How To Care For Your Desert Rose Bonsai Tree

How To Care For Your Desert Rose Bonsai Tree

Adenium Obesum Bonsai Care

About The Desert Rose Bonsai Tree

The desert rose is a native African that develops large, beautiful flowers when it gets enough sunlight, and has an interesting bulbous shape.

Placement

A Desert Rose makes a wonderful indoor bonsai over the winter, but it enjoys to be outdoors when the temperature is above 40 degrees.  Make sure it gets few hours of sun (morning sun, with afternoon shade is best.)

Over the winter, place your desert rose bonsai on a windowsill getting a few hours of sunlight per day (south facing is best, north is worst.)

Watering

The desert rose bonsai is… a desert plant.  This means it doesn’t need to get watered as frequently as other bonsai trees.  Once a week should be fine, as long as it’s not staying dry for too long. 

Do not over water this bonsai!

Humidity

When you take your desert rose bonsai tree inside for the winter, using a humidity tray is recommended.

Fertilizing

Since your desert rose bonsai is in a small pot, and not the ground, it needs nutrients.  A slow release (pellet based) fertilizer is perfect for this, and can be added sparingly every 1-2 months during the growing season.

Pruning & Trimming

Trim back the new growth to the farthest safe point that looks good to you — but never remove all of the new growth.

A regular trim will help keep your desert rose bonsai tree short, while helping the trunk grow thicker.

Repotting

Repotting must be performed periodically on your bonsai, desert rose included, when it’s root system has filled the pot.  If you can clearly see the roots coming out of the bottom of the pot, it’s time to repot your bonsai.

Generally, this means every 2-3 years for a deciduous tree and every 4-5 years for an evergreen.

As desert rose is a slower growing desert tree, you can expect it around the 4-5 year mark.

Repotting should be done in mid-summer, when the tree is at it’s least fragile state.

The desert rose bonsai, along with all of its soil, should be removed from the pot.  From there, you can trim away no more than 1/3rd of the root mass (1/4th is preferred.) 

Then you can repot the tree in the same pot, or give it a newer / bigger pot to thrive in.

After repotting, your bonsai’d desert rose should be thoroughly watered.

Diseases, Insects & Other Pests

Your desert rose bonsai can be treated for pests like a normal desert rose plant.  Just remember, your tree is miniature and will need a much smaller and more gentile dose of treatment.

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