you just planted them and they have leaves where they fresh cuttings with growth already?

They are about a week or so old..., the ones in the mulch have been potted about a week, the ones with the gravel this weekend.

Good looking "sticks"!

okay, I dunno if this is the right place to post this, but I need help! I bought some plumie (noid) cuttings in chefmike's coop over on DG about 4 or 5 years ago. I ended up just keeping one. After growing veeery sloooooowly the first couple of years, it finally got some growth last year and bloomed for the first time. This year it grew to 8 feet tall, and started blooming about a month ago. Oh, yes! Gorgeous! Love it! Worth the wait! LOL. It had one big Y from last year, and had started Y's along each of those.

So, imagine how upset I was when I came home the other day and found one whole piece of the initial Y just broken off. About a foot up from the Y. I don't know and can't imagine what happened to it, unless a squirrel got on it with a pogo stick or something, but there it was.

I don't know what to do about it. I don't really know nothin' about these plants, except that they're beautiful. So, what will happen to my original plant? Will it be okay and make new growth on that side?

I cut off a foot-long piece from the broken one, to callous over and then stick. After that, the part that's left is about 30 inches and still has this year's Y's and flowers. I stuck that in a pitcher of water, mostly to see if the flowers would keep opening, but also to see if it would root that way. But the only cuttings I've ever seen were cut at both ends and hardened, and never a Y, so I don't know if that was the right thing to do.

Any suggestions?

Beautiful bloom. Looks like Buds Pink Cloud... Sorry you had damage.... Your original plant should be fine... maybe you could post a picture of it. Where the break was on the original plant how far up from the base was it? Depending what you have there I would suggest cutting it again so not to be jagged but I would really need to see it. The stick you have in water... I would go ahead and cut off the leaves and blooms and let the cutting dry. If you have a "Y" you have two tips, a choice stick to root and plant! One thing I have learned over the last few years is plumerias really don't like fertilizer that much. If you over fertilize they can get long and lanky and that makes them more susceptible to breaking and outgrowing the root support and can lay over... so be careful not to over feed. Over feed and over water are 2 no nos in plumeria care.
There is a book out by Jim Little called Growing Plumerias in Hawai'i and Around the World. It is WONDERFUL. I suggest it to anyone who wants to learn more about Plumeria care. Has detailed instructions on rooting, grafting and care of plumeria. You can get on Ebay or from Amazon. I ordered mine from Jim Little Farms when I got a cutting from there. Plus the pictures of the blooms are awesome!!
Good luck and I hope this helped ....
RobertB
Bud's Pink Bloom

Thanks, Robert, for all your advice. I suspected I needed to get the bigger piece out of water.

You might be right about Bud's Pink Cloud. Looks very much like it, except that yours is little lighter pink than mine. The lighter blossom in my picture is faded; the left one is closer to the actual color. I guess a lot of things could cause that, though.

I could post a picture of my original plant, but it's not very attractive, which is one of the reasons I was reading this forum. I'm pretty sure it needs more sun. It's very tall and leggy. No branching except at the growing tips, and no leaves either. I learned a lot that I could do better just from reading here. I'm organic in my gardens, but I made an exception and started using Osmocote on my brugs, and thought that might be good for the plumie too. ? Well, it sure grew this year! Don't know enough about how they are SUPPOSED to look to say if that was a good thing. But another thing I learned is that I probably don't need to water as much as I have been. I have pretty much treated it like my brugs, which (in our last 2 weeks over 100) get wilted every day. Don't think I've hurt the plumie, but it could still probably get by with less.

oh, forgot to answer your question. My plant is in a large pot, since it needs protection here. The first Y is 4 feet up from the soil (yes, it took forever to first bloom). The break occurred about a foot above that. It's very jagged and I definitely need to cut it. It's about to rain, but let me see if I can get a couple of quick photos.

okay, here's a couple of pictures.

what's left of the original plant. You can see why it's now so unattractive--just one scraggly branch growing out horizontally.


three tips left on the scraggly branch


the right cutting has been drying and I'll stick it this week. I just pulled the left one out of water and cut off leaves. I think it will be fine. Should I also cut off the inflorescence and the tiny leaves on the tips?

