Hi! I recently discovered Plumeria when I moved into a house with a huge tree in the back yard. It has since become my favorite plant. I have bought several plants in the past couple of months including a Plastic Pink and India as a birthday present from my husband. My large tree in the back yard has a rust fungus which I found a couple of days ago and researched on the internet. I cut off the leaves that had the worst infestation and have since found signs of the fungus on my Plastic Pink. I bought a fungicide that contains Chlorothalonil. Will this help get rid of the fungus and is it safe for plumerias? I also have several seedlings that I'm trying to avoid getting infected. Any advise?
Thanks!
Mary
Rust Fungus?
Mary congratulations on discovering plumeria.
At this time of year you should leave the rust alone; it is a naturally occurring thing that will defoliate the plant prior to dormancy, but it will not kill it; you can start systemic treatment in the spring and hopefully avoid getting it next year. We use Bayleton.
Mary, I agree with Hetty about the Bayleton. Most plumie growers in Florida have to battle rust and find Bayleton very helpful. You can get it at Home Depot or online. I think it is in a product to combat fungus in lawns at Home Depot. We almost never get rust on this coast, but when I see it, I just pull off the affected leaves and spray the remaining ones with Safer's Fungicide 3-in-1. If the leaves fall off naturally in your area due to dormancy, then it will be gone soon enough as Hetty said, and then you can start using Bayleton next year to combat it.
Hi Mary ,
I see you are a new subscriber...welcome aboard!
I am not glad you have rust, but glad you asked the question because I was just given a rooted cutting yesterday that I was told has rust.
I placed it far away from the others I have in the meantime until I had a plan. My others have never had anything that looks like this. Just a few spider mites now and then which I take care of with a 3 in one like Safers.
Thank you Dutchlady and Claire for you both have been very helpful and always been there for others and this newbie who usually just lurks on this forum!
Mary....I would be interested to know how your large tree that is planted in the ground does over the next few months.( I am assuming you have never seen it in the winter )
We live in fairly close proximity and I am interested in planting mine in the ground next spring. Have you seen it bloom yet? How large is it? Would love to see a pic.
Michelle:)
Here is one of our's this picture was taken at sunrise about a week or so ago. Today we have a lot of buds on some of our Plumerias. This one plant we have sorta had for nine years in the ground each time moving taking a cutting. A year a half ago we took a 12 inch cutting when we moved down the street . Lot's of our neighbors are SnowBirds it's a 55 plus park and there are Plumerias growing in many yards blooming all the time. They amaze me . So beautiful and smell so good !
We are 5 minutes if this from Country side Mall in Clearwater so we must be in the same zone.
Mary could your Plumeria caught the fungus from an other plant/tree in your yard ? Hope it gets better for you. Ever this way I can give you a small plant or cutting :))
Hi Everyone!
Thank you so much for your advise on my plumeria. Michelle, first, thanks for the welcome. I just happened across this site one day while I was surfing and it looked like a wonderful community of plant lovers like myself, and you guys have proven me right! My plumeria is about 10 or 11 feet tall. It was covered in blooms when I first moved in. I'm attaching a picture I took of the flowers a couple of months ago (it's a little blurry, but it shows the colors fairly well). I think it got the rust fungus from one of the other plumerias in the neighborhood. This was the only plumeria in my yard when I moved in. I have bought several since then, but they all seem healthy and fungus free (my Plastic Pink had a few spots, but I have moved it away from the others as well). I haven't put them in the ground yet because I'm waiting for warmer weather since they are all young cuttings.
Violet, I fell in love with the tree in my yard because it was beautiful and fragrant as well. You wouldn't believe how long it took me to find out what it was called, lol. I searched for a couple of hours typing every description I could think of into Google and I finally found it! I'm a little disappointed that I didn't discover them sooner though. I would love a cutting or young plant. I'll definitely let you know if my hubby and I head in your direction, and you do the same on your end. I'm in Riverview right off I-75 and I have several cuttings from the plumeria in the picture and I have some seedlings as well that I would love to share. Michelle, same goes for you, and I will definitely let you know how the fungus turns out.
Hi Guys and welcome, Mary, to Dave's Garden, and welcome to everyone to the Plumie Forum! It's always great to meet more plumie lovers.
Michelle, if you are truly in 9b, then it might be a bit too cold in your area at night to plant your tree in the ground. Plumies only tend to be hardy in the ground in Zones 10 and 11. Frost or freezing temps will turn plumies into mush quickly. If you can create a microclimate around the tree and raise the ambient temperature, you might be able to get one to live in the ground. There are trees in Arizona that are in the ground, and the ones that have survived are usually next to large concrete or brick buildings and protected by some sort of over hang. You could plant yours in the ground and then erect a pop-up collapsable greenhouse to go over it in the wintertime.
