Potting seedlings

Thanks to Claire's suggestions, I ordered my first plumeria seeds from bradsbudsandblooms and I am so satisfied! To my surprise, most of them have germinated! Now, I need confirmation to move on to the next step. I read that once they develop 2 sets of true leaves, they should be moved to a bigger pot. Today I see 2 sets of leaves. . .now, can you tell me if they're true leaves because I don't know what "true" leaves are. Thanks in advance for any advice. I had no idea I can actually grow plumerias from seed. . .and am quite proud of myself at the moment.

Introducing to you my new plumeria babies.

Good job! The wide flat round things are cotyledons, and the things that look like leaves are true leaves. I see two new true leaves in the top pic. As soon as it is warm outside and your last frost date has passed and the nights are staying above 60, you can plant them in their own one-gallon container and put them in full sun for the summer. You may want to acclimate them slowly to full sun by putting them in filtered sun first, especially if they have been germinated inside under artificial lighting. Congrats!

Karmaplace,

Oh my goodness, I've just made an impuse buy.

After seeing your seedlings I placed an order with Brads also. I don't know anything about Plumeria. I live in zone 8b too so they will have to come inside during the winter. Oh my.

Good luck with your seedlings. I'll be around trying to educate myself so hopefully i'll see updates from you.

Dianne

Thanks Clare! You've been a real inspiration and wonderful resource for my new addiction. One more question though, should I cut the top of the water bottle off for some circulation?

Dianne, I hope you find his seeds very easy to grow 'cause they were really easy for me. I placed the seeds in a damp paper towel and then into a small sandwich. The roots emerged within 4 days. After I planted them, I saw leaf growth within 3-5 days. It's very exciting! I didn't know anything about plumerias until I bought a couple of grown ones. I think they're dead from the light frost we had a couple of months back, but at least I have lots of babies to play with now. Good luck with your seeds too!

Edit: small sandwich bag. . .not small sandwich LOL!

This message was edited Mar 2, 2008 8:18 AM

Yes Clare, you are a real inspiration, my babies are ready to be potted now, is there anything special I need to do once I've potted them?

Hi Karma, yes, I would. I would cut those bottles just above the soil line. You can also start acclimating them to the outdoors if it is warm enough outside during the day. I'm sorry to hear about the ones that were killed in your frost. You do have to bring them inside for the winter in your zone.

Thanks for the kind words, guys. Louise, yours are probably ready for individual one-gallon containers in the spring too. They can probably stay in one-gallons then until spring of '09, when you can move them up to 5-gallons. You can start fertilizing them in the spring when it is warm out and when you fertilize everything else.

Thanks Clare, then I'll wait til spring gets here. I have 16 of them! (thanks to you.)