Adenium obesum, also known as desert rose, is a succulent plant with red, pink, white, and many varieties of flowers. Adenium is an extremely beautiful plant and sometime called Natural Bonsai, because of its thick stems and the modified fat lower stem called as Caudex.
Let’s Start with:
How to grow Adenium from Seeds: The most important criteria to grow from seeds – the Seeds must be fresh and healthy or from a reliable source. The ones you get online may be old and may not germinate. If you have one adenium and you take proper care of it, you should good flowering and then seed pod formation soon. It’s best to grow from fresh seeds or buy a plant from a nursery or even online. You can purchase adenium online because it’s a drought tolerant plant and easily survives without water even for 7 days.
Well, When you are growing adenium from seeds, you need to apply some tricks and hacks for successful germination.
First thing you need to do when you notice an adenium seed pod is tie some thread around the pod to prevent spillage of seeds before the seed pod matures and releases seeds. It has a special seed dispersal mechanism by wind, where each seed had this fluffy stuff which is easily carried away by wind. Here you can see, I have protected the seed pod from its natural dispersal mechanism. When the seed pod starts drying and cracks open, it’s the time to harvest the seeds. Separate the seeds by gently pulling this fluffy stuff……. So these are fresh adenium seeds we just harvested!
Now the first secret to get a great success rate in germination? These seeds are very delicate and are more prone to fungus. So what you need to do immediately is pour in some antifungal powder like bavistin or SAAF or any antifungal powder like Carbendazin + mancozeb combination. You can also add a mixture of cinnamon and turmeric powder if you don’t have antifungal. Coat the seeds with this antifungal powder whether you keep them aside for storage or plan to sow them immediately.
Now the next important step: The growing medium. You can use sand or some cocopeat mixed in it or soil plus sand plus cocopeat. If you have perlite, this is another great stuff. The idea is to have a loose well draining light weight soil mix for the seeds to sprout. You can mix small amount of anti fungal powder into this mix which combats the fungal rot.
Plant the seeds and cover with a thin layer of potting mix and do not plant too deep, they may not sprout. Then finally, you also mix some antifungal into the water or spray can and use the same solution to spray or gently sprinkle some water once every two days.
You can see they should start germinating within a week. On third or fourth week, you should see the beautiful tiny caudex of these babies. When they are about two months old, you repot these into independent containers. During transplant, you need to remember few important points during the process of repotting as well as post transplant care, like:
- Choosing clean containers or if using old containers, you can clean them using baking soda.
- Then comes the Potting mix: You can use any succulent potting mix. Or make your own using a simple recipe: like 50 percent sand, 40 percent Garden soil and 10% compost like cowdung or vermicompost. You can also mix perlite and other stuff if you have. You can find a detailed episode on succulent potting mix recipe from a link in description.
- Then comes Repotting: Have a look at the structure and the markings. The first mark is to demarcate the level above and below the soil. Make sure you insert the plant’s future caudex above the level of soil. If its too below the soil level, it can lead to rot and death.
- Then finally, water this once preferably mixing some antifungal in water and leave it in indirect sunlight for the first week. Water them occasionally like once a week or so depending on the climate.
General Care Tips for Growing Adeniums:
- SOIL: This is the most important factor for successfully growing adenium. It’s a desert rose and hence prefers a sandy soil. Make sure you have at least 50 percent sand or perlite mixed in your potting soil. You can check my detailed episode on making the best succulent potting mix recipe from a link in description.
- WATERING: If your soil is really well draining, the frequency of watering does not matter much, like for instance if you have lot of rains in your zone, its almost like daily watering. And also make sure, you have good drainage holes in your container. Otherwise, generally watering weekly twice or even once is the general rule for adenium like any other succulent depending on the climate of the zone you live in.
- SUNLIGHT: This is a very important factor for proper flowering. Adenium needs maximum sunlight and good humidity for flowering and growth. Atleast 6 hours of direct sunlight is a must! Also encourage pollinator insects like honey bees and butterflies to encourage seed pod formation.
- FERTILIZERS: Most recommend chemical fertilizers like water soluble NPK, but I always use organic ones like simple decomposed cowdung or vermicompost like a handful of it once a month. And during repotting mixing a table spoon of steamed bone meal or Organic rock phosphate for vegans. This much is sufficient to make the roots stronger and induce enormous flowering in all seasons except in it dormant season – that’s winter.
- PEST CONTROL: Its commonly affected by sucking pests like aphids, mealy bugs and mites. Weekly spray of 5 to 10 ml neem oil in 1 litre of water will easily control this problem.
5 Tricks to make caudex grow thicker:
Some Adeniums develop a thicker caudex themselves, perhaps determined by the genetic characteristics of the plant, but others may require human interventions. Apply these 5 Tricks and hacks to make the adenium caudex powerful and thicker.
