Why Adenium may not bloom: reasons, how to fight it, how to make it bloom

Is it possible to achieve the appearance of buds at home and how to do it?

The most favorable environment for stone rose flowering is greenhouse or greenhouse conditions.
You can also get flowers to appear at home, but it requires much more effort. At home, adult adenium blooms only if all maintenance factors are met. To cause the formation and opening of buds, you need to strictly follow certain rules: The plant must be kept in a soil mixture with an acidity pH (6.5 - 7.8). It is this substrate that ensures the availability of nutrients. To grow adenium, it is best to choose a small pot. A stone rose will not bloom until it has entwined its roots around the entire earthen ball. Starting from the end of September, you need to keep the plant at a temperature less than +20°C, while simultaneously reducing the level of air humidity and light. Under these conditions, adenium sheds its leaves and enters a dormant period.

Watering needs to be reduced. In winter, it is important to provide the stone rose with optimal conditions for rest. The ideal temperature for winter is from +12 to +16°C

Indicators should not be less than +10°C, while it is important to maintain low air humidity. Watering should be done rarely and with a small amount of water. Moisten the earthen ball only if it is completely dry, while moistening only the surface of the soil along the edge of the pot with water. Excess moisture in the soil leads to rotting of the root system. Feeding should be stopped completely. With the onset of spring, when the growing point begins to swell, resume watering, gradually increasing the volume of water supplied. In the spring, when the leaves appear, it is necessary to provide the stone rose with long daylight hours. This is possible when kept on a south or east window. In addition, it is necessary to organize lighting. The artificial continuation of daylight hours should not exceed 12 hours. In early spring, start fertilizing once a month. Use liquid organo-mineral fertilizers with equal contents of potassium and phosphorus. Avoid exceeding the permissible solution concentration of two percent. Fertilizing with phosphorus and potassium helps strengthen adenium and speed up flowering. It is important to avoid excess nitrogen. Fertilizers for succulents or orchids, as well as complex fertilizers for flowering plants, are suitable. In summer, maintain a comfortable temperature for the stone rose from +25 to +27°C. It is recommended to place the plant on a balcony or loggia. Be sure to expose the adenium to the sun’s rays for four to five hours. During the rest of the daylight hours, provide a large amount of bright, diffused color.

Caring for adenium after pruning

Usually, root healing takes the longest - up to one and a half months; caudexes will take 2-4 weeks. The stems grow much faster.

Content rules:

Temperature – 25-30° C.
Watering after the substrate has completely dried, the first - on 4-5 days. Root stimulants are added to the water.
Observation of the wound surface if it is above the ground.
Diffused light is only needed for the first few days. Then the adenium is placed on the south window. If this is not possible, provide additional lighting up to 14 hours a day.

Soil selection, planting and replanting

Before making adenium bloom at home, it is given comfortable growing conditions. First of all, it is the right choice of soil and regular replanting. The most ideal is considered to be light and at the same time moisture-permeable soil with an acidic or neutral pH. In principle, you can use store-bought soil that says “soil for orchids.”

In order for adenium to bloom, the soil should be selected more than carefully. If the soil is made independently, vermiculite (no more than 20 percent) and peat, as well as humus with coarse sand, are added to the soil. Ideally, peat is well replaced with coconut fiber.

Adeniums generally prefer looser soils, this could be:

crushed brick;
perlite with river sand;
fine crumbs of plain charcoal.

In order to plant a plant, you can buy seeds, but it is easier to propagate adeniums in apartments using cuttings or layering. For planting or transplanting, it is better to choose a cloudy day and take a smaller pot. After the plant is transplanted, it should not be watered for several days. In general, adenium exhibits abundant flowering if it is replanted more often, but just do not overfeed.

The transplant is done as follows: the plant is carefully removed from the old pot, then the condition of the roots and stem is checked. All damaged shoots are removed, drainage is poured into a new pot, and then a layer of pre-prepared soil is poured. The young plant is covered with soil, carefully filling all the voids between the roots. Young flowers are replanted annually, and adults - once every three years.

In nature, the desert rose usually receives little moisture at this time; for this reason, it also needs to be provided with similar conditions at home so that it can rest normally. Only in this case will adenium bloom magnificently with the arrival of spring.

During winter holidays you need to do the following:

the pot is placed in a slightly shaded corner;
Regular watering should be reduced (water once a month);
the plant should be kept at a temperature of about +16° C.

Do not be alarmed if adeniums shed all their leaves at the beginning of winter. In the spring, this perennial will “come to life”, then you can prune it, this will form a crown and help the process of bud formation. The process of pruning and beginning to form the crown should be done before flowering begins.

Unlike some other plants, adeniums are never pruned too low. Such pruning will lead to the formation of thin stems, which will not make it possible to form the ideal shape of the crown. Periodic pinching is also carried out (cutting off only the tops of the central branches and side shoots). Pinching, as well as spring pruning, creates conditions for stimulating branching and the formation of a proper crown.

In spring, the plant begins to be watered more often; the water may be slightly acidified. Periodically, adeniums are lightly sprayed with a regular spray bottle.

Obesum and others: varieties, types

The most common among adeniums in indoor floriculture is Adenium Obesum - the most unpretentious and fast-flowering species. With proper and good care, it can please you with flowers in the 2nd year. Adenium Obesum, also known as Adenium Thick (fat), has a greyish-brown, bottle-shaped stem. In nature, trees of this species have different shapes and flower colors, but they all have two common characteristics - slow growth and long life expectancy.
In the south of the Arabian Peninsula, adenium Arabicum grows - the second most popular variety. Compared to Adenium Obesum, Arabicum blooms only in 3–4 years. The flowers are usually pink or white, but it is valued not for its flowers, but for its wide decorative caudex and fleshy roots. Breeders have done a good job with this species: they have bred dwarf Arabicums, Arabicums with light, dark and even almost black caudex.
Adenium Multiflorum is an inhabitant of the eastern part of southern Africa, more like a shrub than a tree. Its branches emerge from a thick underground caudex, which is visible only at a young age; in old adeniums, the stems thicken and hide it completely. Multiflorum grows quickly, but flowering occurs only in 4–5 years. For abundant flowering, it needs a 4-month dormant period, when the plant sheds its leaves and does not grow. If you can provide the adenium with dryness and coolness at this time, you will get a gorgeous flowering - the most lush and abundant among adeniums. There are not only a lot of flowers on the plant, but they are very beautiful: up to 7 cm in diameter, the petals are light-colored with a border around the edge.
It was from Adenium Multiflorum that a new variety, Dorset Horn, was obtained, the distinctive feature of which is the leaves curled down, like the horns of a ram. In addition to the mutation of the leaves, another change occurred - the internodes became shorter, so the tree acquired a dwarf appearance. Unfortunately, when grafted onto another adenium, the mutation property is often lost, the leaves straighten and take on their original appearance. Nowadays, a mutation can only be preserved by cuttings or aerial rooting, but even then, one hundred percent identity is not always maintained. Dorset Horn seeds have already appeared on the market, but whether they will replicate the mother plant is still unknown.
Mini Size, bred from Obessum adenium, is a genetically dwarf variety. For a long time it was not recognized, but for small window sills this adenium is just a godsend. Mini-adenium grows very slowly, reaching only 17 cm in height by the age of 5. This is a real mini tree in a pot. Grown from seeds, does not require formation. The first flowers usually bloom at 2 years of age. Particularly attractive to gardeners is its almost continuous flowering. The color of the flowers is white-pink, pink and red.

Photo gallery: from blooming giants to blooming dwarfs

Adenium Obesum, when germinated from seeds, blooms already in the 2nd year

Adenium Arabicum is valued for its very wide quadex. Adenium Multiflorum is the most profusely flowering of the adeniums.

