Finally, everything came together and we transplanted 3 of the plumeria on the roof today. I got 25 sacks of good black soil delivered and carried up to the roof. Bought and brought home 80 kilos of heavy sand or very small river gravel. Bought large wash tubs or stock watering tanks. Today was one of the days that Oscar works for me, we had discussed it and he had been hauling the equipment to the roof for a couple days. He drilled holes in the bottoms of the tubs the other day, and hauled all the gravel and sand to the roof. This morning he mixed the dirt with the sand and all the compost I had in garbage bins on the roof. In all he moved 3 large plumeria, a tangerine tree and a large Croton into new containers. I cleaned the filter in the roof pond and repotted 3 lilies for the pond next door. It was hot and humid and we were up there from about 10am to 3pm. It all got done though and I'm really happy. I've wanted to get this done for months but it involved so many threads that had to come together, it's a good feeling to get it completed.

The dirt, 80 kilos of the gravel and the new containers.


Oscar mixing the soil, you can see how small the pots are that the plumeria were in before.


In their new pots. We also had to get some boards to keep the pots off the roof surface, I don't want to end up with a leaky roof so air movement is important.


Finished! Some rocks on the top to make watering easier, the pond is clean, the extra lilies are repotted and in the neighbors pond.

You plumies love their new home already! How pretty!! What a job well done!

Hello Jonna,
It was well worth it, it looks beautiful.
Nice sanctuary you have there up on the roof,

RobertB

Great job and those plants are going to be so happy!!

Very smart choice of pots too. Shallow but wide, leaving it enough room to grow.

A very lovely set-up for the plumies Jonna!

Well, this morning I was on my usual routine. This roof deck is right off my bedroom so it is what I think of as a private deck, it's not likely that I'd have a party out there for instance So, every morning I go out in my pjs and clean the dog poop, hose off the surface, feed the fish and generally water most of the plants. I realized today that I have to not water the plumeria, I could rot them easily in those pots. Before, the pots were so small that the roots used up most of the space and I watered them almost daily. I am thinking of having Oscar drill holes in the sides of the pots when he comes back on Monday. I don't want to weaken the pot but I do want them to dry out quickly.

Sadly, I also discovered that the plumeria I rescued from a house about to be demolished, has rotted away. The top of it is still putting out claws but the bottom is completely hollow. I cut it off and left it to dry out a bit while I figure out where I can plant it. I will have to find a small pot and use mostly the sand/gravel and hope it survives. I had put it behind some chairs out of sight because my male dog thought it was a fireplug, it's rained almost every day and it just got too wet I guess.

Aww that's sad..but maybe it will still pull through.

I have done same booboo in watering with my lithops and split rock..forgot they were down the rack..oops..I almost drowned out the split rock

I am ever so careful with my plumie..still hoping to get one properly going. It looks like 4th attempt is showing better possibilities..keeping fingers crossed.

Hope you can shelter the plumie if it continues to rain.

Those look great, Jonna, I have two large galvanized pots/tubs we have used for parties. I was wondering if they would work for plumerias? I think they're at least as big as your new ones, but might get hotter since they're metal. Maybe I can "sacrifice" one!