I've seen some messages about topping the plumeria.

How do you top it and what does it do to the plumeria?

I am not sure what you mean by "topping" your plumeria, Lucky. If you mean to simply cut the branches/tips, I do this all the time. I take 2-3 dozen cuttings each and every year. I root the cuttings and those cut tips generally will produce branching. That's a way to encourage a more dense plant.

How you mean cut the branches...are you referring to the leaves or the tip of the Pulmerias, Ken? Any pictures? Thanks

I had read a topic on here where there plumeria was getting to tall and was top heavy. Saw someone mention topping it to bring it down to a good size height.
Wasn't sure if they meant cutting it at the top or the bottom. If it was the bottom I can understand that it is now back to a big cutting.

When my Plumeria's get too tall to see or smell the flowers (mine are in the ground here in Florida) without a ladder I choose a height I like (usually somewhere between my waist & my head and cut all the branches to that height. It gives me LOTS of branches that I can then root, AND on the 'mother plant' it usually puts out at least 2 or 3 new branches where it was cut!

I keep all my plumeria about like Patty does, at a manageable 6' or less height. I have to move mine inside for the fall/winter months, so size is important to me. I try to wait until the branches/tips are at least 24", are a nice and plump 1 - 1/2" thick, and the base where the cut is made not too green. To get these parameters, I usually take cuttings mid to late summer. I am no expert here, far from it, but this works for me when I am rooting cuttings. The base/trunk of some of my plumeria are 4-5" thick. I have never taken a cutting in that thick wood. Thus, I don't know how a cutting that thick would root or what sort of branching/tips would form from a cut trunk. I feel sure there are those, particularly in FL and S. CA that have done this and can tell you their results.

So, basically you can just cut the trunk at 5 foot. Then all the branches above it make cutting off it?
So, does the trunk that's left, produce leaves are does it callus up?

The cut will callus but then will usually branch. Those branches will form just below the callused cut. I have has cuts produce one branch/tip, two tips, and up to six tips. There is no way to know.

I'm curious what your plumerias look like in winter Ken. Do you have pics of how they look like before the haircut and after?

I usually does a haircut of mine when the wheat her mine starts mentioning frost, which is late Dec, late Jan or like last year, early Feb. My Momma plants will usually branch out 3 to 4 where I cut it and will usually bloom same season, except this season no blooms on my new branches.

I will go out later and take some pictures of a couple of plumeria that I cut back a month or so ago. I will take a couple of pictures of the cuttings sitting in a bucket of coarse perlite so you can see the tips that were removed.

I don't really know whether those cut ends with new growth (done in the spring) flower the same year (summer/fall) or not. I simply have never noticed. I think @Hetty believes that it will be the next year before (possible) flowering, so perhaps she kept up with this. I have a feeling that she is correct that branches/trunk won't flower the same year that they have been cut. I do label my cuttings as to the date they were taken, so I do have a time-table for their rooting. That's about it for record-keeping.

dianna
Oct 24, 2015 10:24 AM CDT
New ATP Member

This plumeria tree was a small.cutting brought by my uncle from.Hawaii many years ago. It has grown to be about 3feet tall, Now has 2 main branches starting about one foot from the bar of the soil. It is planted in a pot that is about 2` x 2` .
One of the branches just started 4 new shoots maybe a 5th. The other branch is single, both have leaves from 5" to 12".
It has bloomed one time with many.beautiful white fragrant flowers.
I was told my pot was too small, besides that I want to cut it to make 2 trees, don't know how to do this, or what size pot to use.I don't want to kill.either piece, can.you help?
Thumb of 2015-10-24/dianna/3ee705


Thumb of 2015-10-24/dianna/93f33c


Thumb of 2015-10-24/dianna/a6a564

I can't see any pics Ken

I am not good at this stuff. Let me see if I can copy and paste the pictures from Dianna.

No luck. Someone will have to tell me how to post those three pictures from the T-Mail.

Ken just posted some great pics on a new thread called "question about cuttings" cause he couldn't remember how to get here!

Thanks

I was scared when I had to cut back my 12 ft plumeria early this past summer. It simply got too tall to handle. Plus the Riviera Rainbow had giant 18" leaves to boot making it very top heavy. It had bloomed once for the first time. But if I let it grow one more season, I knew I would have trouble getting it into the greenhouse.

I cut it down to 3 ft tall, and handed out generous cuttings to 3 people. I was so scared! But everyone here babied me through it. I over-worried when the 4" diameter stump rotted at the top. I doused it in peroxide and put Saran Wrap over it to protect it from the rain. Oh! How I worried!! That tree is now 6 feet tall again with 4 branches. It hasn't bloomed this year. But I bet next year it will surprise me.

and hopefully it will be easier for you to enjoy the blooms next year.

Hey Lucky...local news is talking about a tornado warning ..hope you are from from the area being broadcast.

Thanks Tarev, I actually just got back from So Cal. Been on a much needed vacation :)
I heard about the tornado warning and one actually touching down while I was all the way down in Disneyland