Modern floriculture provides ample opportunity to create an original interior. The most beautiful plants can become a real highlight of the design. One of the most spectacular indoor colors is fat adenium. This is a type of dwarf tree. The plant has a beautiful flowering. The rules for growing adenium will be discussed later.
What is this plant?
Fat Adenium (photo below) is also called a desert rose. This is a type of shrubbery or small tree that is distinguished by the presence of a fleshy trunk. It thickens at the base and can grow to a height of 2 m. It grows in natural conditions in the tropics or desert.
This plant is a succulent and belongs to the Kutrov family. A flower grows in Africa. Florists have learned about this plant relatively recently. Today it is one of the most sought-after, desired flowers. In this case, care is not difficult. No special skills are required.
Today, about 50 species of the presented plant grow in the natural environment. At home, fat adenium is cultivated. Externally, the plant resembles a man-made bonsai. But this is not so. This is a natural beauty, the creator of which is nature.
The adenium obese houseplant in its beauty is not inferior to lilies and roses. Certainly, the flowers blooming on the branches of this bonsai have a unique beauty and charm. For the sake of this magnificent flowering, gardeners plant this plant.
Description
Fat Adenium (photo below) is an unpretentious, early flowering plant. The flower has oblong green leaves. They may be pointed or slightly rounded at the ends. There are varieties in which the leaves can be white, yellow, red or even variegated. They are both glossy and pubescent, both shiny and dull. The variety of shapes and colors is amazing.
Beautiful flowers blooming on the branches of plants can also be painted in different shades. The breeders' great interest in adenium led to the appearance of varieties with buds from white to dark red. The size of the inflorescences is up to 7 cm in diameter.
The plant blooms for the first time at the age of 2 years. This spectacular action lasts from 2 months to a year. It depends not only on the variety of fat adenium. Home care (photo of the plant is presented above) also plays an important role.
Another feature of this plant is its toxicity. The flower belongs to kurt crops. The natives soaked the tips of their arrows with adenium juice. Therefore, it is forbidden to grow a flower where there are small children or pets.
One of the most beautiful indoor plants is the fat adenium presented in the photo. Its description and the danger of serious poisoning will not be able to stop real connoisseurs from growing this plant. In the process of cultivating adenium, you need to do all the work with gloves. After this, you must wash your hands. Adenium is the most beautiful and most poisonous indoor plant.
Priming
Growing adenium obese at home is not difficult. It is necessary to create a comfortable environment for the plant so that it has a healthy appearance and blooms longer. Adenium develops well in nutrient, permeable soil. The substrate should be loose and have acidity from neutral to slightly acidic.
You can add crushed charcoal to the soil. If the substrate was not purchased in a specialized store, it must be thoroughly sterilized and treated with a fungicidal agent. Purchased soils for adenium consist of deciduous humus, coconut fiber, perlite, fine expanded clay and charcoal. This is a high-quality substrate, which creates optimal conditions for the plant to grow.
You can do with any substrate intended for succulents. In such a soil there are also components that prevent moisture stagnation. This, for example, can be crushed polystyrene foam crumb, broken brick. Stagnant water in the pot leads to rotting of the roots. In this case, the plant dies quickly.
The plant in question is a representative of the hot tropical climate, so the adenium flower requires the creation of such conditions. The soil should be loose, light, and a good drainage system should be provided in the pot.
Watering and lighting
Considering the features of such a plant as fat adenium, home care should be studied carefully. This will achieve amazing results. Adenium needs a lot of sunlight. The more it is, the better. If the adenium was in an insufficiently lit place in the store, you need to accustom it to the sun gradually. Immediately bring it into the light for a long time is not worth it.
Only when there is sufficient time on the illuminated windowsill, the plant can accumulate strength for flowering. The position of the adenium should not be changed. Otherwise, those parts of the plant that were in the shade, falling in the bright sun, can get burns. Therefore, you need to accustom the plant to the sun's rays gradually.
Growing fat adenium at home, it is worth protecting its stem in the spring. Young plants do not yet have good protection from the sun, which is low during this period. Its rays can burn the stem at the base. Therefore, you need to shade it in the spring, protecting the adenium from the sun with a tulle or other similar fabric. The same procedure is performed in the fall, if the thickness of the stem does not exceed 8 cm.
Water the plant to be plentiful. The earthen lump must be well hydrated. However, between irrigations it is necessary to allow the substrate to dry thoroughly. In summer, you will need to irrigate the soil more often. During this period, do not allow the complete drying of the earth in the pot. This can cause a halt in the growth of adenium. However, it is impossible to allow the soil to be constantly wet. Even in summer, the roots can begin to rot.
Therefore, before watering, you need to assess the condition of the soil. If it is almost dry, you can water the flower. If the temperature has decreased to 20 º, and daylight hours have decreased, the number of irrigations is reduced. It will be required to irrigate the soil much less than in the warm period.
Bait
Fat Adenium responds well to bait. Fertilizers must be slowly soluble in the soil. It is regularly recommended to feed the flower with compounds that contain in equal proportions potassium, phosphorus and nitrogen.
