Adenium plants

[Eric Williams]

Hi all, I am growing a few doz of these plants from seedfor a friend They are a few inches high at the moment. Wondered if I need to top a plant to see if it will grow with multiple stems, or wil the plants branch out naturally in time. Thanks

[Ospreywatcher]

I haven't grown any from seed yet though I am awaiting a delivery of seed and hope to give it a go soon. My guess would be that pruning the main stem will not only encourage branching but will also aid in developing the size of the caudex and roots at a quicker rate. You could always try pruning half of them and compare their development to that of the unpruned plants. Is it Obesum you are growing or another variety? I have an Arabicum which is recovering well from a hard prune and a much smaller Obesum which had the central stem pruned before I bought it.

[kohinoor]

Adenium serve as a great bonsi plant.Their skin heal over time leave no long term scar after prune.
It's branching habit different between variety.
variety like golden crown will branch a lot and densely with out any prune.
adenium arabicum will branch from base of caudex. they don;t branch from other branch.
Notorious & highly valued variety like Adenium socotranum will never branch until 1 meter tall.

the common varity will branch a little after prune.
but they normally produce 1~2 new branch after prune. that is only little net increase in branch number.

fyi you can prune root as will. you should ask some one know about bonsi to learn about this.


here is a picture of golden crown from Thailand adenium nursery.

[Eric Williams]

Thanks both for interesting replies. What a great picture from Kohnoor .Thanks. For Ospreywatcher, yes, arabica is the species I am growing. Thanks

[Ospreywatcher]

I have now received some Adenium seed which I hope to plant soon. Is John Innes 2 compost suitable for this and is it necessary to add grit given that the compost only has to be moist? My first attempt at propagating so please forgive the silly questions!

[Eric Williams]

Hi O, I used my normal compost that included grit and Tesco,s finest. I was also told to soak seeds in water overnight (which I did) and discard any found floating. Got nearly max. germination. Good luck.

[Ospreywatcher]

Just wondering if any Adenium growers have had any experience of using a fertiliser from Germany called Adenium Liquid Fertiliser High Tech NPK which is available on Amazon. I have used it a couple of times since getting a bottle but haven't really seen any great improvement in growth as yet. Still, it's early days.

[FaeLLe]

I just use orchid fertiliser on my adenium's during flowering season and other times Chempak 8.

[Ospreywatcher]

I planted 5 of my 10 seeds after soaking them and 5 days later the first couple are just starting to push through, will take a photo once they can be seen clearly.

[Eric Williams]

Well done OW, I am told they need warmth in Winter, so I will be doing just that. Cheers