I am brand new to this and I love all of these stories. I had no idea the variation and the complexities of the adeniums. I am hooked now too. I grew up in Maryland (east coast of U.S.). My mother was always trying to raise orchids, plumeria, and DESERT ROSES. She had one desert rose that had a huge caudex. It would flower every year. I admired it, but I was enamored by her orchid variety. I always thought adeniums only came in pink and red.

After I moved to Hawaii, I purchased my very first adenium seedling for $1 from a church about 3 years ago (?) I didn't do much with it other than repot it once. I have otherwise neglected it!!! It gave me blooms each year, but I will admit, I took it for granted.

I noticed last week that it was outgrowing its pot and it had mealybugs. Not knowing much, I chopped off the branches, sealed the cuts with candle wax. While I was googling ways to repot it, I found this site AND the photos posted by @Rainbow Kadie and several other members!!! I saw the beautiful colors, varieties, thick caudexes. I started going on youtube and viewing the tutorials. I then decided to order a bunch of seeds because I got so excited. They came a few days ago and are already sprouting, thanks to advice from @Rainbow Kadie.

Thank you every one of you who posts pictures, questions, answers, stories, etc. I have been reading on this forum and going on Youtube day and night. My kids tell me I'm a little obsessed I am learning so much from all of you.

I'm getting to repot this baby! I've cut the caudex and put cinnamon on the cut caudex. It has been drying for 3 days. Fingers crossed and suggestions welcomed!

Hi Kate, you got hooked! I'm excited for and your new adventure in adeniums. I started out pretty much the way you have started. And did a lot of experimenting in growing adeniums.

Your 3-year-old pictured above looks like a fairly healthy specimen. In prep for re-potting into fresh new media, I have some suggestions. Carefully remove plant from its container, spray-wash the soil off of the roots, and trim any overly-long fine roots.

To re-pot, fill a shallow, wide pot with new media to about halfway, and place plant on top spreading out the roots. Then fill in more media on top of roots to about one inch below the previous soil line--exposing more of the fat caudex. (If you would like a canopy form, prune the main stem at the same time of repotting; cut to half the height it is now.) Water the media thoroughly with starter/transplant solution and place the newly potted plant in a protected area. Do not water again for a week or until media is almost dry; allow plant roots to settle in and begin growing new roots. Continue watering with starter solution for another two weeks. Then place plant in a light shade area for several weeks before exposing to full sun.

In another post you had asked about slow-release fertilizer. Mixing the pearls in the new potting media before planting is a good idea. It will take a couple of weeks for the pearls to begin releasing nutrients and by then the new fine roots will be able to take up the fertilizer.

Kate, please feel free to ask if you have questions or need clarification. Other members here may offer further helpful suggestions to you based on their own experiences. @plantmanager @JamesAccaims

Happy gardening!

~Kadie

Yes...I am hooked. I'm using my inexpensive "Assorted batch" of seeds to experiment with!
I just got some from Taiwan (Mr. Ko) in the mail, so I will be a bit more careful with them.

It's funny...I have been neglecting "Clara" (I named my first adenium) and she seemed healthy, but when I cut the roots, I found some rot. I ended up cutting up more than I intended, but I think she will be ok. I'll try to take a pic later. I added some Clonex rooting hormone and then cinnamon too. I'm sure I overdid it. It has been hanging in shade for a few days. I still need a good pot. They don't sell panterra bowls here and it costs an arm and a leg to ship them here. Amazon does not have them!

Thanks for all of your additional advice. I did order some transplant solution and it's coming in the mail tomorrow! So keep in the shade for a few weeks after repotting and then move to full sun. Got it!

Glad you discovered rot on the thick succulent roots and have excised them. Good that you've hung up Clara before planting to allow the cut areas to heal/callous over. It will take about a week to callous. To clarify for readers, if there were no rotted succulent roots and had trimmed only "fine" roots, then it is okay to re-plant right away.

About overdoing by treating cuts with both rooting hormone and cinnamon...I say yep! But I don't blame you for being cautious. As for myself, I don't treat root cuts, I just allow them to callous over.

Kate, maybe you could find planter bowls at yard/garage sales. Or maybe at the flea market. If I'm not mistaken, there's a Saturday flea market in Pearl City.

Thank you Kadie!
I will have to go to the flea market soon.
I chopped all of the roots off Kadie. Even the smaller ones I did not know what I was doing. I think it will be ok. I'll attach a photo when I get home.

So I've now chopped off the branches and roots! Will the roots grow out radially..of course, counting on it will survive ?

What if there was no rot and I had just trimmed the smaller roots instead of all of them?

[quote="kate222"]
So I've now chopped off the branches and roots! Will the roots grow out radially..of course, counting on it will survive ?

I'm guessing you made a radial/cross-wise cut through the base of the caudex. It should survive and grow radial roots.