My white DR started with 3 white blooms in the greenhouse. It has been outside for 2 weeks and suddenly turning pink starting on the edges of the flowers. What causes this?

Cheryl,
That is interesting. Many of mine will change or be different in shades of color depending on the site, i.e. shaded, filtered sunlight or humidity. Many of the darker colors will be of a darker color if kept in a more filtered sunlight location.
I have a tree which is supposed to have a white bloom with a faint pink edge to the petals. The first year you could hardly tell their was any pink. On the second blooming, I put it in a lower lit area and humidity outside was fairly high and the blooms where white with a definite edge of pink to petals.
Kadie (Rainbow) has a very nice one called "Carnation"
"This is Kadie's Bloom"



I have this one and the same was true with mine when it put out one bloom, the edges of purple where barely noticeable. Going to place in same area as other to see.

This could be the situation with yours. Definitely not anything wrong with your tree.
Rick

It's been blooming white for the past 4-5 years. I mean, it is called "Platinum" for a reason. Odd that it would change now?

Well, I guess you will have to see what it does on next blooming cycle. Change things up, maybe?

Not a huge Adenium expert or anything (I have a few), but subtle to not so subtle changes in flower color are a pretty common phenomenon in cacti as well. I also have an A. obesum hybrid with pure white flowers (it did not come with a cultivar name attached) that will start to develop slight to very distinct pink tips on the flower petal some times halfway down a flower cluster. I have another one that has deep red flowers, which can be a lot darker and at some times develop black fringes on the petal tips.

In cacti I have seen changes in light exposure and humidity be the cause (as suggested above), as well as changes in day and night time temperatures, I suspect there might also be changes in the soil/fertilizing/water that could come into play, excess or scarcity of certain vital nutrients. I realize it is frustrating that if you have a named cultivar that is supposed to be pure white and it is not, but it is not an extremely rare phenomenon. Not sure if this is something that would affect Adenium flowers, but in many cacti and succulents a sign of sun/temperature/water stress is that they will turn all sorts of pink-purplish-reddish colors.

I guess what I would do is try and determine what if any changes there have been in how I handled the plant in recent time compared to say previous year when you moved it from the green house to the outside, how were the outside conditions now compared to last year... etc.

Could it need re-potting perhaps?

This may be the cause of the color change.The flowers on this branch continue to go from white to a bit of pink. It's bleeding from a crack in the branch!




Another healthy branch has buds. The bloom is staying white.

I had the same kind of branch splitting on one of my pinks. I cut it off only 3 days ago. The tree has flower buds so I'm eager to see if there are any variations among the flowers.

Well, so much for my last theory. The white flowers on the healthy branches have a pink tinge, too.

Cheryl, I really don't see pink on your blooms...I see brown discolorations. Have you been getting rain lately or winds?

When my grafted trees begin budding I bring them under patio cover to protect blooms from damage. There was one white that I had under the patio that had bloomed continuously for a couple of weeks, so thought it best to bring it back out into full sun again.


Well...the next two days it rained and it ruined the blossoms.

Bad day lighting in the photos, I'm sure. Plus the pink is very, very faint, and usually occurs on 1-2 flower petals towards the middle of the bloom cycle. IOW it doesn''t turn pink and then die. This happened as soon as they bloomed just coming out of the greenhouse. And then 6 weeks later outside it happened to the newer blooms as well. I prefer to have the white. But the pink tinge is growing on me.

Okay, yes a light pink tinge on white is barely discernible in photos. I had a tree with the subtle pink tinge that does not show up in pictures. I loved the pink tinge on the petals...it was beautiful!

Cheryl, I am glad you brought this question up. My white that has been pure white has started to develop a tiny ting of pink on some of the blooms. I am thinking it must be from the rain. I brought all my adeniums in for tonights storm. I am pretty sure they have had more than enough rain for the week. I am so glad I added a lot of lava rock to the soil mixture when I repotted them.

Mine used to look this way but then...

have a Texas white about to flower in a matter of days ....

will be interesting to see if that same pinkish tinge appears ... since my plants are (sort of) in the same geographical area

Might be wrong, but the pink tinge might be related to the same conditions that cause that crimson red on the margins of adenium leaves, leaf & flower buds .... but almost always, the plant seems to loose, or "grow out of" the crimson red and revert to green

and just to be reassuring ...don't think the red tinge is a harmful side-effect .... as other than that, the plant looks healthy & thriving

the pink and red ..could be a combination of nutritional & environmental variables (such as: a lack or excess component in fertilizer, available moisture / humidity, daily night / day temperature range, duration & intensity of sunlight...and maybe even increased levels of co2 ) ...some of that we have zero control of ... but some we can tweak a little ...

have seen annual variations (almost every year, of something slightly different) of the width and color intensity of flowers on 3 unrelated A. obesum ....but no matter what color or how wide the outer most petal margins are ... the white throats, and entire flower will always eventually turn pink - then fall off

Mine is bright white again.