Adenium Dorset Horn is decorative even without flowers

Adenium Mini Size rarely grows more than 20 cm in height

Mini-adenium can grow even in expanded clay The roots of adeniums take on an unusual appearance. Luxurious red flowers are not uncommon on adeniums. White flowers on adeniums are rare. Adenium Nova is better known as Adenium Somalia

Adenium Multiflorum fully lives up to its name

Errors in care leading to lack of flowering

The reasons leading to the lack of flowering of adenium include errors in care - non-compliance with the rest period, as well as a mandatory component of maintaining a succulent - pruning the crown.

Excess nitrogen fertilizers

Errors in care primarily include overfeeding with fertilizers containing a high percentage of nitrogen. The plant “fattens”, increases the lush above-ground part to the detriment of the formation of buds. The gardener should remember this property of adenium and give preference to those fertilizers for succulents that contain a minimum of nitrogen.

Improper care during the winter dormancy period

Failure to observe a dormant period can also be a reason for failure to bloom. For adenium, it occurs with a reduction in daylight hours, and caring for the flower at this time requires a reduction in watering, no fertilizer, and a decrease in the room temperature to 15 degrees, preferably not higher than this figure, but not less than 12 degrees. If the grower does not comply with these conditions, he may not wait for the plant to bloom in spring.

However, some adenium growers believe that the flower requires stimulation of flowering, which consists of maintaining a low temperature and no watering. Often the plant takes a long time to recover from such stress, sheds its leaves or looks weakened for a long time with drooping leaves and. You can make adenium bloom at home by correctly following all the rules for caring for a flower that is at rest.

Pruning is not a mistake, but too drastic is the reason

Pruning, as an obligatory element of adenium care, can also be the reason why the plant does not bloom at the right time, if it is done radically, “under the stump”. Adenium growers remember that consistent flowering of the plant can be achieved only on young prunings of the current season. If there are few of them, accordingly, few flowers are formed, therefore, in early spring, to stimulate the formation of more buds, the succulent is cut off or the tops are pinched.

However, if there is a need, as a result of which most of the crown is removed, flowering will have to be sacrificed. A similar situation arises when pruning the root system during the formation of the caudex. Until the plant recovers from all the manipulations and grows new roots and a young crown, it either blooms sparingly or does not form buds at all in the immediate future after pruning.

How to stimulate flowering

Why balsam does not bloom at home - the main reasons

Care during the normal period and during flowering should be different from each other. When adenium blooms, cultivation activities should not greatly disturb or harm the bush. If you don’t know all the rules and subtleties of such cultivation, you may never see flowering.

What to do to make adenium bloom? The most important measure to stimulate timely flowering is proper wintering. By the end of each season in late autumn, adenium should be sent into hibernation. To do this, after all the buds have faded, cut off all dried inflorescences, leaf blades and shoots. Then gradually reduce watering and lighting. The temperature also needs to be lowered slowly until it reaches 6-8 °C. During the dormant period in winter, they do not fertilize and generally try not to disturb the bush unless necessary.

You can make a bush bloom in other ways. To do this, the tops of the shoots must be pinched every spring. This will stimulate abundant flowering. But in this case, you will have to sacrifice the thick and lush crown of the tree, because it will devote all its strength to blooming buds.

Adenium will fit perfectly into any interior

Blooming adenium can fit perfectly into even the most inconspicuous interior. But often the flower upsets its owners by the lack of flowering. This is probably why, if you enter into a search engine: “adenium, when does it start to bloom?”, it will give exactly the reasons for the lack of flowering. However, this problem can be overcome with proper and caring care, which should not be carried out at random, but competently.

Rules of care

Before making adenium bloom at home, it is given comfortable conditions. A lot of time and effort is not required to care for a desert guest. There are no such plants that require a lot of attention in deserts. Therefore, we make this plant bloom without making a huge effort.

Lighting

Since the perennial is light-loving, it should be placed in the brightest place. A window sill with a window facing south or southwest is most suitable for this. Unless young shoots from seeds cannot be placed on such a window.

During the rest period

The dormant period begins at the end of autumn. Adeniums must be “sent to rest.” Otherwise, they will not bloom, and if they do bloom, there will be few flowers, and the flowers themselves will appear small and pale.

To do this, place the container with the flower in a slightly shaded place. You also need to reduce watering to once a month. The room temperature should be no more than 15° C. Do not be alarmed if the plant sheds its leaves.

Regularity of pruning and pinching

At the beginning of the first spring month, when the perennial begins to “come to life” after hibernation, its shoots are cut off. This allows the crown to form and encourages the formation of buds.

You can also trim the roots. Particularly interesting shapes are obtained when planting a plant on a round plate. In this case, the root grows to the sides like an octopus. The roots can be strengthened with sticks or toothpicks, giving the roots an exotic look. In any case, the operation of pruning and crown formation must be performed before the plant begins to bloom.

Pinching means cutting off the tops of the central conductors and side shoots. The branches are cut off by 1-2 cm. This is the same pruning process, only the small tops are cut off. Pinching and pruning help stimulate branching and crown formation.

Watering

In winter, the plant is watered once a month. And with the beginning of its active growth, it is gradually watered more and more. For this purpose, water should be soft, slightly sour and warm. Watering should only be done when the soil dries out. Periodically, adeniums are sprayed with a spray bottle.

Soil selection

For this “exotic”, the soil must be selected very carefully. Light and moisture-permeable would be ideal. Fertilizers are added to the mixture. The reaction of the soil mixture should be neutral or acidic.

You can use store-bought soil that is designed for growing orchids. Perlite or vermiculite is added to it, but their percentage should not be more than 20%. The soil should also contain coconut fiber (peat can be used), humus with coarse sand. The ratios of the components are taken as follows: 5:2:1:2.

The plant loves loose soil, so adding a large amount of cultivators to the soil is even more beneficial. Their role can be played by:

broken brick;
sand with perlite;
charcoal crumbs, etc.

Transfer

Adenium will bloom better and form buds earlier if it is replanted more often. But when replanting, you should not take a pot that is too large. Experts recommend doing this in the evening or on a stormy day. And after transplanting, you need to stop watering for several days. This desert guest responds well to transplants.

The transplant is performed as follows:

the plant is carefully removed from the pot;
look through the roots and stem to remove damaged ones;
a drainage layer and a little soil mixture are poured at the bottom of the new flowerpot;
Place the seedling and sprinkle it with the same soil, carefully filling the voids between the roots.

Adeniums from seeds: cultivation

First of all, choose the seeds. There are about 10 types of adenium, each of them has its own characteristics. The most common and easy to care for is A. Obesum (Obese) . You can order seeds on AliExpress (which is unreliable), and on numerous websites on the Internet.

Preparing the container

Any bowl-shaped container will do, that is, a shallow, wide box.

We make many small holes in the bottom of the container using a nail or screwdriver.

It is very good if there is a lid.

Seed preparation

Before planting, adenium seeds can be soaked for 3-4 hours (optional).

Here you need to be careful - do not leave the seeds for longer than 4 hours .

Otherwise, negative consequences may occur: rotting, the percentage of germination drops.

The water should be warm all the time, you can add potassium permanganate, growth stimulants ( Epin, Ribav ), fungicides to prevent rotting ( Fitosporin ).

It is better not to use the drug Maxim. Its effect has a bad effect on germination.

You can plant seeds without prior preparation.

The soil

The soil should be loose and breathable.
The majority, 50-60%, is universal soil ( Terra vita is one of the best brands).

Everything else is leavening agents.

It is better to use perlite , as it absorbs excess moisture when pouring, and when there is a lack of moisture, on the contrary, it releases the accumulated water to the flowers.

Vermiculite in large quantities is dangerous, as it helps retain moisture in the pot for a long time.

You can use some charcoal, brick chips, or foam balls.

Sowing

We place drainage (fine expanded clay, pieces of brick) at the bottom of the planting container. Next we fill in the soil. Place the seeds flat, not sprinkling them, but slightly pressing them with your finger. Now we spray the soil a little with water from a spray bottle or water it from a teaspoon.

