Can anyone tell me what might be going on with my plumeria? I've read a bunch of posts and checked the various recommended web sites but I'm not sure what the problem is. This is a new baby I just planted at the beginning of June and I'd hate to have anything happen to it! Thanks!
-- Vicky
That doesn't look like a problem to me. It doesn't look like rust or bugs. It could have had water accumulation spots that stayed on the leaf too long perhaps. Sometimes the older leaves deteriorate a bit before falling off in the natural course of things. It looks like an older leaf to me. Was it a lower, older leaf? Do all the leaves look like that? If you could show us a picture of the whole plant, that might help. It's hard to know without seeing the tree and knowing the conditions that it is in. Is it a potted plant or in the ground? Is it in full sun, part sun, or shade? What kind of soil is it planted in? Are you watering regularly, fertilizing regularly? I think we need more information to determine if you have a problem, but I don't think you do.
It's in the ground in pretty full Florida sun and yes, it is a somewhat older leaf. The newest leaves are nicely green. The soil is well amended and we've been having quite a bit of rain for a couple of weeks now -- like daily. I have been fertilizing with a "bloom" fertilizer.
I'm sure hoping it is just because it's an older leaf and that the whole plant doesn't have problems. Thanks for answering my post!
Vicky
Vicky, if you can, flip over the leaf so we can see the back side. Are there orange spots on the back side? Florida is humid, especially when it rains, and humidity encourages the fungus called rust. Rust looks like little dusty orange spots on the back of the leaves and spreads by spores, but it can be controlled by using Bayleton or another fungicide. If your other newer leaves look dark green and healthy, I wouldn't be concerned about this one leaf. I have leaves here and there which look terrible sometimes right before they turn yellow and fall off, but those are just the ones that are shedding or preparing to shed. If this is occurring on more than one leaf on the same plant, then it could be rust or mites. Here's a link to show you what rust looks like: http://www.plumeria101.com/problems/rust.html HTH
Hi Vicky..I am just down the road from you in Palm Bay off US 1....the leaf doesn't look like a problem..except maybe some sun "magnified" some water that might have been on it...as long as the rest of the plant looks healthy..don't think you have to worry.. Dmail me and when i'm at the beach I can stop by and take a look if you like...Bob
Clare, thanks for the rust possibility -- I don't see any rust. I took another picture looking down on the plummie. You can see the leaves better and you can also see that it's just a baby!
Bob, what a generous offer! I'll dmail you -- I'd love to get some input on a couple of things....
Here's the new pic.
-- Vicky
Hi Vicky, yes, I think it just looks like weather damage on the older leaves. The plumie leaves in general seem to be a bit droopy though. It's hard to tell if the soil is dry because of the mulch, but it looks that way from the look of the leaves. You may want to give it a good watering to get those leaves to perk back up.
Thank you Clare! I've had a hose problem recently -- I've had three hoses split this summer so far. The third, that I use to reach the plummie, just split on Sunday. Age and Florida sun I guess.... We have had quite a bit of rain recently though so I'm somewhat surprised that it would need water. I'll focus on that for a while and see if I notice a difference in its happiness level. How often do you fertilize and with what type? I've used one of the super bloom types attached to my hose. It's about due again according to my completely unscientific calculations....
-- Vicky
Hi Vicky, I'm totally unscientific about it too, and I prefer it that way. I fertilize when I remember and have time -- about once or twice a month, but that is with the liquid water-soluable MiracleGro fertilizer. My potting soil has fertilizer in it too so the plant gets fed when I re-pot. I also use a supplement once or twice a month also, which goes on as a foliar feed. The leaves can vary from plumie to plumie, depending upon the variety, but for the most part, they are dark green and held fairly stiffly. Here are some of my seedlings pictured below from last year. I was looking for a good picture of how the leaves should look and came across this one. Plumies love water in hot weather. If drainage is good, you can water them every day. My potting soil dries out every day so I water ever day in the summer and fall and water less in winter. I think that, with a little regular watering and feeding, your plumie should perk up just fine.
Those are beautiful looking seedlings! My leaves aren't held upright as much as yours -- some of mine are lower; only the topmost leaves are upright. My brand new leaves are a darker green and look good though. All the other leaves are slightly yellow and many have those brown spots.
It's sometimes hard to fertilize or treat plants because of our almost daily afternoon Tstorms. I probably end up wasting most of the stuff I put on my plants with water -- it gets washed away. And I'm having an absolutely terrible time with gnats! I vacuumed my pool last night and I thought I was going to go crazy with gnats bugging me everywhere!! I hate those guys.
-- Vicky
Gnats are here too and are a pain. I've been hearing about your Tstorms! I agree that you should wait until you have a few days of dry weather before you fertilize so as not to waste it. Since your brand new leaves are a darker green and look good, I'm sure your plumie is fine:-) You may want to see if you can find some Bayleton or a fungicide because, with all that rain, you may be getting rust soon. I think rust is inevitable in Florida, but it can be controlled with a fungicide.
Yes, Clare, my Cannas already have some rust although I haven't seen any on the Plumeria yet. I also have three Plumeria cuttings that I believe have rooted since they all have small leaves forming. My sister gave me these three and I don't even know what kind or color they are -- but who cares? They're all pretty. One of the cuttings was just a long 'stick'. I wish now I had cut the top of cleanly before letting it root. It's unsightly and I wasn't thinking. I'm sure it's too late to cut is clean now right? It does have small leaves forming just below the ugly cut.
I've not used a fungicide before so will try to look for the Bayleton you mentioned. Do you do anything to control the gnats?
-- Vicky
P. S. And I've been reading about your fires. We had some bad ones at the beginning of summer but then our rains kicked in. They're really scary.
I do remember all those fires in Florida not too long ago. Yes, it is very hot and dry here, which always leads to wild fires. I hate them. The poor wild life suffers the most as the houses are usually protected ahead of time before the fire ever reaches them, but stupid people leave their pets and livestock when they evacuate, and I hate reading about those animals becoming victims of the fires. That is the worst thing.
You mean you have a center cut on one of your cuttings, and new growth is already starting below? You can re-cut if you want to, and new branches will grow again from the eyes below the cut, but I wouldn't. I would just let it be. After a while, you won't hardly notice the cut, and it time it will heal over. If you have small leaves forming on your cuttings, then roots are probably just starting. It usually takes a full 90 days to have a good one-gallon sized root ball. For the gnats, I spray a good strong spray into their group when they hang out en masse. Sometimes, I use Safer's Insecticidal Soap and get as many as I can.
just back an hour or so ago from a visit with Vicky...What wonderful ladies she and her mother are...She has a beautiful home and the plumeria in question is very healthy...and the other cuttings seem to be doing well...Vicky has a beautiful home and lots of pretty and handsome plants...and a huge brown fig tree which has great form to it...almost artistic....I loved the tour of Vicky's garden....thanks so much...Bob
Bob, what a pleasure it was to meet you in person and get your most appreciated advice on my efforts. Bob is very knowledgable and offered some great advice and troubleshooting info. And he generously shares here on the boards -- along with many others of course. I'm looking forward to collaborating on some projects and I hope we'll get together again soon. I'm so glad my plumeria is well -- they're so beautiful. One of the benefits of living so far south -- we can grow most anything! Our problem is keeping things from growing!!
Thanks again!
Vicky
Vicky...looking forward to our next visit...Thank you so much for your kindness..Bob
forgot to mention...Vicky has the coolest mandevilla vine....it has multiple colors...i suspect when the nursery put the "plugs"..."cuttings" in...they didn't realize it was different colors...next time i stop over i will take a pic...it's really neat!!
