soft to the touch then you should check the roots for rot.
Hola from NW Orange County CA!
I bought an Adenium a few months back & have noticed an “attachment” at it’s base..it appears to be a stalking mushroom? It has light yellow stalks with bulbar heads. The heads have horizontal/bumpy “rings”. How do I rid my little gal of this?! I’d appreciate any and all help/suggestions!! Slàinte! Ray..
If you are getting mushrooms then you are using the wrong soil. Mushrooms like moist soil with little air flow which is exact opposite of what adenium plants want. I would remove the mushrooms, wash the plant to remove an mushroom spores and re-pot the adenium desert rose in the right soil.
the top got pulled off my Adenium plant will it root in water or dirt,,like half the plant https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10201321023863599&set=a.1201945024775.23101.1713065784&type=1&theater
Adeniusm do not root in water well. Let the cut heal over for 1..2 weeks and then dip in a rooting hormone. Pot the branch and monitor watering.
I live in Malaysia. The edges at the tip of my DR’s leaves appear burned. It will subsequently turn yellow and fall off. What should I do?
If the tips are soft hem you have tip rot and it need to be removed, taken out of the weather and then let heal 7 days before putting back outside.
I’ve had my Adenium Rose for 5 years. This year it was really leggy looking, so I cut back to about 18-20 inches in some places )back in spring). Every year but this year it bloomed. It was at least three and a half feet tall. For 4 years I kept it in an 8 and three quarter inch terracotta garden pot. This year in early spring I replanted it into a 12 inch plastic pot. The temperature has fallen this month and I take my desert rose indoors when the temperature goes below 50 degrees. I always bring it in in the fall and I take it back outside in the spring. It took about two and a half months this year for the leaves to grow. I should note the foliage grew tremendously bigger than I ever have seen in the past and it just looks really good. It’s been indoors for probably a week and now the tips of the plant are turning yellowish brownish. I don’t want to lose my plant but I don’t know what to do. I am used to it going dormant with leaves just casually falling off in the fall, but I’m not used to seeing the brown spots on the tip of the leaves. What do you suggest I do? When I replanted it I planted it in the cactus succulent mix bought from Walmart and 5 years ago I bought the plant from Lowes Home Improvement. I have three cuttings from the plant that I propagated with the help of rooting hormone. They are still outside and they’re doing fine in these lower/colder temperatures! I’m surprised and moderately confused!! Pease help and thank you in advance. 🙂
Usually when you crop branches they will not bloom because the plant is spending all energies on repairing the damage and producing new branches.
Hello,
I live in N. Florida and have noticed a type of scale on my desert rose, which is causing the leaves to die and fall. I clean the leaves and branches when I notice this and it keeps coming back. The leaves sometimes curl and are sticky. Do you have any idea what this is and what I can do? I have had this plant for about ten years and my problem started about a year ago.
Thank you!
It sounds like spider mites not scale since you says its sticky. Scale tends to be dry. I would remove all leaves and treat for spider mites. In humid areas you will get some scale on trunks but not leaves. We have an 20yr old adenium in a very large pot and it has white scale on the main trunk due to age – not on leaves.
Thanks for the information!! I wondered at my plants healing process all spring and summer. I would say it bounced back rather well. The issue I am most concerned with is the yellowing/browning of the leaves, as since my first post they are now curling and falling off.It seems to be mostly yellow, then turning slightly brown on the tip of the leaves. The soil is dry and Im scared to water. When I checked the root system eveything seemed firm and normal. What do I look for when looking for root rot?
I should also note I did lift the caudex when I replanted it early this year. What was the old line where it once met the soil in the pot is now a whiteish greenish color, looks healthy and firm. It faded is what Im trying to explain. It was an orangy yellow.
Curling is in indication of not having the right nutrients in the soil. I do not know what part of the country you live in so if you are in the north the plant will start to loose some leaves and go dormant. If you are in the south your plant should not be losing leaves yet. Maybe you are not watering enough but I would give some fertilizer.
I reside in Eastern NC. Its been raining for 5 days on and off, very high humidity. I fertilized the plant about 4 weeks ago. I water the plant mostly when I stick my finger in the soil and feel no moisture in the tops layers. Ive always been succesuccessful using this method. Before the rain came, temps dropped below 50 so I took my plant inside. So one day before my first post I watered, but it was a really cold day.
I use regular Miracle Grow. Does my plant need some other nutrients its not getting with the fertilizer I use? Thank you so much for you assistance and time!!!! 🙂
If I find rot should I remove/cut it out and dust with sulfer? Im so confused right now. I dont want to loose my plant. I love it.
We do not dust with anything. Just take out of the sun and let the cut heal for 7 days. Miracle grow is good for annuals and vegetables but not cactus and other succulents that are not grown in normal potting soil. Its missing many vital nutrients. If the soil loose or compact? It should be loose. If its compact then you are using the wrong soil mix (put the word SOIL in the search are top right of blog). Try to find Dyan-Gro Grow. I would also recommend Dyan-Gro Tekt to boost the immune system of the plant.
Please help I had at leas 50 desert roses and now I am reduced to 10 in live in far North Queensland Australia it they start rotting like a normal rot I have cut the bad bits off then the whole plant died the cord ex just becomes mushy and the plant is dead I have repotted all my plants in cacti and volcanic rock but still through the dry season I still lost them we have discovered that there is a bug it looks like a sap sucker we have tried all types of fungaside and pesticides to no avail I have pulled oped a cord ex from one of the dead plants and discovered wormlike lave inside I destroyed it the loss is still happening cutting the bad parts buyers me some tome but I don’t want to lose the rest they were given to us by my partners sick mother very important to us what can I try next
I’m sorry to hear about the problems with the adeniums. Have you tired taking the bug to a local nursery to identify it? The Luzon bug we have is a caterpillar from a yellow butterfly that eats the leaves but does not harm to the overall plant. Some client get spider mites but nothing like you described. Have you tried a systemic insecticide?
One of my desert rose plants has badly curling leaves, has not flowered well for awhile and I now see white raised bumps on many of the leaves as well as the leaves themselves are looking as though they have a black or brownish “dust” on them. I’ve moved it away from the other desert rose plants. I don’t know what is wrong or what to do. Please help!
It sounds like spider mites or ??. I would remove all leaves. Then use a insecticide on the plant soak based such as nutra brand.
Hi,
My desert rose has been dormant for several months now. This havppened last fall and never came back. Before it went dormant it was doing great, producing flowers, leaves etc. I do not see any rot or fungus. It just stopped growing and producing leaves. I have another one that is doing great. Not really sure what is effecting it. Thanks
It should be going into dormancy not in dormancy now. Something is not right with the plant. Maybe nutrients in soil?
I just did grafting(flat grafting ) to my adenium, can you please tell me how much time will it take to know that the grafting is a sucess .and how much time will it take to heal.
Its the wrong time of year to graft. The best time to graph is early spring before the major growing season. In the right season it takes 2..3 months to get a good attachment growth.
I have a desert rose that was given to me a few years ago. I live in Florida, now central Florida. It has not grown much and has never flowered. it now has a white powdery looking substance on its stems. It has been kept in a pot it shares with spider plants and philodendrons. I now know by reading that I have to move it to it’s own clay pot and get it off the windowsill and into the sun. What I need to know is do you have any idea what the white substance is. It is covering on limb completely and looks like it is starting to spread to the others, it is just in the seams of the other limbs.
The white powdery sounds like spider mites – I would wipe all leaves of the spider mites and spray the plant every 3 days for 21 days. Not flowering ever means your soil if poor in nutrients. Spider plants and philodendrons require different growing soil, light requirements and nutrients then adeniums. You should separate the adenium form the other plants.
Dear Sir,
I have new seedlings adenium,the seeds from Thiland,plants media is coco peat it was growing well but suddenly started damping off and truck is so soft I had changed the media to Peet moss and perlite but it’s still the same,is the problem over watering or fungil and it will be ok??
