Mine are all mush :-(

My 5 rooted cuttings from last year did not overwinter well. They are all soft and mushy, and I hold out little of no hope for them surviving. :-(
If I decide to get more, I will certainly have to rethink how and where I store them dormant next time around.

Marc

Marc:

How and where did you store them?

Because of my zone, my plumerias remain in the ground year round. When they go dormant, I don't water them, they're only watered if it rains.

This message was edited May 27, 2005 12:36 PM

Here is some information for overwintering:


http://botanictreasures.com/psa/PCB.pdf/pcb1_3.pdf

I let the soil dry out in the pots last Fall and than put them in my storage shed. Must have gotten to damp in there for them.
I will certainly store any new ones I get in the house in a drier area somewhere in the garage I would guess.

Sorry about that, Marc. The garage does sound like a drier location. Some people even shake the dirt off the roots and store them without the containers. Here is a picture that always impressed me. It is not mine but belongs to a fellow plumeria enthusiast. These are her plumies getting ready for overwintering:

She stores them in her garage too:

Here is another one of her pics:

It's pretty impressive how she can keep so much in her garage. I think she said that this is an unused shower stall:

It just never dawned on me to remove them from the dirt they were in before over wintering......live and learn I guess. :-(

Hi Marc,

just starting off here with mine too. I offered you some cuttings of the Icohoma's last fall when I received them.. well, those darn things haven't grown too much here, first they went dormant on me, then spider mites.. finally got rid of the bugs. Now they are starting to grow.. will let you know when they get big enough.. darn, I thought they would already be big by now.

Did you get some already?

Sorry, I haven't kept in touch here.

Good thing Clare and everyone here can give us tips on these Plumeria cuttings.. I sure don't know where I'd be without their advice.

Marc, some people don't remove the dirt if they feel certain that the dirt will stay dry, but potting soil tends to absorb any moisture in the air so it is risky if you are overwintering your plumies somewhere damp and cold. It sounds like an outdoor storage shed would get damp and cold in winter if it is not insulated. There are some good deals on eBay if you are looking for more. Don't worry; it happens to the best of us.

Antoinette, I just got rid of a huge Iochroma bush. It was covered in whiteflies! It is a shame because I love the purple flowers, but it was clearly serving as a host plant for the larvae, and it would have been too much work to combat them with horticultural oil.

Oh no.. don't want any white flies here either..

So far I am keeping them away from everything. They are blooming now and one even has a seed pod.. isn't that weird? and so small too.

Clare,I'm very impressed with all the work your friend does storing her plumerias every winter-she must be much younger than I am :)
I would love to see all of these when they are in bloom.Does she row plant these or just all about her yard?

Thanks for all the advice and the condolences :-) I will be looking to get a few new plumies shortly.
Going to check with a couple of the tropical nurseries here locally and see if I can;t get a couple rooted ones for this year and will try and root some others for next season.
Thanks Gourd for remembering me regarding the Iochroma, I will patiently wait to hear from you. :-)

Marc

I just ordered 5 replacements from Aloha Palms, works out to be $15.00 including shipping. Hope they get here in time to root and grow some before needing to go dormant.....if I do these right maybe I'll get some blooms next year.

Marc

Antoinette, that is strange! I didn't know Iochroma gets seedpods. Is the seedpod small or the plant small? If the plant is small, it won't stay that way for long. Mine was pruned back not too long ago, but it was getting huge again when I pulled it out. Here is (was) mine below.

CC, I believe she pots them back in containers after the last frost has passed and keeps them outside until the following fall. It is true that it is a lot of work to grow tropicals in a climate that is not tropical!

Marc, check your local Home Depot garden section also. They are starting to get them here in Southern California.

Marc, I was posting at the same time you were and missed your last post. Congrats on your order from AP. Your order will probably take about a month to arrive, but depending upon which variety you purchased, they should be rooted in 90 days, about the end of September. Singapore cuttings take the longest to root. Just remember to use bottom heat when rooting. Don't give up on blooms this summer. Check your local nurseries and HD.

Thanks Clare, I will keep my eyes open when out nursery hopping. :-)

Clare, the plant is small, but there is a seed pod on the red fuchaiodes (not a very good speller here) and it looks like a couple more seed pods are forming on one other one. The seed pod has been on for over a month, I don't know how long it will take to dry, it looks like a bing cherry forming.. will take a photo of it during the daytime..lol. I am on here at 4:30 this morning.. wide awake..

