This is the Chai Lai adenium I mentioned in another post that I was having problems with. It was shipped last September bare root, it had leaves on it but they were severely wilted and fell off within a week. This was the newly potted plant back then, I found a photo I posted at the time, the one on the right is Chai Lai. I didn't really notice or pay much attention to the brownish tips and that possibly was the start of the rot.


It appeared to have some new growth starting in January, but they stayed very tiny, dried up and fell off. The same thing happened this July... tiny new growth, dried up and fell off. It was then that I started squeezing the tips and noticed they were soft. I cut those tips down to get rid of any soft parts, coated the tips with cinnamon, let them callous a few days indoors and then coated them with crazy glue. There also was a hole in the grafted spot near the 2 stems, it came with that hole there. It stayed clean and didn't look to be any problems, but I also filled it with crazy glue to keep any water out of it. The hole is visible in the 1st photo from last September.


A month later mid-August there was still no sign of any growth, so I unpotted it to check the roots and found 1 mushy one. It was quite a tangle of roots though and by then I just decided to cut the bottom of the caudex off to be sure of getting rid of any rot. I coated the cuts with cinnamon and hung it indoors in the shade to dry for about 7-8 days. I coated the cuts and root ends with TiteBond 3 and let that dry another 2 days. The caudex has no soft spots at all, it's always been hard. I just never thought to start squeezing the tips of the branches before.


I repotted it with an even grittier mix (3 parts Jack's Bonsai Mix and 1 part Jack's Pumice) at the end of August, watered it for the first time a few days later. And then one of the raccoons pulled it out. Which ended up being a good thing, I found a slit on one of the inner sides of the caudex that I missed. I cut it off to that damaged point, same treatment with cinnamon, drying time, TiteBond 3 and just repotted it 3 days ago again, gave it some water the first time yesterday. The raccoons had "skinned" the caudex in a few places, I put cinnamon and then Lime Paste on those patches, they looked very clean and not cuts at all, just a slight peeling off of the top layer.


I'm bringing them all in at night because of the raccoons, and this one will stay out of any rain. I plan on watering maybe every 10 days while it's still hot out, is that about right or less water until it starts to hopefully show any new growth? Anything else or different I should have done for next time?

I used deep south's potting mix for all 3 adeniums and the other 2 are thriving and blooming, so keeping it too wet during the summer wasn't an issue. It's a very fast draining mix he posted.

I will let @deepsouth chime in but in the plumeria world, and maybe Adenium too, it is best to hold off watering until the leaves are out. If there are no leaves, then there are no roots. And therefore there is nothing that can absorb the water.

I have killed a few adeniums by being impatient and watering them when they can't absorb water.

@Kaktus also does a lot of root training, and hope he can chime in.

best to keep outside (as long as it is warm) and wait on new leaves -

It got a bit wet today, it rained a little unexpectedly, but thankfully not enough to soak the gravel before I brought them all in. I'll have to watch this one more carefully. I won't water it at all now until I hopefully see new growth that stays and doesn't just shrivel up and die.

the recent rain might help - as long as it was just a tad bit of rain

the roots that were cut are the greatest concern - the longer they stay dry the better -

warmth seems to wake-up adenium (do you have grow lights ??)- once new leaves emerge, then saturate plant

then taper off watering and wait for dormancy

I wonder if @Kaktus humidity set up will work for this? I am doing it for my seedlings that got dehydrated. The soil is moist but not wet. For my grafting sometimes it will not work because it is very humid here.

deepsouth said: the recent rain might help - as long as it was just a tad bit of rain

the roots that were cut are the greatest concern - the longer they stay dry the better -

warmth seems to wake-up adenium (do you have grow lights ??)- once new leaves emerge, then saturate plant

then taper off watering and wait for dormancy

with this, it does better if it is outside. I have brought some inside that I didn't realize media stayed wet and didn't realize that rot has set in. The cut part has to be totally calloused and dry (usually 2 weeks drying).

I have grow lights, but they're LED and don't really give off any heat at all. When they stay in for the winter, I keep them in an unobstructed south window, and water only once a month then. We're going to still have at least several weeks (maybe even 2 months if it's like last year) in the high 70s and even 80s, in full sun where I keep them it gets over 95°, so it'll still have quite a few very warm days before having to permanently come inside.

Also, from Maria's Garden, she always put the "patient" outside under tress/bushes for at least 6 weeks for recovery time. I think the transpiration from the leaves helps keep the humidity at an even level. It seems to work, I have been putting new transplants and cuttings under the eaves of the roofline, between the bushes and the wall, where it's shady but receives some light, protected from rain and the sprinkler system.

Best of luck with your "patient". I've had many issues with Adenium stem rot this summer.

I'd read about hanging it outside, but I don't have any place where it would be protected from rain. Our nights have been getting down to mid-50s as well and I didn't think the cold would do it any good. So that's why I opted to hang it indoors in a warm shady spot.