The plants in Dubai
its the wrong time of year to grow seedlings for most people. Also, the quality of the seeds may be a problem. We use a propagation mix that is 60% perlite, 25% coir, and 15 soil and
I live in the Caribbean. My desert rose plant is bending and drooping. The stems are not growing straight up. The plant is healthy and has bloomed twice since I got it. Should I repot or crop the stems?
if the branches get too long its a good idea to crop the branches. Check to make sure the branches are not soft which is a sign of root rot.
Hello, I have a desert rose which I have had for about 20 years and has lived through several replants due to growing and 2 different florida climates including some rather chilly weather in central florida for 5 years. Plant has had its ups and downs but has always survived. Sometimes flowered more than others, lots of time without any flowering but still looking healthy. I am currently in South Florida and having problems and scared I am going to lose it after all these years! It is in a fairly large terra cotta planter…no drainage in pot so we did put a nice later or rocks in bottom before soil. Has been ok until a couple of months ago, started losing leaves rapidly until no leaves at all… then noticed snails on the branches at night… treated by killing snails with a spray of soapy (dawn detergent) and water but some branches had damage from the snails. I thought it was a goner, then after a couple of weeks, new leave growth all over so I thought it was coming back. Now new leaves are also curling, browning and falling off and branches seem more bendy. Dont see anything eating it but we have been having tons of rain and not enough sun so the soil is saturated. Not sure what to do but don’t want to lose it. Help!!
You haev to haev drainage in the pot. If branches are bending check fro root rot.
My Adenium leaves turned yellow and all fall off…..please help me……Will my plant die….??
This time of year the plants go dormant so it normal.
Plz help me,
http://s15.postimg.org/jsfvzovmz/IMG_20151231_104622.jpg
Need your help, I have already cut this portion and its still increasing. Plz guide me how to stop this black portion to increasing…
Waiting for your email/reply.
You need to make sure all rot it cut off. After you do the cut keep the area dry to give it time to heal. If the rot comes back you need to check the roots.
help me please! I have an adenium that is about 5 yrs old and the root is rotting. It has always produce seeds. It currently has on two seed pods one about 9 weeks old and the other about 2 weeks old. how can I save it and still save my 9 week old seed pod?
You may not be able to save the pod. The nutrients used to mature the seeds is going to fight the rot. I would suggest cutting out all the rot and hope for the best.
I have a 3 yr old desert rose and have two problems. About 2 yrs ago my plant started blooming, we moved to southern California, the bloom fell off and it hasn’t bloomed since. I have tried fertilizing it and repotted it into a bigger pot. It is sitting in a south facing window with lots of warm sunlight.
The other issue is that my plant has had some kind of bug problem ever since I got it. I was told to wipe down the leaves and stems with rubbing alcohol and q-tips when I see these bugs but it’s getting to be such a hassle. I first notice oval-shaped flat egg type things on and under the leaves, sometimes these specs are translucent and they are also black. I never see any bugs but my leaves start to look chewed and they curl and there is a clear sap on the leaves.
Please help me! – Jamie
On the adeniums use a soap based insecticide every 6 days for 1.5 months. Make sure you squirt under the leaves. Better yet, remove all the leaves (this is the best way) and then spray the plant every 6 days for a month. The leaves will grow back. Make sure you trash the leaves cut off in the garbage so you do not infect other plants. Use throw away plastic gloves (we use very inexpensive medical/food worker gloves) because your hands can transfer the bugs from one area to another and this way you keep the chemicals off you. Sounds like some type of leaf boring pest not spider mites or aphids but you treat them the same way.
I live in Miami and in the past two weeks the leaves on my desert roses have started turning yellow and falling off. I saw you mentioned this happens when they go dormant for the winter. This is their second winter here and the first time this is happening. Is it normal that it doesn’t happen every winter? They are both in planters with drainage holes. Should I be concerned?
Its normal for adeniums to go dormant and loose all the leaves. We are in southeast Florida and presently 90% of all our adeniums are leafless now,
Hello.I live in Serbia.My seeds adenium from Thailand.My adenium 5 years old,still it does not bloom.I replant them every year,mixed perlite and soil.In the sommer time I give a bloom fertilizer.The plant progressing wery well,have caudex…
When the warm weather they are in the window and when its cold-inside.Please,help me and consult,what to do with my adenium why does not bloom.Thank you.
sounds like not enough sun. I would add the bloom fertilizer starting about 30 days before spring and do it for 60 days. However, not all bloom formulas work for desert rose plants just like not all fertilizers are the same.
Thank you very much for your response.
Can you tell me,which is the best formula for bloom fertilizer?And,is it enough to direct morning sun 5 hours?In the summer,it is about 20 degress,later 35-40 degrees in the shade.
Once again,thank you for yout reply.
5 hours is a bit short for sunlight through glass if you want to get regular blooms. we use Dyna-Gro Bloom. 35-40 F or Celsius? they will take full summer sun and heat – they are desert plants.
Plants are exposed to direct sunlight , not through glass. 35-40 degrees Celsius in the shade. Thank you very much
My dear, I again write to you because I have a big problem. Last night , I am a transplant adenium and saw that the root of which is peat and half rotten . What to do ? If have posabiliti I can send to you picture…..Help me,please 🙁
You are growing in peat? peat holds to much water and does not have the nutrients the desert rose plants need. You will first need to cut out all bad roots. Root rot will continue if any is present in the plant. Some times all you have left is the above soil portion of the adenium plant. It will survive and grow new roots it treated properly.
I made the mix : coir, perlite and about 20 % of the substrate enriched with minerals .
One plant has 80% of the soft root , if all this should be cut and whether it is necessary to close the wound with something ?
Did I correctly understand that ripped root should be above the soil?
We are using 100% soiless. Not sure what you are calling enriched minerals. If the roots are soft -yes you need to CUT them off. Only leave good roots which should be a white/cream colro inside.
I’m all understand …, just one more question:
Do I need to lubricate the root of something , after cutting ?Thank you very much .
Not just let them heal before planting the adenium plant. Once they are healed I would use Dyna-grow K-L N
Hey, I believe my 5 year old desert rose may have root rot, I am very worried that it may be dying. It hasn’t started dropping leaves but one of its large root bulbs has completely rotted and hollowed out. I have taken away all the dead root and much of the top soil and I am currently letting the soil dry to try repot it. Please help, I’m not exactly sure what to do to rescue my plant, if there is a procedure I can follow to try to save the plant before it gets too far gone, please send me an email. Thanks 🙂
Joey
Good Day: Do not reuse the soil because if you have root rot them the soil is wrong. Top soil is not used for adeniums. In the search area on this blog insert soil. It will respond with several articles on proper soil mix and how to tell if the soil is right.
The flowers on one of my adeniums are always saggy and droopy while my other adeniums have perky upright blooms. Any ideas why the flowers are droopy?
I have my adeniums in well drained soil and I live in a tropical climate.
I would need to see images. In tropical climates with lots of rain the nutrients on the soil get depleted that can cause what you are describing. Other causes not enough water, too much water or root problems.
Hi. I’m from South Africa. I transplanted my rosy adenium about a week ago and now it looks like if the plant has stop growing. No new leafs appearing. It’s about one year old
Give it time. Did you dip the plant in a root hormone?
My adenium is 2+ years old, this spring I noticed a problem that seems common to both my bougainvillea and adenium – new flowers would burn up and get crispy even if there wasn’t that much sun and they were adequately watered. The flowers would come out as a deep pink and then the edges would shrivel and curl up as if someone held a lighter to them! I checked for bugs but didn’t find any. Now that the flowers fell off, the leaves are growing very distorted. To be on the safe side I sprayed the top soil and the leaves with a general insecticide (in India its called Rojax).
I woudl check nutrients. I do not knwo what they sell in India but I would start using a fertilizer that has micro-nurtients similar to what dyna-Gro has in it.