Important: the soil should be moist, but not wet.

Place the container in a bag or cover with a lid. Each variety of adenium must be marked. If there are several varieties in one bowl, then place toothpicks with the names of the varieties attached to them near the seeds.

Growing temperature

Place the container with the seeds in a warm place. For a central heating radiator, for a shoe or towel dryer, there are many options. 28-35 °C is the temperature required for successful germination.

In the morning and evening, open the greenhouse and ventilate for 30 minutes. When the top layer of soil dries, slightly moisten it with water.

Shoots

The first “babies” will begin to appear within 3 days.

They look like plump green columns with two small leaves on the top.

All adenium seeds can germinate within two weeks from planting.

After mass shoots appear, you need to place the container with them in a bright place.

It is not advisable to remove heating for successful germination, at least for 10 days.

Pinching, trimming and forming the adenium caudex video

If you want to get a unique branchy crown of a mini-tree, don’t be lazy about pinching and pruning it. Pruning is aimed at forming the crown and stimulating branching. Pinching has the same goals; it is carried out on seedlings obtained from seeds.

How to form roots in adenium

Keep in mind that the roots of adenium grow strongly, which is why the plant is gradually displaced above the surface of the earth. If the roots have risen more than 1-2 cm above the ground, they need to be trimmed urgently. To do this, the plant is freed from the pot, the lateral roots are cut off, and transplanted into a deeper pot.

Reproduction of adenium

Adenium reproduces well by grafting, seeds, and cuttings. The best time for cuttings and grafting is considered to be the active growth phase (spring, summer). Adenium seeds can be propagated all year round, but in winter the young shoots will have to be illuminated. For all propagation methods, it is very important to keep the plant at a temperature of +25 C and above.

Germination, sowing seeds in the ground

The seed method is attractive because adeniums are obtained with a good and thick caudex, for which they are most often grown. In addition, the gardener himself can simulate the unusual shape of the pet from the first months of the plant’s life.

Adeniums from seeds grow quite quickly

Seeds lose their viability already in 6–8 months, so it is better to sow them freshly harvested. However, it is worth remembering that during seed propagation, varietal characteristics are often lost.

The order of sowing adenium seeds:

The seeds are soaked for 30 minutes in any fungicide, possibly potassium permanganate.
Place for 2 hours in a growth stimulator, for example, HB-101.
Sow in bowls with soil to a depth of 1 cm, cover with film or a lid. Drainage holes in the bowl are required.
Place the bowl in a warm place with a temperature of 30–35 degrees.
Within a few days, the first shoots may appear, which can be illuminated 24 hours a day, and in the future - provide a 12-hour day.
Place it on a warm and bright windowsill and water it periodically, without waiting for the soil to dry out.
The seedlings grow quite quickly; they are replanted when 2 true leaves appear.

Video: first transplantation of seedlings, pruning and root formation

Rooting cuttings

Cuttings 12–15 cm long are cut, soaked in a solution of Heteroauxin for 2 hours, then the cut and 2 cm above it are powdered with Fitosporin and left to dry for a day.

The dried cuttings are inserted into perlite, a mixture of perlite with peat or vermiculite to a depth of 5 cm and slightly moistened. A cap made of transparent film is put on the handle. Once every few days, the film is removed, the greenhouse is ventilated for several minutes, and if necessary, moistened. After a month, roots appear on the cuttings.

Ready adenium cuttings with roots

Important conditions for rooting are heat and light. The air temperature should be kept within + 25...+35 during the day and not fall below + 25 at night. In cool weather, provide the required soil temperature with a warm heated mat, then rooting will occur faster and more likely.

Rooting adenium cuttings in water usually ends in failure.

How to get cuttings by air layering

This is a complex but quite effective method of reproduction. Gives almost 100 percent rooting. The main condition is that the plant must be in the active growth stage. Keep the air temperature above +25 C.

A cut of the bark is made on a branch of the plant in a ring of 1–2 cm. This is followed by an hour of drying in the open air.
A plastic cap is put on the branch, tied under the cut and filled with damp sphagnum moss.
The cap is also tied on top.
Once a week, a syringe is used to poke a hole in the cap and moisten the moss.
After a few weeks you can see the first roots. If the roots are not visible, inspect the cut; it may be overgrown with new bark. In this case, the slice will have to be updated.
The cuttings with aerial roots are cut below their level, dried for several days in a warm room, then planted in the substrate.

Photo gallery: how to grow aerial roots

Cut a strip of bark 1 to 2 cm wide around the circumference of the branch.

We put on and secure a plastic bag below the cut. We pour wet sphagnum moss into the bag and tie it over the cut. Roots appear within 2-3 months

This method is good because several layerings can be made on one branch; the cuttings, while continuing to feed from the mother plant, form strong; thanks to the antibacterial and disinfectant properties of the moss, rotting rarely occurs.

Problems with leaves: description, cause, treatment

Flower diseases can manifest themselves as follows.

The ends are drying out

With a sharp change in air temperature and drafts, the tips of the leaves may begin to dry out. Leaves also begin to dry out in strong bright sunlight or lack of watering. To prevent such a disease, it is recommended to move the flower to a more suitable place and monitor the soil moisture.

Turn yellow

Yellowing of the leaves may be due to a problem in the root system, for example, a pest or rot has appeared on the roots. This reaction also appears after replanting the plant, with abundant watering, excess fertilizer, or simply the leaves of the flower have become old. In this case, do not worry, you need to remove the yellowed leaves and continue to monitor the flower.

Fall off

There are situations when adenium sheds its leaves and does not bloom. This phenomenon can be encountered in the autumn; this is a normal situation for a flower. If a flower begins to shed its leaves before dormancy begins, there may be several reasons:

The flower was planted in inappropriate soil. The problem can be eliminated with a transplant.
Incorrect trimming. When pruning, you need to take into account the size of the caudex. The procedure is permitted only if the caudex is wide enough (read here what to do if the caudex of adenium shrivels, withers and becomes soft).
Lack of moisture. Regular watering will help eliminate this problem.
Leaves may also fall due to sudden temperature changes.

The variegation disappears

If a flower begins to grow only green leaves, there may be several reasons:

The flower does not have enough sunlight.
The flower became weak.
Excess feed.
Degeneration (Return from mutation to the original form).

In the first three cases, proper care must be provided.

During the mutation process, nothing can be changed; the flower will begin to grow white leaves. This phenomenon is very dangerous for adenium and can lead to death.

Round spots

Round spots indicate high air humidity and a poorly ventilated area. First, the leaves of the flower are affected, and then the root system begins to suffer.

To avoid this, you need to monitor the microclimate in the place where you grow adenium (read about growing adenium from seeds here). As a preventive measure, it is recommended to spray or water the plant with a fungicide. The drug should be used once a month so as not to cause addictive microorganisms.

Burn

If brown spots appear on the adenium, this indicates sunburn. Despite the fact that the desert is considered the birthplace of the flower, it should be gradually accustomed to the bright rays of the sun. The burn will disappear after renewing the leaves.

There is also a bacterial burn; it appears from increased soil and air humidity. Outwardly, it resembles solar, but methods of control include collecting and processing the affected leaves. It is recommended to treat the soil with special bactericidal agents.

Adenium diseases and their treatment

Diseases

Root rot (also affects caudex)

Symptoms: leaves turn yellow, the caudex becomes soft and changes color, leaves stop growing.

Reasons: too low a temperature around the plant combined with waterlogging of the soil. Such conditions have a bad effect even on people (which is why many people get sick in the off-season), let alone plants.

What to do: remove the plant from the pot and inspect the roots. It is necessary to carefully cut off the rotten parts, leaving only healthy roots. It is important to do this with sharp scissors so that you cut the root and not break it off. The cut will soon darken - this is normal, the juice just came into contact with air and oxidized. You don't need to do anything about it.

