First, choose a size of pot that gives the adenium desert rose caudex about 1 to 1.5” more room to grow. If you allow too much room your caudex will not grow as fast. You want to control the growth of your adenium caudex to create fat roots systems. If you desert rose adenium plant has too much room to grow many roots then it will instead of growing fatter caudexes.
All pots for adenium plants must have drainage holes and NO saucers to catch water. Standing water is the number on cause of adenium desert rose plant root rout. When planting your adenium desert rose plants do not be fixed on having it always stand straight up. If you plan to bonsai you adenium plant many great plants start out leaning to one side or even hugging the ground before growing upwards. Its always a bit wise to put some rock in the bottom of the adenium plants pot to keep standing water away fomr the desert roses roots.
Use the proper soil mix (see other blog entries on soils) to make sure the water drains fast from your adenium plant. When you plant the adenium desert rose cropping the roots first to promote thicker main roots is a good idea. When cropping rots look at he plant form and determine what portions of the caudex will be above the soil line of the adenium. Small roots above the soil line will turn green and 90% of the time will not grow down to the soil.
Finally, use a bit of rock on top of the soil to keep the soil mixed from floating especially if you use prelate like most growers. Growing adenium desert rose plants are simple and just requires a bit of knowledge as in growing any plant. If you are growing desert roses adenium plants from seeds then you need a completely different soil than when growing more nature adenium plants.
Thanks for the share! Very useful info, looking to communicate!
heya, very good site, and a great understand! one for my bookmarks.
Could you give some more info on cropping the roots, perhaps with pictures?
Also, what age would the plant be before you consider doing this?
I will work on some images of before and after cropped plants. However, it will need to wait a bit because our whole nursery was cropped earlier this year and will not be ready for another cropping until later fail or early winter. Unless you are in a similar climate you will only crop the adenium plants once a year.
Yay!! Thanks. Looking foward to it
i really need some help with my desert roses….I started them out by seed at the end of summer last year….Brought them in house over winter and back out this summer…They seem to be getting bigger and bigger but im not sure on these plants…what to expect … do they grow fast or slow like mine are….please help
They grow fast for the first 1..2 yrs and then slow down a bit depending upon your growing conditions. On this site look use the search tool on top right to check when to water, fertilizer, etc.
Thank you for information. Have you uploaded photos of how to crop/prune? and this was written quite a while ago. Have you updated planting mix info? Do you use worm castings? How does one figure out the percentages of coir, perlite, worm castings, etc. I assume no soil because its to heavy and here in Florida would not drain well. I’m in S. Florida 1 hr north of Miami. Thank you again
No we do not use worm castings. We use the same mix as several article on blog indicates including percentages (see search area and put in soil please). We buy the ingredients separately and then mix the ingredients (no soil). If you buy cactus mix add 50 more perlite.
I have a desert rose that blooms continuously. I cut it back and it’s blooming again. My desert rose is in a plastic pot with water catcher attached. I find that if I water it once a day or every other day it blooms more. I didn’t use half sand in the potting mix either. From what I’ve read, outside of the caudex planted just right that it has grown an inch also, I’m not doing things right. Imagine how well it does when I do? Thanks for the info.