You have a great website, really helpful.
I live in Sydney Australia, now autumn here and temps about 23C max, 16C min. I have a few adeniums I grew from seed, now about 9 months old and 2-3″ high, in pots. The leaves are darkish green and glossy (i.e. look heathy) but for last month the leaf tips (2-3mm) have started to turn brown, crisp as if burnt, not soft. It is gradually spreading to more plants. Thinking it was leaf burn I moved them out of full midday sun, they still get morning and afternoon sun, outside or inside (depending on whether rain forecast), but problem is worsening. I haven’t given fertiliser as soil quite new, and using 50:50 potting mix/perlite (now I’ve read your replies I’ll change this). Is this leaf change usual before they go dormant? If not, what do you recommend?
It could be dormancy. Adenium seedlings tend to go into dormancy earlier than full grown plants Pull back on watering a bit to once a week and keep on dry side.
Oh thanks for that, will give it a try.
I live in Guyana, S.A. I notice that most of your bloggers have container plants. Mine are in the ground and have been doing very fine for the past 3 years. Wonderful pink, white and double pink flowers. Recently it has been raining buckets full almost daily. The white and double pink flowers profusely but the flowers last only one or two days, develop the dreaded burnt edges and fall off. The pink one has developed bunches of ten or more buds on each stem but they all brown tips and fall off before they are an inch long. I am at my wits end to try and save these prized possessions. Can you help please.
I know that the rainy season is going to just kill them all out. The ground is water logged and I am looking on in despair,
Rain drains nutrients from the soil. Also, water on adenium leaves and buds can cause problems sometimes. I would tried some nutrients and make sure the roots are not having a problem coping with the rain.
I have grafted a stem to the side of the thicker base portion of my desert rose, will it grow? Will the cut off portion of the side of the base become infected? If so, what will cover and re-seal the skin?
Thank you,
Robert
We do not seal cuts or grafts on adeniums. Instead we take it out of direct rain and do not wet the cut area for 7 days to give it time to heal. If the graft is good it should grow but it will grow at a slower rate then the main plant for the first year.
Hi,
I have just bought my adenium for two weeks and it had been dropping leaves since then. The leaves turn yellow with some black spots on them and drop off soon after. I place it outdoor where there is light throughout the day. It receives about three hours of direct sunlight everyday and I water it once every three days. I live in Singapore where there are no four seasons but only summer all year round. There are flower buds too but they turn black and fall off before blooming. I haven seen any new green leaves grown out of the plant since then. Some of the new leaves that grow out are black and dried and are very tiny so they fall off very quickly. One of the shorter branches have dried up and I can press it flat because it seems hollow. I have attached pictures of the leaves and caudex for your reference. Recently many flower buds have started growing on my plant again. They are not black this time but they have not bloomed and there are still no new leaves. Will my plant die? Appreciate your advice on this. THANK YOU VERY MUCH IN ADVANCE!
Since you are in Singapore you are most likely in a tropical environment similar to our environment in Southeast Florida. The spots on the leaves is a fungus that does not harm the overall adenium plant but does cause leaf drop. I would do two things: Remove all the branches and then use a fungicide such as captan on the whole plant. The desert rose plant does not like water on the leaves and in a tropical environment when water sits it can develop fungus and infect the leases.
Hi,
Firstly thank you very much for your reply. The plant used to grow in Singapore too before I bought it but the previous owner did not have such a problem. Will the leaves grow back? What do you mean by removing the branches? I have to cut off all the branches? Also, am I watering enough and is there enough sunlight?
My mistake – remove all the leaves not branches. Our adeniums get just about daily rain so too much water is not a problem if you haev the right soil.
Hi,
How abt the branch that dried out and the flower buds not blooming? Am I giving it enough sunlight?
I would need more information on soil, fertilizers, amount of sunlight (hours) used etc.
Hi new leaves have started growing but they are not as green as before and are like light green in colour. It has been one month since the leaves started growing but they are still quite small? Any idea why?
Hello – I have a plant I keep indoors due to the climate in Colorado. I have had the plant about four months. I placed it in a southwest exposure. When I brought it home I noticed some brown/black, what i thought were inserts on the new growth and the only bloom. I removed them an all seem well for several months. Now the plant has black edges around about 10% of the leaves. I am getting very concerned about the survival of the plant. I am watering about every 10 to 14 day and using a water meter keeping around 1.5.
Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. I our party of the country this is a very expensive plant. Thank you
Are you wetting the leaves? Usually spots and black edges are caused by wet leaves or not enough nutrients in the soil.
Hi, my dad gave me a beautiful bonsai of this plant, it was full of leaves and looked really healthy. It flowered while he had it too. I placed it in doors for two days and it dropped a third of it’s leaves. Dad said to put it outside, which I did. But it continued to loose leaves and the branches have shrivelled. I only watered it once when I got it and once 2 weeks ago for fear of over-watering (I live in Brisbane and it’s Winter at the moment, so temps approx 15 – 24 degrees celcius). I don’t know what to do, it may be too late. Please help, it was my Birthday present. Thanks
The adenium plant is dormant during winter months. I will loose all its leaves. Water a bit once a month and about 3 weeks before spring give is some fertilizer designed for desert plants.
Hi!
I had a similar experience with my adenium. At the time, my specimen was rather small with two long (greenish in color) branches. Both had an abundance of leaves on the tips. One evening I noticed one of the branches was drooping downward almost touching the soil. I immediately watered it and hoped for the best. Luckily in the AM the branch was upright again and the adenium did fine. I am sure there are many different reasons why branches can droop but in my experience it is lack of water.
Hi! I have about nine desert roses they all look great. there is one plant that has about 12 buds some small some a litter larger but they are all doing the same thing. they get brown and die before they open up. What is the problem ? Please help me I have too many plants to loose or get the same problem thank you!
It can be several factors. Nutrients in the soil, too much or too little water and/or fertilizing when the plant is in bud.
Hello I recently got a Desert rose (gold)
I’ve potted it and it looks to be doing fine once in a while some dead leaves or falling and the white flowers are either closed or blooming (opening up?)
But the bloomed flowers petals are starting to pinkish/purple should I be worried even though this was suppose to be white/gold?
I do not see you in the system based on your email. When do you get the plant?
I live in Michigan and my Desert Rose Double Pink plant leaves have started to curl and have a brown/pink tint to the under leaf. I also have yellow leafs. One branch is drooping and the further I go down on the stem of the plant, the softer it gets. It has a slight wrinkle to it. I have recently transplanted (one month ago). I am looking at purchasing Dyna Gro Kln and 7-9-5. Please advise on what to do. There is no rot and the plant has had little water. once every two weeks.
You may have tip rot. The adenium plants stems should not be soft. In your area desert roses are going into dormancy (leaf drop) but the stems should be firm. I would water once a week for a couple weeks to see if there is a deficiency. Dyna-Gro KLN is a rooting hormone. I think Dyna-Gro tekt (once a month) and Dyna-Gro grow (twice a month) would be a better combination. The Dyna-Gro Tekt gives the plant silica that the plants needs to adsorb nutrients. I assumed you pulled up the plant to check for root rot not just visual from above the soil line.
HI! I have an adenium that i bought in florida and had there for its lifespan of probably a year. 5 months ago I moved to colorado and It appeared to be doing great. I recently noticed that some of the small branches coming from the main trunk, are starting to feel hollow and turn yellowish. Before I moved here the bottom of the main trunk was actually like this, however moving here it hardened back up and seems healthy. Im just wondering why it is happening to some of the small shots now from the main trunk. I was thinking about repotting it, im just not sure when is a good time. Its novemebr and just started to snow so I dont think now is.
You need to check your soil to make sure it is the proper type. It sounds like some rot is occurring.