- POT SIZE & SHAPE SELECTION: Select a pot that is wider than deep. This forces the root system to become exposed to air as it grows and we call it Training your Adenium or Adenium Bonsai Training or adenium root training. Depending on the size of your plant, take a wider container, roughly about 2-3 inches extra space around the existing caudex. And the depth of the pot of about 4 to 6 inches should be fine.
- WATERING TRICK – ONLY water it when it’s starving and very thirsty. That is when your soil is fully dry like using the finger dip method. 1 OR 2 INCH inches of your finger. And whenever you water it GIVE FULL WATERING. This frequency depends on the climate. Like in summer, the frequency increases where as in winter, this can be weekly once. Make sure the soil is well draining as discussed already.
- CUTTING THE CENTRAL ROOT – the tap root of adenium. The caudex is actually the storage organ of adenium – This is an adaptation from mainly the stem and also partly the root. This cutting helps to make the caudex wider and thicker. But perform this step at your own risk very carefully, because there is a risk of rot and death of the plant. Before carrying out cutting, try to wash or spray the root with Hydrogen peroxide solution, about 1 teaspoon in 1 liter or water. Or first wash the dirt in running water and then spray some h2o2 solution on the roots. Make sure when you perform cutting, disinfect the cutting tool with a hydrogen peroxide solution or any disinfectant. You can cut it carefully without cutting or damaging some side roots. After cutting apply a Fungicide powder like SAAF. SAAF is a brand name for combination fungicide with Carbendazim and Mancozeb. You leave this in air for 2 days to form a callous wound. Then you can repot by placing some flat object like a plastic lid below this root flat and then repot.
- PRUNING: PRUNING of branches helps to increase caudex. This is because most of the plant energy is diverted to growing thicker caudex rather than leaf and flower development. You can leave few branches or leaves for photosynthesis. The pruning will not only increase caudex size, but also increase branching and flowering. Remember to seal the cut end with candle wax or a fungicide powder to protect your plant from rot. If it’s a grafted adenium, you should always cut above the graft. IF its seed grown plant, you can hard prune or cut at the level of caudex, so that more branches emerge out from the caudex itself. The best time to prune adeniums as recommended by many experts is after the spring or when temperatures are high. You can check my episode on some Important Pruning Tips and precautions from a link in description below.
- REPOTTING and RAISING THE CAUDEX to Half to One Inch, every 3 to 6 months. This trick will not only increase the caudex size but also give a beautiful bonsai look to the plant.
How to save a Dying Adenium or How to treat Adenium Rot:
There are two problems to diagnose. One is root rot which can lead to stem rot and death of the plant. The second problem to differentiate from the first one is soft caudex or soft stems which may or may not destroy the plant.
You can carefully look for Some signs of root rot or impending danger like:
a. Leaves becoming yellow and dropping,
b. Caudex pimples – like If you see some pimple like spots popping up on the caudez, this may indicate too much water inside the caudex and the plant is trying to creat exit pathways for this excess water.
c. Softening of the caudex or branches is another sign. Normally the caudex and branches are firm when you press with fingers. But if its getting soft, then there is a danger.
d. Inspect of any Injury. Generally injured stems or caudex can start to rot from the injury point. This is called Focal rot and is easy to treat when diagnosed in early stages.
Well, The Treatment steps vary depending on the signs and symptoms.
If it’s a focal rot, you need to cut off that portion using a clean knife and then apply antifungal powder over the wound and just leave it to heal and keep it in full sunlight. Do not pour water over this wound.
If the caudex is becoming soft, you can remove the plant and inspect its roots. Then soak this in a strong fungicide solution for few minutes and then hang it in air in sunlight for 2 to 4 days. It should start shrinking and possibly start healing. If its getting firm, then you can repot in a fresh potting soil and then water with antifungal mixed and leave it undisturbed for a week.
Well, Now these beautiful little adenium seedlings are about 2 months old.
This is the best time to repot them into independent containers, because the nutrient requirement will increase as they grow and also increased chances of overcrowding and due to this the more aggressive ones will siphon supply off the nutrients from their neighbours affecting the weaker ones.
At about 2 months, they are about 2 to 3 inches in length and remember they are not so delicate or sensitive as you might think. You can transplant or repot them easily. But you need to remember few important points during the process of repotting and post transplant care.
Here are some 10 useful points to remember:
- Choosing Containers: You can use 4 to 6 inch clean new containers or clean up existing containers with baking soda or any mild disinfectant and make sure they have good number of drainage holes.
- Potting Mix: You can use any succulent potting mix with about 50 percent sand, Garden soil and perlite and other optional stuff as mentioned in one of my post on Potting mix for succulents and cacti.
- Taking out Seedlings: You can use the spoon method to carefully dig out the little ones by holding a leaf and gently digging and pulling out. This should be easy because we have germinated the seeds in sand and cocopeat.
- Inspect the seedlings and discard any rotting or rotten ones.
