Adenium socotranum

[BronxFatty]

So...in my dotage, I decided (purely on an impulse) to spend big money for a specimen-size Adenium socotranum. I doubt that I will see any big changes in this plant and its next, young, owner.... will reap all the benefits of seeing it fatten up and possibly flower under cultivation. From what I have read, this plant grows ridiculously slow when cultivated under good conditions, but I live in New York City/7b and my growing season spans maybe, four months. Yes, NYC is hardly like the deserts of Socotra.

The seed grown plant, (sowed circa 2012-2013),right now, resembles a regular off-the-rack, seedling of Adenium obesum. Nothing special. The overall height is about 24" above the substrate, the first of four "sling-shot" branches starts @ 14" and I suspect that the original main-stem (trunk) was chopped at this height to induce some side-branching. The actual caudex measures about 4" X 4" and tapers at the top where it meets the main-stem, which has a diameter of about 1-1/2". The caudex profile is more conical than cylindrical in shape. I'm hoping I will still be around to see it fatten up to resemble a nice sized, pineapple.

Sadly, I'm anticipating some difficulties trying to keep this Adenium alive and thriving here in winter-dreary New York City. I bought the plant back in July 2020. It was raised from seed, and raised down in Florida, happily growing in the year-'round heat, humidity, and full-sun. Now...it's in New York City, and it's already too cold at night to keep this plant on my back deck, where it's been growing since July in the full sun. There is not yet any sign that the plant is trying to go dormant. The deep green leave are still on the branches and in fact the terminal end of the main branch is sprouting new reddish-green leaves. Taking cultural cues from this plant, I'm guessing that I will continue to lightly water it until it stops growing. I just hope it don't rot out the roots.

I would like to do whatever I can to encourage the caudex to start fattening up and increasing in diameter instead of growing taller. I know these A. socos are the genetic-giants of all Adeniums and maybe this plant has to become much larger, and older before it starts to grow fatter. This, transformation, no doubt, will take many years. I should've have bought this plant 35 years ago.

Any cultural hints? Should I keep the plant in a small pot or should I over-pot the plant and let the roots roam? I'm using the classic gritty mix and light applications of slow release fertilizers.

One site offers that when these plants are deprived of water and roots are restricted, they grow very slowly. I'm reluctant to push this expensive plant, and don't want to cause it to rot. I wish I had a heated greenhouse!

Any A. soco growers out there? I need some help. BTW, I have no trouble keeping my Bursera fagaroides, Operculicarya pachypus, Pachycormus discolor, Uncarina peltata and some other various fat-plants alive. I hope I have the "magic touch" with my Adenemium socotranum, too.

My fat plants will be growing under two, high-intensity 5000K 600W Daylight CFL bulbs 3" above the branches. Room temps about: 65-70*F.

School me on containerized Adenium socotranum growing in Zone-7b.

[mcvansoest]

Well my soco did not survive last winter when it got rained on in a spot where I was not expecting it to catch that rain (it was super windy from an unusual direction that blew the rain well below the patio roof. Eight years of growth on the trash heap about a month later. One simple rule with all Adeniums: if it goes below 50 at night where you keep them, do not water them at all unless it is a seedling level plant, then you can water a little bit.

I encourage you to get this book: Adenium: Scuptural Elegance, Floral Extragavance by Dimmitt, Joseph, and Palzkii. It has a wealth of information on all Adeniums but also a really nice chapter on A. socotranum and another chapter Adenium culture in general, with good info for people growing these in non-ideal areas climate wise.
I have heard the first author speak and he is one of the main Adenium experts in the US, having been an integral part of the introduction and widening of species availability in the US.

As you have already surmised yourself: if you wanted to see it grow to any size you should have gotten it 30-40 years ago, or maybe you should have gotten an Adenium arabicum, which grows a large caudex way faster, though it does not get quite as large in nature as A. socotranum caudex wise, but it is questionable that a potted plant would get that huge anyway.

