I am new to Plumerias and to this forum!

Hi, I am Kell, I am a regular at Dave's but new to Plumerias. Clare_Ca got me interested a few months back but the one nursery here that has them are so expensive and they weren't in bloom.

HD had big ones today for just $13 but I bet they are plain janes. No label as to name. All from Hines. The trunks were painted with white, yellow, pink and red, I think depicting the color. I tried to get 1 of each. 2 have double heads, I assume that is good. But just looking down at all your pics I already regret my purchases today!!

But I guess I can learn on them. I killed my first one last winter. A slow miserable death!

I was a little concerned about the black areas on each leaf as it connects to the trunk. Is this normal?

Also I think a couple may have spider mites, is it OK to spray with Neem?

THANKS

you are soooooo bad

Hey Dick why are you here? Have you been holding out on me? You have plumies??? LOL, you know I am. LOL I stopped off to get some more soil to pot more brug seedlings. I am never going to get done. And I came upon these as i walked straight to the dirt.. Thye called out to me. Of course if they knew what I did to a pink one last winter they would have run.

yes i have plumies but they haven't bloomed for me yet :-)

Dick

Hiya, Kell! How are ya, buddy? Welcome, welcome, welcome. Don't regret your purchases! They look wonderful and healthy. Yes, two branches is better than one because you could get flowers on both heads so you have the chance for twice as many flowers. Tell me why you regret your purchases. I think you did good! Who cares if they are unnamed. Many unnamed ones are just as pretty and smell just as good as the named ones. I got some from Home Depot, which are from the wholesale grower C-Stars. Some of them are not so healthy-looking right now. I don't like the mix that they came in. Anyway, don't worry about that little stuff at the base of the leaves. That won't hurt anything. I don't think Neem is good for plumies, but I could be mistaken. Use Bayer's Advanced Garden granules for the spider mites like you do for your brugs. Also, any oil-based product is okay but not in full sun obviously. Insecticidal soap is good too. Welcome to a new addiction! It's great to see you here. I've been meaning to come visit you over at the brug forum, but I haven't had time to get there yet this summer. Hugs...

Here's an unnamed yellow that I just love, and it smells great:

Good to see you too, Dick!

It just occurred to me that Neem is an oil-based product, isn't it? It should be okay to use. Plumerias are pretty tough. We'll help you get through the winter, Kell. You'll just want to bring them in when the nighttime temps drop below 40. You'll water a lot less in the winter and let them go dormant.

Thanks Clare for your great welcome. You are so nice.

I regret them because just look at yours. You know mine won't look like that. I guess I should first worry about getting them to bloom then what the blooms look like. LOL.

So do you think they need to be repotted? They are in gallon cans.

LOL, Kell. Your brugs are so much more beautiful than mine so it's only right that my plumerias be more beautiful than yours! LOL! Just kidding, dear. Of course yours will look like that! Silly girl! You've got a couple of green thumbs and lot of fertilizer so you will have no problem getting flowers. With our long growing season, you could get them this fall so start fertilizing, baby;-) MiracleGro or Schultz's Bloombooster/Bloombuilder fertilizer once a week until it starts to get cold.

They might very well be named cultivars. We'll have to look at the blooms when they are open and see what they might have propagated. Some named cultivars are huge growers. Even if they are unnamed, it doesn't make them any less special. I have a bunch of unnamed, unregistered ones in my yard, and I love them just the same as the others.

Well, they look like they have lots of good leaves so they are probably just-rooted cuttings, I would guess. Do they dry out really fast? If you think they are pot bound, you could pot up to a two-gallon or three-gallon, but I wouldn't. It's too late in the season now, and you don't want them sitting in soil which is unused by the roots when colder temperatures come around. Do you have greenhouse? It won't hurt them at all to leave them in their current containers until next spring. If you are going to keep them toasty warm this fall and winter in a greenhouse, then you could pot them up to five-gallon containers. They will have time to get adjusted before you put them in a greenhouse. But, if you are going to put them in a garage or protected place with no heat or light, then I would leave them in their current containers. How cold does it get for you in the wintertime?

Duh, you have a greenhouse! That's where you keep all those super special brug seedlings of yours. My brain isn't working right tonight. It's late. I assume your plumies will have a place in the greenhouse? How cold does it get in there in the winter?

Like your last one. Great red new foliage.

