Epic Grower LLC – Growing Blog

Question: I should be receiving some new adeniums from you in a few days. I would like to grow them for increased caudex size and height. How do you think I should plant them in order to maximize their growth? Should I start them in a shallow bonsai pot then transition to a deeper pot once I’m happy with the caudex size?

Answer: The biggest one thing you should do is to use Bonsai pot so the roots are forced to spread out not down. Also, the pot should be size properly for the plant – no more than 1.5 to 2 inches beyond the current caudex. I did not check what part of the country you are located but we recommended re-potting once every 6 months of growing.

When you pot the adenium plant arrange the roots to grow outward. You may need to use aluminum bonsai wire to hold the plant down in your pot. Remember to check the wire once a month to make sure it not causing damage to parts of the adenium plant. Do not wire the roots of the desert rose plant. Sometimes we place rocks under the center of the plant or in-between roots to help force the adenium plants caudex to grow in a particular arrangement. Use Dyna-gro K-L-N once every three months to give the roots a boost and on the other months use Dyna-grow one watering (not when you see flower or flower buds or you tee flower may drop).

Adeniums are not usually grown for height. Yes, the desert rose plant will grow very height with extremely large caudex over it’s life time in the wild (200-300 years). We have one that we continually crop at 4..5 feet tall with a base of over 48″ round that it over 25yrs old in a 30 gallon pot. This adenium plant started as a standard size desert rose plant about 22yrs ago (NO the image to the right is not the pant – ours is not blooming now).  Growing tall and growing large caudex is not something you do at one time. To force caudex growth you need to crop the desert rose plant branches to keep the growth towards the bottom of the plant. If you want to grow it tall you need to let the branches grow which takes away from growing the caudex wide/fat. We recommend growing the caudex first fat because you need to crop the branches during this process.

When you crop the desert rose branches usually 2 or more new branches will takes it place which will help the plant caudex to grow faster so you will need to re-pot more often. When you re-pot you expose more roots above the soil so the plant get taller above the soil line too.Please see other articles about cropping adeniums, growing adeniums on this blog.

Questions: How can you be certain that the adenium seeds will produce lowers like the parent of a hybrid plant?

The problem with hybrid adenium desert rose seeds is that only a small percentage actually flowers like the parent plant.  It’s not like annuals flower seeds or vegetables you buy at Walmart, Home Depot, Loews, etc. stores (get what’s on the image).  Adeniums hybrid seeds are from grafted plants that after several years of growing (usually 5…7 years) they produce seed pods.

However, since the grafts where place on adenium plants that are not hybrid the seeds only produce a few plants like the graft and the rest different in some way.  Many collectors are used to buying from eBay expecting the adenium seeds to produce flowers like they seen in the sales image but rarely do.  It takes 2…3 years for adeniums from seeds to flower so by them the buyer usually forgets what they saw on Ebay and it too late to give correct feedback.  In the future Adeniumrose company will offer seeds; however, they will be honest and put up a notice that the adenium seeds are form the Hybrid plants; however, they may be true to the hybrid flower when they bloom.

Special note: Epic Grower Company  just received 5,000 seeds (5 different supplies from Thailand) and will be offering adenium seedlings next Spring 2015. We are using a new growing method to grow the caudex faster on the adeniums plants and will post updates in the future. All the seeds received are supposed to be from double/triple/quad rosy adenium plants but only time will tell.

Question: I purchased three seedlings last year and they all died during the winter. They were keep in my dining room which has a western sun exposure. The soil was a mixture of potting soil and sand. They were watered very little during the winter months

Answer: There are four things that make the plant trunk to soft:   Lack of water so the plant contracts (this is normal for cactus and succulents when they go dormant), too much water causing rot, micro disease/pest of some type destroying the plant and the 3rd temperatures too cold causing damage to the plant.

