Hi there!

I don't know! My plants have CBS as well (chronic bud syndrome, I just made that up lol). So I decided to just keep them healthy, make sure they have no pests (sometimes I get curious enough to take a magnifying glass to have a look-see) and generally not stress about it. Maybe someday the plant will say "Oh fine, okay, I'll bloom. Meh.".

Since our plants are healthy and pest-free, my best bet though is that it is about having a warm enough day and night-time temperature consistently for a long enough time.

Keep us posted!

Pagan

This is a continuous problem for me here in humid NW Florida. I finally found the cause for my bud drops - spider mites!

Pagan....I have good laugh reading your post....great advice....
Every one of us who have desert rose will have this problem from time to time. The bigger the plant the less problem.
Marie

I feel your pain. A number of us had this problem this year and a couple of us specifically with a cultivar called Luang Siam. Some of the buds even got aaaalmost big enough to open, then started to droop, then fell off. The buds were in all stages of development and it's as if they just stopped. None of us have found any pests on the offending plant(s).

We suspect over-watering. The hypothesis is that some cultivars are more sensitive to water quantity than others. Maybe cut back on watering that plant and see what happens. You're far enough south that you could get another bloom. Maybe ;)

Cynthia

demonstimpy,
I had this problem with one of my Triples also. Everyone here gave solid advice and much the same as what you have received.
Helps somewhat, but I think as Pagan stated after eliminating most of the variables and having a healthy plant, you cannot do much more.
Possibly as Mary had mentioned to me, that she had one do this for a year or so and then started completing flower production.

Funny thing though with one bloom that got so large and still very secure to stem.
I carefully rolled the edges of the petals ever so lightly and the next day it seemed to have opened a bit more, so I repeated it and it opened up almost completely. I had nothing to lose.
Did not post a photo as a few of the edges of petals where a bit bruised.

Rick

Are the plants young plants? If so, I agree with Marie that it will take a year or two of growth before they are able to supply enough energy for flowers.

As Cynthia stated we did have this discussion and watering or perhaps uneven watering may play a role in the dropping of buds. I have a tendency to underwater.

Good luck. One last note, this summer I added fertilizer every time I water and that sure has made things grow nicely.

Oh no these are at least 4 years old.
We are talking 2 plants doing the same thing.
I don't see any mites.
One of the plants did manage 1 flower a few weeks back.
How often do you guys water? These are getting light all day with 4 or 5 hours of sun.
I actually pull them out of their pots the other day and replace the old soil. Not rot. All looked good.

I don't really have a schedule; when it's really hot I water small pots a couple of times a week, large pots once usually. I poke my finger into the soil and, if it's dry a couple of inches down, I water. My plants gets 8+ hours of sun and it's been over 100F for three weeks or more.

This is what I do NOW. I'm a chronic over-waterer and when the plant "rejected" its buds I'm pretty sure I was watering that plant too often. You can see the thread where a number of us talked about this if you search for Luang Siam. I, too, got one flower.

There may not be a definitive answer. After our discussion I decided to water less. The plant hasn't put on more buds but it looks good. Other plants with buds that are getting equally stingy amounts of water are also looking good. I wish I had a clear answer but I only have a hypothesis.

Cynthia

Demonstimpy,

All my adult plants are in gritty mix so I just leave them out where they get rained on sometimes for 3 straight days and I never have to worry about too much water. Because these are caudiciforms, under-watering is not really a problem either unless it is extreme (i.e. no water for, say, three weeks or maybe longer). My sister's plants are way closer to the equator than us and her erratic watering habits do not seem to affect them either--they flower non-stop for her.

I haven't encountered force-blooming tricks on the web either, like putting it in a bag with a decomposing apple or whatever that was for some other plant lol

Goodluck!

Decomposing apple. Interesting hah.