My mom bought 2 plumeria cuttings in Florida and brought me one of them on her way back to Michigan. She had specific instructions on how to plant them and we looked here and on plumeria101.com and followed all the instructions. I kept questioning her which side goes into the pot because the end she was telling me didn't look right, but since she was the one who talked to the guy and I didn't find anything on line that said "hey dummy, plant this end down", I followed what she said. About a month goes by and she calls me to tell me she told me the wrong way and that she just replanted her's right side up. So I pulled mine up and flipped it with a quick prayer. It has now been about 3 weeks and I still do not see any progress. I move it outside in the sun when it's sunny and in the 70's and bring it in at night and put next to a heat register. My mom's isn't doing anything either. I haven't found anything that says how long it takes to see anything other than 90 days for a full root ball. Do these have a chance of making it being planted upside down for a month? I know my mom paid probably too much money for these on a whim and I hate to think we killed both of them immediately.
Thanks in advance.
I obviously have no idea what I'm doing and need help please
The rooting process can take anywhere from 3 weeks to six months, so don't give up on them yet.
If they are firm and solid, they should probably be ok.
Do not water them while they are rooting, and give them as much warmth as you can.
Good luck!
PS I am puzzled as to what these were like, since you had a hard time deciding which way was up... Can you post a picture?
Thanks Dutchlady. The end that is now down looked to have been treated with rooting hormone. It had white powder on it and had a cut end and a cut side slight above the bottom. The (now) top part is tapered and is also now covered with rooting hormone that I put on it when I first planted it. Having never dealt with a cutting or ever heard of plumerias before, it just made sense to me that the "cut" end that looked like it had rooting hormone on it was the rooting end but my mom was insistent that it wasn't so I thought the white powder may have been something they put on where branches may have been that were cut off to protect the cuts. I could take pictures but you'd just literally see a stick sitting in a pot with white powder on it at this point and not sure you'd get much from it. I didn't feel safe washing off the powder and getting it wet.
As to "firm and solid", I can't really say for sure. It doesn't feel soft enough to have rot but it's not exactly solid feeling either. It didn't from the start tho. I had it on a heating pad up until last weekend. It's still getting into the 40's at night but it's inside at night and we have the heat on and it's only outside on sunny days that are in the 70's so I hope I'm keeping it warm enough. Maybe I need to put the heating pad back under it? I watered it once when I first planted it and once more shortly before I flipped it when I checked and the soil was dry. It's in miracle grow (1/3) and perlite (2/3) with the pea gravel on top. Like I said, I followed everything I read but none of the pictures anywhere really showed both ends of a cutting with a "this end down". LOL. Yeah, I felt really dumb cause I almost posted a picture of the thing and asked but in the end, just followed what my mom said.
You likely have a 'center cutting' that has two cut ends. We have all made mistakes like this so don't feel bad. The thing to remember is: the leaf scars on the stick have to look like smiley faces, then you have it the right way up.
It sounds like you are doing everything right. Just - be patient!
Thank you again! I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hopefully I'll be able to post pictures one day asking for an id on it :-)
I *think* I have life! I can just barely make out what appears to, at this point, look like dark pink spots at the very top sides which could be the start of leaf buds? They weren't there before. What do you think?
supposed to be really warm this week so it should be happy :-) Thank you! you have no idea how close I was to just throwing it away!
Hey Devil Dog, Your stick looks a little dehydrated, if it is in well draining soil, going to be very hot this week, and it is being kept in direct sun I would water it lightly to keep it from getting completely dessicated. My two cents.
Davie
Thanks Davie! I'll water it tomorrow when I put it back out.
Also I see you have rocks on top of the soil. I have had many plants get burned or dessicated at the point where the cutting touches the rocks(before I knew this was a no no)....even lost a few because of this. I would reccomend that you take the rocks off the top, if it need stability use more soil or add a stake.
Davie
really? that was part of the specific instructions I followed on several sites including plumeria101.com. Don't tell my husband because I made him go get me a bag and the smallest they had was a 50lb bag!
dd - i am 100% w/ davie on the pea gravel. i made a big stink about that ages ago. i was politely told to be quiet. haha! take those rocks off and spread them in the yard or something.
doing so today and calling my mom and telling her to do the same :-)
Thank you!
I'm jumping in here Devildog. I bought a yellow Plumeria on a whim at the Southern Home Show in Charlotte. I'm starting to see new growth on mine. I also read somewhere to put pea gravel on top of the soil when your first rooting. We must have read the same instructions. I didn't have pea gravel so I used some small white decorating stones. I'll try to post a picture tomorrow. I think I started mine around the end of February but I can't be sure. I'm going to take my rocks out Davie and Tuscan if your reading. Hopefully we can be successful together.
