This sweetheart of mine was drastically overwatered in Aug.-Sept. Parts of the stems have gone mushy. Is there any way to save the plant, or at least part of it?
Thanks for helping a newbie!
Walk In Beauty!
SingingWolf
Can I save this Plumeria?
The stems looks like they have had it; I would say start cutting and save anything that is white inside (might just be the top 4-5 inches...). Clean your clippers or knife between cuts...
Then dip the good pieces you have in rooting hormone and let them sit until you can start rooting; not a good time of year to do that now.
Thank you Dutchlady1. How would you recommend storing them until it's time to replant? I appreciate your sharing your knowledge with me.
Walk In Beauty!
SingingWolf
Since I don't attempt rooting at this time of year, I put all my cuttings in a large tub (a 15 gal. black plastic pot is what I tend to use) with about an inch of plain clean sand in the bottom. Place them upright in a dry, cool, frostfree place. They will be fine until they come out of dormancy. Some may even surprise you by starting to root anyway.
Zone 8b, Lake Sam Rayburn, deep East, TX
I agree with Dutchlady1
For 8 years I've been struggling to keep my Plumeria healthy. I think Plumerias are over rated.
I'll not give up until my plant grows into a healthy, blooming Plumeria as a dear friend gave me the original cutting.
Recurring problem is with leaf fungus. I have repotted with clean, potting soil many time with the same results.
Good success with your plant, however. : (
Don't give up, Sudie. Even living in a great place for plumeria, I lost so many before I was successful. The key for me was bottom heat and better draining soil. Once you find your solution, you will be so happy you kept trying!
Dutchlady:
Good advice. I'm sure I have a suitable container and place to store them over the winter. Now to get the sand! LOL! DH is still thinking I'm strange for getting a bag full of beach sand to bring home last trip to the beach. I'll pick some up down at the nursery. : )
Sudie, sorry to hear about your fungus problems, but don't give up! KaperC is right. You may just need to change the kind of soil it is in. Don't let it sit in standing water or it will turn into mine! : ( My bad.
WIB!
SW
One thing I do know, when the leaves start to yellow that means it's getting too much water. Glad to have been able to finally share something.
they also turn yellow when they are about to drop due to age or the onset of dormancy.
IT WORKS!
Sorry, but I'm simply amazed at the resiliency of some plants. I have a cutting that looked dehydrated like SW's photo above. It was grey, squishy and wrinkled in the middle but it firmed up as it got to the top which was green and was trying to produce leaves. I also found that it wasn't rooted (how can a plant produce leaves with no roots?). So a few days ago using the advice on this forum, I cut the bottom tip off, dusted with rooting hormone and stuck it back in the pot making sure it had moisture and bottom heat. This morning, the cutting is firm all the way to the top and looks like a whole different 'plant'.
I just want to thank all of you who post and provide answers to those of us who are just starting out. I feel like I accomplished something today but it wouldn't have happened without your help.
dee
Zone 8b, Heat Zone 9 Piney Woods of deep East, TX
Dee, I was reviewing old forums this morning on Plumerias.
Were you able to save yours?
August 16,2009 I attended a Flea Market in McKinney, TX.
What really caught my eye was this display of Plumerias in all sizes form 12" up to 8' full of blooms.
The gentlemen who was selling the Pumerias had grown them himself. He gave me a culture brochure on how to get Plumerias to thrive and bloom:
"seeing is believing".....so here is his notes on how to successfully grow Plumerias:
WATERING=Plumeria require at least a half day of full sun to produce blooms. If mature plant does not produce blooms, it's usually because they are not getting enough sun or fertilizer.
Plants should be allowed to dry out between waterings, but excessive dryness will result in foliage loss. On the other hand, the growing medium should not be kept soggy wet.
(I have a tendancy to overwater) My area gets 46" of rain annually...it's raining as I write you. LOL
FEEDING=A consistent feeding program will produce vigorous plants with large clusters of flowers from May through November.
Plumeria require fertilizer high in phosphorus (the middle number). Super Bloom is an excellent choice. (add 2 TBS./gal. of water) apply every other week while growing)
Discontinue feeding in late September to allow new growth to harden prior to winter storage.
PESTS AND DISEASES=Plumerias are generally resistant to insects and diseases. The rare attack of spider mites is easily controlled with an insecticidal soap (Safer Soap), or a store bought product. A fungicide contining benomyl will effectively control black fungus or rust.
An environmentally safe alternative is a bath of approximately 4 oz. of liquid Ivory soap in a gallon of water.
WINTERIZING=Plumeria are very sensitive to frost and must be moved to a garage or storage shed when temperatures fall below 32 degs. F. They require no water or light during the winter storage.They cannot be forced to bloom in the house in winter. Let them go to sleep! Maintain the storage area above 45 degrees and plants will rest until spring. The leaves fall from the plant during winter dormancy and they closely resemble a defoliated tree limb or a stick. Move them outdoors after the danger of frost and resume the regular watering procedure outlined above.
