I've had this desert rose for almost a year. Starting on June 9 I noticed yellowing on it's largest leaf.


One leaf had yellowed before and it had not happened to anything else, this is while I had to have it indoors. I am in zone 8 for context. Over the following few days, this problem spread. Half the plant now seems irrecoverable or close to it.


Could the yellowing problem be determined from these photos, and if not, should I take others or remove it from the pot to check the roots, and maybe change the soil? I watered it today to see if that could solve any issues. The weather reached 100+ degrees a few days ago. In the least, what can I do to slow this? I placed the plant in the shade but put it back out today because I'm not sure what is worse for it. Should it simply be in a less lit area but not fully out of some direct sunlight? Finally, If this could be fungus, should it be away from the other plants anyway?

I am still very new to gardening and inexperienced with adeniums.

Possibly overpotted... remember the _center of the large pots stay Wet !

Might be a good idea to remove it, inspect roots, give the caudex a little squeeze & if it's soft... STOP watering for a week.

Welcome to the Adeniums forum

adenium leaves turning yellow and falling off .. is perfectly normal

but when several leaves yellow at the same time, it signifies the plant is under-watered (for adenium, under-watered is far better than over-watered)

- Watering -

keep track of local temperatures ~

70's water once every 10 days or so
80's water once every 7 days or so
90's water once every 5 days or so
100's water once every 3 days or so

count any rainfall as a watering day

Do not water - if night lows are predicted to dip into 50's / 40's

water in several passes to completely saturate potting media from top to bottom

be certain water drains freely from & away from pot

never - ever let plant sit in water ....

do a restart .... if night lows are a sustained 50's all night ....gradually move plant outside .... .... leave plant outdoors 24/7

try for at least 6 hours full sun - follow temperature / watering above

for example - my plants start the day with filtered sun to about 11am ...then full sun to sunset ....if it is 90°, I need to water in about 5 days ...if it rains before then, I tack on a few more days

adenium respond to changes very slowly - so do not expect anything to happen anytime soon ...

Current photos.

BBQNBLUES said: Possibly overpotted... remember the _center of the large pots stay Wet !

Might be a good idea to remove it, inspect roots, give the caudex a little squeeze & if it's soft... STOP watering for a week.

When I last checked it was softer than the last time I had. That was when it began yellowing. Forgot to add that detail.

deepsouth said: Welcome to the Adeniums forum

adenium leaves turning yellow and falling off .. is perfectly normal

but when several leaves yellow at the same time, it signifies the plant is under-watered (for adenium, under-watered is far better than over-watered)

- Watering -

keep track of local temperatures ~

70's water once every 10 days or so
80's water once every 7 days or so
90's water once every 5 days or so
100's water once every 3 days or so

count any rainfall as a watering day

Do not water - if night lows are predicted to dip into 50's / 40's

water in several passes to completely saturate potting media from top to bottom

be certain water drains freely from & away from pot

never - ever let plant sit in water ....

do a restart .... if night lows are a sustained 50's all night ....gradually move plant outside .... .... leave plant outdoors 24/7

try for at least 6 hours full sun - follow temperature / watering above

for example - my plants start the day with filtered sun to about 11am ...then full sun to sunset ....if it is 90°, I need to water in about 5 days ...if it rains before then, I tack on a few more days

adenium respond to changes very slowly - so do not expect anything to happen anytime soon ...

Temps are getting to steady 90s for several hours right now. Likely have been for days. Based on earlier guides I was not watering enough, but rain around here has made it confusing. Based on the softer cauda would waiting a week to water be the best option? It seems like decay has progressed again.

your current pictures show a very dry potting mix .... your plant is *under-watered*...but things are way better than it looks

the sooner you water to saturation the quicker your adenium will recover ....

Use your pot as a "imagined" measuring cup ...

that space between your potting medium and upper most rim of pot is
about 1/2 the volume of the pot .... would you agree ? ....

so to water to saturation ...fill that space 2 times (fill, let drain, repeat, x2) ...

make certain that water flows freely

when checking firmness - gently / lightly squeeze or pinch the caudex with 2 fingers at the soil line ....if your 2 fingers nearly touch - you have root rot ....
if not - then the plant is under-watered .....

if days are in the 90's - water to saturation once every 5 days or so ...

lets say you watered this past Sunday ...temps are in the 90's - the next watering is coming up this Friday ...but then it pours rain on Wednesday ..its a watering day so add 5 days - the next hose watering is next Monday ....unless it rains again

almost certain that your under-watered plant will fully recover once watering resumes .....

you will notice that, as the plant takes up water, the caudex will firm up considerably ...softness will vanish

Adenium - know only 2 seasons > wet & dry

wet = hot - & - dry = cool

wet = the active growing season - water adeniums like a tropical

dry = the dormant season treat adeniums like a cacti

goblin179 said: Temps are getting to steady 90s for several hours right now. Likely have been for days. Based on earlier guides I was not watering enough, but rain around here has made it confusing. Based on the softer cauda would waiting a week to water be the best option? It seems like decay has progressed again.

Softer caudex (but not mushy) May just be dehydrated. So James gave you a great guide So hopefully yours would recover. When my desert roses are dehydrated I would normally keep it under a partial shade and receiving morning sun.
James has a detailed instructions do do keep us posted with the progress.