Article in LAMAN Magazine (Nov/Dec 2013 issue)

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Adenium Blooming Period

Adenium blooms all year round. I have adenium fans who emailed me on how to make adenium bloom as they kept theirs for many years (some as long as 10 years) and the condition of their plant is bad. Why bad? Look at the list below:-

(a) the caudex is not expanding;

(b) the plant is not growing;

(c) the branch of the plant is growing extremely long;

(d) the plant is not blooming;

(e) unhealthy leaves and constantly attacked by red spider mites and caterpillars!

Many years ago when I approached the local nursery (especially those in Kelana Jaya, Shah Alam and Sungai Buloh), none of the "uncles" are able to tell me the right way of planting. In fact, the way they teaches us made the plant rot instead! See these 4 images in these healthy adenium plant in this posting. Adenium blooms all year round when the temperature or the weather is warm (between 25 - 32 degrees Celsius. Malaysia and Singapore has temperate weather and humid. It is the best weather to grow adenium plant.

All these can be solved by the following steps:-

1. Changing the soil. Making sure the soil has enough nutrient for adenium. I have been supporting and advocate on the importance of soil being used for adenium plant.

2. Using proper pot. Change the soil and pot every 3 - 5 months as the plant grows. Remember, if you don't change the soil, the chances of rotting is higher.

3. Trimming the plant is an important procedure to make sure the plant grows well. Do this during hot season, not during wet season.

4. Using the proper fertilizer. Many of us got carried away whenever a nursery staff recommending an organic or in-organic fertilizer for adenium. Those who visits www.desertroseking.com are knowledgeable people. Many of those who have contacted me are from higher level position white collar workers. One on thing for sure, it is important to  learn the difference between N,P,K, the ingredients used for fertilizers. Our Quickgrow 353TE are specially formulated to have a low amount of Nitrogen content. High nitrogen makes the plant grow tall but since adenium has "caudex", which is different from normal plants, it can't grow big, therefore its branches grow long and wide (you can see Balinese loves long arm branches for these type of plants). For us, Malaysians & Singaporeans, this makes the plant really "ugly" and sometimes your wife or husband will ask you to throw this plant away!!! My folks used to say that to me years ago when I plant adenium as a hobby.

Once you get the above right (Item 1 to 3), your plant will be at a very healthy state and adding Item 4 is a boost to your adenium plant.

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Latest Adenium Hybrid

Dear adenium lovers, we have successful produced new hybrids for Year 2012 edition. See below:-

We have also relocated our nursery to another location in Batu Pahat, Johor. Kindly call Mdm. Thai at +6 012 308 1899 for those who wished to pay us a visit to Adenium nursery. Currently is peak season for adenium to flower and for those who wants to view how full the adenium plant flowers, please do so soon before the rainy season starts.

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Pathum Ma is a triple layered pink adenium flower which was a cross breed and hardly available in any part of Malaysia nursery. This is my personal favourite and as long as you use the correct mixture of soil, the correct fertilizer, and of course, the right weather, the plant would bloom to its fullest potential. Pathum Ma is now available and for those who are keen, please do contact me (local Peninsular Malaysia only).

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One of the rare conditions that adenium plant could have is having "golden" root or caudex, just like what you see on this image. This picture was taken a few days ago at my nursery in Johor and I did not notice it until recently. In fact, this condition has been with these plants for many years until it caught my eye. The plant No. 2 has Golden Caudex, a rare occurrence for a plant with golden color on its body and you will notice that this particular "gold-colored" body has a shape of an elephant. Notice the tusk (a small root) that grows out from the elephant's mouth. Accordingly to my Adenium expert friend - Anucha, the Indonesian collectors in particular love this particular type of plant and this can cost as much as 10 times the original price of the large adenium. For the Hindu, the image of elephant is sacred. Its even priceless when the image of the elephant is iold in color~! Both plant is not for sale. Sorry folks!

