I've been tempted to try it, I think I'll get some via Ebay--there are a couple of buy-it-now auctions for smaller amounts. The Japanese use it in their bonsai media mixes as well as for top dressing. Mike in MN

Well, today I bit the bullet, and got 'er done. Everyone recommended I add "oil dry" to the mix, so I went down to the local NAPA store and got the smallest bag they had....probably enough to last the rest of my life unless I spill the grease the next few times I fry fish. Since I had already made enough mix to fill the selected pot (thats a joke!)and it contained sand which some of you recommended against, but I couldn't get out, I just added a measure of the oil dry to the existing mix. Next step was removing the plant from its pot....Turning it over and tapping the pot on the bottom did NOT work! I struggled for over ten minutes before I convinced that plant to turn that pot loose, and when it did come out, it just kept on, and on, and on coming out. You've been to the circus and seen 10 clowns get out of a car the size of a large suitcase......Well, I'm convinced Adeniums taught them how to do that. There was more plant in that pot than I would have ever thought possible. None of the pots I had considered using was going to work, so the search began all over again. I finally found one thats a bit small, but will work for a while. Photo #4 shows what I got out of that pot. There was a large swolen root that had been just below the surface, and another much smaller root on the opposite side. I trimmed all the small roots off the smaller one, and left both of them on the plant, thinking they might add interest in later years (hows that for a new grower being optimistic). There was a small cluster of roots on the back side of this photo that was growing above the old soil line, and a little "button" of an old root stub that was starting to grow a new root, so I took both of these off flush with the Caudex. I removed a few of the more flimsy looking bunches of tiny roots, and thats about all. Photo #5 shows what I put in the new pot. The swolen root is on the left, and the one I am going to try to get to match it is on the right trimmed of all its small roots. Photo #6 is the final product. The plant is raised about 2 inches, and shows the large swolen root on the right, and the new smaller one on the left. You can see the spot near the center of the Caudex where I cut off a small patch of roots that were growing above the old soil line. I intend to leave the plant on the porch for two or three days to allow it to dry and heal the cuts I made, then will slowly reintroduce it to the sun until it is again in pretty much full sun, and being fed and watered on a regular basis...like every couple of days. I know I probably did as many things wrong as I did right, (I would consider 50-50 a real accomplishment) But I do believe things went pretty well, and now the challenge will be to grow this (to me) strange new plant. Thanks everyone for the help and encouragement. I have been lurking around here for some time, soaking up the knowlege you good folks have been putting out.....I guess today was exam day...Thanks. Bill

Frank, We're in the same zone along the same coastline so my information may be of use to you. First let me break down what your conditions are and what you want to happen in winter, to wit: 1. Your plant is in the midst of being trained into some shape or the other. 2. It is in a big pot that you can not move inside when winter sets in. 3. You and the plant are in NYC. First, remember that unlike your typical bursera and other temperate trees that evolved in areas with four seasons, adeniums will not survive outside in winter, or sometimes not even spring and autumn. They start slowing down when night temperatures drop to 16C and will start dying when night temps drop below 10C. The stronger of these plants may linger until first frost but all will certainly drop dead after that. Adeniums also do not go truly dormant the way deciduous trees do in winter. They just slow way down to barely awake. Even leafless, you can see growth nubs developing and then failing. This means you can wake them up easily but it also means you do not have that true dormancy to take advantage of when you can put them in an unheated garage or a box outdoors somewhere. Having said that, adeniums do survive out of the pot for a really long time. I have done this to both seedlings, yearlings and adults. Their subsequent survival depends on the rate at which you reintroduce them to being repotted. In their desiccated state, especially if you kept them somewhere cold and dark (basement closet, in my case), you can't just plop them back into the pot, water them and put them outside. I had to wait for spring to put them back in the pot, measure their water in tablespoons, then introduce them to heat and ever so slowly, to light. The plants that I did not put through this careful process either died or took all summer before ever growing back leaves. By the time they developed a full head of leaves, it was also nearing the time for them to go back inside. So I stopped overwintering them out of the pot because the trouble the process demands in order to jumpstart growth and succeed is way more than I was willing to tolerate. Moreover, the plants you are planning to overwinter out of the pot are very stressed plants already--i.e. adjusting to being braided, twisted and what-not. If you add more stress to that by taking them out of the pot, you increase the risk of them not surviving. If I were in your place, I will move them right now to a smaller, more manageable pot that I can then move indoors in winter. One less thing to worry about. Also this way, they only need recover from a light winter sleep, with their roots intact in the pot, instead of having to recover from exposure, then readjusting to being back in the pot while also dealing with being braided, twisted, stretched, etc. Pagan

@Jon the rule is to not water when they are dormant. That said, given that my climate is very borderline for leaving an Adenium out in cold Winter air, I want to find a soil that minimizes the chances for root rot. Gritty mix does have some organic components, and that might contribute to root rot in borderline conditions. I still routinely get root rot on new succulents that get planted in gritty mix. It is some kind of transplant shock because I bare root the plants. The plants are typically coming from a nursery mix that is peat moss and pumice. If I get twin plants, the one that I transplant to a new peat mix seems to always immediately thrive. The ones that go into gritty mix almost always go through a very rough acclimation period and many of those get root rot.