Congratulations on saving all those little guys! They really do look great now, even the worst of them! I too have had great results applying warmth to Adeniums. My Mom got me a seedling of Adenium socotrana this year for Christmas. It sat out bare root for more than two weeks before I was able to get it potted. By that time, the little caudex had gotten very, very soft. I was worried the poor thing was dead.

I potted it into pure pumice, and brought it into the lab where I work. Thanks to all the equipment we run, the lab averages about 80F year 'round. I watered the little guy, and in less than two days, the caudex was fully turgid again. Now, a few months later, it has even pushed a new set of leaves!

It really shows why all the Adenium growers in tropical climates get such staggering size on their plants!

Thanks Jo. I'm really pleased with them in such a short space of time. I just fell in love with DR's after seeing a huge one in Bangkok and wondered what it was. Guess the climate here in the UK is not quite as comparable to that in Thailand, so I imagine I'm going to need some real good sun this summer to really get them going once out of the heatbox. Do you think they are easier to care for once past this small stage?

I'll do another separate post in a moment with a link to a page I found with some truly AMAZING caudex plants. Have a look, they are out of this world!

I re-potted a VERY LARGE DR at the end of Feb.,raised it up to expose about 4 inches of the Cadeux, and cut it back drastically. It is just starting to show some signs of life BUT...I noticed that some of the cadeux are soft? I am worried that I raised it too much or didn't water enough? We are in severe drought conditions here and I have refrained from watering more than every couple of weeks. It is in a 24" pot with sandy well drained soil. Please help as I do NOT want to lose this plant I have had for 10 + years!

Memereboy, hi there. I am definitely not a DR expert as you may have gathered already, but lets see. From what you have said, I notice the following points...
1/I dont know what the temps are in your area, but from saying you are in drought conditions, it sounds hot to me!
2/I noticed even when I pinched the tips off my very small plants above they 'bled' quite a lot of sap..if you have cut yours drastically and its a big plant, it will have lost a lot more...which it needs to replace somehow.
3/It has just been re-potted so is also 'in shock'.
4/It's in sandy free draining soil and isn't being watered other than every 2 weeks.
My conclusion is I'm thinking it must be very thirsty.

What I did worked for my plants, but they are in a totally different environment from yours I'm certain. It's been bitterly cold here this winter and mine were lacking warmth and water, that was what made mine go soft. I originally thought they were not rotten, so I had kept watering to a bare minimum. In fact they were just drying up and I was killing them even faster by not watering!! They have now got many more shiny new leaves than in the pic above and all 5's caudexes have fattened up and hardened off fantastically. As I said, I am no expert so dont take this as gospel, its just my opinion. I hope someone else will come in and help you save your plant..I really hope you can btw. Post a pic if possible as that always helps. Good luck.

Yes, it has been hot here (SW Florida). I watered the plant nicely on Sunday and it has had some more signs of re-growth. The Caudex have NOT gotten any worse but they are still soft. I think you may be right about the lack of water?! I am going to monitor that and water once a week if we do not get any rain. I will attempt to post some pictures here. Thank you for your help! I am going to try to just let it HEAL ITSELF!?

Memereboy, you're welcome, and thanks for the email/pics! I just hope things work out for you and the DR.. Hope to see the pics on GW as it may get you some more advise/opinions. I will be in touch again.