Love the adenium. So much so I got my own to turn into a bonsai. More importantly though, I love your explanation of what you are doing and why (crossing branches, where to cut, shading out of branches, etcetera). This video is informative and gives me the confidence to tackle my own adenium. Love your patient and thorough explanation. Quality content, as usual.
As a longtime bonsai enthusiast I now find myself restricted to the porch and home environment. The addendum find living my life style in the home perfect as I can set it on my deck in the summer and bring them in the house in the fall. It gives me the opportunity to continue working bonsai technique into adenium design.
Wow!! Yes, I almost had a heart attack when you started the ramification process!!! But I now know why you do it!!! I can hardly wait to see the next step!!! Thanks Jerome!!!
Just discovered your videos and they are very informative. You have some beautiful plants. I am generally not a big fan of the radial root/spread style of adenium, but the trunk and canopy on that tree are gorgeous.
When you cut a branch back, and it then grows three smaller branches from where you cut it. Ramification is making the canopy denser with a more compact branch structure.
I really enjoy your videos, and the way you present them. Thank you for sharing them, as well as your knowledge and experience. Btw, I counted one thousand and SEVEN leaves at the start (you missed two) 😜
I have a question.....When is the best time for me to hard prune my desert rose? Keep in mind that I live in Canada...so I have now brought my plants indoors because it going below 15 degrees at night and our winters are harsh...thank you
Yours really amazing. I’ve got one at home, my family repotted it and it just grew bigger in the roots but with few stems/branches. I would like to know how to fix it as mine have long stems/branches. It looks totally different. I only notice it was the same type of plant when you zoomed towards the flower. I would like to try to fix it. Any advice? Thanks.
I enjoy your videos a lot. You said you bought this plant from Thailand, I live in California and I’ve been trying to buy an Adeniun this big but no luck, Any recommendations, Thanks
The Thai socotranum are better than the Socotran species adenium because they're very slow growers. There's other cool Socotran trees that are great for bonsai also, check out some of the Socotran boswellia & commiphora species (frankincense & myrrh).
Hey David, you can leave the cuts open and exposed if you are not going to water for another week. Also if you let the desert rose dry out enough before you make the cut you don't have to worry about air exposure.
The root structure/caudex: are these multiple, grafted roots (at a very young age and grown on) or was it an extraordinary single plant? And how old is that one? I’m trying to figure out if I will live long enough to see any meaningful progress if I try something like this 🙂
Hey Lee! It is a single Plant, the roots were not grafted. It is an interesting process on how to accomplish a root system like that. I will make a video about it:)
It is a single plant grown from seed with a "caudex cut" and probably an obstruction in the middle. This is a style of growing they do a lot in Thailand and they make a sterile cut of the main root structure, treat it with mold inhibitor, and then let it dry out, and put a rock or a plastic plate in the center below the cut. That makes the new roots grow out radially from the trunk at the bottom of the cut. It is a process that takes time and maintaining to make it look this good.
This particular variety of adenium is also prized for its thick caudex from seed that branches well (and the flowers). Not my preferred style, but beautiful when well done.
I cannot believe what I just saw you do. I thought you could not do anything to the adenium plant until it was dormant is this true? After all the cutting will the tree get root rot? Do live in a warm climate all the time if not how do you get the plant to dry out? You are great and thank you for sharing your expertise!
Philip Tavella hey Phillip! You can do anything to an Adenium at anytime during the year. Make sure that if you defoliate or trim that you don’t water a couple days before and after. I have never experienced any branch or root rot with this technique. Also, if you wait all year, you can loose your ramification because certain branches will grow too heavy. Hope this helps.
Ya I get the point but I guess i'm chicken to try out these techniques, since I only have one plant. I've had it for three years now and it is doing very well, with no problems. Thanks for the tips.
