Tropicals & Tender Perennials: Any advice on my first attempt to grow plumeria?, 1 by Clare_CA

Clare_CA wrote:
Betty, they look good, but they have catch trays that hold water and that will keep the soil wet. I would remove those (pull them off) and make sure there are big drainage holes at the bottom of those pots. If they are small drainage holds, I would take a drill and make them bigger. I would have potted them up into individual one-gallon containers until the roots filled the pots and then went to those pots. Those look like five-gallon containers. That may have been overpotting a bit, but there are a couple more months for them to get adjusted before they come inside so they should be fine. In general, you never want to over pot plumerias. Cold/wet is a very bad combination. Bring them in when temps are predicted to drop below 50. A warm house by a window should be a nice place to spend the winter. I would not use clay pots. Plastic is much better. People have found that the roots stick too much to the inside of clay pots. I would not use Superbloom now. You want to use a balanced fertilizer now until the end of August. In fact, the bloombooster fertilizers are no longer the preferred fertilizer for plumerias. A balanced fertilizer is a better way to go. The explanation is on another thread.

I also group root plumerias as Jim Little does in his book, but I only do it as a temporary solution and pull them out before the roots become entangled. I find that, if I wait too long, there is substantial root loss as I try to separate them. I don't plant them together; I just place them lightly on top of the soil really. They sink in a bit.

I forgot to add that I agree with Don about using heating pads and lights to keep them growing through the winter. This would be especially beneficial since your growing season is so short.

This message was edited Jul 7, 2007 11:18 AM