The next step is to treat the sections with three percent hydrogen peroxide and leave for half an hour - let them dry. Then it is necessary to treat the sections with an antibacterial medicine, mixing it with fungicides, and then leave to dry in a warm and dry place for several days.

Drying takes up to a week if the rot is severe. When you find that the edges of the cuts have hardened and the root system looks healthy and not damaged, you can plant the plant back in the pot, in a dry, clean, preferably disinfected substrate.

After treatment, the plant must be placed in a dry, warm place, with moderate watering.

Drying branches

Symptoms: the branch dries out, turns yellow, the affected area looks like the brown bark of an ordinary tree, a dark green hard cap appears at the end of the branch.

What to do: there are several options to solve the problem:

Cut the damaged branch and then coat it all with ampicillin, then place the flower where it will receive plenty of sunlight. This will help stop drying out.
Treat with drugs called “Fundazol” and “Tetracycline”, provide the adenium with bright, abundant sunlight.
Folk remedy: make an incision below the dried area and treat it with brilliant green or hydrogen peroxide.
Treat the plant with fungicides.

Round spots.

Symptoms: brown round spots on the leaves, then on the caudex.

Causes: This is a fungal disease, usually caused by excess moisture.

What to do: treat the plant with fungicides (it is also advisable to treat it as a preventive measure at least once a month, especially in the summer, even if the adenium is not sick yet).

Leaf necrosis

Symptoms: yellowing of leaf edges.

Causes: Not enough sunlight or nutrients. Figuratively speaking, the plant thinks that autumn has come and sheds its leaves. It will also reset them if you didn’t take care of artificial lighting in the fall.

What to do: provide artificial or natural bright lighting, reduce watering (water only when the earthen ball is completely dry) so as not to flood the plant and not provoke the appearance of fungi.

Small leaves

Reasons: lack of watering; too dense soil, which is unacceptable for a plant with aerial roots, lack of nitrogen, or a feature of this particular flower.

What to do: try to correct the factors described above: water more often, replace the soil with a lighter one and loosen it, introduce nitrogen fertilizing.

Crooked leaves

Symptoms: twisted, wavy, twisted leaves.

Reasons: such leaves often appear when the plant has just come out of winter, this is normal. This also often happens after vaccination has been carried out.

Among care errors, this effect occurs due to uneven watering, when the plant is sometimes not watered at all, sometimes it is flooded, as if trying to compensate for a long absence. You can't do that.

Or is it a genetic mutation.

What to do: Review your watering schedule. If everything is fine with him, accept it and wait.

Mosaic virus

Symptoms: yellow spots on the leaves, their curvature.

Causes: This is a viral disease, its occurrence is pure luck.

What to do: follow the rules of care. There is no cure, but mosaic virus is not dangerous for adenium if good conditions are met. If they are bad, then the virus suppresses the adenium’s immunity.

Sunburn

Symptoms: white sandy spots on any part of the plant, similar to a thick layer of light dust.

Reasons: adenium is truly a desert rose, but if suddenly exposed to the sun after wintering, it can, out of habit, get burned by too bright rays.

What to do: remove adenium from the sun and wait, the desert rose will cope with the burn itself.

Chemical burn

Symptoms: yellow-brown spots on the leaves that really look like burns, as if someone had burned the plant with fire.

Causes: overdose of fertilizers.

What to do: replant in clean soil and halve the dosage of fertilizers, especially when introducing it for the first time.

Adenium pests

Spider mite

Symptoms: the leaves have lost their shine, light specks have appeared on them, then they will grow to light spots, then the leaves will turn yellow and fall off. You may also notice a characteristic coating, similar to a thin cobweb, usually on the lower parts of the plant.

Why: as a rule, lack of watering, too dry and warm air around.

What to do: rinse the adenium under running water, wipe the pot, thoroughly wash the place where the flower stood: wipe the windowsill, window, shelves around, blinds with soap, if there were curtains hanging nearby - they are sent to the wash, because spider mites or its larvae.

If your steppe rose blooms, alas, the buds will have to be trimmed. Then you need to treat the adenium with an anti-tick drug three to four times (with breaks of three to five days), preferably from a spray bottle and generously. It is better to treat each time with a new drug, because spider mites easily adapt to toxic substances and develop immunity.

Aphid.

Symptoms: aphids are usually visible visually (large light green bugs, usually located on the underside of the leaves), but in addition to this, the leaves also curl.

Reasons: pure luck. Most likely, the aphids flew onto the adenium from another plant.

What to do: it’s quite easy to fight aphids; just treat adenium with insecticides a couple of times.

Mealybug

Symptoms: cotton wool-like coating, leaf deformation. Most often it appears in November-December and on young plants.

What to do: replant the adenium, because the mealybug lays eggs in the substrate; then wipe the plant with a cloth soaked in a solution of soap and alcohol (water, soap, alcohol, preferably laundry soap), and at the same time remove all the insects you find. Buds and damaged leaves will have to be removed. Then treat with insecticides three times with a break of a week.

Whitefly

Symptoms: visually noticeable - many small white butterflies. The danger of this pest is that it lives on the flower unnoticed for a long time, and you can only notice it when there are already a lot of pests. Because of whiteflies, adenium grows more slowly or stops growing altogether, and whiteflies also provoke the appearance of fungi.

What to do: thoroughly wash the adenium with soapy water, thoroughly wash all surfaces around it, and treat it with insecticides three to four times.

Shield.

Symptoms: green spots on the leaves, which then grow along the entire central vein of the leaf, sticky coating on the leaves, due to which fungus easily appears.

What to do: provide the adenium with a warm and dry microclimate, remove all pests with wet wipes or other devices (cotton pads can be moistened with soapy water), wipe all surfaces around the flower, treat the plant with insecticides three to four times at an interval of three days.

What factors influence the flowering of adenium?

To stimulate the onset of flowering, it is necessary to provide adenium with comfortable conditions. The formation of inflorescences primarily depends on the following factors:

Sufficient lighting. By its nature, adenium is a very light-loving plant, so it should be given the most illuminated place. Ideal if it is a southern or southeastern window sill. The only exceptions are young seedlings immediately after transplantation, as well as sick flowers.
Presence of a period of rest. At the end of autumn, when daylight hours become short, adenium should be put to rest so that it can rest and gain strength. It is advisable to place the pot in a room with an air temperature of no more than 15 degrees Celsius and reduce watering to once a month. Adenium needs to be watered even when it sheds its leaves.
Regular pruning. At the beginning of spring, as soon as the plant begins to emerge from the dormant period, elongated shoots should be trimmed. This will not only allow you to form a beautiful crown, but will also give an impetus to the planting of buds.

When growing adenium from seeds, we have the right to count on interesting caudexes, because this is precisely why seed propagation of this plant is good. However, that's not all. Each of us hopes that the seedling will bloom according to its variety. Our wish is not always fulfilled, but all the same, no matter what the flowering of a self-planted adenium seedling is, this is a small holiday and a big reward for the gardener for his efforts. So what is the first flowering?

