Frank, from my limited experience.
I do not believe that the dormancy period is necessary for containerized or in ground plants. Is is a natural process triggered by temperatures as well a light levels. Having said this I have had some not lose their leaves at all. Where I live with colder fall/winter and lower light levels they are inside during these times. They only receive water when required as they will rot if dormant and wet with colder temps.
I let mine tell show me what they require.
I do not know if there is necessarily a minimum time duration for dormancy? If once they do go dormant. Minimum watering until temps. warm and they start showing new growth, then watering will become more frequent.
I am sure that a rest or dormancy will benefit the plants, but number of hours of sunlight and adequate feeding are factors in the plants flowering.
Hope some of this helps,
Rick

Rick....

Thanks for the comments.

I often wondered if the dormancy period was artificially prolonged once plants were brought inside, and placed in a warmer environment...especially if not given enough water to sustain any new growth.

My guess is that day length/photo period has a triggering affect on dormancy, as well as temps...but when a plant is brought back inside, these things can be controlled to a certain extent...but should they?

Yes, your answers have helped, and I think I will follow cues from the plants. Growing these plants in cooler climes can be a bit challenging, and low light levels during the winter months makes it even tougher.

Thanks again.

Frank

I don't know if it's necessary or not. I have some that are still flowering and are not under any artificial lighting. I have others that are under lights but have gone dormant and aren't showing any signs of regrowth yet.

With the set up that I have and conditions available to my plants. I would not go to any further lengths, i.e. Artificial lighting MH,etc., to hopefully get more flowering and growth. If they go dormant in the situation I give and start regrowth in spring, then I am content.
I do have my seedlings under T5 flouescents just to keep them going and next winter there on there own. Only keep lights on them to extend the daylight period.
Rick

I originally stuck them under lights to see if I could stop them from going dormant. They continued to drop all foliage. Normally I would have stuck my dormant DR's somewhere in the dark but I've just been too lazy to move them. I guess I can say I was experimenting to see if they'd come out of dormancy any sooner. lol

Hi Frank,

I personally think that it is each tree has their own personality. SOme of mine still have leaves, some have dropped and then some are putting on more leaves.. What?

LOL.. i just let them do what they want and see what is best for each individual tree. They will let you know. My seedlings from Mark D are all doing great. The grafted ones from Riona are doing soso... some have started showing signs of budding on the top grafted part and others and been quiet.. i did lose one..soft caudex and it was in trouble. I cut off until i could see clean wood and i let it seal and then i repotted it in Gritty and placed it in the greenhouse on heat mats.. i will keep my fingers crossed that i dont lose this one.

I think they are all so different and will come out of their "so called" dormancy at any time!!!

Good luck!!

Laura

Laura,
Hope your new graft makes it for you.
With a few of mine that where bare root. They took a while to put out new growth. One started to get very soft and I became concerned.
A gentleman one Adenium group mentioned to me to take it out of soil and soak it in super thrive and then repot. Said to keep it in indirect or shaded place until new growth started and it did firm up and produce new growth quite awhile later.
Maybe not necessary as you have cut it off and repotted.
Rick

I had a grafted plant that had an area of rot when I received it last summer. I cut it away and dusted with a fungicide and the plant appeared to be doing alright.It never bloomed and wasn't full and lush but alive none the less. It's been dormant for the past couple months but seemingly ok. When I was checking the dormant plants yesterday I found the entire plant rotted. Oddly the only part that wasn't rotted were the roots. I guess the original section of rot was never completely cut away and slowly festered from the inside out.

Thanks for all the added information...but, there is still no consensus. Each DR seems to have its own schedule....but "something" must trigger the dormancy response. I will leave it to smarter growers than I, to figure it out.

I decided there are more important things to consider, and I will, like others, take my cues from the plants themselves. I find the more I fuss and worry about the plants, the faster they reward my fretful efforts, by dying even quicker. : )

Merry Christmas to all, and thanks for all the help in 2012.

Frank

Frank I received a book from a friend, "Adenium: Sculptural Elegance, Floral Extravagance" for the holiday and it discusses dormancy for each species of adenium. I'll try and take photos of the text but it's too much to type for someone that uses the "hunt & peck" method. lol

Frank I sent the info in an email.

karyn1:

Thank-you for taking the time to photograph and send all that information to me. Much appreciated beyond words.

Folks...the book said that A.obesum does NOT like to go dormant, and, if it does go dormant, it should be a warm, not cold, dormancy. Cold dormancy periods set these plants back severely, and, that they recover from the shock very slowly. I would take my cues from the plants. The book also notes that A. obesum does not stay dormant for more than a few weeks.

Karyn...good information.

Merry Christmas to all.

Frank

Its a wonderful book and everyone that has Adeniums would enjoy it immensely. I bought one a couple years ago and it is a good resource.
Rick

No problem frank. Glad you were able to read it. I do like the book. I haven't done much besides skim thru it yet but it seems to have good info and nice photos. The same person got me another book titled "Pachyforms: A Guide to Growing Pachycaul and Caudiciform Plants". That one has some amazing photos and such cool plants. I want them all!

