This is just a reminder to PULL YOUR LEAVES !! If you are in the path of Hurricane Fay, you need to pull your leaves on your Plumera - Frangipani plants today. I have a lot of new growth on mine and don't want to lose it. If you pull the leaves, then there is very little for the wind to grab.
If you want to have less damage from broken limbs on your Plumeria, then remember to pull your leaves before a big storm or hurricane. I am in the path of Hurricane Fay. I pulled all of my leaves this morning... and just left the last little leaf at the very end. I got this tip from a grower in Hawaii and it works for me. I had very little breakage in the last hurricane to come through SW Florida.
PULL LEAVES - Hurricane Fay - Plumeria - Frangipani
I have done some of mine buy it kills me to do this :(
Most of mine are way to big for this--there will be a lot of 25 gallon and 45 gallon trees laying on their sides--it's the best way for large numbers--just lay them down close together.
Also instead of pulling or breaking the leaves, I would recommend cutting them off and leaving the little nubs to fall off on their own. I have found that they bleed less when cut, compared to pulling them off. Also when you just break them off, it leaves open wounds on the main branches which is an access point for bacteria. Just an observation.
Good luck all of you in the storm!
Davie
My place looks like plumeria sacrafice lol I layed all the ones in pots over the ones in the ground got hair cuts and special ones are on my porch
Be sure to let us know how things go. In the meantime, hoping for the best for all of you.
wow! that seems so stressful. good luck coming through on the other side.
Great info. Hope everyone (and their plumies) will be safe from the storm.
Tornado ripped apart a barn in wellington which is southwest of us about 45 minutes. Everything okay here in PSL. Rainbands are bad right now. Taller plumies got a haircut this morning. Whatever was blowing in the wind got a trim. Storm was over Ft. Myers a bit ago. Satallite out this minute so don't know the updated location
Chris
Thank you for the update.
Nothing broken here just very wet! Well, I had a broken red that snapped about a week ago that I had bandaged and then came apart but that is all. Its okay though, now I have 2! LOL Will put in perlite tomorrow once all this rain stops. HAd about 8 inches of rain today I think they have said on the news. Still getting hit here at 9 pm. Should last for a few more hours. Thank god cause the puppy won't go outside to pee in the rain!!
Chris
I have too many Plumies growing in the ground, so I pulled the leaves this time. If I had more time, I would have nicely cut them off. I have a couple of acres landscaped in tropical trees, palms, gingers etc., so I went around laying down my cement critters and taking hanging baskets from the trees too. I checked after the storm and all the Plumies did great but my one and only strawberry tree is leaning around 1 foot from the ground. Hurricane Wilma split the trunk and it took all this time to get it growing back to a tall tree with a strange looking trunk. The strawberry tree has shallow roots, so I take a risk just having it in the yard in an area that floods. I will use heavy metal fence stakes and see if it survives. The bananas took a hit too but they are loving the water.
I have a LOT of standing water. I hope the county has those gates open in the canals to drain off my area. If not, then I might lose some fruit trees. The Plumies I got from Hawaii are up higher ground on the side of the house so they are just fine. The Plumies in the flooded area are the common variety and have been in that location for a long time. They survived several floods but have weird shapes because of broken limbs over the years. It always amazes me how easy these are to grow. I just lay a broken limb on the ground for around 5 days to dry the end... then stick it in the ground. It usually grows.
There was too much rain with FAY and I counted around 6-7 leaning trees in standing water that need staking. I hope the water is drained off by tomorrow so I can stake, pick up fallen branches and trim. I am afraid of a gator sneaking in with flood waters as they are not that far away from me.
All my bamboo (clumping) did great . The giant (Bambusa oldhamii) must have grown another foot over night (over 60 ft)... the green stripe, red and the Buddha's Belly (Bambusa ventricosa) are loving a long drink too. We had enough wind to make a bit of a mess but it is the water that will create problems in my tropical jungle if it does not drain off.
Still windy and rainy here. Looks weird out there in the field with al these big plumies laying down. No damage thus far and I think the worst is over. Still getting gusts of about 45 MPH but less frequently. No power outages--thank God!
Florida, think we did pretty well with this one!
Brad
Gators in the garden is just too much.
Glad everyone is fairing so well.
This message was edited Aug 20, 2008 3:39 PM
Good to hear you all made it through OK!
OK--I spoke to soon---Fay has sat down on top of us here in Geneva and we are getting hammered with wind and rain--my beautiful blooming heliconias, gingers---all flattened. For some reason they didn't cancel school today and I had to drive home this afternnon in incrediblly high winds and rains. I got home to see half an oak tree by the greenhouse split in two (didn;t fall on the greenhouse, Thank God) and the drive to the house filled with branches. I laid most of the plumies on the ground, but the ones I did not are now blown over and I even saw a stump or two where some broke at the graft in the wind and fell off. The entire nursery is in disarray and well, what can I say? I am sitting here with an ice cold Cosmo' (Cosmopolitan cocktail------my version--- with vodka, Cranberry, Lime Juice, and a generous splash of Grande Marnier--shaken well with ice and strained) and in a few more minutes, this storm will not bother me until tomorrow. I might even have another one or two since it looks like the school board is going to cancel school for tomorrow--about time. The cancelled foolishly for Tuesday ad Wednesday and these days had hardly a thunderstorm compared to the stuff we are getting right now. Well, better go before the power goes out again. ARRGGHHHH!! This weather really stinks!
Not much I can say except hang in there, hope nothing more serious happens. I'm saying my prayers.
Amazing how much damage this 'little tropical storm' is inflicting. People say the media are scaremongering but the bottom line is - storms are unpredictable and you just never know where it will hit or do the most damage.
My DS had almost 2 FEET of rain in Palm Bay...... many of his friends' houses flooded and he had water to within an inch of his back door before it started to recede...
Brad - it will be a massive cleanup I know, so much work. I hope you didn't have anything damaged that was irreplaceable.
Thanks Hetty,
So far, I have been able to ascertain that Ucu, which was just getting its first blooms EVER broke in half, and Charlotte Ebert also broke in half. Both broke ABOVE the graft. Before I could determine more, the rains came again and I had to abandon my inspection of the large potted trees. I saw what looked like maybe three more broken off, so we shall see next time it settles down out there and I can actually look closely at everything without interruption. The greenhouse's plastic cover came remarkably well through the storm--no tears even, but it is on pretty tight. I still didn't get a chance to see what is under the portion of tree that fell and personally am not looking forward to this. I imagine I am going to be either potting up, or, selling some cutings pretty soon. LOL Sigh---I wish this storm would just vaporize and LEAVE ASAP. The windy part is dying down, but as I write this I am looking out the window from time to time and it is still raining hard. We are high and dry here, thank the good Lord. Those that live down by Lake Harney and the St. John's are probably not so forunate as they are prone to flooding. On a positive note, there are two local lakes, Lake Hart and Lake Geneva, that have been seriously low for the last coupldeof years and they are being restored by the rainfall. Guess it is good to see that silver lining, right?
Well, got out there and there are several new, some quite large-- cuttings added to the list of casualities. LOL At least the ones that snapped off did it above the graft--about 5 plants, also several lost branches. I now have two Ucu cuttings and will leave the inlfo on the one to see if it will do anything while rooting since it was so far along. It's be nice to get a flower or two just to see it.
Yep--we are most thankful the house is fine. In a bit we are going to try and get down to the river and then to the lake to see how folks fared down that'away.
So sorry about all the damage folks! Stuff can be replaced, but people and animal lives can't so that's what's most important. Hang in there and stay safe!