Adenium plants Online In India – Care tips, Seed Propagation, and More
Adenium is known for its distinctive looks. They have a prominent caudex with bushy leaves. Often grown in pots, the plants grow up to 3-4 feet indoors and a bit more in the wild. Everything about the Adenium plant is distinctive and unique. The caudex is the most prominent feature of the Adenium plant but then the flowers too are bright and come in a range of colors. The adenium flowers are sometimes even multi-colored. Flowers come in a range of white, pink, and orange shades and there are multiple colors in a single flower which makes it more attractive. The leaves are leathery and shiny.
In general, the adenium plant is one beauty to look at. The plants grow relatively slow and prefer dry, bright weather conditions. A temperature of 70 Degree Fahrenheit or more is recommended. Though it does tolerate moderate cold, the plant should be protected from Freeze and extreme wet weather conditions. Adenium plants are ideal to grow indoors as long as you have a bright spot for the plant. The plant requires little to no care when grown indoors and is often neglected. Unfortunately, indoor lighting prevents blooming in adenium as it requires direct sunlight in most cases to bloom profusely.
The flowers are fragrant and leave a note of musk and pepper in the air. Adeniums are classified as succulents, though they don’t seem to store water in their leaves as most succulents and cacti do. The stem or the caudex in the case of the Adenium plants tends to store enough nutrition for the plant to sustain a period of short drought. The caudex is thick in the adenium plant and gives it a bonsai look to the plant. Older plants have a very prominent caudex if grown from seed. The plants which are propagated from stem do not have a caudex that is as prominent.
The adenium plant though looks like a bonsai is not maintained as one. They are regularly watered, provided nutrition like norma succulents, and even potted differently from a bonsai. Though it will grow great in a bonsai pot, you don’t have to use a bonsai pot unless you prefer that look.
Growing Conditions
Adeniums prefer dry weather conditions and naturally grow in deserts. They have naturally grown in the sub-Saharan deserts of Africa. Desert conditions suit best for adeniums but they can be grown in almost all parts of the world except where freezing or cold weather is possible. The Adenium plants can tolerate weather above 60 degrees Fahrenheit but not lesser. As for other conditions, they are almost always manageable. Adeniums are grown indoors in many places in the tropics. They can also be grown outdoors where there are rains almost every day provided the soil is well drained. For better flowering though, provide ample light for the adenium plants. Plants with low light conditions do not do as well in general not just when it comes to flowering but also in terms of overall plant health.
How Adenium Grow
Adenium Grows 1 foot a year. The plant will grow up to 4 feet in its natural habitat but indoors, the plant may grow a bit lesser. Believe it or not, the adenium plant will live to be 500 years old. That’s more than most trees can live. Indoors, the plants are known to live for decades. Adenium can grow perfectly well with the right nutrition and soil condition provided they have enough light. They grow a thick caudex when propagated from seeds but the caudex is not seen in plants that are propagated from stems. To grow a perfect adenium opt for grafted plants that are of good quality. This ensures a larger caudex and looks more beautiful.
Location
When Looking for a perfect location to place your adenium plants, opt for a location that has plenty of light. Sunlight is best but was not available, ensure that there is artificial light and enough of it throughout the day. Placing the plants near a window sill with good sunlight, preferably morning sunlight is good for adenium. If you don’t see flowers in the plant, chances are that the adenium plant is not getting enough sunlight. Move the plants to a place where there is good sunlight. If you are worried that the plant may burn due to extensive sunlight, do not worry. Adenium plants can survive harsh light as they are succulents and live in desert areas. When sunlight is harsh, provide sufficient water to the plants. Depending on the soil condition it may be once a week or every other day. Check out more on soil conditions to grow adenium below.