As to growth patterns: in cultivation growth behavior appears rather dependent on individual plants and conditions, but generally the plants display stem elongation in the period right after the end of dormancy and fattening of the caudex towards the end of the growing period going towards dormancy. They have appeared resistant to heavy forcing.

These plants do not like the extreme desert heat and low humidity, but thrive in green houses with Ts no higher than mid-90s and elevated humidity. I can attest to its lack of enthusiasm for T's well above 100F with this plant being my only Adenium that would also go dormant in the middle of summer when T's were consistently above 105F. You want to keep this from becoming underpotted if you want to stimulate constant growth, but as you noted be careful not to over pot as that just leads to rotting issues if the soil stays too wet when it is cool/cold. You really want to keep these from going below 50F at night too often if you want to keep them in the best possible shape and growing. This may also lead to flowering earlier in live.

Plants do not hybridize with obesum, but some do with arabicum.

The book has a whole bunch of information on wintering indoors and other general adenium cultivation tips that is too much for me to paraphrase here. Given that you spent lots of $$ on the plant maybe the $20-25 for the book is worth it.

I just repotted my arabicum, a couple of my obesum grafted hybrids, and a crispum hybrid and if I remember correctly when reading: both arabicum and socotranum have a lot of above ground caudex growth, so while some takes place below ground raising the plant each repotting is not quite as necessary as with some of the other Adenium species where a lot of the caudex growth is underground, which was notable with both the obesums and the crispum - the pots I had intended to use where too shallow because the underground caudex had reached the bottom of the pots they were in and thus were way bigger than I expected.

Since I winter mine under the patio outside, I stop watering them when I see Ts go into the mid-high 50s and I bring them under the patio roof protection when any fall rain is in the forecast and tend to leave them there until night time lows go above 60 early in the spring. Since my patio is north facing it means they get little very bright light so dormancy of the plants is OK (so as not to get weak growth).

After I lost my socotranum, I immediately went online and was in the process of entering my cc info at an online nursery that had one available to ship out that day, when I took a moment to reconsider why I was trying to grow this in not just un-ideal winter, but also un-ideal summer conditions, and it being a slow plant to begin with. Then thinking to a statement in the Adenium book in the socotranum entry, suggesting that in cultivation the most rewarding Adenium to grow fat-caudex-wise is arabicum given its speed, I decided to not go ahead with the order and instead I got a couple of grafted obesum hybrids with nice flowers and spent a lot less money. So all my fat caudex eggs are now in the Adenium arabicum basket.

[Stan]

I gave up on them learning myself that as they get larger they get more prone to rot,not less. Plus,they don't bloom well in our summers. This summer might have been an exception,but others were not.
Some people say- let them go dry indoors and store them. I don't know about that. Seems to me people who have so many of them that a few dying is fine with them trying that. I think you would be much better off and have much more success if you kept them under grow lights in winter. Maybe they won't bloom...but no worries of rot if the lighting is correct.
Can't help it..I just don't see that winter dormant and stored very dry as a good thing. I could be wrong.

[BronxFatty]

Well...I asked for advise and I got what I asked for. I can't thank you guys enough for taking the time to comment, to recommend, and to suggest cultural growing points.

This will be the first winter. My first winter trying to keep my A. soco alive and well. My fingers are crossed. I'm hoping the bright CFL lights will allow the leaves (if they don't drop off), and trunk to continue the photosynthesis process throughout the long winter months until I can once again return all my fat plants -including my new, hopefully still alive, Adenium socotranum -onto my back deck.

I learned some good points from the above suggestions....especially about temps and humidity levels. After reading through some of the cultural suggestions, I'm now thinking that my hot, humid summers might be better for the plant than I originally thought. The back deck really heats up, but my summers are almost never low in humidity. However, if the plants like the climate, that's fine with me....as long as the plants continue to grow, well.

So, I'm at the beginning of the learning curve. Since the fat-plants and A. soco will be indoors through the winter/cooler months, and under lights, I think the watering routine will be my main concern, if at all. I'll use a cheater stick (a bamboo chop stick inserted into the root-zone) to test for substrate moisture levels. So far, I kept the rest of my fat plants alive over the winter months. But, who knows?

