Ok. Once again there seems to be differing opinions about how much or how often to water a newly potted plumie.

One belief is that after the initial watering when the plant was potted, it shouldn't be watered again until new leafs have formed. Up to 6-8 weeks.

The other is that you keep the soil moist and don't allow it to dry out.

Significantly different I'd say.

Hetty, drdawg, tarev, Kimmie and Gigi....and anyone else, opinions please?

Hi Mike,

I water the cuttings lightly when they're first potted, then I don't water them again until I see that the leaves are sprouting. I potted up 6 cuttings that I got in Maui this year, and 5 of them rooted, but I lost Donald Angus that got wet from all of the rains we had been having. It took weeks for the others to leaf out, and they've finally been put in full sun. I kept them in semi shade until they started growing leaves.

Best of luck with your cuttings!

Annette

Annette,
Thank you for sharing. So, "semi-shade"....is that morning sun only then shade in the afternoon?

I think your climate plays a large part in this.
We have great humidity here in the summer which makes people unhappy but plumeria happy As a result we don't need to water our cuttings at all. Your area is much drier so you may need to mist your cuttings regularly to keep them from drying out.
However, at all cost avoid cold and wet. Here our nights are in the mid to high seventies at the moment so my cuttings are out in the weather, and yes, rain, without problems. I understand your nights may go down to the 50's and therefore you must be vigilant about your rooting cuttings getting wet AND cold.
I hope this helps.

Since my cuttings are in a greenhouse and it is both extremely hot and dry, I mist my cuttings every few days. When they begin to leaf out, there is no visible end rot, and they pass the "tug" test, I will carefully dig around the base of the cutting(s) and if roots are present, I will take them outside, where they will get 3-4 of hours of sun in the morning and perhaps some late afternoon sun as well. They will still be in their perlite/charcoal rooting "soil". After a week or two, I will remove them from these pots and transplant them to pots with potting soil that has excellent drainage but still retains some moisture. They will be in full sun at that point.

I will be leaving for Idaho this afternoon, white-water rafting for five days on the Salmon River and sleeping out under the stars. There will be no TV, radio, cell phone, or computer service the whole time I am on the river. I will return home Sunday. Therefore I will be out-of-touch with my computer for a week.

P.S. My wife takes over my tropical plants, but all she has to do is water the 600-700 plants every-other-day. It will be good experience for her! LOL

My weather conditions is similar to Hetty, so when I'm rooting my cuttings these days, they are outside in their natural elements. It is soo hot and dry during the day (and night) that the natural weather conditions keeps the potting soil moist. We usually have extreme heat during the day, so my cuttings are in part-shade, then it rains in the afternoon but still hot at night so I don't worry about the cuttings being wet and cold.

For me, the most important element when rooting is the "bottom heat", so my cuttings are on my brick patio or concrete walkway where it gets the maximum bottom heat. Lately, I've been rooting them in the coke plastic cups so I can see the status of the soil (moist or totally dry) and I can see when the roots start forming as well as the visible leaves. (Later when it is not so hot out I will take photos). If my cuttings look "slightly shriveled", then I would mist the stem in the morning. If they are "very shriveled", I would wrap the stem with paper towel and mist the paper towel everyday but not the soil.

Remember some cuttings do not root or show leaves in 6 to 8 weeks, so if you feel the soil is too dry, don't be afraid to give the soil a tiny sip (once in a while) but do it in the morning so it has a chance to dry out. I had 2 very shriveled White Shingapore cuttings that I had been trying to root since Feb and they still do not have visible roots and the claws are growing very slowly each day so I just ignore it...so long as the stem is firm (now looking plump) and not rotted. Ignore, ignore, ignore is my response...no tugging at all (baby roots easily come off) but giving them a little sip every now and then. Here in FL, Plummies can thrive on neglect once rooted.

Great information Hetty, Ken and Gigi!

Mike, my cuttings sit on my covered portion of my back deck, and get dappled afternoon sun. Our weather is colder here, and we had nights going down into the 40's still in June. The Hawaiian cuttings were planted on June 29th, (pic #1) and this is as far as they have gotten. At least Lei Plantation (#2) has an inflo. The 3rd picture shows my cuttings compared to the rooted cuttings that I got from BBB at the end of July, and potted up in early August. The BBB plants haven't put on much growth either since being potted, and they have been in full sun. We've had rain for the past 3 days, we didn't get out of the 60's on Friday, and we hit a balmy 71 degrees today.




Picture #5 shows how much my cuttings from a co-op have grown since being potted in 2011, these were potted up today. The Riviera Rainbow that I got from Hetty last September has also done very well and got repotted today as well. Pictures #6 and #7 shows how much growth the plants have since being started as cuttings in 2008.

Thank you all for passing along your wisdom! I'm going try a couple of different things based on the info given by each of you. I'll keep you posted on progress and report back with photos / observations.

Thanks again everyone.

Nice illustration and explanation, Annette

Mike, best of luck growing your cuttings! I love growing plumerias, they're such a wonderful, colorful set of plants, and best of all, their blooms are so fragrant.


Hetty, thanks for the compliment

As to my experience in trying to root and watering plumeria cuttings, what I have learned is to water thoroughly only at the initial time it was potted. And in consideration of our very dry and extremely hot temps, I have to put the plant in part shade, since the plant also needs bottom heat. If you put it in direct sun immediately, the tips will just scorch. And like most young plants, once it is baking 95F and higher, it just slows down even more, so have to shelter it in shade. Occasionally I let a slight mist go its way, but never drenching the root base since no leaves, no roots yet. How long do I wait till I can water again, that is the agony, since it takes awhile for those leaves to form, at least in my area, being very, very low humidity levels. Have learned that leaf clawing is not good enough, has to be fully formed leaves before I can water again. And on occasions that blooms came out first, with no leaves, still should not be watered, since there are no roots down there.

Find a spot in your garden, where you can leave it alone while it gets its part sun/part shade after you have first potted it and given its first watering. Sometimes that is the hardest thing to do.. to ignore the plant while it does its thing at its own snail pace

Indeed! But so important. A good friend used to say: pot it up and then go bother something else for a while...