Hi,
I live in Mid-Michigan. I have a dessert rose plant I got early summer, and I planted it in a cactus mix soil, that drains well and a shallow pot just as the instructions that came with it said to, and I am keeping it indoors. The problem I am having is that the caudex is very soft and wrinkled looking. I water them about every 10 – 14 days. I was wondering what could cause this and How I can fix it?
haev you checked the roots for rot?
i leave in jaipur.rajasthan,India.It has a dry atmosphere now winter just started and temp is around 28 dgree c daytime and 15 in the night.
The problem with my adenium is that it’s leaves are getting yellow and falling down.
I have done amistake before 15 days.I just took it out from the root and cleaned it and cut out it’s all tini rootes and let it with main 3-4 roots and changed it;s pot.
after that it’s leaves falling on regular basis.
The main stem is still looking well.
Can anybody suggest me how can now I save it.I don’t want to loose it.
Please suggest me a solution asap.
Thanks
its normal. the plant is going into dormancy.
Hi, we’ve had a lovely Desert Rose plant for almost 6 years now and it has stayed healthy and bloomed every year. However, now there are white spots along the veins of most of the leaves and many of the leaves have dried up and are brown. One of the branches definitely had root rot which we removed. Is this all a sign of over-watering or something else?
1. Check your roots for rot. 2. Now its critical to reduce watering during winter. Rot an be caused by many things: wrong soil, over watering, leaves/branches staying wet.
Hello,
My adenium has been growing well up until this summer. There is now stem areas which are rotting. I have removed the rotted stems and have re-potted the plant.
There are a few flowers and only minimal leaves (the leaves are green and haven’t discoloured). My concern is that there is brown discolouration right at the base of the plant (the main trunk). Will this infect the entire plant? I’m concerned as I have been growing this plant for the past 10 years. I haven’t been overwatering it and the root system appears to be in good order. Any advice?
I should note, that I live in Sydney, Australia 🙂
You need to make sure the brown areas are not soft. If its had then you should be ok.
I have a seedling , about 1 inche tall just came out the soil, however i think heavy rain cause the top to break off, will it still grow
Most likely not. Adenium seedlings are a bit touchy when they are that small.
I have a desert rose plant that has gotten tiny oval red spots on it and the leaves have a sticky residue on them. Someone said they thought it might be scale, but I have never seen red scale before nor known it to have a sticky residue all over the leaves. Eventually the leaves turn brown and fall off. I have pictures if needed. What should I do to get rid of this problem?
I would take a sample to a local nursery. Also, I would remove all leaves even ones without the problem. Remove all soil and repot it. Then spray with a broad spectrum natural insecticide. repeat the spray two more times in 5 day intervals.
Since there is no specific soil for Desert Rose plants in my area (Upstate New York), what should I use or is there something I can mix together to get a good soil for my desert rose?
Yes here are several articles on soil mixes on this blog. The easiest mix is to buy a cactus mix and then add 50% more perlite since most cactus mixes have peat the additional perlite gives the soil more air movement to prevent root rot..
Leaves are yellowing very frequently in my Adenium. Watering of the Adenium is well in control as per my experience Or the articles/suggestions I have read across the various sites . Despite this control, the Adenium leaves are turning Yellow and falling. Springs has started and the temp/humidity is well as per the ideal growth of the plant
Why this is happening ? and whats the cure of the same.
Kindly, share/suggest the solutions.
Maybe you need micro nutrients in the soil. Soil gets depleted over time and without the right nutrients plants will have various problems. If you are using proper fertilizer maybe it does not have silica (Dyna-Gro TeKt) as nutrient that is vital for the plant to be able to adsorb the nutrients.
Sir,
In my previous query dated 21/2/2017, I for got to mention that I have given one doze of micro nutrient also to my Adeniums.
Current and expected temp in coming days is – 77 to 95 and will raise to 83 and 100
Humidity – 35 -40%
Watering Frequency – twice a week
Still , the leaves turns yellow just a next day after watering. This I am observing last 2-3 times. Why ? Pl guide.
Growth of leaves seems to be good.
*Will it affect the blooming ?*
Not all fertilizers have the right micro nutrients. You need to fertilize on regular basis or each time you feed the plant fertilizer it may go into shock. If you use time released fertilizer then supplement with a good fertilizer with micro nutrients (Dyna-Gro Grow) it would be much better. Also, adeniums in most places in the US are just starting to come back from dormancy.
Hello Sir,
I bought a Adenium tree and after buying it I kept it indoor infront of my window. But after a week I am seeing that all the leafs are turning yellow and falling off, there are hardly 8 leaves left so i placed my pot outdoor under the sun. I stay in India(Kolkata). So please suggest me what should I do to retain my plant. I water it each 2 to 3 days with good drainage. Please help me.
The plant has changed environment and went into shock which is normal. Use the proper soil (see this blog), nutrients and sunlight an it will do well.
I live in Dubai. Had bought an adenium plant about 3 months back and kept it in my balcony. Was watering once a week. There were lots of flowers and buds. But around mid Feb the leaves started to yellow and fall off and before I realised all the leaves fell and the stem is bare. Need help to know what caused the problem and what should I do now to revive the plant
Store bought plants are grown in covered nurseries. It may be in shock and take some time to recover.
I have had my desert rose for a little over a year now and I didn’t have any problems with it until I noticed today a white slimy substance coming from the water holes at the bottom of the pot. It has begun to bloom but still mist of the branches are bare. Some branches look brown while others look green and healthy. I’m in deep South Texas. And when is the best time to move it into a bigger pot?
the best time is in the spring (now in your area) to repot the plant
the best time is in the spring (now in your area) to repot the plant
I live in south Florida and grew two desert roses from seeds. They are now 18″ high and have a 1/2″ base. How do I get the base to thicken?
1) You will need to grow in a shallow bonsai style pot. 2) fertilize the plant on a regular basis 3) Crop the branches to force lower growth and more branches which will force root growth.
One of my adeniums has little holes in the bark of the base that ooze sap. My initial guess is some type of borer and that the holes are exit holes. I tried to research on line but could not find and reference to borers. do you know of any such problem. I can send pics.
Make sure it is not rot inside. I do not know of a borer that eat adeniums in our area. Each climate has different pests so you may haev something in your growing environment. Spray with a general insecticide. I would check the roots to make sure they are not having problems.
Hello!
I bought a desert rose about 3 months ago. It bloomed two flowers but they were droopy and never fully opened. Is my plant lacking some nutrient? Please help!
Thank you!
-Alexandra from nj
When a plant is move form one environment to another, especially desert plants, they will take time to get use to then new environment. Desert plants such as adeniums (desert roses) will do into conversation mode drop buds, flower and leaves. If you are getting new leaves then its starting to acclimate. Give it time
I have recently started growing desert roses from seeds. I live in Norway (Oslo), so I am keeping them inside in front of the window and they get morning sun there. They are at room temperature and close to the heating, so temperature is probably around 23 – 25 degrees Celsius (but I did not measure it with a thermometer). I planted the seeds in a mixture of cocopeat and perlite, and most of them germinated within a few days, and quickly grew to a height of 2 – 4 cm. They are now producing the first set of true leaves (after the seedling leaves). Today I noticed that for some of the plants, the tips of these new leaves are starting to turn dark and look “soggy”. It seems to affect the plants that are closer to the window more than those further away, but not sure about this.
Am I giving too much / too little water? What could be the problem?
How cold are the nights next to the windows. Maybe the warmth is not getting to them. Seedlings need about 4..5 hours of good sunlight (70% to 80%) for the first 6 months and then longer hours after 6 months. They must be kept warm 25 to 28 Celsius is preferred.
The heating is on the same level day and night, and isolation is good, so temperature at night will be close to temperature during the day (minus extra warmth from morning sunlight). So it’s likely not related to water, but light and temperature? What would be clear signs of over- or under-watering with seedlings?
I am organizing a plant lamp now to give them some extra light, and hope they get better.
Over watering will cause root rot if the soil is not correct. Under-watering will result in a soft caudex(not mushy or oozing).
