Had my desert rose in my setup under 3 spider farmer SF-1000s and it along with every other tree I have was thriving. Was doing something and looked up and saw dots under the leaves. Checked with white paper and it was spider mites. Went through every leaf with a damp paper towel and cleaned the whole plant. Moved to a south facing window and checked daily. Spidermite are gone but since the leaves are turning this yellow/brown color, are very soft/droopy and are dropping. Just now I noticed the buds are singed almost. The caudex is still rock hard but idk what's going on with this. The soil mix is a combo of Diatomaceous Earth, pumice, lava rock and fir bark. It drains fast and dries relatively quick too. I leave a skewer in and only water when its dry, which is once every 3 days. Could this just be sun scorch? I planned on chopping the plant after the buds bloomed but now idk what to do. Should I move back to my setup?

Spider mites thrive in warm & dry conditions .... making the area where your plants are less warm and not as dry ...or, cooler & more on the humid side will deter spider mites

spider mites have a life cycle of 5 stages ...usually, all 5 stages coexist at the same time, making control necessary for each stage

if it is too cool for the plant being outside ...spray with neem oil

if warm enough to stay outside ...spray with insecticidal soap - when insecticidal soap has dried (may look powdery white) ...wash off plants ....do not spray insecticidal soap on hot sunny days -

not sure what is up with the color changes on leaves .... yellow is normal - yellow & falling off plant is normal - brown can be lack of water or too much water ...the red colors might be insecticide

buds dry and aborting can be lack of water or too much water - might also signify recent changes ...or it might just be too early .....

try not to throw too much at adeniums at once ..... since adeniums are notoriously slow to respond to single changes .... making it hard to sort out issues

deepsouth said:Spider mites thrive in warm & dry conditions .... making the area where your plants are less warm and not as dry ...or, cooler & more on the humid side will deter spider mites

spider mites have a life cycle of 5 stages ...usually, all 5 stages coexist at the same time, making control necessary for each stage

if it is too cool for the plant being outside ...spray with neem oil

if warm enough to stay outside ...spray with insecticidal soap - when insecticidal soap has dried (may look powdery white) ...wash off plants ....do not spray insecticidal soap on hot sunny days -

not sure what is up with the color changes on leaves .... yellow is normal - yellow & falling off plant is normal - brown can be lack of water or too much water ...the red colors might be insecticide

buds dry and aborting can be lack of water or too much water - might also signify recent changes ...or it might just be too early .....

try not to throw too much at adeniums at once ..... since adeniums are notoriously slow to respond to single changes .... making it hard to sort out issues

I sprayed with neem, remember our convo about chopping the plant? Should I wait now? Watering this thing confuses me. Most say water only when soil is dry, my soil mix dries fast but then I'd be watering twice a week which goes against everything I've read. This definitely isn't sun scorch right?

sun scorch ? ... dont think so .... the buds not fully developing - thinking that's a watering / nutritional problem ... check your potting mix, fertilizer labels for the micronutrient - Boron -

if Boron is missing ....look for a liquid type fertilizer that contains all micronutrients (aka: Trace minerals) ~ Boron, Copper, Iron, Manganese, Molybdenum & Zinc ....

as for chopping the plant ....would wait until early spring - and - warm enough to stay outside ... then the plant has all year to recover ......