Adenium Plant Care

Sunlight.

These plants require a lot of sunlight for proper development.

If they are growing in cloudy locations, they become spindly and develop less vibrant blooms.

Some species can withstand 30-50% shade and the sun can burn their foliage.

Location.

Choose the location with the temperature not more than 95 degrees F.

Adenium obesum also enjoys high humidity.

That is why in such areas these plants grow better, regardless of whether they are outdoors or indoors.

Growing in the ground.

When adenium is about to be planted into the ground, choose a raised bed with sloping sides.

Make sure the area is well-drained.

Growing in containers.

How to grow the plant in containers?

Choose only terracotta or clay containers; add stones to the pot’s bottom to ensure comparatively better drainage.

Dormancy.

These plants require special care, especially after entering dormant periods.

I always move containers to dry and frost-free locations and water the plants once per month.

When the spring comes, I increase the amount of water, because the plant starts entering another cycle.

Feeding

Adeniums also respond well to regular and generous fertilizing.

I use slow-release fertilizer in my potting media and inject my irrigation water during the growing season with a balanced fertilizer such as 20-20-20 plus micronutrients at a concentration of 200 ppm nitrogen.

Inadequate watering and feeding are the primary reasons adeniums have been regarded as slow-growing.

Generous culture produces literally unbelievable results.

Specimens several feet tall and wide in 18-inch containers can be grown in only three to five years and sometimes even less.

Adeniums seem to require high nitrogen for both strong growth and copious flowering.

For one year I used a low nitrogen fertilizer (2-10-10) on most of my mature adeniums in an attempt to thicken their stems while minimizing further elongation.

Not only did the low-nitrogen plants not thicken appreciably, they also flowered poorly that year. (Well-fed plants flowered normally.)

Overwintering Adeniums must be grown in containers in climates with frost or cool, wet winters.

Adenium obesum, A.swazicum, and some of their hybrids, can be kept active by maintaining night temperatures above 50F (10C).

The other taxa will enter various degrees of dormancy in autumn regardless of conditions.

Recognizing dormancy is critical to a plant's survival.

Not only does the timing and depth of dormancy vary among taxa, but individual plants (even of the same clone) vary with cultural conditions from year to year.

Dormancy is often signalled by a sudden yellowing and dropping of most or all of the leaves.

Some weeks before this occurs you may notice a significant decline in water consumption. Either of these events demands sharply reduced watering.

There may be some shedding of older leaves near the autumnal equinox, apparently in response to shortening days.

This event does not require less watering if the stems continue to grow new leaves.

Partial defoliation may also occur at other times in response to a missed watering or a dramatic change in weather.

As long as stem-tips are actively producing new leaves, keep watering normally.

Dormancy varies from complete defoliation (A.boehmianum and A.multiflorum) to just curtailment of stem growth (A.somalense and A.arabicum retain leaves if watered sparingly).

Some taxa flower primarily during dormancy either with or without leaves (A.somalense and A.multiflorum, respectively).

If a warm sunny space is not available or if the plant is an obligate winter rester, reduce or stop watering when the nights regularly fall below 50F (10C) or when a plant signals onset of dormancy.

Place in a dry, cool but frost-free location.

Light is not essential to dormant plants, except that the winter bloomers will not flower normally in poor light.

I have successfully overwintered mature plants of A.obesum, A.swazicum, and A.multiflorum under a carport, with no water, from November to April.

I winter most of my large plants in an unheated and uncooled greenhouse in which temperatures approach 90F (32C) on sunny days and commonly dip below 40F (5C) at night.

Under these conditions many plants continue flowering well into the winter, but they eventually shut down.

This is colder than ideal and a few plants succumb to rot each winter.

Recognizing the end of dormancy is even more crucial.

Root rot most often strikes in spring as a result of too much water too early; overpotted plants are most susceptible.

The arborescent form of A.somalense from northwestern Kenya is particularly sensitive.

On the other hand, adeniums will usually not leaf out if the potting medium is completely dry.

Therefore I recommend watering sparingly through the winter (as little as once per month for large, leafless plants).

Watch for expanding terminal buds in spring.

At the first sign of activity increase the watering frequency gradually until the plants are in full growth.