My desert rose is approximately 4ft tall – flowering for the past 2 months – I just noticed a branch with what appears to be a yellow powder – is this pollen or some disease – other than this the plant looks great. I am in Phoenix az.
Its not pollen. it may be aphids eggs. Wipe it off and then spray with a insecticide soap. repeat the spraying every 5 days for 3 weeks.
HI there,
I have dearest rose that has been very healthy .. I don’t over feed it, but i have now not a brown area on one of the tubular roots that is slowly creeping and getting larger, it leaves an indentation in its wake, what is this and how do i stop it from destroying my baby?????
The brown area sounds like rot. rot will keep advancing until the whole plant is a loss. You need to cut out all the rot 100%. Look for more articles on rot on blog – use the search box top of blog and put in rot.
Thank you for you web page, it has grwat information. I xould not dind an answer to my problem or I missed it. I bought seedlings and I live in Miami, Fl. They are growing food about 2 inches 6 to 8 leaves except something is eating my leaves what cqn I do to save them?
Very fwe things eat adeniums leaves here in south Florida. The only problem we have every year is caterpillars.
My desert rose recently has a larger than normal amount of yellowing and dying leaves. On inspection I see clumps of white dots and areas or white around the flower stems and on the trunk of the plant. I have sprayed with a spray containing Imidacloprid which seems to have some effect, but I don’t think I am dealing with an insect, it looks more like a fungus of some type. I live in Florida. I can send you a photo if it would help. Thanks
Its hard to tell without image. Its the start of dormancy and you will loss leaves. White dots do you mean scale? How old is you plant? here is Florida scale will show on older plants when growing outdoors.
My desert rose’s roots are growing out of the bottom of the pot. I’d really prefer to keep the pot in one piece. Would it still live if I pruned its roots in order to up-pot it?
Yes you can prune the roots of adeniums. Many people who do bonsai prune root to force other roots to get bigger. Make sure you leave the plant out for 5..7 days for the cut to heal before re-potting. Its best to do this in spring.
Hey. I have a desert rose that was pruned at least a year ago. It’s hasn’t grown any leaves back. It’s still very alive and green. I live in key West Florida so it doesn’t get that cold here. Any advice? Thanks todd
Even in Key west the adenium will haev a very slow grow period/dormancy. Year is a long time. You may need to give it some fertilizer and fresh soil.
I have 6 desert rose seedlings about three inches high and they all had about six green leaves …. now all the leaves have turned brown and dropped off and they all look like little cigars. I just repotted them and their roots all look good and their caudrex is firm …. I did not have this happen to my last group of seedlings I grew. These are about four months old and have been raised under a grow light until recently when I put them outside in the sun. I live in northern central Florida and we did have a very cold January. Have the seedlings become stunted or will they sprout leaves again? Thank you for what ever advice you can give me….
You shock them when you put them outside and re-potted them. You need give them time to accumulate to the outside. You moved them and reported them which both along would shock a plant. When working with seedlings you need to be gentle. Only do one thing at a time – repot or move to new environment – not both at the same time. Only time will tell if they survive.
My desert rose got stem rot. I cut the tips off as you stated and I’m wondering if there is anything I should put on the cut tips to aid in healing and/or protect from any further damage.
Let the plant heal under cover (not outside) fro 7 to 10 days. Just as long as you removed all rot it will recover.
I recently repotted my adenium plant. At the time of repotting, I also cut away some roots of the plant. After repotting, I have kept the plant outdoors but in shade. It’s been a week now and today I noticed that the leaves have started turning yellow. Is there something wrong with the plant? What should I do? I stay in New Delhi, India. Before repotting, the plant was kept outside in sunlight.
We rarely trim roots on an adenium. You double shocked the plant. It will just take time to recover. I would be very careful not to get root rot. You will lose all the leaves. Give it 2..3 weeks before potting.
Hello,
I have a large desert rose in the Bahamas. All my flowers are drying and turning brown, leaves are yellowing and drying up, and now I’ve noticed white growth of some type on the ends, where new blooms would be. Can’t tell if it is a fungus, but while it looks like white fly, it doesn’t really. Should I cut or spray? Is there a way to send you a photo? I rarely water, she is in a large wooden planter without a bottom for drainage. Gets natural watering from the rain. Sandy soil with some compost mixed in. Any ideas?
remove all leaves. Cut off areas infected and spray and continue to spray every 5 days for 1 months. Also, I would repot the plant making sure all old soil is removed.
I have a 3 year old desert rose. Last night I left it outside for the first time this year. It got down to 63 degrees. I had left it out over night in previous years. The leaves were dark green and shiny. Today I noticed a lot of the leaves have lost their green color, look grayish brown. A few leaves are droopy. I had it under a grow light for the winter. Any ideas what is happening?
Adeniums usually do not have droopy leaves unless they are ready to fall or other issue. I believe it just an environment change adjustment. Give it a few weeks to see if you get new growth.
Hi I just bought several desert roses and potted them each in terra cotta pots. They got rained on twice in the past 2 days since potting them and now have several soft, droopy branches and yellow floppy leaves with droopy flowers. I live in South Florida. Are they getting too much water? Do you leave them outside in Florida where it can rain every day? I only used potting mix, no sand or anything or rock at the botyom of the pot. My neighbor put mulch on top of hers at the base of the plant, is that necessary? Did I pot them wrong and fid they get over watered? Help I dont want to lose these plants! Thanks!
Potting mix is the wrong soil it contains sphagnum moss. All ours are grown 100% outside under full sun in SE Florida (Homestead area). They get tons of water. Please use the search are of this blog and put in soil for articles and information on the right soil to use.
Hello, I took my DR out the container it came in on may 2nd of this year potted it same level as it came in. on the 6th I dug the plant up to check the roots, since the plant was loosing its leaves. trimmed up the cortex and have left it in my garage to heal. the DR has been out of soil since Monday roots did not look rot from what I can tell, but what worries me is that even after plant being out of soil for 5 days and root looks light in color some parts of the roots feel soft… not soft where my fingers can make a hole in the root, but soft enough that I wonder if it is starting root rot or does the roots get a little soft when left with no water for long periods of time?
I seen a little tip of the root look a little dark i cut it and looked White to me. how do I know if my plant is starting root rot or is it the humidity of Floridas summer weather that doesn’t let the plant fully dry?
where else can I place the plant or should I just cut all the roots bonsai style?
I dont know how much longer to keep plant out of soil? since, when I got it I watered it 1 time and removed plant from pot after 4 days of repotting. truth is, I dont know how long before I got the plant was it without water.
what do you recommend? I would love to send you a picture so you can see the caudex and see if I just dont know how to detect root rot.
thank you!
Adeniums can be out of soil for 2..3 weeks if keep in a dry location. Roots are light color if they do not receive light. Roots near the soil line are darker. If mushy then its bad. New roots are not hard.
Hello! I have 4 desert rose plants all of them look good they all have growing buds about 5 on each plant a few more on some, I keep noticing that the leaves are getting brown spots then the leaves turn yellow and fall off. The plants are stored facing W on my porch, but if it rains or the sprinklers come on they do get wet of course not as much as if they were not coverd, but they do get wet ( been trying to put them out when it rains, since its better water… I really haven’t put the water hose on them yet) should I give them a good dose of water, maybe? I live in Florida (Orlando), I got Jack’s classic all purpose fertilizer 20/20/20 with micro nutrients and I’m trying to move the plants from the edge of the porch in the am, so the sprinklers dont wet the leaves (sprinkler is set 2x a day at about 6 or 7am). I just dont know why all the brown leaf spots…. can you help explain why?
I purchased them from a nursery in May and the care of plant was a good one before I got them in Punta gorda, FL I’m just trying to find it a good healthy consistent routine.
You are in a tropical climate. The brown spots will not harm the adenium plant. however, if you want to prevent the spots you need to keep water off he leaves, and uses a systemic fungicide on a regular basis during the rainy season.
