Tropicals & Tender Perennials: Hello, I am new here, 0 by Clare_CA

Clare_CA wrote:
Congratulations, Michael, on your experiment. I agree with Kukiat that it is very beautiful and very scary at the same time.

Kukiat and Michael, you are never going to believe this. Remember how I tried to graft the lovely lavender plumeria cutting that Kukiat sent me? And remember how I failed twice? Well, after Kukiat showed me that the smallest piece can be grafted, I dug the two-inch piece out of the compost pile. The third time that I tried to graft it, it looked like it was starting to take, but the little piece was pushed up by the rooting stock as it closed and only the tiniest tip was taking; so I recut and tried again with a piece less than an inch long. It looks like the fourth time worked! The root stock still pushed the little cutting upward, and it is not a pretty graft, but I am hoping that it will fill in as it grows.

Kukiat, it has only been about three weeks, and I have unwrapped it. Should I re-wrap it or let it be as it is? I had some plastic over it for moisture retention, and I put that back for now. It has been in the shade now for the last two grafts now, which is about 6 weeks. It has received a very little water.

The other thing is that, as you can see, the root stock is starting to grow branches below the union. I believe the rootstock is Aztec Gold. It would be kind of neat to have a plumeria with both lavender and Aztec Gold flowers, but I do not know if this is going to be good for the lavender cutting. What do you think?

Also, should I fill in the gaps in the union with wax or pruning seal or anything? I am hoping that, in time, the union will fill in.