I had to take off half their leaves, they had not been waterd and they were yellow. What you see is after I stipped them. I guess I should tuck them in shade for tomorrow.


No greenhouse. I put up a hoophouse in November. We can get some frost. Last winter we had 1 night all winter of frost. Some years we get much more.

This year I may heat the hoophouse. I usually leave out most of my brugs. I only have room for my oldest standards and my most special babies. The rest get the old sheet if it gets too cold.

Here is my portable greenhouse that I set up last fall and took down last spring. I put a heater in there and a grow light. All my well-established well-rooted plumerias stayed outside all winter, and most didn't even lose their leaves, but the just-rooted cuttings and seedlings all went into the greenhouse along with some other tropical plants, trees, and vines. I even put a heat mat in there for the cuttings that I was trying to root. I'm going to put it up again this year.

I bought a heater like that but was too chicken too use it last year. The hoophouse gets so wet inside. The water drips from the ceiling. How did you keep yours from getting wet, Clare?

Whoops, I was posting and didn't see your last post. Yes, reds often have those dark red new leaves that are pretty neat. Your hoophouse will probably be just fine. It doesn't need to be heated for the plumies, but they won't mind the heat at all. They just need to be protected from temps below about 40. Some of the more mature ones can handle even lower temps, but these aren't established yet. You can probably just treat them like your brugs and be fine, but they will need a lot less water in the winter. The wet/cold combination is what you want to avoid.

Yes, that is what it is like in the winter. Wet and cold. LOL. Temps usually in the 40s but some in the 30s at night. Your GH is so neat and orderly!!

Kell, I did it again! LOL! We are probably both writing at the same time. Those heaters are great. It doesn't matter if it gets wet. The water can't reach the oil in the heater. A fan should help with the condensation. I opened the main door every day to let my greenhouse air out, and that would help with the condensation also.

I think your babies will be all right in your greenhouse as long as you don't water them. You can just let them get moisture from the condensation unless you have the heater in there, and then you can water once a week or so. You may need to remove the leaves if they get rust, which happens when plumies are subjected to cold and/or humidity. My seedlings got rust and aphids in the fall so I removed all the leaves. They had all grown back by February.

LOL! I organized my greenhouse a bunch of times after it got so crowded that I couldn't walk into it!

Well lookie here, I come looking on this forum to see about care for my first ever plumie purchase and of course find I have followed Kell again, at HD no less. I just bought mine yesterday, the last one, painted pink on the stem.
Mind if I get some coaching too from one CA gal to another Clare? I already see here that I will be best off just leaving it in it's current pot until early next year and since I only bought one and have no hoop house, yet, I will bring mine in to sit by the east facing window in the living room. And no water thru the winter?

Hi Calif_Sue and welcome to the Plumeria forum too! I don't mind coaching at all! I'm happy to help, and it's nice to be appreciated. If your one-gallon plumie dries out really fast and if you have roots coming out the drainage holes, then you can repot to a two-gallon or three-gallon container.

What's the mix like that it is in? C-Stars nursery, a plumeria wholesaler located in Gardena, has a terrible mix. I visited their warehouses not too long ago, and they had many rotting plumerias. The only reason they didn't have more than they did is that their warehouses were about 120 degrees. Some of the plumerias I bought from them were rotting and rooted at the same time. I had to cut off all the rot and re-root them. Anyway, I'm not sure if yours are C-Stars plumies or not, but I had to change the mix of all my C-Stars plumies because the mix stays much too wet. C-Stars mix has a lot of red bark so you will be able to tell if you have red bark in your mix. They also mark their plumies with little dots so, if you have two or three dots on your plumie, it might be from C-Stars.

A plumie takes a lot of light to keep it growing through the winter so you may need some supplement light. Or alternatively, you can put it outside during the day and bring it in at night. You can water when the soil looks dry if you are going to keep it growing through the winter. If you are going to allow your plant to go dormant, than no water is necessary. Here's a link on winterizing: http://botanictreasures.com/psa/PCB.pdf/plumeriacare_bulls.pdf

You can see the C-Stars mix in the picture that I took at one of their warehouses. I don't think you guys up north got their plumies though. I think you must get a different grower selling plumies to Home Depot, which is good. Kell mentioned a wholeseller earlier, but I can't remember a name. Looking at Kell's pictures above, those aren't C-Star's plumies, so there is no need to change the mix.

