This sad Plumeria was drastically overwatered in September. I don't know what I can do to make her happy again. Some of the stems have gone soft, no new leaves are sprouting. I would like to save this plant if possible, or at least part of it.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
Walk In Beauty!
SingingWolf
My guess is that you should cut off the solid portions and let them heal over. Then replant them in the Spring. Try posting this over in Tropicals and you will probably find some more knowledgable people. My experiences with plumeria have been very iffy, but I did recover one poor little end last year which is still doing well. I, too, tend to water too much.
Or the plumeria forum would be a good place to get advice too--I lurk over there from time to time and there are some real plumie experts there and they'll for sure know what to do. I would guess the same thing though--I don't think there's any saving the bottom half of the plant if the trunks have gotten all mushy, but the top part looks like it's probably still OK and could be saved.
Thanks PotEmUp and ecrane3. I have a piece that I started after the branch was knocked off this plumeria, so it won't be a total loss, but I am inordinately fond of this fragrant plumeria, and if I can I want to save as much as possible. Good suggestions from both of you that are greatly appreciated by this newbie!
Walk In Beauty !
SingingWolf
Definitely go over to the Plumeria Forum, SW.
Sounds like you need a different soil mix, too, as it would be hard to over water in September if the soil is as fast draining as it should be.
Glad you have a cutting from the plant so it won't be a total loss.
Maybe, I should have been clearer about that. I discovered in September that it had been over watered. I left here in late August to spend time with Dad before he passed away in September. I was gone for about a week. Despite my best efforts to communicate with the family about the plants watering needs, my kids and DH over watered some of them and didn't water others at all. When I returned from TX, I didn't notice that the plant was in standing water. I have to admit I wasn't functioning real well. So it was a while before I realized there was a problem and what it was. I'll wait til spring to plant cuttings that may still be viable. I'll share at the RU too. I'm going to read up on it some more.
Now then on the bright side, taking PotEmUp's and Ecrane's advice, I found the right forum (plumerias) and received an answer. Now I have to find the time to implement it and figure out where my rooting hormone disappeared to. LOL! My EB#1 may have some I can use. Otherwise it's another trip to the store.
Thanks for the advice, I appreciate it! : ))))
WIB!
SW
Ah...standing water would do it. Did you have a tray under it? That's a no-no. Ask me, I know lots of ways to kill plumeria! What I do is put mine on cement blocks as soon as I bring them out of the g/h in the spring. They are still small enough to go in the (small) g/h - I'll have to come up with another plan when they get big - 2 of them will probably not fit next winter. I lost all that I had a couple of years ago when we had that bizarre freezing weather. I'm have some seed to try - if they grow I might be in a position to share. :-)
I remember that freak winter storm. I got a 6:00 am wake up call from a neighbor who just couldn't remember it snowing here before and he just had to share the sight. I had people pulling off the road to build snowmen! I took off with my camera, and got photos before the ground got all torn up. That would have been in November of 2004. I'll check real quick and see if I can find a photo. Ah ha! Eureka! Found one!
You'll recognize the store. We were open that day for early tree reservations, people just wanted to play in the snow!
This next photo is my favorite.
WIB,
SW
This message was edited Dec 11, 2008 4:28 PM
By the way there was still snow under the oaks a week later. I'd love to use this shot on a web page some day. Usually the snow melts before it hits the ground. Although my FIL, says that there was snow on the ground for a whole month back in the 1940's. There are photos in the family album that prove it.
WIB,
SW
Sorry, wrong photo. Hard to tell on those tiny thumbnails.
If at first you don't succeed . . .
WIB,
SW
I think our cold snap was 2006. It wasn't a storm, just below freezing temps several nights in a row. We're only 10 miles from the beach, for Pete's sake, so it was a shock. Lost all my plumeria and most of my epiphyllums, my banana, and some other stuff. The redbud bloomed for the first time, though! :-)
Still looking forward to seeing the farm!
