Too late to take cuttings?

Hi guys! One of my coworkers just informed me that she has white, yellow, and pink plumeria trees and that I'm welcome to take cuttings any time I'd like them. Is now a good time to take them, here in South Florida? I take cuttings off everything else anytime at all, but am stumped about the plumeria. Would fall be better, for some reason? I'm going to mix up a well draining potting mix, soak them a bit in water with hydrogen peroxide and Superthrive, (I do this with all my seeds and cuttings), dip in rooting hormone and stick them in 12 inch plastic pots, to start. These babies are eventually going inground at my fiance's house, and boy am I excited.

Liila~

I live on Longboat Key. Summers knock down branches from my white plumerias. I clean-cut the bottoms, dip them in Rootone., and stick them in the ground. They take off like weeds. You're supposed to let the end dry and scab over -- but, to me, it makes no difference.

I've taken cuttings off of my Theresa Wilder in the fall, and do the same -- but they don't really push stuff out the next until spring.

Good luck.

This message was edited Jun 19, 2005 9:12 PM

Liila, Brad is right. This is the best time to take cuttings and root them -- when it is warm out. Heat is the best thing for root development, and we have lots of it right now. I do let the end heal over on freshly cut plumeria cuttings. This can take a few days to a week. Then set your container on a hot surface like concrete or cement in full sun or part sun. Some cuttings will root quickly without having a healed over end, but some take up too much water through the end and will rot if not callused over so I do it as a precaution.

A twelve-inch plastic pot is too big for one cutting, and I would not root them together. The roots are fragile and break easily. I would pot each cutting up individually in one-gallon containers in well-draining potting mix.

You can root cuttings in fall and winter, but in my experience, it is much more difficult because of the lack of heat.

My cutting of Theresa Wilder that flyboy shared with me is amazing! I was never sure whether it was alive or not for months. Only a faint greenish color around the "nubbins" gave me hope. Then, the first little spikes appeared and now, if I stand there long enough, I can watch the leaves grow! I've never had this much fun with a "stick" before! LOL

Liila, I hope you have good luck with yours....they are a joy.
Pati

Thanks guys! I will pot the cuttings in 1 gallon, as you suggested. Those are about 8", I think. I will also let the ends callous over before sticking them in soil. I'm hoping to get some nice large sections to root. From what she's telling me they haven't been trimmed in ages. (Yippee!)

If that's the case then I'm going to cut some extra's to stick in the ground at my fiance's, as well as some for pots. I see a pink and white one planted right in front of the house, with a potted yellow one by the pool. It's good to have a plan. ;-D

I've never actually been to a roundup but I'm all ready rooting stuff and growing extra's for when I get to do some trading, too. It's great fun. ;-D

Hi Lillia, one-gallon containers are 6 1/2 inches, I think. You are lucky to have such a nice friend. Plumerias look just great around a pool. Good luck and have fun!

Liila, I got the tip from Clare to place potted plumies on hot concrete, which I did, and i noticed a significant (positive) difference in the way seedlings and cuttings took off this year.

Hey, Flyboy! You know how I said all those nice (and positively true) things about you in that other thread, which you printed out to present to your SO when you're in the doghouse? Well.................Howsabout paying me back with a Teresa Wilder cutting, when you have one available? ;-D

Love,

Your new best friend,

Liila---willing to trade if I have anything you'd like! ;-D

Liila, I think Brad is back in NJ while his beautiful plumeria is in Florida, but I should let him speak for himself:-)

Well, it doesn't have to be tomorrow, ya know! ;-D

I plan on being around for a while. ;-D

And besides, I have to "experiment" with rooting the cuttings I'll be getting from Shyrl at work...If I become as obsessive about plumeria as you guys are I'll then know how to handle the 'special' cuttings I'll be (hopefully) getting in the future....;-D

OK Liila~

You're on the list. But please remind me the end of October.

And I'm happy to hear

LOL, Brad! You're not that old! Hugs,

Clare_CA~

You forget. MY war was World War II.

Did you serve in World War II, Brad? Wow! Let me say to you what I say to all men and women who serve their country: "thank you" :-) Your joke that you don't buy green bananas is really funny!

Watch the reruns of "Twelve O'Clock High". That's me, with the fancy jacket. I was younger, then.

Ah, Brad (Flyboy), I just got your Dave's Garden name. (Insert light bulb here.) Do you mean that you were an actor in that series, or that was you in real life? I'll have to watch for it: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041996/

Just a role model in real life. And I couldn't have acted in it. I refused to get back into any airplane -- even on the ground -- for ten full years.

I understand now. I can certainly understand that!

Clare_CA

If you're nice I'll show you my medals. My grandchildren don't want them. The universities have taught them that "War is hell -- and unnecessary, too."

Brad, most universities are liberal institutions. I could go on, but they don't allow discussions of politics here. Trust me, your grandchildren will want your medals and will treasure them long after you are gone. Your grandchildren will also make up their own minds about war and in time will see that it is hell but sometimes unavoidable and necessary.

Clare_CA:

From your mouth to God's ears !

Sorry I haven't gotten back to you 2 great folks in so long. My room mate dogsits at the house and we've had a temperamental golden retriever here for 2 days that's a real troublemaker. He hasn't been neutered, and that's why.

Am sending you Dmail, Brad! When I first saw your handle here at Dave's I figured it meant you flew planes. For some reason, I thought you were a commercial airline pilot! Ha-ha!