LOL Sue, we are the main revenue for the nurseries in our area. What would they do without us!!!

Thanks Clare. You are such a doll, wanting us all to succeed. I think the tag on these said Hines.

Sue, I am hoping the paint splash on the stem means the color. I bought 1 of each. LOL. I am feeding mine at Clare's suggestion to see if I can get a flower going before fall.

Sue, do not look on this forum, you will be unhappy with your HD purchase. I am already looking at the fancier ones. LOL Regans sells these, some big too. But no pics and they are not in bloom. I want a plumie tree. LOL

Thanks, Kell. You're a doll too:-) I bet that the paint splash does indeed indicate color. That is usually how the wholesalers do it. I just saw some C-Stars ones at Home Depot today. Their one-gallon containers are $13.97. Some of them look soft and wrinkled, and I bet those won't sell. There was a pink and a yellow that looked firm, but I passed on them because I have enough!

Kell, some of the Home Depot ones turn out to be very pretty and very nice so don't worry about that! I know what you mean though. I started out with two and got two more the first year, I had 17 the second year, and now I'm going on 150, seedlings included! The bigger the plumie tree, the more expensive it will be. Don't worry though, Kell, because you will have big trees in no time by the look of the ones you just got:-)

Oh too late Kell, I have been looking and I especially enjoyed Clare's image donations to the PlantFiles. I am especially attracted to the sunset colored ones: Tahitian Sunset, Mango Magic, 'Katie Moragne', 'Puu Kahea' is awesome, and that 'Thornton Lemon Drop' must be just gorgeous!...ohhh and had no idea the blooms came in different shapes, 'Ammaron's Curly White', & 'Ammaron's Curly White' WoW!!
I saw some big ones yesterday at Payless for $30, about the going rate for the 1 gal ones. I have to see how this one does first before I get sucked in too deep.
Famous last words.

Sue, I had to smile when I read your post. Just by the mere fact that you know all those names means you are sucked in deep already! LOL! And I mean that in the nicest of ways:-) I'm sucked in deep too. If you guys want to order cuttings or rooted grafts, I get most of mine from Florida Colors: http://www.floridacolors.com/ They have most of the ones that you mentioned, Sue, including ACW. I suggest that you order them grafted this late in the season. It is only a couple of dollars more for grafted, and then you won't have to worry about rooting the cuttings yourself. FC has the most reasonable prices for plumerias that I've seen, and Luc and Carol (owners) are great people.

Clare
the reason i have some plumies is
one of my neighbors was throwing some broken Plumie branches in the trash
when i was out walking my dog 3 months ago.
& i decided to rescue them :-)
one wasn't too bad, already has leaves
one was really shriveled up, didn't think it had a chance
& the other was in between
here are all three today

Dick

this is the really bad shriveled up one
today it is better & trying to grow

& this one is the middle one with lots of growth trying to start
is there a bloom in there ?

Certainly looks like lots of promise to me, Dick. Good Luck with them. :)

OH Sue, I bought 2 more today. I went to the HD by the Coliseum. They had one with 3 branches and a pink one with 2. They were big. So how could I not buy them? The white ones are so huge, are they always the most vigorous?

Then I stopped at the Coliseum Pottery Outlet. I got 2 pots that are very tall for the plumies. I am going to keep these 2 inside in my dining room. This pot store had lots of the same pots as the place by Bayfair but double the price.

Clare, I want the one you pictured there. Come spring if I haven't kiiled the ones I have, I will be visiting that store you posted. LOL

Dick, your one shriveled one is trying so hard to live. Poor, poor baby. The other onei s so healthy looking. I wonder what color those buds are going to be.

Don't you just love coming across something like that to rescue and nuture?! Hope the three all work out for you Dick.
Clare, I didn't really "know" those names, just scrolled, and copy and pasted. But I sure love them plus I am really into fragrant things to scattter around my patio, that's why I have several brugs, a night blooming jasmine, nicotania and whatever else I can come acrss and fit here.
I will bookmark that site for sure among others and maybe head up toward where Kell has her HD, the large white plumi sounds nice.
Oh boy Kell, we really shouldn't look at any more different forums, we both seem to get sucked in so easily. But it's so fun to learn and try so many different things, I just can't seem to stop collecting. I blame DG for really advancing my plant collecting addiction, I wasn't quite this bad before. Guess it could be worse, I could collect shoes or something. This is so much more satisfying.

