I have 2 Adenium obesium.One went completely dormant & i haven't watered it at all since i brought it in.I am watching it for signs that it may need a little water.

The other plant i water once not long ago because i wasn't sure what to do,it hadn't lost any leaves.I only gave it a small amount of water,it isn't in any light just not in the dark.The leaves are slowly drying up probably because it isn't getting water or at least that's how it seems.

How do i care for this plant while over-wintering it inside as far as water & light?

I would love to see the answer for the Adenium regarding a indoor plant during the winter. I have one at work. Thanks for the question.
Ivy

Well,,, some of mine have simply stopped growing, just sitting there with green leaves. Some others have lost all their leaves. One is growing lots of buds and has dropped its' leaves, and some are growing lushly, forming flower buds. Confusing!!

Hum. All are kept somewhat on the dry side, except for the growing ones, --- that have baby leaves and new green stems. Those are getting fed and watered with warm water. About ten degrees warmer than air temperatures.

Some plants don't go dormant, so do keep watering sparelingly.

The plant pictured seems to have recently been growing, green stems, but no baby leaves forming. Oh! Except for that one limb. So might be going dormant. I would water sparingly, keeping a close eye on it for rot (!) I also test stems to see if they are quite stiff like little tree branches, or soft and yeilding, which means either way too much water, or a too dry plant. You know if you've been watering or not, for the too's just mentioned.

Oh, is the room dry? Heated rooms usually have very low humidity, so the plant does use water. Lift the pot, judging the weight, wet is heavier.

Hmm, what else? ......

No sunlight from a window?

Melissa covered it well.Winter is a time for judgement calls.

WellI agree with just about everything Melissa stated only my plants are all close to a window and they do get the sun (when it's out), my room has glass on three sides and I keep the temp at 70, and I water about every three weeks, the babies I water as needed. I definately treat mine as I see what they need, no hard, fast rules.

This plant does this every winter and sits in this same place getting water about 3 times depending on how much i have to use the heat.The light you see on the wall is from at plant light i have my succulents under.


This plant is new i purchased it this spring and it's doing it's own thing completely different from the other one.The light you see on the wall behind it is from windows on a cloudy but not completely overcast day,just a bright day with no sun.It gets cold here in Dec. and starts to warm back up around mid March.

What about plants with seed pods should I water or not water I have a couple that have seed pods and no leaves I have been giving them water about every three days. I have one plant that has a big seed pod and now it is getting 2 more on the same plant I am wondering water for the seeds or aaaauuuuggghh.

I 'm not sure if you can make it out but there are 2 new seed pods starting on that one branch right next to each other and another one up above thats a first for me.

Well, I am very happy that I did something right! As in, give advice that everyone has agreed on.

Adeniums, Desert Roses, have been popular for, what, twenty or thirty years now. They are being bred and crossed until you don't really know the parentage. The obseum is most common, because it has lent itself to great manipulation of color and flower form. Someone in Vietnam had a red double appear in 2007, now named "Doxon". All multiple flowers are descendants of this one plant. It's range naturally is all the way across the middle of Africa, south of the Sahara Desert, and north of the Congo rainforest/jungle. It grows really well in Thailand and southern India and other places, and doesn't generally go dormant.

The next most common Adenium species is the arabicum, from Arabia. This one doesn't bloom as much, and there isn't a really good red yet, much less all the other colors. The caudex gets huge, with multiple stems, and it does go dormant. So, a plant that decides to go dormant probably has arab blood, so to speak. Hum, I don't have my book, so I am unsure about the other kinds of Adeniums as to dormancy. There are more than ten kinds, species, of Adeniums.

So, there's the lesson for today, quiz tomorrow!
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I feed seedpoded plants, and keep the plant slightly moist. Water frequently, but not much. Feed every time, diluted.

I have rotted some seed pods! Boooo!

I will soon compare foliar feeding seed pods, I believe that makes a difference.

coconut said:Well, I am very happy that I did something right! As in, give advice that everyone has agreed on.

