Well, you are fortunate as you have Jericson living on same Island and he is growing some marvelous plants. He is doing a lot of experimenting with very good results.

I believe that outside of giving them as strong a light as possible for minimum of 8hrs. (Natural sunlight) and good fertilization with low nitrogen levels they will grow a caudex based on their genetic make up.

Human manipulation can assist, a bit. May alter or change root habit, but the caudex (girth of stem/root) will be determined by the genetics. Of coarse, age of tree will make a difference, as tree grows older the caudex will become larger. With selective pruning and keeping it shorter, will make caudex look larger as trees grows.

That leaf is not variegated. There is something going on with it. Could be sunburn, watering, etc.

Rick

I've seen many of Jericson's posts while lurking and they are amazing! I hope my balcony gives enough light. There's direct morning sun and then bright shade throughout the afternoon. I'm a bit too afraid to do any major cuts so I may have to rely on fertilizer and light pruning for this first one. Should I prune the top branches to achieve the shorter growth?

I found it weird that there are white splotches on that single leaf and none on the others. The picture makes it look yellow like over-watering or something. No signs of pests when I washed the roots out. Should I pluck it just in case?

If it pulls away easily, pluck it, if it gives any resistance, either wait to see if fertilizer/sun/watering properly will make it get better or you can (do what I would do and) snip it off leaving a bit of the leaf connected, it'll fall off on its own, but this way you don't accidentally damage the growth bud.

Without strong light you will not be able to fatten this guy up. Is artificial light out of the question? I have all of mine in a south facing window or under artificial lights.

hi joyce, just seen this post, if your adenium is arabicum, it will fatten up in time, seeing her in your hand she looks like 3 to 4 months young,which shop you get this?i live in ewa, i got tons of arabicums, and all of them are gonna be guinea pigs, if you want some i can sell some of mines, since its kamaina, its gonna be cheap :), but yea again, if its arabicum, it will fatten up in time, dont prune them if they are not 6 months young yet, they will have hard time, they need there leafs for photosynthesis, and if you replant something, always spread there roots in the pot, it will be easier for them to take up some nutes, i recommend to put some worm casting on top of your pot, mix it with some compost or some coral sands better yet buy cinders we got tons of them here :), because sometimes when you top them off with pure worm castings, they can be pain in the a**, when they dry they become like a hardened cement

@Dain: I can get lights to supplement. I was looking at some today just in case Hurricane Ignacio decides to cloud up out skies next week.

@Jericson: I live in town. It didn't say what kind of adenium it is. I got it from Ko`olau Farmers on Beretania in town. The label says they got it from Pang's Nursery. The leaves are a lot smaller than the labelled obesums they had. I may be interested in an arabicum in the future. (; I mostly got this one and started ordering seeds for the flowers. I heard that arabicums don't have much difference in colors for their flowers, but I like the thicker looking caudex. I'll have to wait on getting a worm farm kit since I live in a building with strict balcony rules for some silly reason. In a couple of years or so, I should be moving to a house with some nice yard space. I couldn't even have my rubbermaid container which I store my mix in out on the balcony. I have to repot indoors all the time now. ):

You can buy organic worm castings.

The more you prune, the fatter the caudex will get.

Marie

I recommend you wait to prune. The plant is nice and compact now. To get the caudex to grow, it has to remain somewhat beneath the soil. There is a direct positive correlation between the intensity of light provided and the fatness of the caudex. So I think your best bet is to provide some intense light for a 12 to 15 hour period each day. And careful, these can be very addictive. Best of luck to you Joycentric.

Tracy