First, you will have to come down to earth - the first flowering may not take place.
Your adeshka will be imbued with your desire and will give you the long-awaited buds in order to please his grower, but he may simply not have enough strength to bring what he started to a victorious end. Realizing that he did not calculate his strength, the seedling can dry out some or all of the buds. It’s a sad result, but you shouldn’t be discouraged either, because... this means that there will definitely be flowering soon. I often come across the question - when will adenium bloom from seeds?
The earliest flowering I heard of in our latitudes was 8 months.
On average, this is 2 years after sowing. It happens that even in the 3-4th year. The next question, naturally, is: what does this depend on?
The first and most obvious answer is from the growing conditions. I think there is no need to explain that if you put adenium in a dark, cool place, there will be no flowering. However, in such conditions, not only flowering... The more light your pet receives, while being warm and comfortable (by cozy I mean a suitable substrate and pot), the sooner flowering will occur. The second obvious answer is that it all depends on the type of adenium. The earliest flowering plant is Adenium obesum. There is an opinion that this is especially true for miniature adenium obesum. Adenium arabicum usually begins to bloom at a more mature age. And they grow it not for the flowers, but for the characteristic shape of the caudex. There is a less obvious, but important reason: the length of time before the first flowering depends on the immediate “parents” of the seedling. With adeniums, just like with people, the same father and mother are the same as the children. If pollination took place between two early flowering adeniums, then there is a very high chance that the seedling from the seeds resulting from this pollination will also bloom early. So, you saw the buds. What's your first wish? That's right - feed it, move it to a better place and something else. More precisely, it’s completely wrong - you don’t need to do all this. If adenium is about to bloom, it means it is happy where it is, and the main thing is not to change anything. Maybe increase the watering a little: this will be useful for the growth of buds. I understand that “doing nothing” in this case is quite equivalent to a feat, but you want to see flowering? Therefore, all that remains is to wait, and wait long enough. The “ripening” of the buds lasts about a month. The photo below shows the growth of a seedling bud that I planted on February 20, 2010. The first photo is dated March 2, 2011, i.e. one year and a few days after planting. Each subsequent photograph was taken one day later. Thus, you can see the dynamics of bud development almost from the moment of its inception to flowering. In addition to the growth of the bud, from the photographs you can see the growth rate of the branches that branched out at the place where the buds formed.

Adenium flower - description

In appearance, adenium does not look like what a person is used to imagining when thinking about succulents, famous plants loved by many for their ease of care (for example, Crassula, also known as the money tree, belongs to the succulents), but it is true: adenium is a succulent, simply from another genus is woody succulents, kurt family. If you look at the variety of adenium, which is popularly called “lamb”, you will notice the similarity with the same Crassula.

The features of caring for it correspond to the family: a lot of light, warmth, less water.

In the wild, adenium grows in Africa and southern Asia. It is also called “Sabinia rose” or “Desert rose”.

It can look completely different, depending on the species, especially since adenium is bred mainly for beauty. In the wild they reach three meters in height, but domestic species usually do not exceed half a meter or a little more.

What does an adenium flower look like?

As a rule, all adeniums, regardless of variety, share the following visual features:

A thick, tree-like stem, much like a tree trunk, it is even covered with a rough bark-like tissue, usually gray, white, sometimes greenish.
Most often, adeniums have a caudex - a thickening at the bottom of the tree-like stem in which the plant accumulates moisture and nutrients. In the wild, it is the caudex that helps the flower survive without moisture for a long time. However, there are varieties without caudex, with thinner stems - they are often used for “braiding”.
The leaves are bright green, oval, slightly pointed along the edge, glossy, with short stalks, the average length is from eight to fifteen centimeters. Adenium is a deciduous plant, so in poor conditions the leaves turn yellow and fly off.

Due to such features, adenium is often stylized, representing some kind of tree from it: for example, a flowering cherry, bonsai or palm grove.

How the desert rose blooms

It begins to bloom for the first time when the plant is two years old, at first sparsely, but gradually more and more abundantly. With good care they bloom all year round, but even with average flowering lasts several months, unlike other flowers that bloom for a couple of months a year.

What a blooming adenium looks like depends on the variety and variety. They even have different shapes: most often they are bell-shaped, but there are also double adenium, similar to a rose, or with five petals, open like a chamomile. The colors are also different. The most common is pink, but it can also be variegated, red, and white.

How fast it grows

In the first two years of life it is extremely rapid, then growth slows down.

Adenium is poisonous or not

Yes, this is an extremely poisonous plant. Moreover, its danger is that if the poisonous juice of other plants must be licked in order to be poisoned, i.e. If it needs to get on the mucous membranes, then adenium juice only needs to get on the skin to be absorbed and cause symptoms of serious poisoning.

Poisoning, if not treated in time, can even lead to death; it is not just a day of nausea and diarrhea.

Adenium also releases toxic substances into the air, so it is not recommended for people with respiratory diseases to have it. And if you have one, keep it away from children and animals.

Adenium in nature: photo

Features of care after purchase

After purchasing a desert rose, caring for the plant will require some attention.

It is not recommended to replant the plant immediately after purchase; you need to give it time to acclimatize.

On average, 7 to 15 days are enough for this. The exception is cases when you become worried after discovering signs of illness.

If you purchase an Adenium flower in the fall, after a short time it may shed its leaves.

This is a natural process - preparation for winter; Adenium enters a period of rest. You should reduce watering and keep the room temperature cooler.

If you have little experience in growing succulents, it is better to immediately invite a specialist. An experienced florist will notice the signs of the disease in time, determine the treatment, and you will need to follow his recommendations.

Diseases and pests of Adenium, characteristic of them in tropical conditions, are rarely found in northern latitudes (read why the tips of Adenium leaves turn yellow and dry and what are the causes of diseases). The most serious danger remains rotting of the caudex, which occurs due to excessive watering at medium and low temperatures.

Process description

Flower buds form at the ends of branches . The ripening period of the buds takes from one to two months. The flower opens in one to seven days.

The flowers are funnel-shaped and can reach up to six centimeters in diameter. Coloration varies from soft white and cream to bright crimson shades. Sometimes there is a combination of two colors: white or pink petals become crimson closer to the edge. Pink or white flowers may have a yellow center, while red flowers may have a white center. There are varieties with a pattern in the form of stripes radiating from the middle.

There are representatives with double flowers. Depending on the type of stone rose, the inflorescences consist of a different number of flowers. Petals can be arranged in one or several rows. According to this characteristic, flowers are divided into the following groups:

Singles are simple single-row flowers. The petals grow in the same plane, in the same line.
Doubles are corollas with two rows of petals.
Triple - flowers consist of three rows of petals.
Quad - includes four rows.

There are flowers with five, six, seven and even nine rows of petals. Flowers with different numbers of rows of petals differ in a number of characteristics :

The bud ripening period: the fewer petals a flower has, the faster the bud ripens.
Flower opening period: the more rows, the slower the petals open. For singles, opening occurs in one to two days, for more complex ones – up to seven.
Abundance of flowering: the fewer petals, the more abundant the bouquet flowering.
Required amount of light: the more rows a flower has, the more light it needs to ripen.

The duration of flowering most often depends on the variety. On average, one flower lives about ten days.

Diseases and pests are a common reason for failure to bloom.

Most often, adenium is affected by rot and fungus, which are the result of improper watering. Both diseases begin, first of all, to damage the caudex, which stops not only flowering, but the development of the bush as a whole: the leaves turn yellow, the buds fall off without having time to form normally.

To get rid of this problem, it is necessary to treat the plant with fungicides, and cut off the affected areas and sprinkle with activated carbon.

Among the pests that prevent the tree from developing normally are spider mites, mealybugs and scale insects. Insects attack the soft and succulent parts of the bush, including the peduncle. Weakened adenium cannot grow normally and form inflorescences. Some pests are not noticeable on the surface of the bush, as they are small in size or hide on the back side of the leaf. Many of them are securely located in the axils of the leaves.

In the fight against pests it is necessary to use insecticides. Spider mites are destroyed with acaricides. During treatment, you need to thoroughly water the soil with the solution, since insect larvae are found in the soil among the roots.

Important! After treating the bush, you need to let it rest for about a month.

To make adenium bloom, you need to carry out the necessary care measures in a timely manner.

Diseases and pests

Daylily is practically not attacked by pests. Improper care can provoke the appearance of diseases or parasites on exotic bushes.

Fungal infection of foliage

In terms of health, the main weak point of a plant is its roots. The fleshy thick roots of the daylily collect a lot of moisture inside themselves. Its excess quickly leads to rotting of the root mass. As a result, root rot or soft rot of the root collar may appear.

