Hi Michelle, I have a desert rose planted out in the garden. It gets morning sun and a bit of dappled light in the late afternoon. It gets the sprinkler 2x a week and fertilizer when I do the rest of the garden. It does just fine. I have some in pots on the lanai and they get white fly and scale, not near as healthy as the one in the ground.

I'm the opposite, lol. The only desert rose I killed was in the garden. I have about 7 in pots and yes they do get scale and the occasional oleander moth.
I wouldn't try it indoors. My largest is in the front facing south and gets alot of morning sun. I've been using bromeliad mix for everything lately. Peat, perlite and pine fines.

I have one as well. It's in a terra cotta dish (dish garden) in Jungle Mix. It's under the bottle brush tree. It gets morning sun and dapple shade. It gets watered once a week or if it rains.

Mine are in pots with a well-draining composty mix (read: leftover stuff when potting). They get full sun on the east side of the house until 2 or 3pm. In the winter, they go to the sheltered south side of the house with full sun most of the day. They don't seem to like temperatures under 50* but have tolerated 40* (and a bit lower this year) by being moved to the south. When it rains, they get watered unless it's been dry for a couple weeks or so, then I soak them down.

Seems one thing we all agree on is full sun until 2 or so and good drainage. Hope that helps you to find a way that works for you. :o)

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Thanks for the links love the yard. I think I'll repot mine tomorrow.

Thanks everyone! I think I have just the right place with morning sun.

Yup, repot and raise. Full sun, ALL day, if you have it.

Love the yard:

How do you deal with the incredible WEIGHT of the adenium when raising and repotting. We just did our big boy a month ago and I know we hurt ourselves - I figure 50-75 pounds. It has an enormous caudex.

The potting mix in that pot does have a lot of sand and is heavier. I can't imagine washing the roots clean and repotting with a lighter mix would be an option?

Terri

I just turn the pot on its side. I don't try to lift the adenium out. I follow the procedure in the video linked below.

Also notice how he braids the roots, places the adenium on its side, and into a rather small pot.

Here is a link that might be useful: rempotage adenium

I keep mine in a pot as well, I pretty much leave it outside year round in a really sunny spot. It got an unintentional pruning 2 years ago by a hard freeze and came back from a stump. Now I take mine in during the freezes and have learned to cut off the tips in the spring to encourage branching. I also "pot lifted" a little bit last year, mine has really ugly roots though so I a not sure I did it a favor. :)

Thanks Love the yard. That will make the process much easier next time.

And all your links kept me up until 2am today :-) I had a great time browsing through them.

When I worked at the nursery, we grew adeniums from seed, and we potted them in 1/2 potting soil and 1/2 perlite, with perlite or stones in the bottom of the pot for drainage. I grow mine in this, and they seem to love it. They hate to be wet, and since mine are outside in pots, I try to make the soil as well drained as possible.

Hi Michelle,
Glad you like it. I have to tell you about the one I saw yesterday at the nursery where we pick up euculyptus leaves for the Koalas. It was about 3 ft high by 4 ft wide the caudex was half of this size, he did it by leaving the plant in its pot when the roots grew through he cut away the pot, and there caudex already lifted. Pretty amazing :)

Katie

Pot facing south

Wow... these are gorgeous ! I have never tried to grow a desert rose, but would like to try... which one would be recommended for a beginner ? Thanks, sally

Anyone you want. They come in alot of colors now. The big one in the pic is from years ago when they only sold this one kind.
I'd like to experiment with pruning this year, Hmmmmmm

Thanks Michelle for starting this thread - I'm learning a lot! :-)

Coffeemom - very pretty! I'm scared to death to prune.

Another question about the repotting thing... Here are a couple of pics of the root structure of my large adenium. It was just lifted again a couple weeks ago. From the links, I think I can remove the stringy roots off the fat roots on the next repot?

{{gwi:871124}}

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Thanks again,
Terri

I'm hoping this will lead to a more compact plant like the one in Link 1.
I was also thinking about cutting the striggy roots.
This post has had alot of new info for me!

Here is a link that might be useful: hard pruning