Hi there, a have a few DR bought from different sources. Lost a couple form stem rot. I was not able to save it in short, the others are thriving. My question is how many times can I use Grow Pro-Tetk ? can I use it every time I water? to prevent rot.
Pro-tetk is to improve the plants ability to adsorb nutrients. Most fertilizers and some soil lack silica whihc is an important micro nutrient. We use it once every two months.
I live in Los Angeles,Ca.
I have new leaves growing on my desert rose. But I notice the new leaves are yellowish and not green. Is this normal and will turn green when the leaves grow bigger and older? Or is it yellowish because of nutrient deficiency or other problems?
yes could be nutrient problem. The leaves should be green unless a variegated leaf adenium which woudl be green/white or reddish/red leaf.
HELP! I live in Parkland FL, very close to Everglades, and my desert rose looks like it has white/green mold ALL OVER the branches and trunk. Some branches are dead and hollow. What IS this stuff and how do I save my baby?
Sounds like lichen caused by too much moisture and maybe not enough sun. Saving depends upon the damage. You need to remove all rot 100 %. Check your roots.
Hi! I have started my DR last summer and it is still very small. Only about two to four leaves on each. It’s about an inch tall and it is not growing up or sideways. Where should I go from here? Thank you so much for your help.
Hi. I have started my DR from seeds last year. I have five of them now but they are still about the size of a baby…only about an inch tall. Where and what should I do next?
Thank you for your help! KL
They need proper nutrients, plenty of light (10+ hours and warmth. they should be much larger by move with a caudex of over 1″ based on the age you indicated.
Hi, I live in Central Florida on beachside. My desert roses have the yellow trunk (a whole plant), some is just yellow on the part that face to the sun. The leaves are curly. I’m not sure is it burn from the sun? What should I do to make it look healthy again? Thanks in advance!
Sounds like a nutrient problem. Not all fertilizers are created the same. We use Dyna-Gro products. send an image if possible
Hello. I purchased this Adenium early this spring and had it for a few months now. Every once in a while some leaves turn brown. I live in Los Angeles. I keep it in the balcony and the conditions have been pretty much the same. I watered it once a week during the summer and as of now the weather is still warm in 70’s. I used well draining soil. I wonder what the problem might be.
Here is an attachment of the plant.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DkQZHzKsbuKUO4rjFx4jV458IFPONPjh/view?usp=sharing
Lack of micro nutrients is a thougth. Also, my start to go dormant now.
Hello. Something is wrong with my 5+yr old desert rose. We moved from Florida to Hawaii. In order to ship here I trimmed plant and shipped bare root. Once arrived I planted in dry soil and watered several days later. The plant is coming back lot of leaves and flowering but the leave and flowers are severely miss shaped. Unually long and deformed. Any idea what is happening to my plant. Thank you in advance.
sorry.the.first.email.was.wrong
Give the plant time. If the leaves do not get better then you many need a boost of nutrients such as Dyna-Gro Grow. Also, when you replant plants use should use a rooting hormone – Dyna-Gro K-L-N. Do not trim a desert rose and transplant at same time – creates too much of a short to the plant.
Hi, I live in Texas and have 3 desert rose plants. I always bring them in for the winter. I water about 1 cup every month. So far, they have done great. I came back from being out of town the other day and one plant was flat as though something had laid in the middle of it . My bulb was partially mushy as was a couple of branches. I was devastated as these are my moms plants who just passed away. So I cut the mushy branches and slightly watered, thinking I had under watered. Please advise so hopefully I can save this treasured plant. They are about 6 yrs old. Thank you!
Soft vs mussy. If mussy oozing then its rot and you need to get every bit cut away back to health tissue and do not water for 7..10 days. Since you cut the branches you need time for the cuts to heal. Make sure the cut parts do not get water for 7..10 days and you take out of direct sunlight. If mussy check your roots too! You may have rot down there too!
Thanks, it’s not oozing, just very soft. I assume to check roots I take all dirt away from the roots and leave to dry. Its just now warming up so I may put it outside as well. Sorry for all the questions, I’ve just always been really lucky with these plants. I did see a small amount of aphids but sprayed lightly with my soap spray that I always use. Then the softness set in.
I need help. I have a dessert rose unsure of kind or age. It was my grandmothers before she died and i have had it almost 2 years now. Desert rose was doing great for awhile and recently i noticed a stem getting soft so i cut it off and now other stems are getting soft and the cordex is starting to get soft. What do i do to fix this, my desert rose cannot die!!! One of the stems cracked and broke a bit and i see a yellow like powder inside of stem. I live in michigan. Please any help…
Sounds like something is attacking it. I would take the plant out of the pot, completely clean the plant and re-pot with fresh soil. Yellow powder?? Note sure what it may be.
i have a lot of adeniums but their codex are getting softer and softer, what should i do? please help, thanks in advance
It depends if the softness is oozing or not. If just soft – not rot – check your watering schedule. if the plants does not get enough water it will contract.
One of my stems on my desert rose started to droop, and also looks a little shriveled because it’s been underwatered. Tried giving it plenty of water, and there is no sign of root rot. Should I be concerned?
Sometimes branches tips die back. Keep watch and make sure it does not go down the branch.
What a great source of information! Havent been able to find the answer to my question though.
I live in Chicago and just got my rose, its been grown indoors and I’m doing the same. I have a grow light on it providing it the 7 hours of light with about 1600lumens but I’ve only had it a week and the leave are turning yellow and developing brown spots then falling.. I was told that this is their growing season, not sure what I’m doing wrong! Thanks in advance.
Do you give them proper fertilizer with Micro nutrients? Also, keep water off the leaves – browns spots is an indication of water sitting on leaves.
Hello! I live in Florida and have a young potted Desert Rose which I believe is dying. It was severely damaged in a windstorm, a chair fell on it and crushed the main stem. I glued the injured area and taped it, supporting it with a rod to help it stand up. She’s kept inside now by a window that gets about 6 hours of sun. I figured I would lose at least one of the stems, but not all. However now leaves are wilting, yellowing and browning all over the plant and I’m afraid I may lose her. Is there anything I can do to save her? Did I do something wrong in trying to mend it? I’d greatly appreciate any help
I never heard of using glue on adeniums. the glue would block all nutrients to the areas above it.
Where are the breaks?
I have multiple yellow dot looking things on my (deceased) mothers, passed down desert rose plant.. What is it and how to treat it? I live north texas and water about every week and a half or so depending on the heat.. I really really wanna save her plant as it is very sentimental to me..
Are the insects or just leaf discoloration. If insect maybe adhids. Use an insecticide soap product – do nto use oil/neem based on adeniums.
Good Evening, I purchased a DR not quite 2 weeks ago. It arrived bare root. I potted it up in well draining soil, and the following day I gave it a bit of water, but noticed half the stems were drooping. I thought perhaps shock from the shipment. However, after a week, half the stems are still drooping and the main trunk appears a bit shriveled. I pulled it from the pot, and do not see any sign of rot. I’m located in North Florida, it’s been very humid as of late. The plant sits on the patio and receives 4 to 6 hours of sun daily. Any thoughts on what the issue could be?
Need images. They do need 8 hrs of light or more during the growing season. Stems usually do not droop on adeniums. Sounds like it still dehydrated.
Purchased a black swan desert rose a few wks ago (my 1st one). Looked healthy had leaves, grew more leaves & then grew flowers. The leaves started falling off & then the unopened blooms all fell off too. The bare stalk is still green but not sure what to do now… help!
Its is normal for the adeniums to lose leaves. Did you get it from a local store or online? Black swan is not one of ours so I do not know if they regularly fertilized the plant or not.