Fungal diseases usually affect the green part of the plant. The leaves begin to turn yellow from the tips, and over time the process covers the entire leaf plate. Sometimes yellow-brown spots or stripes appear on the foliage. The only way out is to remove all damaged foliage.

Additional Information. It is advisable to carry out prevention against fungal diseases every spring. Special preparations will help preserve the decorative appearance of the bush.

Parasites that can settle on a flower include:

aphid;
thrips;
spider mite

The most effective method of combating them is preventive treatment.

It is important to do this regularly and according to instructions

Fleshy roots and stems attract slugs and snails to the bush, and sweet inflorescences are eaten by beetles and bronze beetles during the growing season. Gardeners fight these pests using folk methods, treating shrubs with infusion of garlic, mustard or hot pepper.

Is hand pollination much better?

Flowering of adeniums.
Photo Seeds that are sold as varietal seeds with a photograph of the mother are seeds of natural (natural, spontaneous) pollination. Those. the mother is known, but who pollinated her is not. It is for such seeds that the statistics are given above.

But there are also seeds that are hand-pollinated, when an adenium breeder works as a bee. Ideally, he chooses the mother and father of the plant for pollination not according to the principle “I just have only two varieties blooming now, so I’ll cross-pollinate them,” but approaches the choice in more detail, understanding which characteristics of the parents have a high chance of being passed on to the offspring, which – will definitely be lost, which ones are worth saving, which ones are not.

Here, for example, are the recommendations of one famous adenium breeder from Thailand, Chuchat Suntraphonchai.

He recommends choosing varieties with one row of petals as mother plants. This will be the basis that will determine the style, color, shape, etc. new hybrid.
To obtain a double flower, you need to use a double hybrid as the father. Preferably stable, which regularly shows the same signs when flowering.
Plants that emerged from seeds of such pollination need to be pollinated again with a double daddy. As a result of such repeated pollination with the same hybrid, as a rule, expressive varieties are obtained.

However, in any case, as a result of hand pollination, you can imagine much better what can grow from the resulting seeds. Interesting fact: some pairs of non-variegated hybrids consistently produce variegated offspring. So, if you purchase hand-pollinated seeds, ask the manufacturer if variegated offspring have previously been noticed behind this seed.

Hand-pollinated seeds tend to be more expensive than naturally pollinated seeds.

Features of pruning “desert roses”

With regard to adenium, it is appropriate to apply all the rules for maintaining succulent crops.

Pruning has the corresponding specifics:

All manipulations with crown formation are carried out against the background of reducing watering before and after pruning. This will reduce juice loss.
It is necessary to choose a dry, sunny day so that the cuts dry faster.
It is recommended to disinfect the cuts with crushed charcoal or a solution of brilliant green.
All manipulations are carried out with a pre-treated sharp scalpel.

Neglecting pruning completely eliminates the decorative qualities of an exotic plant. When unkempt, adenium is a sparsely leafy plant with a bare trunk and one or two vertical shoots.

How to achieve adenium flowering at home

Adeniums are becoming increasingly common among indoor plants. These flowers have an unusual appearance, thereby attracting lovers of ornamental plants on windowsills in apartments and offices. And when the adenium bloomed, it was hard to take your eyes off it, it was so beautiful. But not everyone succeeds in getting them to bloom. To understand what the problem is, it is necessary to take into account the peculiarities of the care and propagation of amazing plants, because this determines whether they will bloom.

Adeniums belong to the Kutrov family. At first they grew only in the lands of Saudi Arabia. It was from there that travelers brought the “desert rose” to Europe.

This miniature tree has a fleshy, thickened trunk, mostly located underground. Branched shoots grow upward from the trunk. For this reason, the plant is often classified as a shrub. Under natural conditions, however, it sometimes reaches a height of 8 m. Moisture accumulates in the thickened part to provide the plant with it in dry times. For this feature, the plant is also called bottle plant.

The roots of the plant are thick, fleshy, and grow wider after planting in a pot. The roots look unusual and amaze with their decorativeness.

The leaves are small, elongated, rounded at the ends. Their surface is glossy or velvety. They are located on short cuttings alternately or in bunches.

Flowering plant. Its inflorescences amaze with their beauty and elegance, located on the tops of branches in the form of bunches. The flowers resemble simple funnels, are large and have many interesting shades. Sometimes there are species with double flowers. The flower “funnel” itself is colored unevenly, becoming lighter towards the center. There are a variety of shades: from bright to pale.

The adenium plant usually begins flowering in spring, summer or early autumn. Flowering lasts a long time, usually several months. Blooms in April - July or September - October, if it feels comfortable. But by creating artificial lighting, you can “make” this plant bloom in other months.

When does adenium bloom?

The big advantage of adenium is that it can bloom twice in one season. Typically, the first flowering of a healthy bush occurs in the second half of March or in early April. The first time adenium blooms, as a rule, very profusely. The second flowering occurs at the beginning of autumn - in the first half of September. It is not as colorful and bright as the first time.

Adenium, blooming with beautiful double inflorescences

To find out how long adenium grows before flowering, the age is calculated from planting in open ground. If propagation was carried out by planting seeds, then the first flowering should occur at 3 years.

Note! If a flower does not open its buds after 4-5 years, then it is necessary to identify the reason in order to force the adenium to bloom.

Anthurium does not bloom, but produces only leaves: reasons

There can be many reasons why anthurium does not bloom at home. Therefore, before you treat the bush and make it bloom again, you should find the real problem due to which the bush cannot produce buds.

Pot too big

Since anthurium has a weak root system, it is difficult for it to obtain nutrients from the soil. Therefore, the large container in which the bush is grown complicates this process even more. In this case, until the roots of the flower grow and fill the entire space of the container, it will not bloom.

Errors in watering mode

One of the main reasons why anthurium does not bloom at home is improper watering. This includes the irregularity of the procedure, as well as the use of low-quality irrigation water.

Note! Cold chlorinated tap water often causes root rot, causing the bush to stop blooming and the foliage to dry out.

Unsuitable temperature

The next reason why anthurium does not bloom for a long time is inappropriate room temperature

During the growing season, the temperature should be between 19 °C and 23 °C. It is very important not to allow sudden jumps in these indicators and not to lower them below 15 ° C, otherwise the plant will go into hibernation

Note! The bush is deliberately put into hibernation after flowering so that it can gain strength. In other cases, the room is maintained at the required temperature

Insufficient humidity

For tropical plants such as anthurium, humidity levels are very important. If they drop below 60%, then the plant slows down its life processes.

Deficiency or excess of essential microelements in the soil

During certain periods of anthurium development, the content and dosage of microelements in the fertilizer should change. Otherwise problems arise. An overabundance of nutrients can also affect the lack of flowering, as the plant may instead begin to grow only leaf mass.

Drafts

Due to increased humidity and high temperature, the room may become stuffy, so ventilation will be required. However, their frequency, especially during cool periods, can harm the plant. It is also worth avoiding strong drafts, which will tear off the inflorescences and leaves from the bush.

Mistakes made during transplantation

Anthurium does not bloom or grow due to improper transplantation. This procedure is considered complex and requires experience. Often, mechanical damage is caused to the root system and shoots, through which infections subsequently penetrate.

Important! When replanting, do not use contaminated garden tools.

Diseases and parasites

Due to improper care, pests and diseases often appear on the bush. Visually, such a plant begins to change color and fade. Inflorescences do not form, and the leaves curl and fall off.

The most common diseases affecting anthurium include:

leaf rust;
root rot;
powdery mildew;
septoria.

Pests that affect flowering include:

mealybug;
spider mite;
aphid;
scale insect

Improper care can prevent buds from opening and foliage from drying out.

Description of the plant

The difference between adenium and usual indoor plants is that it looks like a rose and a tree at the same time. Its trunk serves as a storehouse of nutrients and moisture in case of drought, and drought is common in the desert. Only during the rainy season can adenium or desert rose replenish water reserves in its own tissues.

