Souf, I have no way to contact you, so I hope you see the above. Smokymist, thank you! They're not so happy right now, though. :-( They were doing great for months in the grow tent for winter, and then I was stupid enough to introduce a plant from a local nursery into the grow tent with them. BAD CHOICE. The nursery plant apparently had both spider mite and whitefly eggs. I soaped them all; the adult adenium got angry about the insecticidal soap and shattered. All those pretty leaves and flowers, PLOP. At least they're hardy, and growing shiny new leaves now. I can tell you, though, I was well PO'd at the nursery--and my own foolishness--for messing up my babies. Anyway, I certainly won't be sending out anything live until I'm sure the nasties are gone for months. And no more nursery shopping. I don't trust them any more.

I finally managed to track down all the ingredients for the gritty mix and am in the process of re-potting all of my severely neglected adeniums and succulents. YAY! I've taken the little adeniums outside for morning sun for 2-3hrs for a couple of days now. I think I'm safe to leave them outside for the rest of the summer, right? I'm a bit apprehensive as we are having a heat wave here with 90-100degree weather right now. Water everyday and they will be okay? Now for the big tall adenium... This is what the caudex looked like when we got it out of the pot. How much can you expose the caudex without compromising the plant? We tried to find a nice shallow bonsai pot for it but there was none to be had at Home Depot. Maybe its not time yet for a shallow pot? So we lifted it up and since it had been sitting in the previous pot on its side, there is quite a lot of roots now exposed. Will they fall off after a while? This is the super tall adenium repotted. I am trying to plan a strategy for it. Maybe have it outside in the full sun for 2 hrs/day this week and then prune it to where I have the blue tape? This plant is my Dh's baby and I'm so afraid of ruining it. The leaves are nice and green & glossy so it seems like a shame but I know its the best in the long run. Thoughts?

hi randy, that's what i meant large caudex i want but i thought if i get large roots that it will make large caudex:-) yes i want large caudex but somehow it's getting to long to get it. i know my adeniums are still young- very soon 2 years old but i get jealous when see larger caudex in stores and mine is sooo small.

I have a couple dozen DR's, some from seed, others grafted and some purchased as mature plants. When the seedlings are very small I treat them more as tropicals and keep them well watered. After a couple months I allow the soil to dry between waterings. I keep them quite root bound and when I do transplant I raise them up about an inch to expose more of the enlarging caudex. Most of mine go dormant over the winter. I cut way back on watering, just enough to keep the roots from drying out, maybe once every 6-8 weeks but I keep them warmer then my dormant plumerias.