Sharing winter care methods for adeniums:
As already mentioned in this long thread adeniums are prone to root and stem rot during winters. Why? The plants are succulent, storing large quantities of water in their caudex that can bear them thru drought in their natural habitat. In winters when temp drop below 10 degrees Celsius, adeniums drastically lower their metabolic processes going in to a sort of hibernation or dormancy. This is the time for maximal care ESP in areas like lahore (my city) and isl. Khi might still be a happier place for these precious plants.
2 weeks of less than 10 degrees will kill an adenium Yemeni/soma less variety-the one with the highest growth rate, tallest and most prone to cold damage.
Cold coupled with moist soil will ensure that u commit an adenium homicide. So read about the care instructions of your species of adeniums.
As a general rule nov-mid Deb, keep the soil as dry as u can-that means preventing rain from wetting the soul. If there is a chance of rain, put your adeniums out of their soil medium and wrap them up in polythene or newspapers and store then up. As a relief I should tell u that when these adeniums get shipped from Thailand etc, travelling over 1-3 months thru sea, they are bare-root and wrapped in newspaper; that's how farms like siamadenium do it. So they have enough water in their stems to get them through 2-3 months.
The signs of an adenium going in to dormancy are varied-one such would be leaf fall; though it's not a very specific feature. Some varieties of adeniums-obesium, socorantum, arabicum can still retain their leaves and some flower buds but won't show new leaf growth and the buds won't bloom.
If u have low rainfall and plan on keeping ure plants in growth medium, ensure that ure soil medium is well draining- the combo of 1/3 builders sand/rait, 1/3 alluvial soil or river bhal and 1/3 plant fert is good enough. U can even skip plant fert. Adeniums are not heavy feeders like roses even though they might be called desert rose. On the contrary they like a low-nutrient medium.
I will share here, my care for the most cold-prone 7 year old adenium soma leave/Yemeni. It's planted in a big 20" cement artistic pot. The soil medium is as mentioned above. I have not watered it for 1 month now. It had been transplanted 2 months back from a smaller pot. I have a polythene sheet around it to ensure that in case of rain no water gets in and also as a make-shift green house to ensure that in stays relatively warm at night compared with the ambient temp.
Since this dude is prone to stem rot, it had suffered some wounds during mobilisation and these wounds are the places where the rot can strike first. These are also the places where crawling insects come and find a place to live/feed on in case of rot. So I sprinkled some permethrin-powder at these locations to keep the bugs away.
Here are some pics to tell the story...
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