Another question. Since the original plant now looks so scraggly, and it's pretty big and unwieldy in that pot as well--what would happen if I cut it a foot or so below last year's Y, and made more cuttings? Would I essentially be starting over, or would the original plant resume growing and branch off from the cut? I don't mind waiting for blooms, but I can't really say I wanna wait another 4 years.

Cut that bloom spike off the middle also but leave those little leaves... that is your starts,,, let it dry about a week... and where you cut, let it harden over a bit... nice job!
It is out of balance and since you are in a pot... I would go ahead and cut the other one also to balance it and make a cutting out of that one also....
Some plumerias grow huge and maybe not so suited for a pot. I have one, Flamingo, that you may have better results with. It has nice pink flowers and grows low. I can send you a cutting if you would like to try that... just send me a tree mail

Flamingo

Flamingo is also known as Dainty Pink.
Robert's suggestions are excellent.

Aw, thanks so much for all the help! Robert, I'd love to try your Flamingo/Dainty Pink. Especially since it's low-growing, which would be much easier for me to protect in the winter. Tree mail sent.

WOW Patti that was a long time ago..... great to see you here. im glad you like the bloom sorry it took so long and trouble with it breaking!!! Out of all of the plumeria i kept (about 150) i lost all but 1 to a freeze and i have not got a bloom yet!! I started my collection and sales again......very crazy

mike

Mike, it was worth the wait! Although I hope it doesn't take so long next time around. I only got 3. One rotted and I gave away the other one. Sure wish now that I'd kept it! Nice to see you here too.

Pattie
if you want more i have a few hundred already rooted and many of them will bloom faster

my sales are on the co-op/classified forum and i will give great deals and free plants ( no pressure..lol)

mike

LOL! Well, thanks, Mike. I have to watch how many I have, since they have to be lugged into the garage for winter. I could use a few more, though, so I'll definitely keep an eye on your sales.

I know this is an old thread (which I totally hijacked from Robert), but I have some questions and pictures about this very same plant, so, rather than start a new thread... :D

This pretty thing grew out and filled in at the site of the break 3 years ago. Since then it's grown about 4 feet in height and, in 2014 and 2015, it bloomed all summer long. We have really enjoyed it.

My problem now is that it's gotten way too big and unwieldy to manage in my climate. It is still potted in a 25-gallon pot, which is about as big as I can move for winter. Tree + pot are now about 10 feet tall, which makes it too tall for my garage. Besides that, it's top-heavy. It branches with 3 tips almost as often as 2, so it's pretty hefty up top. We had a breezy day yesterday, and I had to pick it up off the ground 4 times before I finally got it stabilized. It will never survive like that when our spring storms hit and we get real wind.

I really hate to have to cut it up. (This baby took 5 years and 5 feet, from a cutting, to bloom). If I do have to cut it up, I'd rather do it in the spring than now, but that doesn't solve my problem for the winter. Can I take it out of the pot to store it for the winter, on its side or something? And then cut it in the spring? And if so, where would you cut it?

And now, question 2, which addresses the medium-sized plant you can see in the pictures above. After reading a lot of different posts last night on this board, it came to my attention that this one might be doing some weird things. It is a noid yellow given to me by a friend, and I guess what it's doing is spontaneous branching. It has never bloomed. Should I cut this one up and start over with it, or just re-pot it next spring and see what happens?

Lanky growth is pretty common in your area, and yes, you can absolutely take it out of the pot and store it lying down. If you do so, it's best to lay it on some cardboard or newspaper.

One option (and yes, in the spring, for sure) is 'downgrafting'. It essentially means taking a section out of the main trunk and grafting the pieces back on to each other. It won't solve the problem of a lanky tree in the long run though. I'd go with the two main sections above the V and restart those; then cut the main trunk to about 18" and let that one re-grow too.
Keep us posted!

hmmm, you're talking about at least 3 new trees. Okay, I can do that. I can also store it out of the pot, on cardboard or leaning on the wall or whatever works out best for it. Just leave it bare root, or bag up the rootball?

What do you think about the smaller yellow one, with its branching but no blooms? Other than re-potting, any intervention necessary?

Bare root is fine. And I'd leave 'brancher' alone for the time being. It's kind of intriguing.