A good time to take cuttings is when the plants are removed from winter storage. After being moved outdoors, both the cuttings and the parent plants soon resume their normal life cycle.
I know this is late information. However, let me know if you were able to save your Plumeria.
I am greatly optimistic after finding better culture information on my Plumeria.
Keep those hands dirty!
Hi!
Actually with a few starts and stops I have been able to save two cuttings from that plant...one has rooted and has leaves, the other has three tips and is just getting rooted. They are very small since I had to keep chopping away (these are 24 oz containers) but they are still alive :-). I will need to pot up but I wanted to use a see through container to make sure there were roots forming.
Regarding the advice from your vendor, from the reading I've done on this site, there are varying opinions about the phosphorus levels needed by plumeria. Check out this link...http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/692567/
Thanks for asking, I consider the success an accomplishment...I hope you have had better success with your plumeria since you posted in this thread :-)
d
Sudie, that was probably Emerson that you ran into selling plumerias? The information you got is mostly correct with some changes noted below. By the way, I put together the FAQ's section on the items you listed a long time ago plus I wrote an article about growing plumerias here: http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/45/ I hope you find it helpful.
Here are some additions to your info.:
Plumerias require full sun, which by definition is 6 hours or more of continuous sun.
How much you water is dependent upon where you live and how fast your soil dries out. Plumerias need lots of water with good drainage. I water when the top of the soil looks dry because I have a professional mix that drains very well.
A mature plant that is getting all it's needs met with full sun, water, and fertilizer should bloom, but sometimes a tree will direct it's energy toward putting on growth instead. Skipping a season without blooming is not an uncommon occurrence. Out of every 100 trees that I own, only 80 or so will bloom, and that figure doesn't include seedlings.
D is quite right about phosphorus not being ideal for plants. In fact, a lot of it is downright bad for plants as it doesn't leach from the soil. Avoid the Bloomboosters and use the low even numbers instead. It's actually potassium that aids blooms, not phosphorus.
Mites, whiteflies, and aphids are actually quite common and not a rare occurrence. Use a oil-based product in the evenings on them. Avid, Forbid, and Isotox work on the mites, but you have to rotate their use.
Some light and water is needed during dormancy. I even water mine in the winter sparingly. The prevailing thought is that complete darkness is not recommended for winter storage. The leaves should be removed prior to winter storage.
This message was edited Aug 21, 2009 5:31 PM
A guy who has over 200 also told me when I repot my Plumeria to cut all the leaves off. He said they will put more energy into the leaves and not as much growing roots.
Also with rust he uses shultz fungicide and he will also cut off leaves and bag them to get rid of rust.
I was always told a plumeria should start sprouting leaves before taking out and starting to water.
Only cut off the leaves when rooting cuttings, not when transplanting. I wouldn't recommend cutting off the leaves when transplanting a fully rooted plant. This would make the rooted plant adjust to the new environment without the ability to transpire water, stressing the plant further.
Leaves are a sign that the cutting has rooted. Whether you water or not during the rooted process depends where you live. A guy here brought back 20 cuttings from Hawaii and put them in a hot location on his driveway and didn't water them. He lost all 20 due to dehydration and desiccation. I water my rooting cuttings twice a week, but in more humid conditions like Florida, others don't water at all. It truly depends on the location and conditions.
I water mine too. Teas nursery told me yrs ago to water the cuttings then let dry out and water again. forcing them to root.
OH thank you all so much for having this thread here
My heart sank this morning when I went out to get some rain water to put on a few things and found a "branch" sitting with some mondo grass I have to plant and when I pulled it up to see what hubby had put in there I found it was the top one of my plumies I asked him about it and he said it was covered by one of the larger flowers growing up in the terrace below and he didn't see it when he was weed eating *sigh*
It has some very nice leaves on it so I am thinking of jsut taking it and trying to root it and leave the bottom part in the pot so I cna have 2 instead of one now LOL (have to laugh or I'll cry)....Dutchlady1 I'm beginning to think he doesn't want me to get any more Plumies form you ...hahahahaha
my only problem is the last time I had one decapitated and tried to graft it back together it didn't work but I am going to try using the sand like told above
sigh and of course he had to do it a week before my daughters wedding instead of waiting til this next week for me to do the weeding like we talked about so now I have a pot hole in the row of where it used to be
I am new to this forum. I now have several plumerias and this year they had not bloomed. Some are 3 years old , bought them from a DG coop and the source is Hawaii I think. Others are from Dutch lady. My new ones is from a DG lady who started them from seeds so they are unnamed. Some of my plumies bloomed last year and I am still waiting this year. Here are pix of my collection
This message was edited Sep 10, 2009 6:03 AM
more pix