I'll do my botanical best to keep the Soco alive and to prevent rotting out the roots.

I'll keep posting my Soco's progress reports.... or posting... an obituary notice. (As long as it ain't my obituary, I'll be ahead of the game no matter what happens).

I'll be on the lookout for Dimmit's Adenium book. It will make a nice read in the dead of winter.

Thanks again for the help.

[Ann]

I've had one for several years from a friend that does a lot of propagation. If you want it to grow larger give it room but really well draining soil. He uses tall tree pots (15" tall and 9" wide black plastic). Seems happy enough and I've even had a few flowers, not spectacular. When the leaves start to yellow and fall cut back on the water. I only water lightly a couple of times during the winter. If you are keeping it in the house and under light you may want to consider a seed starting pad for warmth underneath to keep it going.

It's cool to have as an unusual plant, but obesum or arabicum are better looking for shape and have much nicer flowers. Mine has a 5" base with 2 36"tall trunks and a little tuft of foliage at the very top, quite Dr. Seusian looking. No sign of branching in 3 years and a long time to wait I'm guessing.

[Ann]

BTW, next week on Tuesday Oct. 27, the British Cactus and Succulent Society is doing a Zoom meeting with Mark Dimmitt. Every one welcome, http://www.society.bcss.org.uk/index.php/online-talks.html

[mcvansoest]

I should have finished by wishing you good luck!

There is no reason for it not to be fine inside - I would still be careful with watering but if you make sure to keep it well above 50F - the heat pad is a great suggestion by Ann - you will probably want to water some, but just do not be worried about it going dormant, it is what they do and unless you can provide the right conditions it is bound to happen and hard to stop the plant from doing. Mine do not go dormant every winter, they did last winter, but not the winter before, as long as you are careful in the spring with watering - especially if the plant is dormant from what I have heard it is suggested you wait with watering till you see the start of new leaves. Also be aware that even though a plant might flower in winter it could still be mostly dormant.

Since you say you bought a specimen plant I would assume it is of pretty decent size and I think Stan is correct that as they grow older they appear to be a little more sensitive to cold + wet. Also older plants with a decent sized caudex should have plenty of resources stored to get through the winter without requiring any water. However, one of the other messages appeared to be that these particular plants can have significantly differing requirements, probably related to the specific conditions.

In your summers when it is 90+ and 60+ at night it is suggested you treat this more like a tropical than a desert plant, watering heavily and fairly frequently with half strength or less fertilizer in many of of the waterings, which should promote lots of growth.

Looking forward to your updates!

Edit: Also did not want to sound too negative about the soco - had I not killed it by being unobservant I would still have happily tried to get it through this past summer, dreaming of one day having this awesome monster plant... but once it bit the dust it was time for a little bit of reconsidering, especially since my experiments with trying to grow some of the Adenium obesums in the ground to see if that could work led to another couple of dead plants... it does not get very cold here, but still gets cold + wet enough to make that a non-starter.

[BronxFatty]

Thanks so much for all the friendly help. I really appreciate the suggestions and growing tips.

Growing my new Adenium socotranum will be an adventure. I have never walked down this path before and have no ideas as to what's behind the bends. But, although slightly daunted, I'll press on...and with the help of some friends, will reach my goal.

I think, with all the newly added knowledge from forum members, that I can, and will do it! Warm temps....the correct amounts of water according to the needs of the plant, good light, quick-draining substrate, heat mat for warmish roots...... I can do that. That is, I'll TRY very hard, to do that....but, for added insurance, I'll keep a votive candle burning.

Right now, the new leaves on the Soco are expanding and looking fresh and healthy. The older leaves are still looking OK, but a little worse for wear. Maybe, possibly, hopefully, when I figure out how to post photos...you'll get to see the plant.....but, that's another story. One thing at a time.

Anyway, thanks one and all for giving me some much needed help and for the thoughtful and enthusiastic suggestions.

