black dying leaves

I have 2 white and 1pink plumeria that I got as cuttings this past spring. I also have a tiny cutting about 3" long- it was a broken tip off a dormant tree. The little tip and the pink are growing well ( you can see at back of picture) but on the two white the leaves come then turn black and fall off. All 4 cuttings were planted same time, same soil,and same growing conditions. I bought the pots new and washed them well. Anyone have an idea what is causing this? I bought Jim Littles book but it doesn't really tell you much. I hate to give up if it is a minor problem. Any help would be appreciated.

cornish2175, OMG! I'm so sorry! The mother plant is doing the same thing. Everything looked healthy when I took the cuttings. About half the branches on the mother plant have done the same thing. MOST, but not all branches are recovering now. If that is black tip disease, I wouldn't have thought it would carry over at that stage, but I'm no expert . I actually had tiny inflos on most of the branches, and they died too. Now there is one inflo.
I hope someone with more expertise will chime in on this! This is a very large white (NOID) flower that I smuggled in from Hawaii some years ago. It is in a bad location on the N. side of my house, and the last two springs have been wet and cold...hence my assumption that this is black tip disease.

Occarol- not your fault- anytime you start something growing its luck of the draw. The pink one is doing wonderful and if everything always grew perfectly how would you learn what could go wrong. I am guessing the pink mother plant is fine? I am also guessing that a virus was carried over into the cuttings as our spring was very dry and hot. Will just keep a watch- since I am organic maybe someone will come up with an answer and a cure.

Hello to both, here is some good read on Blacktip disease on Plumerias. Hope that could be of some help to you? http://www.plumeriacareus.com/F17blacktip.htm

Hmm. I couldn't get that link to work with either IE or FF.

Lily -after reading the link you sent I do not think it is 'black tip' . The stems are firm with no sign of rot. It just seems like the leaves developed then turn black and fall off. I will try to take a close up. Thanks. Susan

This is the best close up I could get

Hmmm, those look too healthy, but they'll eventually dry up? Some rubra plumeria can look dark like it when they first sprouted from dormancy, then the young leaves will grow out of that stage. Occcarol, when comes to computer, I'm no good at trouble shooting. Sorry.

I tried typing it in and it seems the site is for sale. Anything listed for that site comes up "server not found". The only info I could find said that if the black doesn't go into the branch itself, it will recover.

Carol, I was able to click on Lilies site from my smart phone and my tips don't look like pics they showed. Guess I'll just keep watching- at least the pink is fine. I can only grow these as potted anyway- it gets to cold here. Thanks for all suggestions- I'll keep you posted. Susan

it doesn't look like BT. i would check the roots!

What am I checking for? If it is root rot wouldn' t the stem feel soft? No one seems to grow plumerias here and other than Jim Littles book haven't found another. Today I will change out the dirt- see if that helps. Susan

hi susan - rot can travel through plumeria in different ways. look for any signs of root rot. of course, you want to see healthy roots spreading out into the soil. i would not completely uproot the plumeria until you know for sure if it is root rot.

I'm dieing to hear what you find, Susan! I wish I knew more about plant pathology. I wouldn't be surprised to find root rot on mine, but the cuttings looked healthy, were scrubbed with Physan20, went through the callusing, and rooting . It just doesn't make sense (to me) that they would just now start having a problem, unless this cultivar is especially prone to rot, or it is some kind of soil born virus in it's system. The mother plant has been in the ground for about 10 years, and never had a problem until last year. And yes, the pink one is fine...about 10 ' away.

Looks like Tucson was right. Gently knocked the dirt out of the pot and roots all over the place. I have cleaned the cuttings and ran the pots through the dishwasher. I let the cuttings dry out for 24 hours then I repotted. I think I set those cutting to low in the pot originally and they sat in wetter dirt. I probably watered to much.

Carol, that may be what is wrong with the mother tree- you said you had a wet, cold spring

this was all the roots left after washing dirt off. I just took them all off, dried for a day, put root starter on and repotted- this time not so deep. When in doubt, try, try again.

ummm...what am i right about susan? i do not see any evidence of root rot from your pic. it looks to me like you had a lot of healthy, white roots that are now gone. were there rotted roots also in the soil. =( at least you were able to keep some roots on the cutting.

careful with the watering. the plant doesn't require much if there are not any leaves open.

In regarding to the soil for plummerias, I made my own. I added sand 1 part sand to 2 parts commercial potting soild. thus far I had good result with mine. Cornish2175, hope this experiment will turn out better for yours. Good luck.

Susan, take in consideration when replanting your canes. They're thick and heavy. May need some anchor to keep them stable and not fall over and break all the tender roots.

Susan, I'm with Tucson...confused. In your photo, the soil doesn't look too good, but I don't see any rot. Did I understand you right...that you removed those healthy roots in the second photo, and started over with NO roots?
As I said before, I pretty sure the mother plant is suffering from it's BAD location, and the only reason I haven't removed it is because there are plants in that bed that need some afternoon shade in the summer. It gets no sun in the winter. I guess I'm going to have to start a cutting myself to make sure that it doesn't have some disease that might be passed on.
Over watering is the most common problem with plumies. When I first joined DG, I read the stickys at the top, and one comment stuck in my mind; " when in doubt, wait a week". I chuckled at the time, but now when I'm watering all my potted plants, I stick my finger in the medium, and if I get moisture under my fingernail, I skip that pot. Consider where they grow best...volcanic islands that have very little soil, lots of sun, and fast drainage. If you've read these threads on the Plumeria forum, you know that folks in the cold climates either dig them up, and store them , bare root, or put their pots in their garage or basement for the winter...no water when they're dormant! I also grow orchids, and they too are hard to keep from watering for the same reasons.

Yes, I was amaze how those plumerias thrive in volcanic rock in Hawaii. They're real trees. Look at this trunk. :) Picture was taken Spring of last year.

I was assuming that it was root rot since the roots were all broken off in the dirt. All I can do now is wait to see how it does. Thanks for all the advice. Susan