Hi nvictorfl,

I only have 2 of these plants, and one is a bonsai size which I accidentally left outside on the one night it got to 28 degrees and I think I killed it. So I am not an expert by any means. Just wanted to share my experience with my one plant. I live in south central florida and I've had my D. rose probably for almost three years now. I bought it at Home Depot when it was small (6-8")pot I think. I Up-potted it often every 5-6 months when the weather was warm. Everytime I Up-potted it I would raise the caudex so that you can see just a little bit more each time. About once a year I would repot and go with a little bigger pot. Once or twice a year I would prune it because like you I preferred a more compact, dense look. I didn't like the long, leggy look as much. I usually did this after most of the flowers are gone, late summer or early fall. With mine I have noticed that March thru May is when I see the most blooms. But I honestly think you can prune them anytime as long as the weather is warm. The only drawback to pruning it now is you will miss out on the spring flowers, but it's up to you...

Here's a couple of pictures. I'm sure others with much more experience will give you some great advise. Good luck with your D. Rose. They are really neat plants especially when they are blooming...

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Whoa! That's awesome! Thanks for the pic!

Josh

Thanks for the reply puglvr1! That plant is spectacular!! I can't believe you achieved that in just 3 years from a small specimen. I know these guys are pretty hardy so I guess I will go ahead and prune, although I would love to hear other opinions. Thanks again for the advice puglvr1. Have you used any specific soils or fertilizers?

I use a soil very similar to the one that was posted in the container gardening by a very knowledgeable and very helpful member(tapla) just do a search in the container forum under container soils. I used pine bark fines, cactus soil, turface, grit . I also added slow release fertilizer in the soil and once a month I use fish fertilizer as an added supplement. I also don't treat this plant like a succulent. I water it a little more often and I water thoroughly every time I water. I do wait for the soil to mostly dry out before I water well again.

Once I had some problems with mealies,(I think)I sprayed it with some weak bug stuff and the leaves started turning yellow and falling off and so what I did was just trimmed most of the branches off, which was fine since I needed to prune it anyway. Got rid of the bugs and re-shaped the tree, LOL...

Ollaa... wonderful!

I had big 6+ pots last summer, bought from Walmart, Smart, and Homedepot; I also grew from seeds, had mor than 10 seedling. Unluckly me, none of them life eventhough I put them in my little greenhouse during winter; it didn't help.

I will no give up, will shop again and try another better germination.

Thanks for the pics.

By the way, just wanted to say "Thanks" for all the kind words, I know luck had a lot to do with it. I've certainly killed my share of plant, )o: