I have 2 Desert Roses and I was thinking about pruning them to force branching.



I couldn't do it during the winter because they were still recovering from 2 moves across country. I've only had them a few months and I've never grown Adenium before. I believe they are about 1 year old, grown from seed. I currently live in hot and humid Florida and summer has already arrived.

Should I wait to prune my Desert Roses?

I dont recommend doing it. I have a large one, with lots of branches. Pruned some, but no forced branching on the others or the base.

I was thinking about pruning also. After doing some research, it looks like seed-grown Adeniums are not pruned but grafted ones are. All mine are grafted so I may try it on one to see what happens. I'll let you know.

Hmmm... Cuttings!

On both of them, you can see growth down lower. Once those branches elongate, you should have some nice specimen plants. Leave them alone for now. If you can get them outside, they will do really well. If the weather is warm, give them lots of water, if the soil is well draining. With mine I have to continually watch for mealy bugs.

I would not suggest pruning for now. But I would really be careful with watering, your media looks quite rich and dense.
Typically it is truly happy when weather is at its hottest and gets as much full sun it can have. It is one plant of mine that enjoys our excessive dry heat weather here provided I give it daily watering when temps starts hitting 95F and into the triple digit mark. But I always keep my media very gritty, that way even if I water often I will not risk rotting the caudex and roots.

DaisyI said:I was thinking about pruning also. After doing some research, it looks like seed-grown Adeniums are not pruned but grafted ones are. All mine are grafted so I may try it on one to see what happens. I'll let you know.

Hmmm... Cuttings!

Huh... why would that make a difference?

I have had to prune my Adeniums the last two years because of some die back at the branch tips - probably too dry through the 'winter' I have pruned both the grafted and seed grown ones and all recovered just fine and yes some made multiple new branches at the prune spots some made just one.

However, the question for the plants in the OP is why would you want to prune them at all? I'd see what the Florida climate does for them - they may love the humidity and warmth and end up nice and bushy, but I do agree with Tarev that you want to make your soil a whole lot grittier. While it is warm these do not mind getting water, but they are still iffy with long term wet soil.

I think, if I remember correctly that if you are trying to promote trunk and leaf growth, a high nitrogen fertilizer will help.

tarev said:I would not suggest pruning for now. But I would really be careful with watering, your media looks quite rich and dense.
Typically it is truly happy when weather is at its hottest and gets as much full sun it can have. It is one plant of mine that enjoys our excessive dry heat weather here provided I give it daily watering when temps starts hitting 95F and into the triple digit mark. But I always keep my media very gritty, that way even if I water often I will not risk rotting the caudex and roots.

Thanks for the advice. I have mine planted in almost straight mushroom compost in a clay pot and they get direct sun for 6-8 hours in the middle of the day. I'll keep my eye out for signs of root rot or for indications that I need to water more often.

Lots of sun should help keep them compact. Try using soil that consists of your mushroom compost mixed with an equal volume of perlite, pumice, or gritty equivalent.

The mushroom compost though nicely rich, is too water retentive I think, so you have to add as suggested by Baja those other gritty materials, to make it well draining. Your weather is way too humid than ours and if it rains there, that will be a big problem with dry out time. It is so easy to damage the roots and creeps up to the caudex when that happens.

mcvansoest said:
Huh... why would that make a difference?

Got me! Just reading and thought I'd pass that along. Personally, I think the OP's Adeniums look very young and look like they are already branching.

I'm going to prune one of mine to see what happens.