As for rust, it is hard to avoid in Florida, due to the climate, but when you see it, pull off the leaves and spray the remaining ones right away. Rust spreads by spores, and it will spread quickly if not removed.
Clare...Thank you so much for your advice!
I am definately in 9b, unless they changed the zones again! LOL! I'm on the coast about 1-2 miles inland.
We don't have freezes here regularly...maybe once every 5 yrs or so gets down to about 28F for a few hours.
We do have a few nights each year that get close to freezing, like 34-36.
Hubby has one of those fancy weather stations that transmits data to his PC...He's a science junky and loves weather, so I am familiar with what has occured at my house specifically.
Actually I can just plant them pot and all next spring right?
Since we don't get freezes here that often...how much trouble could it be to pull them out once in a while when there is a freeze warning!
It truly is a rare occurance in my neighborhood and the weather forcasting is reliable and I am extra cautious about bringing in the tender stuff..... 38 F forcast is my limit for most stuff...ya never know when the temps might take a slight dip lower.
I will handle that rooted cutting tomorrow with the fungus. It is a "Tillie Hughes" it's a two tip fully rooted plant. Did I make a good trade?
Thank you Mary and it's nice to meet you too! I'm sure we'll meet soon at one of the Plant swaps we have around here with other DG members!
They are called Round Ups!
They are so much fun...just had one over here in a beautiful park yesterday. Just check the Florida gardening forum for talk of them or the Roundup forum...there were quite a few Plummies there yesterday ! Anyone who wanted any got them from good sized ones to seedlings.
Hi Violet! Do your Plumies always loose their leaves in the winter here? I knew you were an expert on African Violets, but didn't know you liked the Plummies too!
Hi Michelle, how handy it is to have a hubby that likes science and is interested in the weather! This is very important information for us growers!
Sure, you can just plant them, pot and all, in the ground. That is called "plunging," and I did it with about 20 of my seedlings this summer (see pic below). When you plunge, the roots grow out the drainage holes, and if you have to bring the pot up before a frost warning, you will break some roots in the process. This won't necessarily be bad, especially if the plant is already dormant, but it might be easier to just grow your plumie in a pot above ground and bring it in when there is a frost warning, or you could throw a frost protecting cloth over it if it is planted in the ground. Some people put Christmas lights on their trees during frost warnings, but I don't know if that really protects the tips or not.
I had many trees outside when it hit 36 for a few hours one day last winter. It made me very nervous, but I saw no damage anywhere. I think yours would be okay if it only got down to 34-36 for a very brief period, like a few hours, but anything at freezing or below will cause the tree to die back from the tips. Plumies can come back from light freezes if the tree gains some maturity and some cold tolerance over several years, but a hard frost will turn a plumie to mush.
There are things in the yard which will raise the temperature outside and which will create microclimates around your plants. For example, I have three-quarter rock instead of grass, aluminum siding on the house, and a six-foot brick retaining wall surrounding the yard. All of these things absorb heat during the day and radiate it at night and create a nice little microclimate in my yard. This is one way to raise the zone you are in by a half zone to a full zone.
Tillie Hughes is a nice one. Check out Page 28 of this link: http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/OF-31.pdf
Thanks Clare...looks like she will be a great bloomer! I was hoping for that!
I think the set up... place I will put them will be fine in pots in sandy soil...next to a decent sized Concrete pond with lots of rocks surrounding and a brick paved patio on the other side of them. Fence nearby, not concrete , but provides shelter...area gets sun almost all day just not very early am. Pond water stays fairly warm most of the year. Screened pool enclosure nearby which will have solar heated water in a couple of weeks....hooray for the Science Guy Hubby and my oh so able Construction Guy Son! Mom likes to swim in very warm water..all year LOL!
Welcome to Plumie side of daves...
I must add something tho on the history of plumies and that is..
Rust is not a natural thing for plumies even tho we are used to it down here in florida..
Rust was first offically reported about 1902 in Guadaloupe by Narcisse Theophile Patouillard
http://www.ilmyco.gen.chicago.il.us/Authors/Patouillar20.html
then spread to Central America..
The South Pacific got it in the 1990's and Thailand got it in 2004...
A greenhouse in Canada in 1980...
Oh i almost forgot..
I have been told also by some nurseries that are zones are changing too..
According to them we are in zone 11 now but i am still trying to confirm this..
Maybe some other Floridians can add some more data here..