Dick, that was a good rescue! The one with leaves looks really good and is probably rooted. The second one you posted doesn't look like it is going to make it. Check and see if it is rotting from the bottom. If it is, cut to clean white wood, let it heal over for a couple of days, and plant again after dipping in rooting hormone. That flop it is doing is usually a sign that the rot has traveled throughout the cutting. The third one indeed has an infloresence, but it may not be rooted yet. In fact, you might want to check the bottom of that one too to see if it is rotting because it looks a little wrinkled. They say that you should cut off the inflo when a cutting is trying to root so that energy can be directed toward rooting instead of being diverted to flowering. Flowering uses up a lot of energy. I realize that this is hard to do, and I almost never do it unless I see that a cutting is struggling to survive. What you can do is cut off the inflo and stick the whole thing in water. Be sure not to let any of the containers sit it water. I notice that the third one is sitting in a catch tray of water. You actually want to water very little when a cutting is rooting, and if the catch tray has water, it will keep the bottom of the soil wet and won't allow good drainage. You can mist the cutting often which should help to plump the third one back up. I think the second one is a goner:-( Good luck!

Kell, nice score! That's my Tahitian Sunset.

Sue, I love a fragrant garden too:-)

Dick, be sure to dip and wipe your cutting tool in alcohol before and after you cut that plumie
You dont want pathogens living on the blade waiting for transport to another plant.
Rot travels to other plumies real easy from this sooo be careful man! ;)




This message was edited Aug 23, 2005 8:04 AM

Kell...
I forgot to welcome you!! so sorry.
WELCOME WELCOME WELCOME!!!
I am soo glad you are bad. ;)

Clare, I tried to add size and color with HTML code and it didnt work. No can do?

This message was edited Aug 24, 2005 7:54 AM

Michael, I don't think size and color works here -- just bold, italicize, and underline.

Kell, I'm glad you are bad too. I just spent the day yesterday digging up Solid Gold, Sun Kissed, Temple Goddess, and Isabella to make more room for my plumies! I took cuttings, of course, because I still want them, but I needed the space that they were in for my plumerias. Sun Kissed looked pretty sickly anyway, and I'm not sure what the problem was there. I'll have to grow the brugs in containers or find a different spot for them!

and . quote

I agree Sue, we both are weak. LOL. So weak.
I think my plumies had mites. The new growth was curved under on the 2 new ones I bought. I sprayed them with Neem. Did soemone say they get mites a lot?

Thanks Michael. I used to spend 90% of my time on Dave's on the brug forum, but I find I am there less and less. So many other fun worlds here. LOL

Yes Clare, brugs are so big they take up so much room. We need to move to huge yards. I am also getting into aroids. Monster leaves. LOL. And I have no room at all.

Dick you are such a show off. LOL. If I have any computer questions I always ask Dick. He knows it all!!!

Dick, two out of three is very good. I would mist that one that looks wrinkled because it may not be getting enough water. On the one with the hanging head, did you find rot at the bottom? If so, try recutting until you see all white wood. It's important to not see any brown or cream circles in the wood; it should be pure white. Then you can let it heal over in a dry shady place for a few days (misting is okay) and try again. You could try this time to water root it if you wish. Sometimes, I have success water-rooting cuttings that wouldn't root in soil for me. I did really well with that this past winter.

Kell, my brugs are covered in mites. Some of them have it really bad, but my plumerias don't have any that I can tell. I don't think they get them as often as brugs do, but you can use the same Advanced Garden Systemic Granules on them, and it works great. LOL! A few months ago, I pulled out a bunch of elephant ears to make room for my plumies too!

You have gone plumie nuts, Clare. LOL

Are you talking about the Bayer Rose food and insecticide??
Do you ever get broad mites? The plumies new growth looked like broad mite damage.

This message was edited Aug 29, 2006 11:28 PM

Oh goodness Kell.. you are going to need to move somewhere with a larger yard with all the new addictions you are getting!! I love my plumies.. I plant mine in the ground and dig them up in the fall and store them dry root in the garage until spring when I plunk them back in the ground.

I wonder Trish if it is cold enough here for them to go dormant in the winter.

Yes, I need to. I am out of control.