Help, my beautiful 20+ year old DR has some kind of yellow peel on its main trunk and it’s black underneath with ants crawling in and out. I repotted it 3 weeks ago after moving it up to DC from Florida. It had a patch of chronic yellowing on the trunk for the last 4-5 years but it seemed stable. This is a large new area on the other side of the stem, extending up to a large branch or two. The stem is not soft, and the laves look healthy and flowers are blooming, but I don’t like that this has happened so suddenly and I’m afraid of losing it. It has not been getting much water since I repotted it. If it’s stem rot, how can I trim it away from the main trunk? Thanks so much for your advice!
Yellow peel usually means it was starting to rot under but healed. Ants will eat out the core of plants to make a nest. I would put the plant, wash it out including making sure all ants are gone (you may need to cut away part of the branch trunk to get to the nest area.
I have brown fuzzy places on the stems of my adenium rose near the root ball. If you rub the spot it will create a powder like substance in the air. I live in N.E. Florida and have never seen this. It looks like dirt was thrown on to the area.
I’m not sure what it may be. Most likely some type of insect.
Hello,
I have had a dessert rose in Tampa Florida for over 2 years and it has 3 main branches. Each branch has grown to 3 feet and it flowers beautifully. New branches are growing from the base and I’m not sure if I should prune them or let them grow. One of the main branches got soft, started to ooze, and died, which is a bummer. The other 2 main branches were initially fine. I cut the dead branch and new growth is coming, but I would prefer if the larger branches would continue to grow. Now another big branch is dying. I feel that the new growth is stealing from the big branches, but also see the comments on rot. Is this the natural cycle for the plant? Should I cut the new growth to keep the big branches happy? Not sure what to do…
If you want to force new growth on the main branches then crop off the other branches. Take plant out of he weather once you cut the branches for 7-10 days to protect eh cut.
I just received a Desert Rose Plant thru the mail, one of the branches is split at the Y, only 2 limbs, can I do something to save that limb? Will the break heal, or is it best to cut it off? Thank you in advance for your help!
If the limb is still partially attached then use grafting tape to re-attach fully.
My adenium leaves are turning yellow and dropping off now that I’ve brought it inside. It sounds like this is normal. However there are small brown bumps on the bottom of the leaves. I also saw a white fly. I’ve sprayed it with insecticidal soap. And plan on wiping the bumps off. Are these eggs? Is there anything else I can do? I’m worried that whatever it is might spread to my other plants.
Use the soap every 7 days for 3 weeks. The brown bumps are egg sacks I believe.
Thanks!
I have a desert rose and the bottoms of the leaves are browning, and appear to be dying, what can I do?
Depending upon your location is can be that the plants are going into dormancy.I would need more information on your growing environment,ent.
I’ve had this gal for a few years, never flowered, tips of leaves brown and eventually fall off. Stem is hard. Water once a week, in front of window that gets bright light and some sun. Advice welcome. Can I send you pictures?
Adeniums need good direct sunlight to flower well. Indirect light is not enough to get them to flower.
Two winters ago my A. obesum was damaged by cold weather. The plant healed over, and now is a fat gnarly stem with roots and no leaves, and just a big scar where the leaves used to be. Last summer it didn’t develop any growing points at all, and the same seems to be happening this year. The stem has some green areas and is clearly alive, but I can’t see where leaves or shoots will develop. Is it likely to grow leaves, or will it just eventually die? (I live south of Sydney, Australia; in perhaps like a Californian climate).
It should have recovered and produces more branches within 2-3 months after healed over.
I got my Desert Rose late last spring. I kept it outside and did very well. I live in southwest Michigan, So when it starting to get lower then 50 degrees outside I brought the plant inside. ( It is still is doing well ) I notice that it got a new shoot about halfway down on the tuber. The top part of the plant is grafted – on the new shoot the leaves are bigger and more pointy and not as rounded as the ones on the graft. Is this normal or is this going to bloom differently? Or should I remove it?
Yes remove them or they will stunt the growth of the branches above the graft line.
Hello, I have an adenium plant that is 7 years old. This past summer some of my jade plants had a white fungus on it and eventually got on my adenium (which is weird bc it’s about 15ft away from any jades that got the fungus). I’m wanting to let it go dormant but I’m wondering how to get the fungus in control before or if I should just throw it in my garage to get dormant. This is the first time I’ve ever let it go fully dormant…I’ve always left it inside at a window. The leaves did fall off but would grow new ones in early spring. What should I do??
I not 100% sure what will resolve the fungus problem on the adeniums. I would be careful in treating a plant with fungicide while in dormancy.
Dear expert
First of all thanks for your recommendations refer adenium. Sorry if I’m not able to type in English cuz my native language isn’t English but I try to do my best and I really love my adenium and I like to get rid of its problem. The tip of the leaf turns dark like brown or black and gets limp then after few days falls down. That’s the only problem I’m have in a year since I bought. I tried few things : I changed water amount and timing , I changed light direction over adenium , used fertilizer , changed soil and pot but still same problem also the leaves don’t grow big enough as I see others.
Please do me a favor diagnos and give me solution please.
Again thanks very much for your kind attention
Best
Pouria k.
Sounds like tip rot or die back usually caused by the wrong nutrients and/or water sitting on the leaves/branches too long.
I have a 3 desert roses that I bought last year. Two of them have grown and are really pretty but one of them hasn’t grown at all. This winter it had no leaves and I left it alone and now it has tiny little leaves growing and its only about 3 inches tall. What could I do to get it to grow. I was thinking maybe trimming the extra roots and changing the soil but I don’t want to kill my plant.
DO not rim the roots of adeniums. I would give it some nutirents
HI I found your column today, I have 2 desert Rose plants that are in total sun today they have really be rained on I usually water once a week and they are at least 6 to 7 years old. I have what some one told me is
Tree Lichen one plant is worse than the other. should I spray it with Copper sulfate or neem oil or a fungicide Im just not sure what to do with them. Please help.
I would not use oil based products on desert plants. If you are in the SE then tree lichen is common. It does not hurt the adeniums but you can try fungicide when the rainy season is over.
Hi, I’ve had my desert rose for about a month now and have started to notice browning tips surrounded by increasing yellow. I got my sweetie at plants for all seasons and try to water only once per week. When I first got her I watered whenever it seemed dry (before I did my intense research). I live southeast Texas if that helps. Please save my Desiree!!!
I’ve currently had to take off about two out of seven leaves! Only three of those show no signs of disease (no brown/yellow) and they’re tiny!!!!
You can take off all the leaves and spray the plant every 5 days for 3 weeks.
If you are spraying the leaves or getting the leaves wet it can cause the brown spots.
Some young leaves of my desert rose are born stuck and twisted, what could it be? would it be an effect caused by flowering fertilizer? I apply Peters Professional once a week when watering. I live in Brazil, in a region with a humid tropical climate. I’m in the dry period here, sun all day.
Peters professional is missing some nutrients. Have you tried Dyna-Gro products?
My plant is soft sides and looks like it is dehydrated at the tips. I cut it back, but it is getting soft again. I just got my plants the end of May. One of them looks great, but still isn’t blooming nor does it have any leaves. It’s the other two that have soft sides and dehydrated looking tips. What can I do to help my plants? I am very new at this.
Without images and more information I do not know. How are you growing them (the environment)? How often do you water? what type of pot and soil? How much sun are they getting? Size of plants? Age of plants?
I have 2 desert roses, I got them about a month ago. They are beautiful however one of the branches is dropping. I am confident they aren’t being under watered. They are not soft or have yellow/brown leaves. I don’t know what could be making the branch droop. I think maybe Bc it’s flowers are on the branches and may be the flowers are too heavy? Maybe the pots are too small? Idk help!
Yes have a few adenium flower types that produce extremely large flowers causing the branches to bend. After flowering you may want to consider cropping the desert rose plants branches back so they grow thicker.
Hello, I have an adenium that is about 6 years old and very healthy. This year she is producing many blooms right from the bottom trunk. Is this normal for adeniums I have never seen any do this before.
