vedanta
Full Member
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2014 11:53 am
Location: Trinidad and Tobago

Desert Rose help

hey, I bought a small desert rose a couple months back and it's grown a little. I water it about once a week and keep it outdoors, but lately it started shedding it's leaves. the leaves aren't all yellowing but they seem spotted. can anyone help?

imafan26
Mod
Posts: 13961
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

Desert rose will go dormant in winter and you can help that by bringing the plant under shelter to keep the rain out or bringing it indoors. The leaves drop but with minimal watering they will stay alive until they are taken out to the light in drier weather.

If it is outside and it is older then you have to be careful that it does not get too much water or it will rot. Young adeniums that haven't grown a "belly" yet can handle more water.

Sometimes spotting occurs when humidity is high and the plant cannot lose water by transpiration similar to what happens to geraniums when they get water too much in a condition called oedema. The water inside the plant cells have no where to escape so the cells burst and results in dead spots in the leaves.

Adeniums are native to desert and tropical and subtropical parts of Arabia and East and South Africa where winters are relatively dry.

https://www.tropicanursery.com/adenium/problems.htm

vedanta
Full Member
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2014 11:53 am
Location: Trinidad and Tobago

I live in the caribbean so there's no winter, and I've got the plant outdoors where it doesnt get any rainfall; but a lot of sunlight. is it normal for a DR to NOT have any leaves? right now it just looks like a naked stem =S

imafan26
Mod
Posts: 13961
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

Desert roses do look like naked stems in the cooler months. So yes, it is normal for the leaves to drop. Not all of them do. Those that are in shadier spots will, those getting higher light may keep a few.

It has been a relatively warm winter thanks to El Nino so this year my desert roses are keeping their leaves on.

vedanta
Full Member
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2014 11:53 am
Location: Trinidad and Tobago

ok, whew thanks. I was really worried there. how long does it take for a DR to bloom? I bought a small ones cuz the larger ones are super expensive ($120TT). where are u from btw? are you in the caribbean too?

evtubbergh
Green Thumb
Posts: 532
Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2013 6:52 am
Location: South Africa

That was a weird title to read in a plant forum. I know desert rose as gypsum crystals. lol

imafan26
Mod
Posts: 13961
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

I think it took two or three years from seed. They will not bloom until they get their belly. It is probably a survival mechanism to make sure the plant has enough stored to make it through hard times first. They are related to plumerias.

The more expensive ones are probably older, or if they are named, then they were probably grafted. Adeniums are promiscuous so almost all of them are hybrids. They are pollinated by a moth and usually by a different plant. The most common ones are red. If someone gets a particularly nice flowering one, people usually propagate them by grafting and that is how you get named varieties like "Harry Potter". Adeniums that naturally branch are also more desirable than single stemmed ones.

They also grow relatively slowly, although they can get quite large in the ground.



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