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The Desert Rose (Adenium plant) is a perennial succulent that's native to Arabia’s semi-arid regions and eastern as well as western tropical Africa. Weird isn't it? How did it end up in Malaysia and Singapore? This is a big question that I would like to ask as my grandmother has quite a few adenium plants which she planted many many years ago.

These are shrubby-tree type plants that have fleshy, bottle-shaped trunks. The bulbous trunks can be half or completely buried in the soil. They are unusual plant specimens that have beautiful flowers, making them quite the collector's item for enthusiasts.

While desert roses are easy to grow, they don't do well outdoors if the temperatures fall below 59 degrees Fahrenheit (about 15 degrees Celcius). Because they make excellent container plants, they do quite well outside your home and greenhouses. For this reason, they are popular to use as bonsai plants but do remember though, leaving in the house without sunlight will not make the plant healthy as their leaves needs to go through photosynthesis. That is why Desert Rose is meant to be kept outdoor with plenty of sunlight.

Oh yes, speaking about adenium nicknamed "desert rose", this plant is never afraid of too much rain or too much sunlight. Remember, aeration is important for adenium and you do not need to worry that that adenium needs to be watered every day. Remember, use the correct soil mixture and your favourite plant will never be afraid of the rain. That's for sure!

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The proper way of repotting the adenium was hardly taught by any nurseries that you visited. I was back to my nursery in Johor two weeks ago I took couple of shots of our adenium seedlings to show to all of you the proper way of planting adenium. If you use the "right" mixture of soil, the adenium will grow healthily and sturdy. Of course, this may not be the proper formula because there are many ways of planting the adenium. In Thailand, Indonesia and Taiwan, each country's nursery owner has their own way or formula of planting the adenium but what I am showing you here are some simple steps.

Do click on the  left image for a larger view. All these 5 ingredients have the same ratio but it depends on how loose the soil that you want it to be. On the bottom right is the preparation for repotting. First put in at least 70% of coconut chips/chunks to the bottom of the pot. Then add some soil mixtures which was shown and only then place the plant above the soil and start to add in the rest of the soil mixtures to make it stand.

On the right image you will see the followings:
Step 1: add coconut chunks/chips into the pot and fill up to 70% of its base
Step 2: fill in at least 5% or 10% of the mixed soil which you prepared above on top of the coconut chunks/chips
Step 3: place the seedling into the pot and start to fill up its base with the mixed soil
Step 4: make sure the rest of the 15% or 20% of the space is filled with the mixed soil
Step 5: the seedling should stand by its own. You can press the soil down to hold the seedling together if the mixed soil is too loose.

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Hello, my name is William. I loved "adenium" when I was young but I got serious in cultivating them about 8 years ago. It was a terrible experience when many gardn nurseries, especially those from Sungai Buloh, Kelana Jaya or those from Batu Pahat, Johor or even Kuantan in Pahang, taught me the wrong way of using different types of media (soil) to grow this plant. In fact, a "garden nursery" people does not even know how to grow "adenium" in the first place! This is shocking as we always thought that they ARE the EXPERT, the "specialist" whom we can depend on to give us pointers to help us taking care of the plant better!

The biggest problem of the plant is that it rot easily and it seems like the size got stranded and it never grow big (caudex) anymore. What you get was the branch that outgrown the body! The worst part was that the adenium plant did not flower for years!!! From here I took this opportunity to learn everything about this plant and this hobby of mine has made me a big fan of adenium, just like how many of you out there who loves "bonsai" plant.

What is the difference between "bonsai" and "adenium"? Both are the same but both you must take care of its growth so that it grow according to what you want them to be. There is "bonsai adenium" which I will not cultivate yet but I will help you to learn the proper way of taking care of "adenium" and making this plant your favourite plant at home. In fact, planting flower is not a "chores". It is just like taking care of a house (washing clothes, sweeping the floor etc.), but it is also a commitment and enjoyment to watch this beautiful plant grow and flower for you.

I sincerely hope all of you to come back and visit my web blog from time to time and we will have more Adenium multi-lapping petals and many other adeniums plant up for sale by early January 2011.Till then, take care!

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