How to grow Adenium Obesum (Desert rose) Bonsai

Adenium Obesum or Desert Rose Bonsai

It is a South African shrub having a swollen succulent stem and bearing showy pink and white flowers after the leaves fall. It's a popular ornamental plant in tropical regions. It is excellent in pots especially for people who kill everything as the adenium lives with little care.

Adenium Bonsai

Flowers: The plant flowers during the warm months and the flowers are 2-inch pink open-trumpet shaped flowers. The flowers are in the shade of pink, rose white or white. If a plant not getting enough sunlight, flowering will not happen.

Temperature: It prefers warm conditions, it needs more water the temperature rise to over 40 degrees Celcius. During winter reduce the water for adeniums and temperature below 4c it kills the plants. Adenium is a drought-tolerant plant.

Adenium Bonsai plants

Soil: Adeniums require a gritty,well-drained soil like coarse river sand for quick draining and add farmyard manure or compost in the ratio of 1:1.Because this mixture holds moisture well. The most important thing is the soil is not too wet or dry.

Watering: Allow the plant to dry in between waterings. Often the base of the stem becomes soft when the plant needs watering. Increase the watering when plants are in the flowering stage and decrease the watering in winter. To increase flowering to give liquid fertilizer weekly. Leaf drop is a common sign of watering. It is very prone to rotting. Adeniums can be suffered from root rot if overwatered.

Pruning: New shoots can be pruned regularly to produce new branches. More branches mean more flowers which are very attractive.

Repotting: Repot the adeniums every 2 years with pruning the heavy roots it will encourage the finer roots to grow.

Styles: Informal Upright, Slanting, and cascade. Shaping is carried out by selective pruning.

Pests and diseases: The plant may be attacked by Aphids and Mealy Bugs. Use water spray or soapy solution spray to infected areas. The fungus is a serious problem turning the affected parts into mush and gooey. Don't use any chemical treatments.

How to care Adenium Bonsai plants:

How to Prepare a Pot for Bonsai:
 1. Put a plastic mesh on the drainage hole attached with some copper wire.
 2. Cover the base of the pot with a layer of grit to create good drainage.
 3. Now use the prepared soil mixture as a second layer, on which the tree will be planted.

Harvesting Adenium Seeds:
      Adeniums are easily propagated by seeds and it can be easily collected from mature seed pods. Harvesting seeds are very easy from the plant. First wait patiently for seed pods to mature, watch for long bean-like seed pods to form(20-22 centimeters).

Matured Seed Pods in Adenium Bonsai

Once the seed pods try to open they are mature before seed pod opens to place the thin plastic bag around it & tie the bag in place. Remove the bag after the seed pod has opened and taken the seed out of the bag. Each seedpod will contain multiple seeds in it. Inspect the harvested seeds for any disease or damage. Make sure they don't have any disease or damage. Place the seeds in a small storage box and label it. Spring season is the best time to plant seeds.

Yellowing of Leaves:
     Adenium a succulent plant is a low maintenance plant, but certain problems can result in yellowing of leaves. Yellowing of leaves occurs due to lack of light, Overwatering, and inadequate nutrition.

Lack of light:
    Normally adenium requires full sunlight throughout the day. Without adequate sunlight, the foliage may turn yellow.

Overwatering:    

Like the other succulent plants, adenium suffer from overwatering. If overwatering continues the leaves will turn yellow color and plant may die soon. Excess water leads to root rot disease and can stress the plant. Water thoroughly when you water, but let the soil dry out before watering again. Water the soil only and do not wet the leaves and caudex.

Inadequate nutrition:

Inadequate Nutrition can cause adenium leaves to turn yellow and eventually drop. Feed weekly with a balanced liquid fertilizer to encourage leaf growth.

Compost:

Compost can be mixed directly into the soil and it will improve the physical structure of soil and enrich the soil with microorganisms and improve water holding capacity. Enhance germination, plant growth and it provides a rich growing medium. Compost can destroy pathogens, seeds, and unwanted plants.

Health Hazard: 

Normally all parts of desert rose are poisonous and should be kept out of the reach of children and animals. All parts of Adeniums are toxic with its sap and root being used as a poison in hunting in Africa. So use disposable gloves when you pruning the roots and branches and wash your hands properly.