Hi , I've bought a similar plant. There were two of them available. I passed on the second one for the reasons you've described . I've only had mine about a week now and was thinking the same thing. Since the graft on the one i bought is actually pretty solid , well placed and appears to be a healthy one , I've opted to keep it on the graft . If you do try to get it going on it's own roots please repost how it does. I saw another ,larger scion today that i thought may be a better candidate for rooting, but the varigation on one side was entirely crisped , just a big ugly brown blotch across the side , so i passed again.

Dobbers, Don't know much about Adenium, but I've grown some pachycaul plants (and I guess the Adenium Genius is out of the office)... I'd cauterize everything with Rootone (with the fungicide)or similar product, using hygienic instruments and lots of alcohol on cut-and-the-dusted surfaces after each cutting and before the dusting, ensuring that the only pieces you're saving are those with completely healthy tissue. I guess you're dealing with the usual problems of grafted plants, not enough sun and heat and too much water. I don't know nor care to speculate where the rot was introduced, but clearly you need some heat and sun, and bottom heat would help get the plant growing again. I have never grown anything on a graft but an Aztekium, and I remember said A. genius describing the problems of grafted plants (it takes an expert and not just anyone to make a successful one), but I hope these simple steps help.

I don't grow these chlorophyll-free plants, some say that they are short-lived but I don't know if that applies to all of them or if it is the combination of this Gymnocalycium species with the Hylocereus stock that has a limited lifespan. I once degrafted a dark purple one, and it looked happy, but I would not try that with a completely red plant. So, the "broken off balls" (offsets) should be grafted, not rooted. I hope they are still attached to the mother plant, they need to be in good condition for the graft to succeed. Anyway, if I would make my own grafts of a "ruby ball" on a tough stock I would try Opuntia humifusa (or the variant O. compressa). That one is probably the hardiest of all cacti, and it does not seem to induce as much offsetting as some other grafting stocks. Echinopsis/Trichocereus species are often used too, they are relatively hardy. Three less hardy alternatives are Selenicereus, Harrisia and Myrtillocactus geometrizans. I have only tried various Opuntia, Selenicereus grandiflorus, Pereskiopsis spathulata and a Hylocereus (the two latter is not useful in this case). There are many good places that describes the process: http://www.cactus-art.biz/technics/Grafting_on_opuntia_compressa_index.htm http://www.cactiguide.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6799 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPy_01OSDUg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bda1k09CqaM (in Dutch, but it shows the technique) This one can be of interest to you ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nQYJ7PmQEQ Be prepared for a few failures, it takes a while before you get everything right. Now is not the best time of the year to do this, the plants need to be growing. Late spring/summer is better.

I did the same with this oneshe was putting on a show as we walked by. I couldn't leave it....She still had that glue on her. Hoping it fall off on it's own.