[Stan]

The only large Adeniums grown outdoors in the USA are in Hawaii,natch enough,Florida,and deep south Texas surprisingly. I once saw a photo of shrub sized Adeniums growing in a store parking lot in Brownsville. Like they were small Oleanders.
I had A.obesum for years.A.arabicum also for years..and they died in winter indoors,outdoors,watered,unwatered..I lost them in every way and why I gave up.
Indoors,I would consider you use a systemic as they are mealy magnets.

[BronxFatty]

A heated greenhouse would end most of my problems. Perhaps, in my next life.

Adeniums are, by far, the biggest PITA out of all the plants that I have grown over the last 40-50 years. Disease, insect, virus, magnets.

Wish I knew about Uncarinas 40 years ago. I'd have put my time, money, and efforts into growing them well.

[BronxFatty]

So...just a quick update:

Winter is coming. Within a few short weeks NYC has gone from hot, humid summer.... to sunny, cool Autumn...to much colder, darker, rainy pre-Winter. All the fat plants are back in the house and leaves are starting to go yellow and dropping. That long, quiescent period is about to commence. I'm prepared for it...but I'm already anticipating next year's Spring Spurt....and I'm predicting in my mind, which of my plants will get fatter than me. It's a race, and the odds are not favoring the plants.

But wait! The Adenium socotranum (that I bought a few months back) is waking up and growing a new rack of shiny, deep green, leathery-textured leaves. If I look closely, I think, am I imagining?....I think I'm seeing some stem elongation where the new leaves are sprouting. The plant is actually doing something!....cells are dividing, cellulose is being added, sappy juices are flowing! Holy smoke! IT'S ALIVE! -Colin Clive

I'm a happy man....so far. Maybe that caudex will start gaining some weight.

[mcvansoest]

Nice!

My Adeniums are on the fence - it has been unseasonably warm but because of the expected (and it arrived yesterday) cooler weather I had been watering somewhat less enthusiastically as I normally would - not wanting to have pots full of wet soil when the night time lows started to go <50F... and the plants responded: yellowing lower leaves, but of course also with a burst of new growth... it almost made me water more, but then today the high is 65 and the low is in the low 40s. By the end of the coming week we will be back in the 70s and 50s again, but this chilly period might be just enough to drive my plants on the patio into dormancy...

[BronxFatty]

UPDATE.....

Death, claims yet another Adenium!

I tried. I really did. The super-expensive, Florida-grown, A. socotranum that I stupidly bought last year, (just before the summer season commenced, in New York City) collapsed, from rot, by the following January, 2021. I said "good riddance" as the he New York City Sanitation Dept. hauled off my dead plant.

The plant lived, not thrived, throughout New York's warm, sunny, high-heat, muggy-rainy summer months...and the plant "seemed" to do just fine. In truth, I noticed that the plant did NOT put out any new growth, nor did the the stems elongate by even a millimeter. Those characteristic dark green, leathery-textured leaves started to look a little ratty by September. I was hoping that a new crop of nicer looking leaves was lurking, ready to sprout, from the terminal tips of the 3-4 branching stems. My hope were in vain, and were finally dashed by the onset of way-too-cool nightly temps as September ended.

The seed-grown, Adenium soco. went into my warm bedroom, and was placed under a 600 watt 5000K CFL "Daylight" bulb. By December, the ratty leaves dropped from the branch tips, but the caudex remained hard, and still firm, with no discernible signs of rotting. I misted the substrate every so often just to keep the roots humidified. So far, so good. The rest of my fat-plants went into quiescence and were doing just fine at this point.... (Uncarina peltata, Bursera fagaroides, Operculicarya pachypus). The latter two species, I have grown for years.
*********************************************************************************************************************************************************

The Uncarina peltata, grows beautifully, and sends out many dark-spotted, sulfur-yellow flowers, over the growing season. All three have pushed out new growth and increased, considerably, in girth each growing season. The flowerless gem, is the seed-grown Opec. pachypus that I bought from Botanical Wonders located in the USA. The main trunk in now close to 2 inches in diameter, and has been trained to resemble an Acacia tree. The branches are all concentrated towards the top and have been wired into position. Each year the branches and trunk get thicker, and branches ramify to the point where must be trimmed back each Autumn. Ditto...the Bursera...which is now almost as thick as my arm, wrist to elbow. All my containerized plants grow out on my back deck, in full sun, in full heat, and rarely get watered. Rain is the main source of water for these plants. BTW, these plants thrive, unlike the man finicky Adeniums. Adeniums fail, under these same conditions.