Thank you
Lynn
Is there a tiny branch or new trunk coming up? Would like to see image if possible.
I got a desert rose plant a little over a year ago. I live in Las Vegas, and the plant has been outside, with full afternoon sun. I try to water it maybe once a week, or every other week. I’m not sure if it’s dying, or if I’m doing something wrong… the caudex is soft (not mushy), and the branches are also soft, and dry/wrinkly at the ends. The leaves are mostly brown/dead, but there are some small green leaves on almost every branch. The branches and caudex are also a yellowish color with some green. Is there any saving this? Or should I give up on this one and find a new one? I also brought it inside today, and it’ll have a spot on a table in front of a west-facing window. I was going to Re-pot it, but just trying to figure out if I’d be wasting my time…
During growing season we water them twice a week. Make sure you have the right soil. Main probable sounds like not enough water.
Hello, thanks for this site, it has great information! I started growing adeniums from seed a couple ago and i have many seedlings at various ages, all 2 years old or younger. I am having problems with most of them, to my dismay. They are in very well draining potting mix with a lot of inorganic material, small deep pots with good drainage, the roots are fine. I have tried different fertilizer methods. I water from the bottom and periodically flush from the top. I live in Massachusetts, so it’s humid in the summer. I put 10 of them outside for summer and they did great. They are back inside with the rest of them now. I grow under T5 fluorescent grow lights, and there is a ceiling fan in all the time. The problem is with the leaves – starting at the bottom of the plant, the leaves turn yellow and then brown at the tips. Eventually, the whole leaf turns yellow and falls off, but it takes a while. The plants seem really healthy other than that and continue to grow. I thought it was a nutrient deficiency, so I fertilized more (always diluted to 1/4 strength), then i thought perhaps I over fertilized, so I flushed all the plants very well and haven’t fertilized again since. I don’t see any signs of pests, but I have recently noticed spider mites on a couple of my other plants, so I started to treat my adeniums as well, since I am at a loss. I can send you pictures if that helps! Thank you!!
You need to treat for mites for 4 weeks. Spraying once every 5 days. They are hard to get rid of because they will live int he soil too. We do not use lights to grow our adeniums however, Epic Grower uses LED on other tropical. When using lights you need them on for 12 to 14 hours a day and need to make sure the light penetrates through to the lower leaves. There are many lights on the market, light strength and configurations. When you transition from outside to inside growing the plants will undergo a period of adjustment. Also, there are many different types of fertilizer and each type of plant has different requirements.
I have a Dessert Rose for 8 years and it never flowered. I live in NJ and the 1st 2 years I took it outside in the summer and it got bugs, so I stopped taking out. I have kept it near a sw facing window and it was doing well for years.
A few weeks ago I moved it to a south facing window and now I am loosing leaves and looks like new growth on the top.
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Window light is not the same as direct sun light. It needs good direct sunlight (plant see the sun) for 10 hours or more a day to flower.
Just got into desert rose plants my wife gave me two to help me with my ptsd. I think Im stressing more because my leafs are turning brown and black. I live in south texas rio grande valley.
Make sure you water the soil not the plant. Wet/moist leaves will cause black/brows spots on adeniums.
My adenium plant is getting squishy at the bottom of the stem and the leaves are all turning yellow and falling of. But it’s winter so I don’t know if the leaves are just falling of because it cold or because it has a problem. Plus there’s black gew coming out of the stem. So is there a problem if it and if so what do I do?
Black is stem rot. You need to cut it totally out on the adenium plant. Most desert roses are in dormancy or beginning dormancy so leaf loss is normal. Soft is ok squishy indicates rot.
I live in Southern California and grow desert roses out door. Two of my desert roses have soft and shrunk caudex, they look like wrinkle on skin. They have some small leaves but seem not happy. Are they dehydrated and how to save them? Thank you.
Please send images. It sounds like they my be dehydrated.
Hi, Sorry for take so long to reply. I am unable to send images through this post. I will be sending them through email if it is okay. Thanks for your help.
I have a desert rose that has 6, 2-3 foot tall branches. but the new leaves keep dying. They burn off from the end shortly after growing but the plant just keeps growing. 4-5 inches of leaves on the top of a 4 foot plant. Too much fertilizer?
Late March in Winnipeg and it has a flower.
Thank You
IF you do not fertilize year round and then start too close to blooming time then yes it could be fertilizer shock.
Hi, after the winter my Adenium plant began to grow very well producing new leaves. A couple of days ago, the buds tips began to turn brown and black and, finally, they dried out. What I’m doing wrong ? Could it be a lack of sun ? or lack of water ? Thank you !
Not lack of sun. Could be water or nutrient problem.
My Adenium plant has been growing great this spring. I’ve watered sparingly and have had little issues. It’s in an pot indoors and gets plenty of sun, however on some warm sunny days I move it outside in the sun. A couple of weeks ago it got covered in pollen and I wiped off the leaves before bringing inside with a dry cloth. I noticed the tip of one leaf started to turn brown and almost looks scaled. I’ve seen this appear on a few other leaves now, and now some leaves have started yellowing on the tips / edges. Any thoughts? Happy to send pictures
Yellowing leaves is an indication of over watering. Brown areas can be environment change in/out/in/…
I just purchased a desert rose plant – it is March and we are in North Carolina. The plant was doing well – it had some buds on it, I re-potted it but now the leaves are turning yellow and dropping off and the buds are not getting any bigger. I also used cactus soil and I only water when needed. I use a gauge to determine the water level. What do I do about the dropping leaves? Thank you in advance.
First, its not advisable to re-pot plants with buds or blooms. When you re-pot desert rose plants they go into shock, possible drop leaves and flowers. Yellow leaves is also an indication of too much water. Does the water drain fast? Does the pot have holes in them?
YES TO BOTH QUESTIONS. DRAIN FAST AND HAVE HOLES IN CLAY POT. DID NOT KNOW ABOUT REPOTTING IS THAT THE PROBLEM WITH THE DROP LEAVES? I ONLY WATER NO MORE THAN ONCE A WEEK IF NEEDED. IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE I AM SUPPOSE TO DO? THANK YOU IN AD VANCE FOR YOUR ADVISE.
Leaves drop for many reasons: if they yellow them maybe too much water vs if they wrinkle then too little water. leafs will fall for other reasons too: temperature swings from hot to cold. Or nutrients changes which is why we use time released fertilizer.
My adenium caudex is hard, however it has a yellow blister looking area on one side of the caudex & seem to be growing. I though maybe sunburn, but it wasn’t outside. Everything else looks normal but the yellow/orangey area on the caudex seem to be growing. I’ve never repotted and have had it for several years with no problems. I pulled out the pot and now mushy… just a few very thick roots. What is this discoloration on the caudex & how can I fix? I’m in Minnesota USA.
Mushy oozing/watery (not soft) areas are rot and need to be removed 100%
I received a desert rose from a friend as a gift about a month ago and I have been very scared of killing it.
I live in California and I have no windows in my house that face south. I recently moved my desert rose from my west-facing kitchen to my back yard to get more sun. In a few days, the leaves started getting gold and brown spots. Some of them also fell off. I am not sure if it is a fungus, an infestation, or if the sun burned the leaves? I removed the sick leaves and sprayed the plant with an insect killing soap, because it is the only thing I have at my house right now. Should I also get a fungicide? I know desert roses do not normally like being sprayed so I am a little hesitant and I really do not want to make things worse.
Changing the plants environment makes it go into water thrift mode which usually results in 100% leaf loss. Give it time to adjust.Check your soil type (many articles on this blog) and watering.
I’ve had my dessert rose for 16 years, I have a very strong attachment to it. This past week all of the branches (not leaves) are falling. I took a trip out of town for about 10 days and my mother came and house sat for me. She cut some branches off, and overwatered it. I don’t know what to do to keep it from dying, but it definitely looks like it’s dying. Is there anything I can do?
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