Tropicals & Tender Perennials: Really Frustrated, 0 by Clare_CA

Clare_CA wrote:
Hi X, that large one had the tip cut off twice by the previous owner, probably due to pruning. That is why it is shaped as it is. You may want to consider reshaping it yourself. If it were my plumie, I would wait until next spring when the tip was about 12 inches long, and then cut it off where it meets the main stem and root it. You will have a nice straight tree then, and it could still flower for you after you root it. I would do the same with the second side branch. At least this way, you will have a straight trunk with possibly two or more side branches. It looks like the tip was cut twice and only one branch emerged from the cut.

Someone sent me some awful-looking plumerias last summer. Many looked like they were failed grafts, which means that they were center cuts that had grown one branch like yours, and many were sunburned with cracked trunks as well. They were misshapen too. They were sold to me for cheap because they were unknown cultivars in which the tags were lost, and they would not bloom. I recut many of them, rooted, repotted, and fertilized them. Six of them bloomed for me this year, and two more have inflo's. It seems the recutting and repotting did them some good. I still have a picture of these ugly ducklings when they first arrived. Some had to be staked as you can see in the picture.