Caring for Adenium
Adenium plants require minimal care. Pot it, water it, provide it with enough light and you are good to go. Fertilize the plants once or twice a year. If you are not potting it and placing them directly on the soil, ensure that the soil is fertile and provide enough manure. Also, make sure that the soil does not retain water. Adenium plants hate wet feet. Adeniums look beautiful, have a great scent, and are one of the easiest plants to care for. What more? They live a long life too. So you don’t have to worry about replacing plants every other year like most annuals. They are also very easy to care for as they don’t grow wild and big. They retain a specific size in most cases. Pruning is a good practice when it comes to adenium. A bi-annual pruning is recommended but if your plant is young, it may need pruning once a year. Pruning encourages better branching and more flowers. The plant itself looks beautiful with more branches and flowers on the entire plant.
Indoor Adenium Care
Adenium doe snot requires a lot of care. Especially when grown indoors, provided the right lighting conditions, you can almost always ignore the plant for days. They require watering only once a week provided the soil is right. Providing fertilizers once every 6 months is a good idea, especially for better flowering and growth. Indoor plants do not grow as fast even with all the nutrition so you need not worry about fertilizing the plant too much. Also, plants in pots do not lose the nutrients in the soil for a longer period. If the soil is well manured and has 50 % organic matter, chances are you will not need to fertilize the plant more than 2 times a year.
- Light: Light is the source of energy to help the adenium plants grow. The Adenium plant requires more of it and prefers full sunlight. Being a plant that adapts to desert conditions, The adenium plant is known to be hungry for light. Place the plant in full light conditions when planting them outdoors. When indoors, they are expected to have at least 6 hours to 80 hours of full sunlight. A window sill could most likely do the trick and even better when placed in balconies with full sun exposure. Its good to avoid areas without direct sunlight, because even with good artificial light, the plant gets lesser flowers as compared to sunlight conditions.
- Temperature: The adenium plants cannot withstand cold weather. They do well in temperatures above 60 degrees fareingehig (16 degrees Celsius) upwards. They can tolerate heat up to 50 degrees celsius but are best in the range of 35-45 degrees celsius. Exposure to any condition where the temperature falls below 15 is not good for the plant and may be fatal. Frost is surely not in the best condition for adenium plants. In most cases, a temperature of 20 degrees celsius upwards is perfectly tolerable for adenium plants.
- Soil & Growing media: through the adenium plants adapt quite well to almost all kinds of soil, but they have certain restrictions. With clay soil, the roots grow a lot slower and porosity for water penetration too is poor. You can amend clay soil with plenty of organic matter in the soil. Adding cow dung or compost could help loosen the soil. In general, Adenium prefers loose soil which can drain perfectly well. Adenium does extremely well with any cactus potting mix if you intend to house your plants indoors. When placing outdoor, ensure that the plants have proper drainage if the soil itself is not suitable.
- Watering & Misting: Misting is Clearly out of question for adeniums. Watering the adenium plants is more pat. Water the plants only when the soil is fully dry. A spell of dry soil is important for all succulents. As for adenium, they are classified as succulents and go according to the watering schedule of cactuses and succulents. Water them once a week if you have a garden mix with moderate drainage. When the plants have very good drainage, they tend to dry up in a day, water them every other day. Though adeniums are ok with moist soil for a longer period, it’s not recommended that you keep them wet. For places like Kerala where there are 3-4 months of rains, many have placed the adenium plants outdoor and have had no problems with it. This is primarily because the soil is well drained and has no stagnant water in the pots or the area. Even though this is not a problem, it’s not recommended to water the plants too often.
- Humidity: Adenium is ok with a few humid conditions. Since the plant is quite hardy and has little disease or pests, humidity usually does not affect the plant’s health adversely. Though the plant has lesser humidity in its natural habitat, the plant tolerates a bit of humidity. There is nothing to worry about when it comes to humidity.
