Hello friends,
I've done some searching, but nothing seems to be coming up for my particular situation, as yet.

So there was an unexpected freeze a couple months ago, and it was HARD. Unfortunately, my adenium was sitting on the patio. Next day I looked and all the leaves were gone. I immediately brought it inside and gave it some water, but over a couple months, nothing was growing. When I moved from that apartment I decided to give up and throw it out while saving the pot. When I pulled it out, though, the roots still smelled healthy, even though everything above the soil had gone soft. They are nice and firm and white, too!

What do I do? If all it has is a bundle of fat roots and the smaller tangled ones coming off those, can it be saved? How should I deal with the top part? It's too thick for my pruning shears to get off in one go.

to the forums

can you upload some pictures ?

Sure

the top is gone ......

not sure you can save it - but its worth a try

cut the entire top off ...at the point of where your upper most finger is in the first pic ....adenium are rather easy to cut with a knife, sharp edge or razor ..... after slicing off the top - if you see nothing but white (or green) then its safe to stop ...if you see tan or brown (or black) ...continue taking narrow slices off the top - until nothing but white is showing

allow this cut to callus or harden over ... (about 10 days) ...then repot in a fast draining potting media ...... refrain from watering for another few days ...then saturate the soil - make certain water flows freely out of the pot ..avoid getting any water on the cut surface

then let sit for 45 to 60 days before watering again ...continue with the 45 to 60 day watering schedule until it warms up outside and is a *sustained* 50°F @ night ....

Adenium take forever to respond to changes .... once it warms up outside .... you should see stems starting to sprout from the edges (or just below) of the cut

Thanks! I've started the process. I can't wait to see how it reacts in the spring. Unfortunately, it was a grafted plant so I have no idea what the flowers will look like if it ever does flower again.