Karyn...

I also have the Pachycaul/Caudiciformand book.... and spent hundreds of big dollar$ finding some of the plants that are pictured in its pages.

Very informative guides, and the first books anyone growing fat plants should own.

Thanks, and happy growing.

Frank

Frank that's what I'm afraid of. lol I have about a dozen varieties but saw so many that I'd love to add and some I didn't even realize would develop into "fat plants" like Aristolochia gigantea. I'm hoping that there might be some interesting ones at the show in Jan. Call me cheap but if I can obtain plants thru Bruce's suppliers in the wholesale market it saves me quite a bit of $$$. Many of them will gift me the plants which is even nicer : )

If any of you know where one can purchase Mark Dimmit's book with some non-astronomical shipping prices to Europe, i'd be very grateful for the info. I've been after that book for a while but everywhere i looked they wanted 30$ for shipping :( often more than the book itself is priced, it's ridiculous.

Teyo,

just checked amazon, there are 3 Adenium: Sculptural Elegance, Floral Extravagance books for sale in US all $32.00 with $4.00
shipping!

Aggie

Thanks Aggie, but Amazon US won't ship to me, only Amazon UK, and they don't have it :/
There was a guy selling it on ebay from time to time, but he wants almost 50gbp for it.

Hi teyo,
It is a wonderful book. It looks as though the best price for this book is in the U.S.. (29.99), but I imagine the shipping would be the one thing that will increase costs for you. I bought mine while visiting the U.S. And had it shipped to me there.
Might be worth a check to see what the cost to ship to you from U.S. and maybe someone could send it to you if shipping is cheaper through a private individual as opposed to eBay or other?
I know the economy in U.S. Is 3.00.
Hope something works out for you.
Rick

I have been wanting that book as well. I have plans to obtain it in the next couple of months. Would love to get it before I go visit my sister in March or April. I've heard nothing but good things about adding this book to anyone's collection.

Kirk

There are more than one type of dormancy. A predictive dormancy occurs usually as a result of a change in photoperiod, and the deal is usually sealed by increasing chill. Plants that grow as near the equator as A obesum don't have this type of predictive dormancy (unless they grow at altitude), but they can go into a period of consequential dormancy as a result of being dry for too long, or they can enter a somnolent/torpid state (not a true dormancy) when low temperatures and light levels affect (slow) their metabolic rate.

Al

I live in Ontario Canada.
My Adeniums stay outside during summer and move into the house during winter period.
My Adeniums did never go into dormancy period and maintained their leafes continuously.

I am in Canada also, radovan. Mine are outside in the summer and inside for winter. A few lost leaves for a short period of time and new growth started shortly afterwards and some stayed in leaf.
Seedlings all held their leaves.
Rick

I just read some of the more recent answers to my original question(s).

I had a feeling that there might be some different types of dormancy, but did not know the technical names for them. Thanks again, Al (tapla).

My DR has sprouted a new set of leaves, probably as a result of a full-sunny position in my warm kitchen. However...the new leaves look streaked, and blotchy. I'll bet it is infected with virus. I will see how the plant looks, and grows, as the season unfolds. Prediction:...another plant that goes into the garbage.

So far, my experiences with growing and buying DRs has been a mixed bag, and on a scale of 1-10, I'd give the whole experience a 4... "10" being "great". I could take them or leave them at this point. Poor availability of named varieties, few USA retailers/growers, ugly grafting techniques, virus infections, no/few stabilized seed strains, etc. Too many demerits. My climate also doesn't make growing these plants any easier, either.

I'll give myself one more season to learn what it takes to grow them successfully...I won't give up without a fight.

Frank

Hey Rick lucky you, your temps are much much better than mine. I heard you guys in Vancouver can grow much better than we in Ontario. I hope one day you can get me some fig twigs (cuttings) from a very huge black fig variety.
my adeniums are about 18 months old and I do not know are they big and how big are they suppose to be for 18 months of age. is big measured by hight or by caudex width.

Frank, I know you will not give up without fight same as you do for your fig trees. Keep up the good work.

Frank,
Sorry you've been having such a rough time with your Adenium.
It definitely doesn't have to be frustrating, but growing Adeniums in a cold climate definitely has a learning curve.
I'll be happy to give you some advice if you'll email specific questions.
Chris
greenemann@earthlink.net

Hello Durch, and welcome to the forum!

Nice to see you back again Frank, don't give up, us cold weather folks must stick together and beat the curse of the Adeniums...we will grow them!!
Gill from the UK.

Thanks to my world-wide friends. I will stick it out until the verdict is in. NYC climate, and short-summers has been a challenge, but who knows....maybe this year a silver lining will form around my Adenium, dark cloud. I'm happy that I grow other plants, and, with more success...e.g. figs -(my pride and joy), Cyphostemma, Clivia, and various other fat-plants. All far easier than Adenium...but, not as pretty.

You win some, and you lose some...

Frank