Another unusual phenomenon is that adenium blooms on New Year’s holidays, which can greatly surprise guests.

The adenium caudex is a thickening at the bottom of the trunk, essentially a root. Caudex, although located on the surface of the earth, does not participate in the process of photosynthesis. It is believed that the caudex should be located underground so as not to overheat and evaporate water, but succulent breeders expose it to the surface. After all, the thick trunk is the most remarkable thing about this flower.

The second advantage is the bright large flowers of adenium of regular or double shape, similar to rose blooms. Because of this, the plant received its second name - desert rose. The succulent has few leaves; they are elongated with a rounded tip, although they can vary depending on the varietal of the crop.

Many gardeners, having heard about the topical origin of adenium, refuse to grow and care for it at home, because all species are extremely demanding on the climate. But there is good news: selection does not stand still and new varieties have already been created that feel good in the middle zone.

They need watering and tolerate working radiators in the winter. Therefore, you can take on the cultivation of adenium with peace of mind. Even if you grow it from seeds, its growth will be noticeable day after day, and flowering can occur within a year.

Growing conditions in the wild

Wild relatives of adenium are not spoiled with care. Moreover, they grow under the scorching sun, with a minimum of nutrients and water. Most of the caudex is located underground, the roots are strongly intertwined, forming complex patterns.

Wild adenium has almost no leaves. This is due to the lack of nitrogen in sandy soil and the almost complete absence of organic matter. At home, you can achieve a beautiful combination of greenery and flowering thanks to regular fertilizing.

Interesting! Flower growers consider the benefits of fertilizer for adenium from the position of “how to make the caudex thick”

And even all care comes down to how to achieve thickening of the caudex.

How to plant adenium at home

Very often, vaccinations are used to propagate adeniums. It looks especially beautiful when several varieties are grafted onto one tree. Different types of grafting are used: “split”, side cut, V-shaped grafting, eye grafting, flat grafting.

Several varieties of adenium with different flower colors can be grafted onto one plant.

Most often, the rootstock is a young adenium grown from seeds, and the scion is a hybrid cutting.

Grafting into cleft

Cleft grafting is the simplest method of propagation. Due to the fact that the contact area between the scion and the rootstock is quite large, the survival rate of the cuttings is very high. In addition, this is the best way to graft a cutting from a dormant adenium. However, an aesthetically perfect result cannot always be obtained in this way. Often the grafting looks sloppy.

Unsuccessful grafting into a cleft leaves unsightly transitions between the rootstock and scion

Stages of grafting into cleft

We cut off the upper part of the rootstock, leaving a stump of 7–10 cm. We make the cut in one motion.
For the scion, we take a freshly cut cutting, measuring from 4 to 12 cm in length and with a thickness the same or slightly less than the grafting site.
We cut out the lower part of the scion with a wedge with two sides.
We make a cut in the center of the rootstock.
Insert the scion wedge into the cut.
Wrap with plastic film for better fusion. You can use fum. tape or duct tape with the glue facing up.
We put a transparent bag over the graft and tie it tightly so that there is a humid microclimate inside the bag with the graft.
Leave for 2 weeks in partial shade.

Scheme of grafting into a cleft - the most common method of propagation of adenium

To form a lush crown in adeniums, the best option would be to use side-cut grafting; this is one of the types of split grafting. In this case, a cut is made on the rootstock on the side of the central trunk, into which the scion is inserted.

Adenium grafting into a lateral incision

A variant of cleft grafting is also a V-shaped graft. It is advisable to use it if the rootstock is much thicker than the scion. With further healing of the wound, a very beautiful transition is obtained.

Pests

Mealybug

An insect that lives in leaf axils. It affects young shoots, foliage and buds. Signs of damage are:

White, waxy, cotton-like coating.
Sugary discharge in case of long-term illness.

Adenium stops growing and begins to experience problems with flowering. Severe defeat leads to death.

Fighting methods:

If the disease is in its early stages, the plant can be treated with a soap solution, removing the scale insects and their secretions. In the future, it is necessary to carry out preventive treatments with a weak soap or alcohol solution.
Spray the plants with special preparations in accordance with the instructions. Repeat the treatment weekly.

IMPORTANT! The older the larvae, the more difficult it will be to rehabilitate the plant.

Bedbugs

Sucking insects that appear on pods with adenium seeds and seriously damage them. Treatment with special preparations helps in this case. A mustard solution may also help. Dissolve 100 grams of dry powder in ten liters and spray the plant damaged by pests every three days.

Caterpillars

They may appear on adenium due to transfer from other plants. This often happens when keeping a flower outdoors in the summer.

Small caterpillars or their larvae are light green in color and are often difficult to distinguish from the foliage of the plant. The insect eats holes in the leaves, and the growth of adenium slows down.

As a control measure, it is necessary to manually collect all the caterpillars from the flower and destroy them, and treat severely affected areas with insecticides.

Aphid

A sign of damage is curling leaves.

When such a symptom appears, you should examine the back side of the leaves. Aphids are very noticeable. Its larvae look like gray-green insects.

Easily destroyed. It is enough to carry out one treatment with any specialized drug.

Coccids

Common name for scale insects, false scale insects and scale insects. Sucking insects that damage leaves and shoots of plants. Coccids secrete thick sticky substances covered with a black, sooty coating. It is better to fight them at the larval stage.

Adult insects are covered with “shields” and are more resistant to various types of drugs.

Most often, adenium suffers from root insects, since the pest prefers dry, breathable soils.

Reference!

The root bug feeds on sap from the roots, injecting them with a substance that negatively affects the plant. The leaves of the affected adenium fade, and the roots become covered with a white coating.

The following measures can save the flower:

Treating the soil with special preparations (Dantop, Mospilian, Aktara). The most effective method, since the mealybug larvae are covered with a difficult-to-permeate cocoon, which only chemicals can destroy.
Root hot bath:
Remove the flower from the pot along with the earthen lump.
Clean the roots from the soil and rinse thoroughly.
Cut off all affected areas of the root system.
Wash the roots with insecticide.
Plant in a new pot and fresh substrate.

Formation of adenium step by step

The peculiarity of the culture is that Adenium has a high decorative value not only for its flowers, but also for its thick base of the main stem (caudex) and swollen roots. To make the plant look as attractive and exotic as possible, they need to be shaped and trimmed.

The operation is carried out only in spring or June.

Trimming adenium: general rules

First you need to deal with adenium itself. The culture is slow-growing, by the age of 5 it reaches 20 cm, at 10-12 - about half a meter. Adenium grown from seeds is considered:

up to 8-12 months – seedling;
from 1 to 3 years – a young plant;
older - adult adenium.

Now, how does pruning and pinching affect crops, depending on age:

It is generally recommended not to touch the seedlings. In the best case, a replacement shoot will form under the pinched crown, which will take a vertical position and continue growing upward. But failure is also possible - the seedling will sit in place for a long time until the nearest bud wakes up, or it will die.
The young plant will definitely produce a replacement shoot. Or maybe two, if the pruning was done in the summer, and the central stem has become thick. But there is no guarantee.
Adult adenium, when pruned in the first half of the growing season, is guaranteed to produce 2-3 new shoots.

The thicker the trunk at the cut site, the more dormant buds can wake up.