Adeniums, Desert Roses, have been popular for, what, twenty or thirty years now. They are being bred and crossed until you don't really know the parentage. The obseum is most common, because it has lent itself to great manipulation of color and flower form. Someone in Vietnam had a red double appear in 2007, now named "Doxon". All multiple flowers are descendants of this one plant. It's range naturally is all the way across the middle of Africa, south of the Sahara Desert, and north of the Congo rainforest/jungle. It grows really well in Thailand and southern India and other places, and doesn't generally go dormant.

The next most common Adenium species is the arabicum, from Arabia. This one doesn't bloom as much, and there isn't a really good red yet, much less all the other colors. The caudex gets huge, with multiple stems, and it does go dormant. So, a plant that decides to go dormant probably has arab blood, so to speak. Hum, I don't have my book, so I am unsure about the other kinds of Adeniums as to dormancy. There are more than ten kinds, species, of Adeniums.

So, there's the lesson for today, quiz tomorrow!
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How do you start your plants? All seeds,different ways and do you sale them ?

Just like tomato or petunia or nearly any other seeds.

I might eventually sell, but only local, so sorry! A phyto-sanitary certificate, for me to ship to the mainland USA is $60 for one plant, gaaaa!

Here are reliable seeds---

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html...

This should take you to adenium_ko His store is the only reliable source of good seeds that won't give just pink flowers. Most or all of the other seed sellers are crooks. Since it takes a minimum of five months, and often a year before the plants bloom, there are liars making money on ebay and there's nothing to be done. (hint, at the bottom of the page, change the setting to 200 per page!)

I highly recommend buying one of the 55 seed mixes of seeds for 99¢. (shipping $4) Then plant them all in a kitty litter box. That way you won't be staring at one little plant and be all excited about it. The seeds shouldn't freeze in the mail. These plants are easy to share-give away! Plus, when they start blooming, it's wheee, what will this one look like!?

What do you feed the adenium in the winter? The ones that should be fed, I mean?

As long as mine are in a warm room I treat them the same all year round, just not quite as much water as if they were in the sun.

If a plant is growing new stems, go ahead and feed it. Probably not, with the short days, but some of mine are!
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Young, green, growing stem, above the flower bud:

I WISH I LIVED IN YOUR ZONE!!!!!!

Actually, going by minimum night temperature, it zone 16. haha. I grew up in a poorly heated house near Washington D.C. I hated cold from when I was born, i believe. I just about froze yesterday while in a Dr.'s oddice for two hours! Just a checkup. It must have been 65 in there!

But then you get to grow peaches, blueberries and strawberries and blackberries. Grrrr. Too warm here, they need to go dormant. I have considered building a small air conditioned greenhouse! hahahaha

gotta have a flower----

This winter is the warmest since I've been coming here, more than a dozen years. We haven't gotten below 70°f as a nighttime low. The days have been over 90°f and we've had more rain and humidity than usual. I'm a cold wimp myself, grew up in soCal and could never see the point in living where the weather wouldn't let you live outside. Still, I kind of miss those few nights in 50's that we usually get, bundled up under the down comforter and the electric blanket

I know what you mean about hospitals and doctors offices being cold Melissa. I was frozen while getting an xray yesterday they had it so cold in that room. The whole building - hospital and doctor's offices - was really cold but the xray area was sub freezing. I don't like AC much, it messes with my sinuses and messes up my adjustment to the heat, but that place was beyond AC it was like a walk in freezer. I was soooo happy to get outside and get warm.

Your electricity costs must be a lot lower than here if you can even think about an AC'd greenhouse!!

Ha! Electricity in the USA is something like 11 cents per KWH, and here it's 55 cents! And going up. The greenhouse air conditioner would be running about fifty nights a year, for only a couple of hours each night at 2 am to make cool into cooler.

Everybody squalks about the electric rates, and businesses have failed because they couldn't pay -- a cute little icecream shop? $3,000 a month!