I remember that cold snap in '06, we got hit hard up here too. I had a bunch of landscaping that had just been put in about a month earlier so it was even more susceptible than normal to cold and I lost a bunch of stuff. Fortunately I had a GH for my tropical stuff, but I lost a number of things that should have been hardy here but couldn't handle several nights in a row in the 18-20 degree range.
SW...that's your property in Menifee that had snow??! When others were being hit hard by the freezes 2 years ago, we didn't even get frost on our property and I'm only a few miles from kaperc. We had the tiniest bit of snow here about 18-20 years ago. Winter before last was beautiful with the snow down to Warner Springs and the surrounding areas. The first day I went to Tenecula, saw the snow on the outlying hills and just kept going. There was a 'chains required' sign heading toward Warner Springs, but I kept going and there was no problem (also no other traffic, just lucky me). Son and I went back out there the next day and then the third day we all 3 went out...still snow, but not like that beautiful first day. I'm hoping for that again this year. The winter before that I sat in white out conditions in Santa Ysabel...wonderful.....so, was it one of those days that you got snow in Menifee? I can't believe it!
Yep! This is where I get to live. Every season has its own charm. But snow on the ground is rarer than clear water running in Sweetwater Creek.
I vaguely remember running around like a clown and covering all my plants with blankets in 2006. Uncovering them during the day, and recovering at night. We usually get a couple of hard freezes each winter. That is probably the year they lasted longer than usual, right before I planted my banana in the green house. I was worried because I was so afraid I'd loose everything to the cold. I really do get lost in time sometimes. That concussion in the car accident (2005) left me with scrambled eggs for brains and I am having to relearn some stuff. I appreciate your patience with my forgettery! : )
More soon!
WIB!
SW
I have scrambled brains, too, SW! Mine got scrambled about 35 years ago, though. :-)
The way weather hops and skips around here, I wouldn't think it unusual for us to have different cold snaps at all. When we lived in LaCosta (inland Carlsbad) we had a freeze one year around Easter that destroyed a big bougainvillea. Go figure.
Your scrambled friend,
k
Well, I talked to a woman today who lives on Olive Hill (here) and she said they've already had frost at ther house this last week or so...can't believe it. They must sit in a hollow, though I think she said hill....we hardly ever get frost even. I do remember when it was so cold last winter, (or was it winter before last?) and the snow was lying low on the hills outside of Temecula that it was mentioned about snow on the Temecula hills, I thought that was the stuff out toward Warner Springs, but suppose it must have meant Meniffee also. Amazing. Every year seems to get stranger....
Today DH was delivering a tree for a family just down the road, and they were getting rain, and we weren't! : (
wcgypsy, do you have a wind, sheltered south facing property? Your area has so many microclimates. And it does seem that every year is weird in it's own way.
Don't ask me which winter, I'm thymeless. LOL! What year is this? I once spent a year telling people I was a certain age, and on my next birthday realized I had to spend the whole year being the same age all over again because of my lousy math skills.
May have been wc, we are 10 miles north of Temecula at a higher elevation than most of Temecula. No one knew where Menifee was four years ago, except those of us who live here. LOL! The
L.A. tv stations have only begun referring to Menifee in the last few months.
Glad to know I'm not the only one out here with scrambled eggs for brains KaperC! : )
I got to go feed some critters!
Walk In Beauty!
WS
We get surface frost a lot in the winter - the white stuff that goes away as soon as the air gets moving early in the morning - and occasionally ice crystals on the edge of the pond. We're on a south facing slope, but it's sure not sheltered. Makes it hard to grow a lot of stuff, because it's full sun everywhere.
SW, you sound like you're reading my mind! I'm always having to figure out how old I am and have often told people the wrong age. Then there are the siblings - let's see, four year between me and my sis, four years from her to the YB, then two years to the EB. That's the only way I could remember them!
Know what you mean about living in a small town. I was watching FOX news (not the local one) one day and they had a story about avocado farmers in Bonsall - imagine my shock! Film and everything!
LOL! Bonsall, as in the flower capital of So.Cal? (Chuckle) You mean that Bonsall, not to be confused with that upstart to the south Carlsbad right? How perverse! I know there are a lot of avocado groves around, but most of the ones I'm familiar with are along the 15 fwy corridor, Between Pala and Temecula.