***************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Back to the Adenium socotranum topic: So December came and went, but by mid-January, 2021, disaster struck. I noticed the Soco's caudex was feeling a little bit spongy. Oh crap!! I keep my fingers crossed. I knew this was not a good sign. Over the years I managed to kill many Adeniums....and this is how their ultimate death, always started.....with the spongy caudex syndrome.

Crossing my fingers did not work. The caudex predictably collapsed, and was rotted out -by the end of January. I was PISSED OFF!! That small-fortune plant died on me! I tried my best, but I am convinced unless you can provide ideal, desert-like growing conditions, Adeniums are just too difficult -for me- to keep alive in temperate, darker, colder climates. Other growers might have better growing conditions and far better luck. God bless them.

So now, I'm done. I will not spend another dime, buying and trying to grow Adeniums. I was a foolish to buy an expensive, A. socotranum. My growing season is way too short, too muggy, too damn rainy. New York City climate is certainly not anything like the hot deserts found on Socotra Island. I was a dope to think I could actually attempt to duplicate Nature. Man, might deign to try... but Nature.... holds sway over all things.

My conclusion is that the correct, greenhouse-culture, is probably the best alternative for growing these rot/disease-prone, difficult, plants.

Good luck to you all....fare well, but I'm done trying to grow Adeniums.

[mickthecactus]

We manage to grow them in the UK so don’t give up.
Best specimens I have seen were in Barbados which may give you a clue.

[BronxFatty]

Ummmmmm.....both the U.K. and Barbados? That's surprising. And, I also read that Hawaii has a sizable population of seed-grown Socotranums.

Even with the ^^^^ encouragements....I'm done. Too old to care about trying anymore, and there're more rewarding plants that I can grow that are far easier to flower. I doubt that at my age, even if I did manage to keep A. socotranum alive and well, I'd ever see any flowers or a nice caudex that gets fatter each year.

But, thanks for the positive input. I think I'll leave the temperamental A. socotranums for the younger growers.

Best regards.

[mickthecactus]

I was talking about Adeniums in general rather than socotranum btw.

[Stan]

Adeniums live to die on you. I know in socal,they seem to grow well in pots outdoors. Lots of vids of Los Angeles to San Diego people having a collection.But..they can rot out on them too. Just that the odds are they wont. Here in the bay area?..Just too close to sorrow. Like I've said a few times,young ones can be overwintered outdoors on a porch here. The day they get a real fat trunk..is the end of them soon in a winter. Never fails. Its counter to every lesson that says larger tropicals are hardier than smaller. Counterintuitive rules.

[BronxFatty]

Thank-you all for the new information, and the general comments regarding growing Adenium.

That my A. socotranum up and died on me was no surprise. Trust me...deep within me I knew it was just a matter of time before the plant rotted. Over the 50+ years of trying to grow tropical climate plants in New York City, I have killed some of the best plants that money can buy. You name them, and I've killed them. That's what I do best. Oh....they struggle to live for a while, entice me with their beautiful flowers....but eventually the temperate NYC climate, the sudden onset of cooler nights, the dark and sunless winter months .....proves just too much of a challenge for me and the plants. A greenhouse would/might help, but the dark, long winters are terrible for sun-loving, warm-growing plants. In all honesty, I'm astonished that my Bursera fageroides, Operc. pachypus, and Uncarina peltata are doing so well.

But still, I keep trying. I'm a sucker for plants. But Adeniums .....are now off my list.