- Fertilizer & Nutrition: The adeniums are not needy plants. They do pretty well with minimal nutrition or fertilizers. But with proper nutrition, they give out a lot more flowers and look more healthy and beautiful. Though they are desert plants and can fend for themselves, they develop better caudex, More branching, and profuse flowering when fertilized. An annual fertilizing schedule is good but you could also fertilize the plants with succulent nutrients once a month if done in moderation. Look for flowering fertilizers too and apply them every 6 months for better flowering
- Potting and repotting: Amazingly, the plants can grow in small pots with little space and produce large caudex and plenty of flowers. Though this is not recommended for everyone, experts in adenium are known to put these plants in small pots or shallow ones to give them a look of a bonsai plant. The size of the pots is usually not as important for experts but for beginners, try a pot that can hold the plant’s root and a bit more. Preferably take a wider pot that is the same size as the plant’s foliage area and the depth of half the size of its caudex. Repotting is usually practiced when the roots exceed the pots and require pruning. Root pruning is common in adenium but if you do not prune the roots, you will still need to move the pot when the roots move over the soil area. Pruning of young plants usually is rare, but plants over the age of 3-4 years require an annual pruning and repotting schedule.
- Pruning & Training: Pruning is very important for Adenium especially when they are grown indoors. To maintain a plant and keep it in shape requires time and effort but unlike many other plants, the Adenium is rarely pruned. They are pruned once or twice a year depending on the growth. Prune the adenium during summer when they are in their growing stage. Do not prune the adenium during winters. Winters will usually be the time when the plant is dormant and often shed all its leaves. This is not the time to prune the stems of the adenium. Wait till there is growth in the adenium when you prune. This way, the plant has time to heal and recover and grow better after the pruning. Training is done in adenium when they are intended to have specific look. People often train adeniums to give it a look of bonsais. This practice is common though not required. It does require a lot of effort to keep the plants in shape and when it comes to training an adenium, the effort is the same nevertheless. The more plants you have, the more time it will take.
- Air Circulation: when placed indoors, ensure that the plants have good ventilation. Fresh hair reduces high humidity in the air. This in turn keeps the soil dry, a condition which is very much preferred for adenium. Though the adenium plants can survive in most conditions without any problems of pests and diseases, it’s always best to give the plant the best environment for it to grow. Nevertheless, it’s often not an important factor (air circulation ) for growing adenium.
- Dormancy: Adeniums go into dormancy from a few weeks to up to 6 months. It is not uncommon for adeniums to be dormant for a long time if the location is such. Adenium goes into dormancy during monsoons in India. It’s best to leave adeniums in dormancy and water them sparingly during this period. Once out of dormancy the adeniums will grow with full vigor and flower profusely.
- Propagation: the best adeniums are grafted but grown from seeds. Stem propagation is okay but does not have the thick caudex which is prominent in the adenium plants. The beauty of the adenium plant is the caudex and the flowers. When one thing is missing, the value of the plant itself deteriorates. The best plants are usually grafted to a thick caudex to ensure profuse flowering yet have a beautiful caudex. Some plants which are grown from the seeds with thick caudex have the natural ability to flower profusely and these plants are retained as mother plants for cuttings. These plants are more highly-priced than the grafted ones.
- Cleaning The leaves: The leaves of the adenium plants are often cleaned when indoors to make the look clean and help photosynthesis in low light conditions. This is not common in plants that are outdoors though an occasional shower could do the trick. Cleaning the leaves of plants outdoors is usually not practical with more dust accumulation when compared to those placed indoors. Indoor plants are better off when you clean the leaves once a month and wipe them with a wet cloth. This gives a better shine to the plants. Note that this is not just an aesthetic purpose for indoor plants but also helps them better in the photosynthesis process.
- Encourage blooming: 80-90% of all Adenium fail to bloom just because they do not get proper sunlight. Very few plants have the problem of fertilizer or soil condition issues when it comes to blooming. If the plant looks healthy but does not flower, the only reason it’s not flowering is that there is not sufficient sunlight. Move the plant so that the plant can get full sunlight. For some plants which already have good sunlight but fail to bloom, consider using cactus mix fertilizers. Also, note that plants propagated from stem cuttings take more than a year to bloom. Plants that are younger than a year will usually not bloom. Have patience. All plants propagated from seeds and have a caudex should bloom by the end of the first year and surely by the second year. If it does not, consider moving it to better light conditions and add some fertilizer.