The beekeepers we know down that way say it's still hasn't gotten as much rain as normal in SD CO. Still below the norm last year. So few places with all the new development and the fires, to put bees these days.
I'm so glad to hear I am not the only one who forgets their age. I'm always going to be 19 at heart, but actually made myself a year older a year sooner than I had to. LOL! : ) Age the ultimate adventure! LOL! : )
We get those kind of frosts on the north sides of the hills on north facing slopes. Not usually on the south sides. You need shade trees that drop their leaves in the winter, that also provide a wind break. Hmmm. Lets put on our thinking caps . . .
WIB,
SW
We live in the Winterwarm area (apparently appropriately named) and are on a southern slope with drainage to lower ground. Our neighbor's property sits a tad higher up the slope (at the same level our previous house was, next door to his), then we bought the house that sits at the same level as his swale on the back of his property, which he always said ran 10-11 degrees lower than the top part of his property, so yes, we have quite a few different microclimates right here.
I always say that it's not that women lie about their ages, we simply forget.......
OOhh! Good one. I'm going to steal it from you wcgypsy. I know I have microclimates here at the farm. I am very sensitive to temperature changes, and the worlds' best draft detector! LOL! I know that if you walk down to the creek at night it is always cooler than the meadows, slopes or top of the hill. We've changed the microclimate when we planted all those trees, and put water back into the farm pond. At least it usually keeps the coyotes away from the house. LOL!
: ) Not that I begrudge the coyotes or other wild ones a drink, I just resent them thinking my cats and chickens are their dinner. I had to chase a coyote off the back porch night before last. They are hungry. The bad news is we will have to kill them if they continue their visits. I hate that, especially since they were driven out of their territory by all the NEW development.
Say did you hear about the mountain lion that took up residence in a foreclosed home? Actually the back yard. It was on the news last night. Only caught a minute, but figured it's going to be a cold winter, and they are moving down to where they can find food (our small pets, and maybe small kids), and water.
Hope everyone is well on this gloomy day. : (
I have chores to get to, and just can't seem to move very fast this morning! Oh well. I'm going to pick away at them until they are done.
WIB,
SW
We didn't hear coyotes hear for many, many months (maybe a year?). Then a few months ago they started up again and we hear them nightly again. Maybe the squirrel population will get back in balance around here. They've done so much damage - we didn't get a single apple off our trees this year. :(
Hey, KC, are you anywhere near that plane crash? I just heard that a plane attempting to land at Miramar, crashed into a residential area. Hope that everyone is okay! It doesn't sound like your area.
We've never gotten fruit from our apples either. : ( It's not the squirrels. My dogs hate squirrels and kill them around the houses and closer fields. There might be a couple at the other end of the farm.
ES is going to work on the orchard and get it going again this January. His idea. : )) I'm not sure what he plans on planting. I'll have to sit him down and talk to him about it. : )
WIB!
SW
Nope, that's way south of us. Pilot is OK, and I hope the houses the plane hit were empty. Thanks for thinking of us, though!
Good to know, I just heard that on one was injured.
WIB,
SW
Such sad news about the plane crash. My thoughts and prayers go out to those affected. : (
Regarding the coyotes they are getting bad, worse than normal. Even the feral cat came in and took shelter in my jacuzzi room with her three babies. Unfortunately, the coyotes are getting bolder and hunting outside their normal times (dusk and dawn when hunting squirrels), they are mostly nocturnal hunters, but I'm seeing them more and more during the day. I wish I could send them down to help you with your squirrels.
WIB,
SW
Just caught up with my EB#1, and he will help me to take the proper steps to preserve/take cuttings from the plumeria.
I'm so glad he's home.
WIB,
SW
Good! Hope you have little rooting sticks in the spring. :-)
I'll share if I do. : )
WIB!
SW.....it truly is a small world...while selling at the Bonsall Farmers' Market today, we met your neighbor, Rick! When asked where he was coming from he mentioned Menifee which led to my mentioning your posted photos of the snow and he said yes, my neighbors half mile down the road.....how funny!
