biggest secret, adenium are desert plants ....they know only 2 seasons, wet and dry - wet being the summer months and dry being the winter months
summer months - water like a tropical plant - pour it on as long as plant is in a fast draining potting media
winter months - water like a cactus - or not at all (not at all watering insures plants pull through a lengthy dormant season) -
do not water during dormancy - plants are not actively growing if dormant - and can not use the excess of water - and rot rot is the result
freezing temperatures will kill adenium - move inside if temperatures drop below 50°
adenium do best in full all day sun - they are loving these upper 90° plus days -
potting mix needs to be a mostly inorganic mix - rocks, pebbles, sand with a smaller proportion of organics such as coir and chunk sized bulk charcoal -
the chunkier it is, the fast it will drain
while potting - use a 13-13-13 or 14-14-14 slow release fertilizer mixed throughout the mix
and occasionally, water with a all purpose fertilzer with all the micronutrients (aka: Trace minerals) Boron (B), Calcium (Ca), Chlorine (Cl), Copper (Cu), Iron (Fe), Manganese (Mn) , Molybdenum (Mo) and Zinc (Zn)
start seeds, and/or do all plant maintenance in the early spring - adenium take forever to get over whatever we do to them - early spring allows plants to recover and have all summer to grow
seeds -
adenium emerge from seedpods with tufts of fibers resembling a kernel of rice with a pointed paint brush at 2 ends - seeds need to dry out, the tufts are easily removed -
stored dry through the winter in a air tight Ball Jar in a cool dark spot
Before planting, days/nights sustained over 60° -
I dont soak seed, or treat them with anything - straight from winter storage to peat pots filled with sand coir mixture (sand 80% + coir 20%) - one seed per peat pot - barely cover seeds with sand - keep moist (not dripping wet) do not allow peat pots to dry out ....peat pots are a good indicator of how much water is present, as pot sides will look wet if moisture is good, will look dry (and slightly whitish) if moisture is needed
place seed pots in a sunny spot ....
seeds should emerge in 7 to 10 days
when seedlings reach 2-3 sets of leaves it is time to transfer them to a bigger pot - can literally pull sown the sides of peat pots and transfer in 1 cubed unit
if conditions are right - you will get flowers in the first year and seed pods in about 8 years
