advice on cuttings...

hello everyone,
i inherited a beautiful plumeria upon moving into our home a couple of years ago...i only started gardening last season, so it has taken me a long time to learn about everything that was already planted in our beds...i've been trying to read up on plumerias as best as i can, but as you experts probably already know, it's not something that can be done quickly...

here's my situation...i desperately need to prune this beautiful gal, as she is impeding our walkway around our patio and pool...but i didn't want to prune until i learned how to root my cuttings...well, i'm running out of time and my sweet hubby is growing impatient...i need to go ahead and prune this weekend, but i'm so confused as to where to start cutting...

i don't want my cuttings to go to waste...
see my picture! she is so full and has soooo many branches!

i labeled A thru C, however there are even some "D level" branches...

do you have any advice for me? should i try to root the Ds? the Cs? or the Bs?

some additional questions:
- do i leave multiple branches on my cutting, or does it have to be a single stalk ?

- do i leave the leaves on, or does it have to have multiple leaves?

- does it matter if the cut branch is blooming?

- i know you are supposed to root in warm weather, but can it be TOO warm to root? we are in the mid to upper 90s in Houston right now...i was thinking of putting the pots on the cement under the mother plant...for a bit of shade, but still afternoon sun that she gets....

I have found a TON of info on how to root, the soil, the temp, the water, callous/not callous, etc...but i haven't found any sources WITH PICTURES that show WHERE to cut...

any advice for a newbie?

Wow, good for you for being so organized.

The first thing that I would do is straighten out (stake) your plumeria that looks like it is falling over. Once you drive a strong plastic stake into the area straight against your house, you can use plastic ties to tie the badly bending limbs back into a straight position. Use the ties at the base, middle, and top until you have a perfectly straight trunk. Pull back on the trunk toward the stake until it is straight and then tie. If you feel resistance from the trunks or upper branches, then just tie there, and you can bring it back further in a few weeks. Then, once you do that, you can see what sticks out and better see what to trim. You'll probably only need to cut at B6, B7, and B8 if you have to cut at all.

Additional questions:

1. Cuttings can have multiple tips or branches and do not have to be single-branched to root fine. If you do take cuttings, they should be at least 10-12 inches long to root well.

2. It has to have no leaves to root. You have to remove all the leaves except for the tiny leaves at the top. You can cut the leaves off with pruners and let the stubs fall off naturally, or you can just break them off. If you cut them off, you will spill less sap. The leaves expire water so you want to remove them as soon as you take the cutting from the tree.

3. A blooming cutting will root slower than a non-blooming cutting. Most of us hate to cut inflorescences off and don't do it, but the inflo will bloom sparsely since the cutting only has so much energy.

4. Heat is needed for cuttings to root, especially bottom heat. It can't be too hot if you make sure that the soil stays moist at all times. It should never dry out completely. Some shade or filtered sun is fine.

5. There are few threads with advice on where to cut. I'll see if I can find them for you.

By the way, after you've staked your bending branches, you will only need to keep them staked for a month or so, and then you can remove the stakes if you want to, and they should remain straight.

Here are a few threads that might be helpful and that I found after doing a search for "trimming" and "pruning" in the Plumeria Forum:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/802366/
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/779157/
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/663959/
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/654252/
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/541260/

There is a section on pruning in the FAQ's Sticky Thread also.

clare:
THANK YOU so much!
this was exactly the type of info i was searching for...your links have been sooooo helpful...

all the best,
-abl

Sure^_^ I'd love to see a picture after you've staked, and then we can see where it sticks out if you still want to prune.

I was wondering if the plumeria looks like it is falling over because the sun is pulling it. What exposure to the sun does it have?

The reason I ask is that it looks as if it is growing alongside the house or other building that may be shading it.

I don't think it's leaning because it is searching for the sun. Some just naturally want to be floppy if they are not straightened. Once they are staked, they'll stay that way. I have a 'Grove Farm' that is floppying right now, but I'm not going to stake it because it allows me to smell the flowers better!

jose,
the plumeria gets all day full sun, except for a couple of hours in the morning...i believe it's leaning because of the weight of all the branches that you see in the picture...they stick out several feet over the pavement away from the center of gravity...it's never been pruned since we lived here...i simply think the people who planted this beauty had no idea how large they got...it should have never gone in this shallow bed next to our garage...it doesn't have room to branch out and still have room for people to walk past it...it can't grow in an "umbrella" shape because of its proximity to the wall...

i think once i stake it the way clare suggested, it will be much better...

i'm still going to take a couple of cuttings to grow some new trees for another bed of ours...