I've also seen videos where they hang it anywhere from 7 days to 1 month. I must have missed the one where Maria said 6 weeks, I watch a lot of her videos (or I just don't recall it, I was looking up so much info at the time).

Yes, I had some dehydrated ones that I placed under a tree but right now, I have 4 problem children not responding to shade treatment but maybe I didn't wait 6 weeks.

Stem rot is really annoying I caught the stem rot of one of my "multi color graft experiments" and just removed the others to give the plant a chance to recover. Once fully healed, I might try again.

Finally one of the branches has new growth on Chai Lai, and this is actually the biggest any growth has gotten since I got the plant last October. It did show some new growth several times, but each time they'd dry up and fall off at about 1/3 of the size of this growth. The other branch looks like it's trying where that red bump is... I can hope. I have a feeling the rot was there when shipped, or it was routed through some really cold areas that caused the rot on the way to me.



I checked for roots about 2 weeks ago and nothing, but all cuts looked nice and clean and dried/puckered up. How long might it take for roots to start to develope?

Hmmm, it is so hard to figure out how long the roots will start growing. Usually new leaf growth is a sign it is growing but per my experience without full set of leaves yet, then most likely you still don't have roots.

I have one that I have been trying to revive and it still has not sprouted new leaves as if it is dormant. So I have it under the mango tree. It is in a big clay pot with 2 actively growing baby seedlings. So any excess water gets absorbed by the 2 adeniums.

Murky said: This is the Chai Lai adenium I mentioned in another post that I was having problems with. It was shipped last September bare root, it had leaves on it but they were severely wilted and fell off within a week. This was the newly potted plant back then, I found a photo I posted at the time, the one on the right is Chai Lai. I didn't really notice or pay much attention to the brownish tips and that possibly was the start of the rot.


It appeared to have some new growth starting in January, but they stayed very tiny, dried up and fell off. The same thing happened this July... tiny new growth, dried up and fell off. It was then that I started squeezing the tips and noticed they were soft. I cut those tips down to get rid of any soft parts, coated the tips with cinnamon, let them callous a few days indoors and then coated them with crazy glue. There also was a hole in the grafted spot near the 2 stems, it came with that hole there. It stayed clean and didn't look to be any problems, but I also filled it with crazy glue to keep any water out of it. The hole is visible in the 1st photo from last September.


A month later mid-August there was still no sign of any growth, so I unpotted it to check the roots and found 1 mushy one. It was quite a tangle of roots though and by then I just decided to cut the bottom of the caudex off to be sure of getting rid of any rot. I coated the cuts with cinnamon and hung it indoors in the shade to dry for about 7-8 days. I coated the cuts and root ends with TiteBond 3 and let that dry another 2 days. The caudex has no soft spots at all, it's always been hard. I just never thought to start squeezing the tips of the branches before.


I repotted it with an even grittier mix (3 parts Jack's Bonsai Mix and 1 part Jack's Pumice) at the end of August, watered it for the first time a few days later. And then one of the raccoons pulled it out. Which ended up being a good thing, I found a slit on one of the inner sides of the caudex that I missed. I cut it off to that damaged point, same treatment with cinnamon, drying time, TiteBond 3 and just repotted it 3 days ago again, gave it some water the first time yesterday. The raccoons had "skinned" the caudex in a few places, I put cinnamon and then Lime Paste on those patches, they looked very clean and not cuts at all, just a slight peeling off of the top layer.


I'm bringing them all in at night because of the raccoons, and this one will stay out of any rain. I plan on watering maybe every 10 days while it's still hot out, is that about right or less water until it starts to hopefully show any new growth? Anything else or different I should have done for next time?

I used deep south's potting mix for all 3 adeniums and the other 2 are thriving and blooming, so keeping it too wet during the summer wasn't an issue. It's a very fast draining mix he posted.

Nancy, hope Chai Lai is doing well.
It just occurred to me that my no IDs at 'Chai Lai':
https://www.logees.com/desert-...

Looks same as Phet
Mong Khon

The flowers do look very similar, I've noticed that between many differently named adeniums. Add to that the normal variation you get between flowers and different bloom times... I'm at the point of calling them whatever you want!

The green leaves are a bit larger, and this is the largest they've ever been since I got Chai Lai. They'd usually dry up and fall off when very tiny. The other branch still seems like it's trying, but nothing more than the little red bump still. I'm tempted to cut that one branch a bit lower while it's indoors for the winter and zero chance of it getting rot from the cut.

I don't think there are any roots yet, but the caudex is hard, ends are nice and dried up, no visible rot anywhere at least. I've watered it maybe twice since I repotted it and will be getting water once a month with the other 2 from now until spring, probably less often than that since it has zero roots.

Any suggestions from anyone to help this one along would be very helpful.