It's probably a personal preference thing. Some people like to leave them. I don't because IMO they distract from the beauty of the caudex.

"Do I need to do anything with the exposed roots after I've lifted my adenium?"

Essentially, you have. You've eliminated the secondary, tertiary, quaternary, quinary ..... sublets that acted as part of the water/nutrient uptake process and turned those roots into primary transport roots. I'm not saying that like it's a bad thing, it just is what it is. I happen to really like the exposed roots on the caudex. It gives the caudex character and makes it unique to the point that it is one of a kind. Even if your plant was taken from you now, to be revealed again years later among a hundred others, you could still pick your plant from the multitude. That indeed makes it yours. ;o)

I see the same thing with/in bonsai trees, I'll see a friend's tree displayed in one state, only to travel to another and immediately recognize THAT tree there as unique in all the world. Even going to the same show year after year, I see trees that I looked at 5 years previous, but immediately recognize that tree by the physical characteristics unique to only that tree.

It's just my opinion >you can have a very nice plant, but if you want to own a great plant, there has to be something unique about it that makes it stand apart from others.

Al

I'm with Randy and Al (I think) in suggesting you remove all of the exposed rootlets - your main roots/root arms will thenforth become more prominent, showy and not being upstaged by the little ones.

I *think* Al is saying something different from Randy? lol

If I was to trim away the extra roots to get a nice clean caudex, how would I do that? slice close with a clean knife? let it callus over and keep out of direct sun for a couple of days like with pruning the top?

Will the plant miss not having these sublets and should I be gentle and go slow?

Roots are nice. Especially in the right places. Those roots are no longer in the right places,so don't feel obligated to keep them. They are probably going to die back anyway if the tips are not deep into the soil. Slice them off with a very sharp instrument flush with the new exposed caudex.

I don't do gentle and rarely do slow when it comes to knife work. I git er dun. :-)

Not to shock you, but to give you an idea of how resilient these plants are once you have a feel for what you can get away with. I've been known to start over with no roots at all.

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Mr. Timid

mr. timid, you made me LOL... and GASP!

When you do such a drastic slice at the bottom, what do you do for water? or no water in the potting medium at all? spritz on the leaves?

At the start of summer, you convinced me that I needed to take my army of indoor long-necked adenium outside and I'm thankful as they look healthier than ever now. Lots of new leaves pushing out. But will they ever flower before the cold/fall comes around and I have to take them back indoors?

The plant will not be watered until it has a root system. I use a 5 gallon backpack sprayer to water my plants in bonsai pots. Every morning I'll run the wand over this plant to moisten the trunk and leaves and dampen the top of the mix to raise humidity. Temps are hitting 116+ degrees every day lately on the bench where this is sitting, so I need to raise moisture levels a little without watering the plant.

Blooms will come. Someday.

randy

I'm with Randy, don't do gentle or slow. Just cut off the roots you don't want. I use my fingernails but you can use some scissors or a knife.
Tally HO!