- Repotting: Have a look at the structure and the markings. The first mark is to demarcate the level above and below the soil. Make sure you insert the plant’s future caudex above the level of soil. If its too below the soil level, it can lead to rot and death.
- Optional Tap Root Cutting: This step can be performed after 6 months or 1 year to make the caudex more fatter. This time it may be little risky to cut the tap root at the mark shown here. I have shown all steps to make the caudex thicker in one my older episodes last year.
- After Repotting: Its always safe to either spray and antifungal solution like bavistin or water these with dilute antifungal mixed in water.
- Water Requirement: Check the soil for moisture before watering. Over watering can kill these little ones. Roughly you can water once in 3 to 5 days.
- Fertilizer: If you have added some compost into the potting mix, they don’t require any feeding for atleast 2 or 3 months. If you use NPK water soluble feed, water them with a 50 percent dilute solution of this once in 15 days for faster growth.
- Sunlight: This is very important. After repotting keep them in indirect light or even shade for 3 to 4 days and then shift to full sunlight once they are out of transplant shock.
To begin! I received these 5 bare rooted baby adenium plants about an year back, gifted by my dearest gardener friend Ram. These travelled over a 1000 miles to reach the destination in a great condition, This is because these are excellent drought tolerant plants and rightly called desert rose. So, you can safely purchase adenium plants online if it’s not available at your local nursery.
For beginners, Adenium Obesum is a succulent plant which stores lot of water in its stem and also the modified part of the stem called the Caudex. We have discussed these in detail in my other adenium videos.
Before I reveal you the three nursery secrets on growing adenium, I will quickly brief you on 5 important care tips for adenium.
- SOIL: This is the most important factor for successfully growing adenium. It’s a desert rose and hence prefers a sandy soil. Make sure you have atleast 50 percent sand or perlite mixed in your potting soil. For details on the perfect potting mix for adenium or any succulent, I have detailed episode on this topic. You can check that link at the end screen of this video.
- WATERING: If your soil is really well draining, the frequency of watering does not matter much, like for instance if you have lot of rains in your zone, its almost like daily watering. And also make sure, you have good drainage holes in your container. Otherwise, generally watering weekly twice is the general rule for adenium like any other succulent.
- SUNLIGHT: This is a very important factor for proper flowering. Adenium needs maximum sunlight and good humidity for flowering and growth. Atleast 6 hours of direct sunlight is a must!
- FERTILIZERS: Most recommend chemical fertilizers like water soluble NPK, but I always use organic ones like simple decomposed cowdung or vermicompost like a handful of it once a month. And during repotting mixing a table spoon of steamed bone meal will do the job and induce enormous flowering in all seasons except in it dormant season – that’s winter.
- PEST CONTROL: Its commonly affected by sucking pests like aphids, mealy bugs and mites. Weekly spray of 10 ml neem oil in 1 litre of water will easily control this problem.
Now, lets look into the three Nursery secrets on how to grow adenium from seeds.
To start this story, I purchased adenium seeds from amazon and followed all tips perfectly to germinate adenium seeds. I have shown this in a detailed video some time ago. You can check a link to that episode in the description below. But the result of these amazon seeds was really bad, not even a single seed germinated.
Then recently, one of my adeniums started developing a seed pod. First thing you need to do when you notice adenium seed pod is tie some thread around the pod to prevent spillage of seeds before the seed pod matures and releases seeds. It has a special seed dispersal mechanism by wind, where each seed had this fluffy stuff which is easily carried away by wind. Here you can see, I have protected the seed pod from its natural dispersal mechanism. When the seed pod starts drying and cracks open, it’s the time to harvest the seeds. Separate the seeds by gently pulling this fluffy stuff as shown in this pic.
So these are fresh adenium seeds we just harvested!
Now the first secret to get a great success rate in germination? These seeds
are very delicate and are more prone to fungus. So what you need to do
immediately is pour in some antifungal powder like bavistin or any antifungal
powder like Carbendazin + mancozeb combination like the SAAF brand powder. Coat
the seeds with this antifungal powder whether you keep them aside for storage
or plan to sow them immediately.
Now the second nursery secret: The growing medium. You can use pure sand or some cocopeat mixed in it. What they actually do is, take fine sand and sterilize it by keeping in full sunlight for atleast 2 or 3 days or if you are growing in small scale, you can even microwave this sand. I think if you are using anti fungal powder, this step is perhaps optional.
Now the third secret and then finally the results of this process on day 6, day 10, day 12 and day 15 in the video at the bottom of this post.
And one more thing: You also mix some antifungal powder into this sand or cocopeat. And while sowing the seeds try to maintain a space of atleast an inch to avoid overcrowding. You can do this better, here I have not done this perfectly.
Then finally, you also mix some antifungal into the water or spray can and use the same solution to spray or gently sprinkle some water once every two days. Do not flood the seeds with water, this can damage the seeds.
Please Watch the RESULTS on Day 5 till Day 15 in the Video below.