Well when I bought my first home in Florida in 1997 in Palm Harbor in the back yard where the pool was all along the fence was plumeira( Like a dozen of them ) trees. My first ones and I fell in love. My Aunt who lives in Clearwater/Dunedin Palm harbor who knows ?? lol it's a hugh mobile home park off of US19 one entrance or off of Belcher another entrance 600 plus homes. Well I gave her several cuttings in 1997 .
Years went by I got sick and ended up in a Nursing home blah blah..met Hubby and four years ago bought a trailer home here in Dunedin . Along came my Aunt with a couple cuttings from the plant I gave her years ago :)) And then a friend gave us a red one and a pink blooming one. Then two years ago we moved down the street left the plants just took cuttings. Even the small cuttings rooted and grew fast and we have shared many cuttings with friends, family, neighbors . Our neighbors have them several growing crazy in their yards.I gave a gosh at least 2-3 feet three tip cutting RED to neighbor the other day ! Then this past Spring Bob " JungleBob" we did a trade he sent me a few more cuttings. Their still small no flowers but healthy lots of leaves and growing ! And when I met my Hubby he loves to garden he had some. For the past 9-10 years they have grown year round in the ground never rust nor a problem. No freezing. They have been very healthy and always easy to care for. I've sent cuttings all over the World. Were moving next door in a month or so and I am going to get our lawn guy to trans-plant them for us ! Maybe in the Spring we will get a few more .
hi Shellabella I'm no expert at anything. Not growing much inside anymore just don't have the health to do so. Not an different things ! not as many different types of plants as we use to but still have several fun jungle garden beds :))
Back a couple years ago when we lived down the street the owner of Florida Photo Magazine use to come take pictures of our flowers for it ! Our Plumeiras too :)) Once he gave us a CD disk with almost 600 gorgous shots of our flowers. From Roses, Hybiscus, Plumerias, Begonias, lot of native plants,Colues, Bromelaids, we grew from seeds, bulbs, plants, cuttings everything we could get our hands on ! It's wonderous as we both grew up in the North to have blooming that's why we need the lawn person to do all th trans-planting for us.
You know some years our Plumerias bloomed all Winter and did not loose leaves. This year they look better than they did in Spring growing full of healthy foliage , flowers and new buds !
Back about three years ago a guy at local AV group asked for us to bring him some Plumeria cuttings to our local meeting. People there were " Surprised " as it was Feb and they had loads of leaves. Before that I never knew they died back in winter as ours never had. Their growth and flowering slowed some but this was all.
Michelle, your set up sounds ideal, and you are so lucky to have such a helpful family! Here's a pic of one side of my yard.
Thanks for that wonderful info., Robert. You are so knowledgeable! I think you are right that Zones do change and can get raised, but I'm not sure about the Zone 11 part. If it is still possible to get a freeze every ten years or so, I think they still call that Zone 10, but I have no direct knowledge about the hardiness map decisions made by the USDA. I do know that some hardiness maps are different than others, depending upon which organization has published it.
Violet, it sounds like you had and have some nice microclimates going too! I've no doubt that those mobile homes probably radiate heat, and if they are close to each other, it probably stays very warm at night.
Michelle, here are the ones along the side of the house.
The aluminum siding really keeps the plumies warm and happy.
Clare...Wow! you have soooo many plumies and they all look so happy!
I love the blooms on that last one especially!
Must be heavenly when they all bloom!
Thanks so much Violet for all the info! ,,,you are only a couple of miles from me, so it will be interesting to see how my leaves do this year.
Robert...I hope they don't change the zones again....ugh..I think it would confuse even more folks.
Clare I looked at some of your flowers in PF beautiful ! You must have zillions of plants !
We just have a few no named from plants we have had about 9-10 years for fun and enjoyment and we love how easy they are to grow for us here ! We do have a couple plants closer to home but some are 40 or so feet away. When I have them tran's planted I'm sure we will have both ways . It's a 55 plus neighborhood but the lots are 100 x 60 feet so not close together to us anyways compared to how some neighborhoods are. We have our home then carport driveway and then garden beds. When we move next door, we will have home double carprot driveway all blocked off by lattice so garden beds are not near home . We have 5-6 good size garden beds we will have our lawn man re-prepare as last owners filled them with white stones. Then in the middle of the yard along the side will have a long wide garden bed too. Some in the center of the yard. Our back yard has a beautiful Gardinia tree/bush oh about 6ft by 6ft and three feet out or so right by the masterbedroom windows and back door where my ramp will go ! A couple fruit trees ! We just grow easy fun stuff !
Thanks, guys! That is just the half of it, I'm afraid! LOL!