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allan_candler

What is wrong with these blooms?

11 years ago

I own five desert rose plants. They are all doing great, and loaded with different kinds of blooms. I picked up this particular one a year or two ago on clearance. It is loaded with blooms, but the blooms never seem to fully form. All my plants get the same exact treatment. Didn't know if there was maybe a pest or something causing this, or maybe this variation required some different care.



And an example of some of my other ones:


Comments (16)

  • 11 years ago

    A boron deficiency maybe? Just what I heard that causes the flowers to look shredded.

  • 11 years ago

    I have a few doing that this year as well. I need to find out where to get some boron. Especially since it's supposed to be good for seed pods.

    Kirk


  • 11 years ago

    To Satish: You said in another post that for seed pods spraying boron and something else....I don't remember what....was good. What was it?

    -Kadie

  • 11 years ago

    Also for Satish, do you spray the entire plant or only the seed pods?

    Tracy

  • 11 years ago

    I'm going to research boron, and see what I come up with. That's the first I've heard of that. Thanks!

  • 11 years ago

    I'm interested in talking about Boron, as i was thinking of posting a question. I think it kind of goes along here, so I'll piggyback. I know several people use the Dyna-Gro Foliage Pro/Pro Tekt combo. That's what i've been using, but I noticed it lists no Boron micronutrients. Part of me wonders if I should mix up a concoction of Boric acid to supply a dose to my plants.

  • 11 years ago

    Dain, I use Superthrive which has a number of proprietary ingredients in conjunction with Foliage Pro. The Superthrive formula contains 50 secret ingredients, so I do wonder if it may contain Boron. I wouldn't go putting Boric acid on your plants. I am sure there is something commercially available to supplement any deficiency.

    Tracy

  • 11 years ago
    I appreciate the concern. However, I'm not just going to pour some boric acid on my plants and call it a day. I have a degree in chemistry, so I'm quite capable of mixing up a batch of something on the micronutrient scale, eg PPM. Boric acid sounds scary, but it is one of the most common way to find Boron in nature, as elemental Boron doesn't really exist in a nonoxidized state. It's actually such a weak acid that at neutral pH it's not in its acidic form.

    I was mainly interested in seeing if any other users of Dyna gro had thought of this, and if so how they were addressing it. It seems you are using an additional supplement. I wonder what others are doing.
  • 11 years ago
    last modified: 11 years ago

    I was looking up common problems since I'm paranoid about my plans and came across this http://www.tropicanursery.com/adenium/problems.htm it lists a lot of deficiencies including boron. I think they even list products that are available to supplement with. Hope this is helpful. Also as a side note it seems copper effects the flowers as well.

    Edit: my mistake, there isn't any mention of a supplement for boron deficiency. But I did find this (not my own words) "Boric acid (16.5%boron), borax (11.3% boron) or SoluBor (20.5% boron) can be applied to soils to correct boron deficiency. Typical applications of actual boron are about 1.1 kg/hectare or 1.0 lb/acre but optimum levels of boron vary with plant type. Borax, Boric Acid or Solubor can be dissolved in water and sprayed or applied to soil as a dust. Excess boron is toxic to plants so care must be taken to ensure correct application rate and even coverage. Leaves of many plants are damaged by boron; therefore, when in doubt, only apply to soil"

  • 11 years ago

    Dain. Dyna-gro. Grow has 0.02 boron in it. Roger

  • 11 years ago
    last modified: 11 years ago

    Allan and Dain, I wanted to let you know that I located a source for foliar boron spray that I will be trying out on one of my plants. I was reading up on Tropica Nursery where they mentioned that Adeniums with a boron deficiency can produce flowers that split apart. The reason I am using this is one of my plants that was pruned some time back is not producing any foliage at all. This could be due to a boron deficiency. I just ordered mine today. I will post an update once I have applied it and had time to see the results.

    Tracy

  • 11 years ago

    Oh, thanks for that tip, Tracy! I'll be looking into that boron spray as well.


    Kirk

  • 11 years ago

    As Rodger pointed out, Dyna Gro has Boron in it. I wasn't sure by reading the label, but their website has more information.

    http://www.dyna-gro.com/795.htm

  • 11 years ago

    I hope you don't my butting in here with a question. I recently repotted my adenium into a soilless mix and I was wondering which Dyna Gro product you recommend for them. There seems to be a few different types of Dyna Gro. I'm in South FL zone 10b so plenty of humidity, rain and direct sun. They are doing well but I'm worried because the soilless mixture holds no nutrients and I need to supplement.

  • 11 years ago
    I am currently using the Foliage Pro and Pro Tect with each watering.