Mid November 2013 a NY client ordered we sent 12 adenium desert rose plants and she went on vacation for two weeks so she was not there to receive the plants (not wte3red, planted and exposed to cool/cold temps).  After 6 weeks (beginning of January) she said all the plants die and sent them back.  We received the plants and they were extremely dehydrated and soft.  We treated the desert rose adenium plants with Dyna-Gro K-L-N before replanting them and after 4 weeks they started to sprout leaves.  They were not dead as she thought but just dormant and not treated right fro her location.The desert rose plants were exposed to temperatures considered too cold for them when the were away on vacation.  But once treated properly the adenium plans survived,

   You purchased seedlings.  Seedlings are harder to grow especially in Northern areas without grow lights, more watering and regular fertilization than mature desert rose plants.  They are much more delicate than regular mature desert rose pants. The adenium we grow from seeds are grown under much more supervision than our regular adeniums. Our young desert rose plants get fertilized monthly, water twice as much and given grow lights during winters months to prolong the hours of light they received until they are 1.6 years old and 1″+ caudex. Some adeniums plant seedlings grow faster than others due to type of adenium and quality of seeds.  I would say your adenium plants did not received enough water and possible light hours during the winter. Seedlings dry out very fast because they are not large enough to hold enough moisture.

Question: Ok, thanks for that info, now one more question: should I order the Dyna-Gro Grow liquid fertilizer or the time release granular?  Thanks  Rose

Answer:   The two things most adeniums growers use is the time released or Dyna-Gro grow for after flowering and K-L-N when planting, transplanting, re-potting.  The K-L-N and Dyna-gro Grow is good for all plant types when planting, re-potting, etc.   Some client even use the K-L-N for two watering in January/February to promote root growth when cactus or succulent plants starting to get out of dormancy (we start in December in South Florida and northern areas do this in Feb/March once weather is above 50 degrees).

 If you are in a heavy rain area use the time released after flowering a 1 month before dormancy and K-L-N.  Otherwise use Dyna-Gro (one week of watering in June, July and August after flowering)  and K-L-N.

Miami is considered tropical and during the summer we can get 1” to 4” of rain every day from thunderstorms so the soil is leeched of it nutrients fast.  If we just use liquid we would need to constantly fertilize to get the plants to grow well.  We use the time released fertilizer for the adeniums twice a year,  K-L-N when planting/re-potting/etc (dip the plants into for about 20..30 minutes) and then Dyna-Grow grow on all out plants (I mean all types of plants) in December thru February our dry months when they come out of dormancy before they start to bud and bloom. Not everybody fertilizes like we do but the more consistent you are the faster and larger the cactus, succulents and your other plants will grow.

P.S.  I grow vegetables for family use (not to sell) and use Dyan-Grow 100% of the time. The vegetable plants consistently out perform my neighbors in yield, problem resistance and duration of season. Its the Micro and Macro nutrients that does it better than other products on the market.

Question:  I have an adenium, desert rose, which is about 30 inches tall in a 15 inch clay pot in full sun within our screened pool area.  We live in the Sarasota FL area and for the most part it stays outside all year long.  About a year ago I repotted the plant and used a miracle grow cactus soil, however, at no time have I had any luck keeping a lot of leaves on the plant although it would flower profusely.  I have provided it with biological products as well as N P K with micros. with out luck.  This leads me to believe that there something wrong with my choice of soil.  Any guaranteed suggestions?   – Gary

Answer:  We are located in south Florida about 280 miles southeast of your location and we already had two periods of growth since December and two periods of leaf fall. The possible answer is the weather going from cold to warm to cool to warm and then to cool and now getting warm/hot again.   Also, I would need to know about your watering cycle and what fertilizer you used.  Miracle-Gro, Scotts, Peters, and several other fertilizers with micro minerals are lacking some minerals needed by succulents, cactus plants and other plants.  Miracle-Gro cactus soil which has Miracle-Gro fertilizer has too much peat in it so you need to be careful with your watering. All soil gets depleted which is why people fertilize their plants so changing the soil will not solve the problem.

You may need silicon for your desert rose pant  which is a mineral needed by the plant to absorb the nutrients. It makes the adenium and other plants stems and leaves stronger and more tolerant to weather changes too. Benefits of silicon include greater tolerance of environmental stresses and mineral toxicity or deficiency. Silicon deposited in cell walls forms a protective barrier, defending your plants from water loss due to high temperatures. Dyna-Gro designed TekT product (this is what we use at AdeniumRose Company) to increase the strength of cell walls also results in drastic improvement of stem and branch strength. Since, silicon is rapidly bound in leaf tissue and deposited in a non-translocatable form within 24 hours of uptake, a continuous source of soluble silicon throughout the plant’s life is very important.

Now about guarantee resolution of your adenium plant problem – with plants just like nature there are no guarantees of what will work to solve the problem but the above is our best guess based on the information received. People collect adeniums fro the caudex style and flower types,  desert rose plants are not bushy leafy plants. Most of the leaves and flowers grow toward the end of the branches.

Question: Which plants can grow in full sun in Phoenix, Arizona?  – Linda

Answer: You are in the perfect place to grow any of the plants on the AdeniumRose site.  All the adeniums, Echeverias, prickly pear and other succulents/cactus will do great in your area in pots or in the grown – they are all desert plants.

Are you creating a cactus/succulent garden in the grown or do you plan to put them in ceramic pots? If you plant to use pots make sure you use the right soil and pots so the roots get plenty and water them well twice a week during the summer. You are in a desert which means the plants when kept in pots will get very hot during the summer. In your area I would stick to light color glazed pots (they must be unglazed on the bottom and have good size holes) or non-glazed ceramic pots.

Do not use plastic pots for the cactus and succulents in your area.  Stay away from dark colors to help keep the succulent roots cooler. Check out the bonsai pots on the Epic Grower site or your area. I would get a bit oversized ceramic pot one to give you more room for soil which will help keep the roots a bit further away from the ceramic so they stay cooler.

If you plan to pant the cactus and succulents in the ground I dig a hold about twice the size needed. Put weed control fabric in the bottom of the hold and then 3” of rock and another layer of weed control fabric on top of the rocks first. Then add the proper cactus soil and pots. The first layer of fabric will keep the rocks from sinking into the ground and the 2^nd layer keeps the soil above the rocks. The rocks allow air to flow up and make sure water drains well from the cactus planting area.

Question: Hello, I am looking to buy cactus and succulents for our home and office. I
would like to know which plants are better indoor and which survive well
outdoors. We have had a large succulent collection before moving to Florida
but unfortunately many died when changing climate and moving indoor to
outdoor. I hope to keep healthy plants going in our new house and office. We
are in Tampa Florida. I am also looking for large aloe plants. I hope to
hear back from you and I appreciate your time. Thank you! -Carlos

Answer: The Echeveria’s, adeniums and other succulents are great for your purpose and so are many cactus plants. I need to know a more details about what happed.  Rot root? Bugs? Etc.  AdeniumRose Company has clients in just about all states except for Alaska. As long as you take proper care including using the right soil and fertilizers they will grow anywhere. Here in South Florida adn yoru area (Mid-west Florida) our main concern is too much water when growing succulents outside which is 100% controllable using the right soil.  Off the shelf cactus soil contains too much moss which retains water which is bad for Florida tropical climate. You need a coir based soil (see our blog www.adeniumrose.com/blog for proper mix). Yes we offer soil on our site which is the exact soil we use on our succulents and cactus.

Since you are moving plants from indoors to outdoors (rotating them) I suggest that you keep three sets of cactus/succulent pants unless you are using grow lights in-doors. Cactus and succulents need good light. They will survive indoors with low light for a couple months before they start having problems.  First the cactus and succulents plants will go dormant and then start losing their leaves if they have leave

s.   If you can replace regular light bulbs with grow light bulbs so when they are in your office they still get some of the proper light they need woudl help.

Once you have three sets of cactus and succulent plants rotate them in 3 month cycles so no plant is left in low light for more than 3 months out of 9.  When in-doors reduce watering make sure the soil is dry between watering. Remember the cactus and succulents plants will assume that winter is coming. so they will start to go dormant if kept in-doors too long with not enough light. The problem is that cactus plants here are use to hot and wet and them you are taking them into a dry cool climate. Also you may want get Dyan-Grow Tekt to help strengthen the plants against disease and help the plant to take in nutrients. Also use a a good time release fertilizer 6-6-10 or liquid Dyna-Gro Grow.