I took a very large cutting from one of my Plumeria's. It's basically a small tree, pretty large... 2-4 feet high, 4 feet wide. I let it dry out for 10 days, put Rootone on it , planted it in the ground, staked it. The leaves are really wilting badly. It is getting some new blooms but they are substandard and smaller due to the fact it has no roots yet. Should I remove all of the big leaves so it can use the energy to put out roots?
Thanks.... any advice appreciated.
Question about rooting a large cutting.....
hi - you should remove the leaves because the plant is losing moisture through them.
Thank you very much. I removed them.
Glad I jumped over here because I just potted up some large cuttings that I bought from a gal ($1 each) and I left the leaves on, guess I better go out and take all he old leaves off, I am so looking forward to all of them rooting. This gal said she just put a cutting into a pot and they rooted even without letting them dry out for a few days. Well, I too used root tone on mine, need all the help I can get.
Pegi, not allowing the sap to dry out and callous over, it may wick up too much water and rot.
Lily_Love, I let my plumeria callous over, not going to try it the other way. She says she has good luck with hers, but I'll let them callous over. Went out earlier and looked at all of them and they seem to be holding their own. How often do you water yours? I don't want to get them too wet because I know they don't like to sit in water. I just don't like having to wait so long before I see some inflos.
I always let them callous for at least a week or 2 weeks if it's really humid. I have stuck them right in the ground and they have rooted, but usually in the months of Feb.-April, our dry season. If I do the same thing during the rainy season, they usually rot if not calloused.
I cut them, put Rootone on them and let them callous for at least a week, then check them. If not calloused I let them go a little longer. Then I stick the end in Hydrogen Peroxide and again in Rootone and plant them in a plastic bottle with some of the top cut off(water, Gatorade, whatever) with holes on the bottom and a couple on the side about an inch from the bottom, and filled with 2/3 perlite and 1/3 peat moss. I put them in a really hot place where they get a lot of sun. Hot concrete is great, the heat really makes the roots start fast. Sometimes I put a layer of pea gravel in the bottom and wet the pea gravel from the bottom by sitting it in a little bowl. The damp gravel below the plant makes the roots take off to seek that damp area. I like the plastic bottles better than pots because they don't seem to stay as damp inside and the light seems to help the roots grow faster.
If we get rain and they get soggy, I briing them in the house in the air conditioning to dry them out. Then put back outside. I think it's a pain to root them down here in the summer because if we get 2-3 of rain with no sun, they can rot fast. In the spring it's easy, from July-Sept. I have to babysit them.
My large one which is basically a small tree is now getting roots. I dug down to the bottom and checked, lots of roots are starting to emerge. Only one smaller limb is badly dehydrated, the others are plumping up now. Still no leaves, but as the roots enlarge, those will come. I may just cut off the shriveled limb.
i wouldn't cut off the shriveled limb. the pith in that branch has nourishment for the plumie.
Islandgirl you sure put a lot of work into your plumies. I never thought about using hydrogen peroxide on them, just dipped them in water and then root tone. Then I placed each one in its own pot and pray I don't kill any. A couple of them have an inflo, wonder if I'll get some flowers on them.