Aww, poor thing.

Sorry can't offer advice, just sympathy! ;)

I'm thinking of maybe repotting it into a different soil mix. I give it a small amount of water when it's a bit soft, but it's not as perky as it used to be. Now it's almost laying flat w/ the lava rock.

Rob

Gosh, that's sad, maybe it needs more water on a regular basis? Under your lights?

Yeah, I gotta do something; otherwise it's just taking up space. I hate to lose it though, it's got such an unusual shape.

Rob

Oooh, good idea!

Rob

Well, I've had it on a heating pad for a week; and no signs of change. Tonight I decided to bare root the little guy and see what the roots looked like; and here we go...

I believe this was the 2nd Adenium I ever bought, and my soil mix at the time had quite a bit of potting soil in it, but there's no sign of root rot; and the caudex isn't at all mushy.

I do like the lateral growth, that should work out well in the future.

Here's some pics from the very 1st transplant.

Rob

It takes longer than that to get out of dormancy, Rob. If you go back to Dimmit, he reported that when adeniums appear dormant, they are actually building up their caudex under the soil. It takes a while to switch that off and transfer growth back above the surface since it isn't strictly an on and off business. I give them a month and that's after I've toyed with them in winter (pruning, grafting, root trimming---things you aren't supposed to do in winter). So since your plants are largely unmolested, it will probably take less than a month for growth to restart but certainly not a week.

Yeah Pagan; I know that, but since the soil it was in contained so much potting soil, I was afraid that it may have turned hydrophobic over the last 8 months of being virtually dry. Even at the times when I would pour 1/4-1/2 cup of water on it; the sides of the fabric pot would be instantly wet, and if the roots were totally dry I didn't want to cook them. not to mention I have 80 seeds to sow that need the heat mat.

One of my grow set ups is 2 Baker's Racks, one in front of the other; not side by side, and I have lights on 2 levels. So everything on the upper rack receives the heat coming off the lights on the lower rack, and that's where this Adenium has resided for months.

Now that the plant has shrunk considerably, I think it will be much safer in a smaller pot w/ a porous soil where a small amount of water will actually reach the roots

That's why I wrote this thread; to see if 8 months of dormancy was unusual or not.

Rob

Rob, I like your plants living arrangement.

They look very healthy.

Marie

Hi all,

I've transplanted my baby into a smaller, shallower pot, and watered it in with "Azos" and "Kangaroots". Now it's able to hold it's head up high; instead of being slumped over on the soil; like it was before. I did that on March 1st, and haven't watered since.