It took two months for this Adenium to sprout!

This is an interesting story of trying to sprout an Adenium cutting with the help of coconut water as rooting hormone which was finally successful! The adenium cutting with plenty of flowers was placed in recycled plastic bottle with plain water along with fresh coconut water. Coconut water contains Cytokinins and Gibberellic Acid which promote cell division and root growth. Initial plan was to get it rooted and then transfer to a garden pot with potting mix.

On the very next day all the flowers and leaves had started withering, in spite of base of the cutting being in water. Immediately transferred to a large garden pot located in the center of the garden which was a quite sunny area.

As the spot chosen was quite sunny, the plant was withering even more on the next day.

The stem cutting continued to dry out. Of course choosing a sunny spot was not ideal. The reason for choosing this large garden pot was that other pots were not free. This one being quite large, about 23 inches in diameter, it was almost impossible to move it to the shade. Another thought was that in case the plant comes up, this was an ideal spot for it to grow well and flower in plenty. As Adenium is also known as desert rose, it needs plenty of sunlight for producing abundant flowers.

Three days later it appeared as if the stem cutting is not going to sprout at all. Simple reason, summer was it its strongest! Very hot days and no sign of any summer rains. Thought that the stem cutting will never sprout at all!

In this video clip the shoot appeared a little better. But that was because the plant was put a bit straight by repositioning. More over the video clip was taken soon after watering well.

There was a prediction of summer rains from the meteorological department which raised hopes that this plant might come around if we get good showers.

Hope was almost lost and though the plant was being watched carefully, no further video clips were taken for over one month. You can see green Amaranth seedling sprouting as well as a couple of Ixora plants which sprouted after long period, raising hopes that the Adenium might also come up.

After a long wait of about two months, finally the Adenium has sprouted. Hope had almost been lost after the long wait. But the only positive sign was that the stem cutting was still greenish and not fully dried up. With the onset of monsoon in this region it did sprout and and most likely these leaves are there to stay. As there is heavy rain on most days, most likely this plant will come around and grow well. Expecting it to survive long in this big garden pot and produce plenty of flowers in sunny weather.