I just got into desert roses last year. I have 3 hybrids an a few req. I love them. BUT I am doing something wrong. For about a month now they are growing great but the leaves are pointing straight up. I live in Central Tx. The temps are above 100 everyday. They get over 8 hours of direct sun. I water every 3-4 days sometimes more. Someone said to much fert. I fert. Once a month. Any thoughts??

I think they look great ....leaves pointing straight up is telling me they are getting enough water .... the deep green color of the leaves is telling me they are getting enough fertilizer

the one thing i would do ...pinch off leaves that are yellowing

I am inclined to suggest to check the root zone, and also to add more grittiness to your media. It needs to be much more grittier than that. That way as the onerous summer heat ensues, it can be watered frequently, at times I already have to do it daily here, when our temps are soaring to 100F+ everyday.

Adeniums form lots of tiny roots around the caudex, and during summer it becomes quite thirsty as it fattens up its caudex. But at the same time, it would not like to stay too damp too long than needed. I am thinking there is a problem at the roots, so it is unable to get the moisture it needs to sustain the leaves, so it is trying to prevent more moisture loss by closing down its leaves.

I think this is a characteristic protect the leaves from the sun posture. I rarely fertilize mine (which I should, but it seems to be the one thing that frequently falls by the wayside) and they are sitting under 50% shade cloth but in morning (with some early morning low angle direct sun) to evening full sun and their leaves look the same.

They are plenty happy, a couple bloomed before it got too hot. Mine have been seeing 110+ every day pretty much for the last 2-3 weeks. I water twice a week (so about the same frequency as you do), which in the height over summer here, is probably still not quite enough, but despite working from home the last few months it is all I can manage.

While Tarev is absolutely right with regards to them not liking to be wet all the time, in summer when it is both hot during the day and well above 60F at night you can water these quite frequently (you just want to make sure that your soil is drying out fast and mostly dry before you water again). I have been told by a long time cultivator Mark Dimmitt (I encourage you to check out his website about Adeniums - I think googling Mark Dimmitt - Adeniums will get you there, he has a book out on Adeniums, but a lot of useful info can be found on this website so while the book is nice, for tips on cultivation and what not it is not necessary) to almost treat these like tropicals in the height of Arizona summer (our night time lows are running in the mid 80s at the moment with day time highs consistently above 110 as mentioned).

One thing I would slowly start considering is to find a slight bigger pot, not too much bigger as that will drastically change how quickly your soil will dry out, but these are starting to look big enough that you might want to try and up-pot some time towards the end of summer when it is not quite so hot, but when they have a good period of growing season left to adjust to the new habitat. Given that you water frequently you might consider an unglazed clay pot, which will help with your soil drying out.

I am not sure how easy it is for you to do, but if you have access to some say 30 or 40% shade cloth you could put one of them under cover of some shade and see if this changes the posture of the leaves.

I have them in miracle grow cactus soil.. Which has a fert. in it.. but its a year old an so I bought some fert.. It is very weak though.. I do have a shade tarp.. Because nothing that says full sun can handle full Texas sun lol But I dont currently have them under it.. I do plan to repot them in clay pots.. The 2 I have pictured have grown 4x bigger since I bought them last year as yearlings..

When you put them in bigger pots, I would mix some coarser grittier stuff in with the miracle grow cactus stuff. This will help the pots drain/dry out faster. I use pumice, but that is not always easy to acquire (most big box stores do not carry it), though in some places something called Dry Stall (or Stall Dry - I think there are competing products with flipped around names out there, only one is pumice, the other is not), which people use in horse stalls, is made of pumice.

Other people use lava rock, perlite, or sometimes just some coarse gravel.

On the other hand things seem to be going really well so maybe you do not really need to change too much - though as these plants grow they can get a little more demanding about winter dry periods. I essentially pretty much stop watering them in late October/early November once night time lows go consistently below 50F.

However, if you want to test to see if the leaves will 'open' up a little more if the plant is in more shade you can do the shade cloth test. I am pretty sure that is what it is. I have one plant on the patio seeing only late afternoon sun and that one has a much more open posture leaf wise.

I am going to try and move them to under the shade tarp an see if that helps.. I don't remember having this problem last year.. But they were hardly a year old.. I am prob. watering them to much also.. I have a moisture meter, BUT I just move some dirt around an if I don't see any sign of water I give it some lol I mean they look healthy except for a few of the lower leaves which I cut off this morning.. Just the leaves not unfolding is puzzling lol I have looked an looked and can't seem to find anyone with the same issue.. mcvansoest, does though so It's encouraging.. I think the soil keeps it pretty moist though, ( I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad one lol) so I am going to look at changing that to something that drys out better..

I was going to take a picture, but ran out of light, I will try to remember tomorrow.

If it is not cold it is probably not a huge deal that they are pretty wet, but I would definitely watch out with that when the temperatures start going down. I lost a couple last winter (the first winter at a new house) when they got wet from rain where I was expecting them to stay dry... got ugly fast. Of course one of them was an A. socotranum... 10 years of growth straight into the trash.

Oh man that sucks. Here is one of my hybrids.

Nice!

I know it's been a couple of months but I'm curious to know if you found an answer to why your adenium was doing this. I have about 50 seedlings that I started this spring that are doing the same thing.

Have you tried changing their light exposure?

Replant into a quick draining mix and you'll never worry about overwatering.

Sun might be cooking the root zone. If ambient temps are over 100+ then for sure, the root zone is higher and hotter. Plants shut down and stress. Keep the pots cool. Many plants will start to shut down (summer dormancy) when heat stressed, including Adenium. Ideal temps range: 70-90s * F. Root zone needs to be kept cool.... when plants are potted, and the restricted roots can't grow into the cooler substrate, like they would in a desert.

Stick a bamboo chopstick straight down into the medium and leave it there. Pull it out if you think plants need watering. If the chopstick is damp...the plants don't need watering.

I'm trying to keep Adenium, and other fat-plants alive-ing and thrive-ing, here in NYC-7b.....and myself, too. I wish I had your sunny, warm-hot growing conditions to worry about. My season is now coming to a quick end. Night-temps are sinking to the low 50*F. So all my plants must come into my kitchen at night, and then, back out during the warmer day. It's a huge PITA moving heavy plants in and out, in and out. I need my head examined. But I do it to squeezed every inch out of my short growing season.

As to why your leaves are pointing up....btw the double-flowering Adenium look fine....I would only be speculating.

I'm sure your plants will do just fine. Good luck.