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Adenium obesum, desert rose

Posted: January 21st, 2015, 5:24 pm
by Bonsai_madness
Taking suggestions on what to do with these trees...

Re: Adenium obesum, desert rose

Posted: January 21st, 2015, 6:01 pm
by Jason
Put them outside and grow them for a year or two, then revist :P

I've got a number of these myself that I've started from seed, and am just watching them grow for the moment before looking into styling options :) They grow quite quickly so you'll have some good options to work with in no time :)

Re: Adenium obesum, desert rose

Posted: January 21st, 2015, 6:04 pm
by Bonsai_madness
im not sure if i should let the branches grow long and then cut them back or just keep cutting them back like i have been doing. Most my bonsais are older than they appear due to me constantly trimming them back every week or 2 haha

Re: Adenium obesum, desert rose

Posted: January 21st, 2015, 6:35 pm
by Jason
Bonsai_madness wrote:im not sure if i should let the branches grow long and then cut them back or just keep cutting them back like i have been doing. Most my bonsais are older than they appear due to me constantly trimming them back every week or 2 haha
I would let them grow for a while to lengthen, and thicken the branches. That will get it looking more like a tree with branching, rather then just a trunk :)

Here is a good example:
Image

Re: Adenium obesum, desert rose

Posted: January 21st, 2015, 6:53 pm
by Bonsai_madness
what size pots are your's in? i might repot mine in larger pots and let them go wild for a while and i have a few branches off the main trunks now...

Re: Adenium obesum, desert rose

Posted: January 21st, 2015, 6:58 pm
by Jason
Bonsai_madness wrote:what size pots are yous in? i might repot mine in larger pots and let them go wild for a while and i have a few branches off the main trunks now...
Actually, mine are in pots much the same size as yours. I've found that adenium's don't actually need that much space to grow, they're quite comfortable in smaller pots. Don't get me wrong, I'm no expert, that is just what I've found from the few I've grown :)

One pointer I have is to watch how wet they are, as they are prone to rot if they are constantly wet. I move mine under the eaves of my house in winter so that they aren't always wet, but still get the sun :)

Re: Adenium obesum, desert rose

Posted: January 21st, 2015, 7:03 pm
by Bonsai_madness
ive been watering mine daily with the rest of my plants and they seem to be ok. The bust turkeys have had a go at the bottoms of them which have left scars and i propagated one from a branch i reduced and lost it to rot. One of mine is in a really small bonsai pot with practically no soil i dont know how long it will last like that though i really want a thick compact set of rots though. What do you feed yours? Its probably time to feed mine something soon...

Re: Adenium obesum, desert rose

Posted: January 22nd, 2015, 4:07 pm
by Elmar
I've found them to like being pot bound. I water them once a day, very briefly in summer and once it twice a week in winter.
Had one in 'premium' potting mix and it rotted away the ones that seem to thrive are in Pindan soil - Hedland special with buger-all nutrients ... These don't rot, produce flowers and seeds annually, but are in no way trained!



Cheers
Elmar

Re: Adenium obesum, desert rose

Posted: January 22nd, 2015, 6:21 pm
by bki
Envy, I tried a lot of times buying online just to kill them in the winter times. Melbourne weather :palm:

Re: Adenium obesum, desert rose

Posted: January 22nd, 2015, 6:57 pm
by Jason
Bonsai_madness wrote:ive been watering mine daily with the rest of my plants and they seem to be ok. The bust turkeys have had a go at the bottoms of them which have left scars and i propagated one from a branch i reduced and lost it to rot. One of mine is in a really small bonsai pot with practically no soil i dont know how long it will last like that though i really want a thick compact set of rots though. What do you feed yours? Its probably time to feed mine something soon...
Once a day is fine so long as they're in a good mix, and not constantly wet. By wet, I mean soaking :)

To be honest... I don't feed them at all. Never have, other then the occasional seasol spray. I treat them mean, to keep them keen :P Joking! Perhaps someone else might be able to recommend a fertiliser, as I don't feed mine

Have one just flowering at the moment too :) I got all mine as seeds from ebay, back before I realised that the seeds they are selling do not turn out like the pictures :palm: I bought these really cool coloured ones... and turns out that they all ended up just being red flowers :lol: lesson learnt :P

Re: Adenium obesum, desert rose

Posted: January 23rd, 2015, 11:25 am
by Bonsai_madness
mine havent flowered yet so im not sure what colour they will be. Probably just red haha

Re: Adenium obesum, desert rose

Posted: January 23rd, 2015, 1:50 pm
by tingqueji
To be honest... I don't feed them at all. Never have, other then the occasional seasol spray. I treat them mean, to keep them keen :P Joking! Perhaps someone else might be able to recommend a fertiliser, as I don't feed mine

Re: Adenium obesum, desert rose

Posted: May 24th, 2015, 10:48 pm
by phillicondor
Hi all. Complete amatuer here but the advice I was given by a friend's mother was not to feed them at all. She said she started feeding hers after about ten years of neglect and got a lot of rot. All the new growth was soft and rotted easily. I've got a few going that get the same feed as my other plants and they're growing like crazy but are pretty leggy looking and a couple in a corner that are getting a planned neglect approach and these are a lot more compact. Have to see how they go over winter.

Re: Adenium obesum, desert rose

Posted: May 28th, 2015, 1:57 pm
by phillicondor
Here's a photo of one of the desert roses I was talking about. She said she'll think about giving me one but I'm sure it won't be this one.
20150527_130153.jpg

Re: Adenium obesum, desert rose

Posted: May 28th, 2015, 3:36 pm
by Elmar
That's a nice one! Mine tend to be more 'Broom' style...


Cheers
EZ
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