Desert Rose caudex shriveled ... help!

This Desert Rose is a less common color and double bloom, so I especially want to save it. It's hard to tell in the pic (perhaps more visible on the left), but the caudex is shriveling up and I need help figuring out why. I lifted it to check for root rot, but the roots look ok to my non-expert eyes. For context, it's a fairly young/small plant (~10" above soil), looked fine when I bought it 3 months ago, gets enough sun but not too much, is in appropriate soil (perlite, sand, etc.), is watered once a week with captured rainwater, and gets indirect spray from heavy rains which we've had at least 1-2 times a week the last few months (it's just under the overhang of our screened porch). Since it didn't appear to be rot, I figured it might be insufficient water so I gave it a little more watering the last 2 weeks, but leaves started yellowing and dropping (wasn't happening before). I doubt there's much more time before it gets to the point that it's too far gone to save, so I greatly appreciate any expert advice.

10 days past...
It doesn't look like it's rotting. I'm sure that's grafted also. If it feels spongy I wouldn't worry too much but if it feels squishy then it may be rotting. You would have to cut off/out the rotting parts and let it dry out. Always let the soil dry out. I have lost 1 small plant and a medium one to rot caused by suspected fungus gnats. They love wet soil. You're supposed to be able to use hydrogen peroxide by pouring it on the potting soil to kill larva and eggs, literally cooks them. Probably works on fungus too.
I water my plants maybe once a week. My 2 bigger plants I had to remove rot and they actually were out of soil for quite awhile. If I had to guess perhaps over 6 months (kept forgetting to repot them) but i did occasionally sprayed water on them. I find if I give mine more sun they tend to want to flower more while if I give them more shade they leaf up more.

@HorseFeathers70, Thanks for the input. I agree there are no signs of rot, which is why I'm so confused what is wrong. What makes you so sure this plant is grafted? I don't know that it's not, but I bought it from the person who grew it and believe that is something she would have mentioned. Btw, yes I regularly add some hydrogen peroxide to the rainwater I use to water all of my plants. I read that it not only kills pest larva and eggs, but also helps provide oxygen to the roots.

I had a red double bloom that gave me problems, if you look at the top of the trunk and it looks like a ring around it before the branches, thats grafted. Seed grown wont have that. I just water and let dry out for a bit. The squishy can be alarming but as far as I can see it doesn't have rotting roots. Just water it let it dry out and repeat. Hopefully it will firm up. I have seen others unpot theirs during winter time and hang them upside down during winter. As for yellowing leaves, mine does that sometimes so I check for bugs or the roots when I do worry. Right now my big ones are re-potted to try and get them to kick out new roots. Hardly any leaves and occasionally trying to bloom. Roots when rotting will be mushy perhaps slimy and even stink. When that happens you have to cut the rot out rinse it clean, and the last time i did that I even poured peroxide on all the cuts and scraped areas for good measure and let them sit bare root. They will drop leaves as the branches grow longer and I have cut branches shorter after they get lanky to encourage branching.

1. Example of grafted Adenium, I would say most if not all the ones with different colors and/or doubles are grafted. Faster to do that than grow from seed. I would also say that they are more likely imported from say Thailand, same with new Crown of Thorns colors etc. Thailand has a lot of growers for plants.
2. Example of yellowing leaves, not worried about it as it is growing so I expect leaf drop.
3. grafted Adenium "Pearl"
If you are in Florida and near Apopka, there is a Cactus/Succulent nursery there that sells these. They are also next to a Hoya grower. So don't always believe the listings that claim something is rare when there are nurseries full of these plants. The kicker is you need to have a wholesale license to buy from alot of the nurseries, not a big deal if you love plants. Doesn't cost much. That's what we did.

Thanks for the helpful info/pics on grafting.

Your point about local growers is why, instead of "rare," I said "less common color and double bloom." I do realize they're only "rare" relative to what we can get at Lowe's by the dozens.

Mine has since lost all of its leaves, but still has a tiny bit of new growth sprouting so I'm just going to wait and see if it lives.

With the rare part I didn't direct that towards you it was just a general statement for anyone else who might be reading that do not know better. My 2 biggest adeniums are more or less leafless but starting to grow new leaves since I put them back in pots, biggest one has 2 flowers currently though smaller than normal. I just have to keep an eye on them because of fungus gnats. If I have to I can always spray them down with neem, I have a bottle of pure neem oil I got from a local hydroponics store. Hopefully yours will recover, just let it dry out for a bit between waterings. My small ones aren't super firm to the squeeze but as long as they don't wiggle or slump over I'm sure they're fine. At times better to underwater with certain plants.

We always check Lowes reject sections, can find good stuff if not saveable stuff. Specially in Florida. I find most the time employees are killing the plants. I also heard that half the time they don't take care of the plants but the nursery has someone come in and do it.

Kinda miss Florida for all the nurseries, not to mention picking up seeds or plant samples of the ground at the different Disney parks.

This message was edited Oct 8, 2019 11:49 AM

This message was edited Oct 8, 2019 11:51 AM