When pruning and forming the crown or roots of adenium is done, gardeners must adhere to the following rules:

Wear disposable gloves to prevent the milky juice from causing skin irritation. After the operation is completed, they must be thrown away.
Before pruning, adenium should be washed in a warm shower. Otherwise, the accumulated dust will infect the wounds. This will replace watering, which is recommended to be done 2 days before pruning. It is not necessary for the flower to bleed too much milky juice, which will happen if you “drink” it in advance.
The instrument should be disinfected.
When pruning diseased branches, you will have to wash your knife or scalpel after each touch to infected vegetative organs. If the plant is healthy, simply wipe it with a cotton swab moistened with alcohol to remove the milky sap.
It is better to prune adenium in April-May. But it is possible - until June inclusive, unless the temperature exceeds 25° C.
During transplantation, the adenium roots are pruned. There is no need to specifically remove the plant from the pot.
“Extra” lower processes are not shortened, but cut off in one movement at the border with the caudex.
Pruning is done at least 1 cm above the nearest bud (internodes).
Milky juice should be removed with a napkin.
All wounds should be treated with activated carbon powder.
Until the place where the pruning was done heals, you should avoid getting water there so that the stem does not rot.
You can pinch young branches in different ways - with your nails, pruning, or simply by crushing the tip of the shoot with your fingers.
When removing a weak branch, the entire stump should not be left.
The minimum height of a truncated caudex is 10 cm above ground level.

Some flower growers believe that cutting and replanting should be done at the same time. Having lost part of the crown, the crop will direct all its efforts to regenerating the roots. Others say it's too stressful. It is necessary to plant the plant in a new pot, and only after a month give it shape.

At the same time, you can (and should) prune and replant only healthy, strong adenium.

As a means for treating wounds, professionals advise using an expensive special balm or cheap crushed activated carbon. Garden pitch and cytokinin paste are not suitable.

Pinching seedlings

Often, even experienced flower growers write in their blogs that the formation of adenium can begin from a very early age. That is, pinch the top of the seedling when several true leaves appear.

In fact, in such small plants, removing the growing point will not do anything. The bud closest to the pinching site will wake up, the adenium will again form one stem, only development will be delayed.

It is necessary to provide the seedling with proper care at home:

bright lighting;
poor watering;
high temperature during the growing season;
moderately cool winter.

The first condition is most important for rapid growth. Fulfilling the rest can only make adenium stronger (but not higher), but ignoring it hinders development.

The first time pinching (pruning) of seedlings is carried out the next year after germination, in spring or summer. Then this will give a result - perhaps 2 or 3 kidneys will wake up.

Pruning is guaranteed to make branches only for adult adenium, and this is 3 years. Pinching the crown during root formation does not count. Its goal is to direct the plant’s forces to the development of the underground part, and not to branching.

Crown formation

It is recommended to do the initial pruning for specimens grown from cuttings at a height of 5-9 cm. You cannot do this with seedlings - it is possible that part of the caudex will be cut off, about 2-4 cm upward from its border. But this is approximately. The cut must be made 1 cm above the dormant bud.

An adult, previously unformed plant is shortened by 2/3 so that it begins to actively branch. Measures to maintain the crown of a bush or tree are carried out once every 2 seasons:

First, all diseased, thin, growing inward crowns, crossing stems, rubbing against each other, are removed into a ring.
The cut is made above the outward-facing bud.
To form a tree, all remaining branches are shortened by a third. Bush - at least half.

There is also deep cutting. Most flower growers do not practice it, but this is a matter of taste:

cut off the central shoot along with the tip of the caudex;
up to 15 dormant buds can grow at once;
Some of it will dry out, but this pruning will make the adenium look like a hedgehog with sparse spines, here and there decorated with flowers.

The growth of replacement shoots begins approximately 2-3 weeks after pruning.

How to form a caudex

Caudex is sometimes called cauliflower by botanists. The thickening at the bottom of the shoot includes the bases of swollen roots and old branches overgrown with a thick layer of bark, plus dormant buds.

Methods for forming the caudex

There are several ways to make it fancy. The next chapter will cover:

cuttings of the central root, including “octopuses”;
release of the lower processes from the substrate.

Other methods:

Rolling the caudex into a ring. They do this gradually, carefully, from an early age, twisting the stem that has not had time to become lignified and swell strongly.
Weaving braids or knots from shoots that appeared after deep pruning (described in the previous chapter). Woody, the bases of the stems will be included in the caudex.
Combining shoots of several plants.

Trinity

A variant of the last method of forming the adenium caudex from the previous Trinity section, step by step:

Take three 2-3 month old seedlings with thickenings of similar shape, preferably of the same height. The composition will look most original if the color of the flowers is different.
Free the roots from soil residues.
Press the seedlings with their sides, fix the caudexes with cling film - it stretches in all directions, other material will leave dents on the bases of the shoots. The tops of the stems should be free.
Plant in one pot.
Do the first watering after three days.
After 1-2 months (depending on the intensity of growth), remove the film. The caudexes of seedlings at the points of contact will take on a triangular shape.
Carefully move the plants apart.
Using a sharp knife, completely cut off the bark, capturing 1-2 mm of wood over the entire contact area of the adeniums. It is well marked, it is impossible to make a mistake.
Blot the milky juice.
Connect the seedlings tightly to their original position.
Re-fix with cling film.
Remove the bandage after 2-4 weeks.

If the owners “felt sorry” for the adeniums, pruning removed 1-2 mm of the bark, the caudexes will not grow together well and may separate over time.

Formation of roots

Pruning of the lower shoots is carried out in the following cases:

Shortening the tap root. For example, when creating a bonsai, or simply to give the plant the most bizarre shape possible.
When forming roots by gradually releasing them from the soil.
Thinning the root system that has become too massive. Such a volume interferes with planting in a new pot, and the plant simply does not need it; the apartment is not a waterless desert.

Trimming the central root

Adenium has a taproot, which is useless to lift when transplanting - it will not add decorativeness to the plant. Only in rare cases, when the lower shoot breaks to a “successful” length during picking, beautiful swollen adventitious roots are formed. So flower growers have to act.

Everyone agrees that pruning the lower shoot should be done on the seedling. Only in choosing the best age when it can be formed: at 2-3 or 6-7 months, they do not agree. Advice: you need to experiment, focusing on the degree of development of the plant.

Step by step to obtain an “octopus” from older adenium:

Get the seedling out of the ground.
Shake off the roots.
Cut off the lower part of the caudex with all the roots.
Pinch the top.
Blot the flowing milky juice.
Air dry for 10 minutes.
Treat the sections with activated carbon powder.
The bottom of the caudex is additionally powdered with a root formation stimulator.
Leave to dry in a well-ventilated, shady place for 5 days. The temperature should be strictly within 23-25° C.
Place the caudex on oven-baked sand or perlite in direct sunlight. Increase the temperature to 25-30° C.
Water little by little when the sand is completely dry.
After a month and a half, good new roots should form, growing in a circle.
Carefully unravel the shoots, cut out the weak ones to the caudex.
Plant the adenium in a regular substrate, placing a plastic disk under the base, around which the roots are evenly distributed.
Raise the processes adjacent to the caudex slightly above the substrate, insert toothpicks or foam strips between them.
When the roots harden and become woody, you will get the famous octopus.

The top is not pinched for branching. The seedling, on the contrary, will stop growing. This is done so that the plant devotes all its strength to the formation of new roots.

For a 2-3 month old seedling the operation is simpler:

In adenium, only the crown and central root are pinched, the lower lateral processes are not touched.
Treat wounds with charcoal powder.
After 5-10 minutes they are planted in a light substrate.
Take care of it like a regular sprout.
After 2 months a transplant is performed.

Plus, surgery on an adult seedling results in a more impressive result. But the survival rate is not 100%. Removing the central root at the initial stage of adenium development almost always ends in success, but fewer thick adventitious processes are formed and they are not so fancy.

Root thinning

If the adenium has had its taproot removed, it begins to develop swollen adventitious roots. Over time, they grow into a huge tangled ball.

It is inconvenient to replant such adenium; it is difficult to choose a pot. But you can’t just take a knife and cut off the lower half, like chlorophytum.

You also need to do pruning when replanting, but carefully. The “excess” roots are removed entirely, along the caudex, without leaving stumps. The wounds are treated with crushed coal.

Release from the ground

It's simple. With each transplant, for greater decorativeness, the root system is gradually raised above the ground. You can tilt it at an angle to the horizontal plane. If any swelling seems unnecessary, it is removed by trimming, as described in the previous paragraph.