Here are a couple of photos.. the plants when I received them were in 4 inch pots this past fall and went into dormancy almost immediately.. don't know if that is normal or not.. but now, they are growing and I am fertilizing..

Here is the pod that has been on for a good 4 or 6 weeks it seems.

Hope this is a better shot.. it also looks like Indigo is forming pods too.

Wow, Antoinette, I had no idea it formed seedpods. I wonder if they come true to the parents or if they are hybrids between two Iochromas. Interesting. Your plants are so little. They do grow fast though and can get to be as large as tree eventually. Yes, they do go dormant here too in the winter and just do nothing until spring.

Oh Marc I'm sorry to hear about your Plumerias! :(

I don't know what I'll do when mine get big but last winter I kept mine in front of my bedroom window. When they went into dormancy I just quit watering them until I saw the leaves starting to form again. Their stalks had gotten a little wrinkly looking by then but they bounded back.

Crossing fingers and toes for our beauties!!!

My new cuttings arrived from Aloha Palms on Monday....all were very healthy, with a good leaf area, and two have bloom spikes forming.
Keep your fingers crossed that I have better luck with these than with last years. :-)

Marc

I am! :)

Thanks! :-) Hope yours are doing well

So far......we hit a heat spell with really high heat (100 - 110 with humidity) so they are growing great guns. Today we are much cooler but tomorrow it's supposed to get hot again.

No buds yet but I keep checking. ;)

Oh how exciting! Good leaf growth I trust??? Post those pix girl

Marc

Pretty good......got a little infestation of white flies before they went out (they just love our dry, dry winters). But it's humid out there now and the new growth looks great....old growth too but has some nibbles in it.

I'll get a pic soon and post it.

Well here's the stick that had sooooooo much promise last year......the buds dropped of because of the abnormally cool summer we had then.

This message was edited Jul 14, 2005 7:22 PM

This is the same plant this year......now it's Y'd and put on new growth.

This message was edited Jul 14, 2005 7:23 PM

This is the new one that MG99 was sooooooo very generous with........she gave it to me at our first RoundUp in BC this spring

This is the adenium I got from BuriedTreasures.........it has buds on it :D Ü :D

(dropped some of its' leaves even tho I hardened it off)

COOL! They all look beautiful. I'll be anxious to see those buds open. :-)

Marc, congrats on your cuttings. Get those potted up as soon as you can. It is getting late now for rooting cuttings. I just sent five cuttings off to be grafted because it is getting late for me too. You may have to bring them inside and put them on heat mats and finish rooting them inside when it starts to get cold. Fall and winter are hard seasons to root cuttings.

Thanks Marc :) .....I'll make sure to post the adenium flowers here and in one of the old adenium threads.

Gotcha Clare.....I'm hoping for some very HOT weather through the rest of the Summer.
Any advice on what I should do should we get one of our famous Summer rain boughts?
I kick myself for not knowing about htis wonderful plant while I lived in San Diego :-(

Marc

Hey Marc, I just found this thread, so sorry to hear about the soft and mushy plumies, but the new ones sound great. Have you got pictures of them? I still have mine on a heat mat, just to give them enough heat hopefully to keep them goign, and they are on my deck that often gets to 90+*F. I water them about every 10-14 days, and feed them with bloom plus, high nitrogen. I don't have any flower spikes that I can see, but at least they are growing. Here's a pic from tonight.

Pink in front and rainbow behind, sorry, not named cultivars

Cool! Looking good....hope you get bloom :-)

Mark, you'll want to keep them out of the rain and very dry until you see leaves. Which ones did you get? Here's a brief run down:

White - Easy to root, will root quickly, for sure in 90 days, by mid October, maybe sooner.

Yellow - Same as white

Celadine - Same as white

Singapore - Difficult to root; will take a long time to root and will need a heat pad through fall and winter.

Red - Somewhat difficult to root; can rot quickly if given too much moisture during rooting.

Rainbow - Same as Red.

Apricot - Same as Red.

Pink - Easier to root, but you still need to make sure that there is not too much moisture in the container.

Basically, if you are having a nice hot summer, put them on a hot surface like concrete or brick or gravel in full sun. You can mist them as often as you like and water sparingly when the soil looks dry. The same can be true if you have a nice hot fall.

If you are having a cool summer, give the cuttings the same treatment of a hot cement area to sit on but water less frequently. "When in doubt, wait a week" as the saying goes.

As soon as nighttime temps drop below 55 in the fall, bring them inside and place them on a heating mat or warm surface and let them finish rooting inside.