My beautiful plumie started the summer with 3 branches and an evil raccoon broke one of them off. The remaining two branches have grown well but the plant is top heavy. The remaining inflo is about to bloom and when that is finished it will be time for it to go to sleep for the cooler months.
Should I take cuttings now or next spring??? This is 'Francoise' from Florida Colors.
It is a good sized plant and I have to tie it up for support now.
The branch where it just finished blooming has 4 fat, heavy new branches
The branch that is about to bloom has at least 3 branches starting.
You may get some more branches from beneath the one that got broken off, and that would balance the tree a little better, but you might not, but in time, probably next year, your trunk will grow taller and thicker, and it will support the top better, and it won't be top heavy for much longer. In the meantime, a stake or support like you have is great. Make sure that your tree is getting full sun so it doesn't have to reach for light. I wouldn't cut it unless you want to. The best time to take cuttings is in the spring, but you can take them any time of year if you wish. The best time to root cuttings is during the warm seasons of spring and summer.
Well i disagree a little with Clare...the best time for OPTIMUM growth may be the spring...but why waste time....try some cuttings this fall...i suggest putting in sand..set them aside in a warm dark area....and .pretty much forgetting about them..and when you TRANSPLANT next spring..many times you will be surprised by roots.....nothing ventured nothing gained!!
Hi junglebob! It's always good to have other opinions and recommendations:-)
I had a tough time rooting cuttings last fall and winter, even with a heated (although drafty) greenhouse and a heat mat, so I decided against doing that this year. I lost about a dozen or so cuttings to rot. Some of them were really nice ones too that I got from Florida Colors like Dwarf Deciduous, Mardi Gras, Mel Pa Bowen, P. species bahamiensis, Dieudonne, and some others like Giant Aussie Orange and Kauka Wilder. Even the ones that eventually rooted really didn't produce roots until spring. Even early spring was damp and cold here so many of my cuttings didn't even develop roots until we got some heat in July. It was very frustrating for me. Some of the Thai ones that Kukiat sent me wouldn't root in the June Gloom that we had here.
That whole experience of losing so many cuttings really pushed me to send cuttings to Luc to graft for me. I sent him all the cuttings that wouldn't root for me by late August. I think I've sent him around 40 now, but most of them are back and nicely grafted.
You are right: nothing ventured; nothing gained! I guess I just don't want to venture to lose any more expensive cuttings, but perhaps Ardesia will be better at rooting cuttings in the colder seasons than I am.
This poor plant does not look like it will get any more branches on the other side and it is getting so heavy and one sided on top. The cuttings will be large, and I am afraid they might rot.
However, what do you think of a compromise? What do you think of a cutting taken from the dormant plant in say, January, and put in that sand in a warm (my house) dark place? Do you think something like that would work and give me an earlier start next year?
Hi Clare...had a nice thread all ready and the confuser popped off...he he...basically was saying that here in florida might be easier to make cuttings all year...here's a pic of how i root in my "bucket"...the more the merrier..
Hi junglebob! What's a confuser? Your computer? LOL! Cool bucket you got there. Do you find that you break a lot of roots when you go to separate them? Although, it is probably pretty easy to pull the cuttings out of the sand. You are probably right that it is easier there in Florida. I think your winters are warmer than ours here in SC.
Artesia, the larger the cuttings, the easier they are to root (so they say). You can root cuttings in any light really. It doesn't have to be dark. I root mine in full sun, but I mist them frequently and water them too when the weather is hot. As Bob said, you've really got nothing to lose because you will still have the parent plant so go ahead and experiment and have fun!
We have warm winters here too (in the real SC :-), but they are damp. I will probably hedge my bets and try a winter and spring cutting and then pray real hard that the mommy plant will come back with lots of new branches.
Thanks Clare and JBob.
Sounds good, Ardesia! Let us know how you make out. Junglebob brought up a good point. It helps to hear what works for others, and sometimes, what works for one person in one part of the country doesn't work for someone else in another part of the country so it is always important to take into consideration the current climate and the microclimates when considering when to root, when to prune, etc.
My friend who owns a plumeria nursery told me not to cut them until spring.
She said the best time for rooting is in the spring so dont cut till then and just after first signs off new life.
OK, I'll be patient. Maybe, by some miracle, the plant will sprout another branch to balance out the two others and I won't have to prune it at all. I would love having a huge plant with lots of branches in bloom.
HI Clare..yep confuser is my computer..lol....and i am so impatient that i find sometimes things work that i never would have tried if "i had followed the book"....but i don't have any better sense anyway...lol....sometime i must tell you about the seedlings i transplanted the other week..133 of them...all were in the shoeboxes for 1 YEAR>..honest...lol...the strongest of them at this point is from Oz...the Queensland Rose..
Wow, awesome, Bob! Shoeboxes! LOL! I've got a few Oz babies too from the seeds that Brad sent me. I'm really excited about those babies.
Here's a dumb question - Can you take multiple cuttings from one branch or from the trunk?
Ruba, that's not a dumb question at all, and the answer is sure you can! If the branch is single-branched, then one cutting will be a tip cutting and the others will be what are called "center cuts," which will eventually grow branches from the nodes right below the cut.