During flowering and vegetation, the soil is fertilized once a month. Compounds with a sufficient nitrogen content are required during this period. They are used at the beginning of the growing season. Then, for better flowering, phosphorus-potassium compounds are used. They give the adenium strength to develop, dissolve a sufficient number of buds.
Micronutrient fertilizers are introduced into the soil in the autumn and spring. Too often to fertilize the soil is not worth it. This procedure is carried out only occasionally. In this case, the adenium will grow healthy, strong, delighting with its flowering.
Transfer
In the process of growing adenium, it may be necessary to transplant it. The roots of this plant develop rapidly. They require enough space for the plant to feel good. If the adenium is still young, it will have to be transplanted at least once a year. Sometimes the procedure has to be carried out once every six months.
The pot can be made of any material. But the choice of form must be taken responsibly. Capacity should be shallow and wide. Round pots are best suited for this. They should have a lot of drainage holes. If the flower is still small, the pot may be a little deeper.
Even the color of the transplant container matters. The plant will be in the sun for a long time. Therefore, a dark pot is not suitable for these purposes. In such a container, the roots will overheat. This will negatively affect the state of adenium.
During the growing season, which begins in the spring, you can deal with a flower transplant. By autumn, the roots will be able to develop well, filling the substrate. So that the roots do not rot, after transplanting, the adenium is watered no earlier than 2-3 days.
Breeding
Some gardeners call adenium breeding a difficult procedure. You just need to remember some of the nuances of this process. Reproduction can be carried out by seeds, cuttings or air layering. Each technique has a number of features.
During the cultivation of mastered adenium from seeds, quality seed is prepared correctly. It should be fresh, as over time, germination drops significantly. The best time to sow seeds is the end of February.
For 6 hours, the seeds are kept in a solution of epin. After that, they are planted in the prepared soil. It should be a mixture of sand with vermiculite. The first sprouts will appear in a week.
You can also breed this plant with apical cuttings. This method is suitable for use in spring or summer. At this time, you can prepare high-quality planting material. Cuttings are planted in a mixture of sand with vermiculite.
You need to properly prepare the shoots. Cuttings are cut 10-15 cm long. Slices are treated with charcoal. They need to be dried a little, which will prevent rotting of the cuttings.
If the moisture level of the substrate is normal, the flower will take root in the first month. If watering is excessive or insufficient, the adenium dies. Therefore, the issue of irrigation is the key in this case. Cuttings germinate at temperatures from 25 to 30 º. It is also necessary to provide good lighting, but to exclude direct sunlight on a fragile plant.
Propagation by layering
Fat Adenium is easiest to breed with air layers. This is the most effective technique. It is suitable for both young and adult plants. This technique is applied in late spring. You can breed adenium in this way at the beginning of summer. During this period, the flower begins to actively develop after a period of winter dormancy. With this method of propagation, a new plant will bloom the very next year.
It is necessary to make a circular shallow incision on the shoot, which has a thickness of at least 2 cm. It needs to be dried. Next, the incision site is treated with a growth stimulator for the root system. This area should be wrapped with sphagnum moss, and on top with an opaque film. You can fix the material with wire or thread.
Moss is periodically moistened. The first processes usually appear after 3-4 weeks. Layers are separated and planted in a prepared nutrient substrate.
Just take into account that with this method of cultivation, the new plant will not have the same high decorative effect. The trunk of adenium grown by air layering will not be so thick. However, this is a small drawback, so a similar technique is used quite often.
Winter Care
For adenium, one of the most difficult periods is winter. At this time, the leaves may partially or completely fall. Fat Adenium during this period requires rest. Watering needs to be significantly reduced. Then it is completely stopped.
The ideal temperature for keeping adenium in winter varies from +10 º to +15 º. But it should not fall below. If the plant is an adult, it can withstand a temperature drop of up to +4 º. But at the same time, the earthen lump should be completely dry. But it’s better not to take risks, providing the conditions of detention are not so extreme.
The first watering should be done very carefully. After a period of rest, all processes slowed down, the plant subsided. If adenium has not yet woken up, even a small amount of water can destroy it. It is necessary to transfer the plant to a bright place with the onset of spring. Next, you need to monitor the appearance of the kidneys. The first watering will need to be done 2-3 weeks after the plant is taken out in the sun. It will take quite a bit of water. It is better to choose a very sunny, warm day for the first watering.
Crown formation
At a young age, adenium can begin to branch. More often this happens after a flowering period. To increase the decorative qualities of the plant, you can pinch the seedlings before the start of the growing season. This period begins in early spring.
During trimming, do not overdo it. If the main trunk is cut too far, numerous thin branches will begin to appear from a low notch. So the crown will become ugly.
Pruning is carried out for both young and adult plants. You can delete extra branches. The requirements for the decorative qualities of the plant are different for everyone. Therefore, it is up to the owner of the adenium to decide how much to prune the plant.
Some problems
It is worth remembering that adenium leaves yellow in the autumn. Then they partially or completely fall. This is normal. In other seasons, yellowing of the leaves may indicate improper conditions of the plant.
Among the pests that can damage the adenium, you can name the mealy worm and scutellum.