Melanie
Hi Melanie, we'll have to compare them as it sounds like we started around the same time. I think my mom ended up killing her's. She was watering it every week and said it was very soft. I have no idea if I told her to do the right thing, but since it was just when she flipped it so it hadn't started rooting yet, I told her to just pull it out and let it dry out a bit then try again.
Can anyone tell me the minimum temps it can handle at this point? It's getting to the low to mid 60's overnight and I'm dragging it in and out daily and would like to be able to just keep it outside now but worried it may be too cold?
As long as it is not getting inot the 50's it should be fine outside. I would put it in a warm sunny place and not water it again until you see leaves. You mother's sounds like a goner....
Thanks dbrooks!
Here's a picture of mine showing the new growth. I planted it in a mixture of perlite and peat moss, soaked it good and then put it upstairs (attic) in a dormer window area that I had made into a temp greenhouse. It faced SW so it got lots of light and plenty warm. On occasion I would give it a small drink of water. Just a couple of days ago I put it on our back deck which faces East and gets direct sun until about 1:00, then indirect sun. I can give it more sun if it needs it. It's been going into the 60's at night. So now what do I do with it? I read that I need to fertilize it often, Is that right? and with what? How often should I water now? I want so much to make this bloom and be successful. Probably more because I paid ten bucks for a "Stick", ha!
This message was edited May 3, 2009 11:13 AM
Oh thanks DutchLady for the quick response. I have it in a one gallon pot, Is that big enough? Here's a picture
My mom's is showing life!
Terrific!, Is yours showing any life yet?
yup. I got teeth looking things growing out of mine. looks alien like :-)
Hey DD, Here is a current picture of my plumie. How does your look?
DutchLady: I don't know the name of what I bought, but the "lady" told me it would be yellow and very fragrant. Does that ring any bells? I know I should wait until it blooms. Also, can you tell me if these are bud blooms forming? I really don't know much at all about these things. and I have done very little reading about them. Honestly haven't an inkling of extra time. Thanks
Another
Oh wonderful about the buds. I have it out on my back deck where it gets sun from early morning - until 3-4 in the afternoon. The past 5 days it's rained a lot, but it's in well draining potting soil.
This message was edited May 28, 2009 12:14 PM
here's my alien looking thing. I've been bringing it inside for all the rain and only taking it back outside when it's sunny. Maybe I should leave it outside in the rain as your's is much further along than mine.
here's another shot
DD: Mine got an earlier start than yours I think. I made a makeshift greenhouse, in my attic dormer, starting the first of March. That could be the difference. I can't imagine that they could be the same kind/breed whatever they are called. So maybe that matters too. I've left my out during all this rain. I figured they grow in the tropics where there is a lot of rain, right? Do you know anything about fertilizing them?
LOL. read the title of this thread and that will answer your question on fertilizing :-) I'm thinking tho as long as mine don't have leaves, they don't need anything. Yours may be ready tho. In fact, I just read back up and someone said to give it a good well balanced fertilizer when yours started to wake up. Maybe I'll hit mine with some tomorrow too.
DevilDogs - mine looked like that but littler and then it seems to have died back. I don't know what happened, but its still solid and not mushy. I'm hoping it will start over and start to leaf out
Darla
Your right about the fertilizer, I went back and reread all the posts. Duh!
well, mine got left out in a rain storm the other night and it seems fine. I'm not going to fertilize it tho until it needs watering again.
Darla, I hope yours comes back! Mine hasn't leafed out yet. Still have alien teeth looking things :-P
DD: How is your Plummie? Here's the latest on mine. I cannot wait for that first bloom.
what on earth am I doing wrong??? here's mine last Friday. Looks the same today.
Hum???
I can tell you what I'm doing. Mine is in full sun almost the entire day. How much sun is yours getting? I probably water it every 2-3 days if it doesn't rain. But we've been having quite a bit of rain, so I'm basically ignoring it. Letting it get rained on. It does drain well. Maybe since they are different yours is growing more slowly?? At least it is growing, albeit slowly. I'm gonna guess it's a sunlight issue.
DutchLady do you want to comment?
It's outside on the deck getting as much sun as the weather allows. I'm leaving it out in the rain unless hail is expected then bringing it inside for that particular storm. It drains well and not soft at all. It looks and feels healthy. Just doesn't appear to be growing much at all. I do notice that the edges of some of the alien teeth are starting to turn green but that's it. I did fertilize it maybe a week or two ago.
The edges turning green is a good sign that the plant is continuing to progress, the green is the start of leafs. If it is not very warm where you are, then the process will take longer than normal. I would restrain from watering it again until you actually see leafs instead of just the teeth.
Davie