My late father was a messenger boy and my grandmother was a cook in the Finnish army, during the war. It's always been fascinating to me to learn about WW2 from such different perspectives, the American experience and the Finnish experience. Finland still harbors a generation of never-married old women (like my aunt) who blame their spinsterhood on the fact that there were no more men left after the war to marry.

I'm sure you've got your share of stories to tell, too. I agree with Clare that your grandkids (and future generations) will treasure your medals more than you know. They're pieces of history.

I like you guys immensely. It's so nice to be able to converse with and make new friends all over the country. ;-D

Liila~

Had your aunt been as clever as your grandmother, during the war, she would have been married, too. The Finnish had to have been very smart to have had lady cooks for their soldiers. Not only for company, but for the quality of the food. Did the Finnish soldiers ever have to eat S O S ?

And what do you have against the Golden Retriever? Don't do it.

Brad, we would love to see your medals if you have a picture of them and/or tell us what they are and what they are for.

Liila, we like you immensely too:-)

Clare_CA~

Medals are things you write about in epitaphs. They're pretty boring subjects in real life. My hope is that I'll still be hanging in when the great-grandchildren arrive. Maybe I can get to them before the Universities get their hands on them. At least, now, I'm fore-warned.

LOL, Flyboy, you go get 'em!

Wish me luck. Please.

Lot's of luck! :-) Start them watching Fox News at an early age:-) Maybe get them the O'Reilly Factor book for kids:-)

Hey! What's S O S? All I can think of is "stuff" on a shingle, but I don't think that's the right term.

My grandmother opened up a restaurant in Helsinki after the war. She met her 2nd husband there, (I guess the way to a man's heart really is his stomach!) and then moved up to the "Strawberry Capital of Finland" when they married. He had a large farm, and she always said she married him for the garden space. ;-D

I spent every summer growing up on that farm...My favorite parts of her gardens were the berry section (currants, lingonberries, gooseberries, all kinds !), and my aunt's herb garden. Aunt Liisa was a nurse-practitioner and herbalist who knows more about native Finnish medicinal herbs, forest plants and mushrooms than anyone.

I miss the ancient purple and white lilacs that grew around the entire farmhouse. I miss the incredibly fragrant lily of the valley that grew all along the lakeside by the sauna. I also miss the huge rhubarb plants we used to make pie from. Even then, I thought they were beautiful. Truth be told, I miss cold climate gardening completely, having grown up in New York. I still cry over not being able to have peonies down here. South Florida is for the birds. I only garden here because I have to garden no matter where I am.

I have nothing against golden retrievers, per se, provided they behave like good canine citizens. Triumph is reaching maturity now and constantly trying to exhibit dominant behavior over my dog, Buddha. We don't allow it and he shouldn't have to constantly be harrassed in his own house. The roommate keeps bringing these huge, unneutered male dogs in and it's just not fair to him. God help us, she's got 150 lb. bullmastiff coming in a couple of weeks...I'm moving into my fiance's house later this summer and can hardly wait.

Hope you're enjoying New Jersey in the summertime, Brad! I miss those terrific tomatoes and Jersey produce in general...I miss the way New York/New Jersey/Connecticut become so lush and green this time of year...Driving down a tree lined street and feeling as if you're in the middle of a beautiful green tunnel...

S O S -- you're close -- but that was actually delicious army food. It's properly named "Creamed Chipped Beef on Toast". It brings ME nostalgia.

What's with the double "i's" in Finnish names? At first I thought that you just had a broken, stuttering "i" key on your keyboard. Do you pronounce both of them, as in ee, ee?

But don't wax too euphoric about New Jersey in the summertime. It's getting hot here -- whole weeks of 90+'s. It does stay emerald-green until about mid-July -- but then dries out. Sweet corn is the big deal here in late summer into early fall. It IS delicious. We make a trip to the local farm, several times a week. The most significant change to the horizon are the multitude of new schools. This is the BEST place to raise children -- school taxes are the highest in the nation.

The world that we're a-livin; in is mighty hard to beat --
you get a thorn with ev'ry rose, but ain't the roses sweet.

Aahhhh...creamed chipped beef on toast...I just got off the phone with her and she laughed about it, but my mom had a restaurant in Brooklyn in the 60's, and she actually used to make this stuff----because she had ex-servicemen who *complained* about not being able to get it anywhere! I remember it because the "meat" had to soak and reconstitute for long periods of time and even though I would dare my sister to eat some, she never would...I think it's one of those things you're not "supposed" to admit to liking...Like Spam or pig's knuckles or something...

My name means "lilac" in Finnish. And you're right, the double "i's" are pronounced leeeeee. So, I'm leela.

I may miss the green tunnels of the tri-state area in the summertime, but what I really miss is apple picking in the fall. I lived on Long Island in the 90's for a few years and now I miss Jones Beach and Montauk even more than I did before. My dad used to bring us fishing to Montauk in the late 60's and 70's before it became just another congested tourist trap. I hate it when that happens to one of my favorite places!

Liila~

It's so much nicer than "Syringa vulgaris."

Things change -- but we're supposed to be clever, so we can make accommodations. Take fishing, for example. I miss trout fishing, so I had to adapt. Our winter home is right on the water -- but trout are scarce -- available -- but scarce. So -- I installed a "snook light" over my seawall. Works like a charm -- like the Pied Piper. I throw the fish back, to have made them available for my grandchildren. But they're too big, now, (the grandchildren, I mean) so I am waiting for the great-grandchildren.

And, as for Creamed Chipped Beef on Toast, does your mom still have the GI recipe, or did she ever? I'd love to have it. I can handle the Toast part, but the rest is a mystery

Be well