I live in Mesa AZ and planted these 2 rubra plumeria plants last July. I used potting soil to which I added about 1/3 perlite. Being from Mesa I tend to water a lot and everything I read said that they quickest way to kill a plumeria is to overwater it so I have been watering only about twice a week. Everything seemed to be going well until we hit temperatures over 100. The plants are on my front porch (east side of house) and are between two 2-story houses so they only get morning sun. I had the plants on the edge of the tree line so that they would get some direct sun but as the temperature has now risen to 117 I have moved them completely under the tree so that they will not get any direct sun. I noticed that the leaves were turning yellow and thought that I was perhaps watering too much but now I am beginning to think that I am not watering them enough. From the photos can you tell if I am watering too much, not enough, or if they are just getting too much sun? Also, I think the one plant is starting to bloom but I am not sure because it is pretty late in the season to be blooming. This is my first experience with plumeria so any advice you can give would be much appreciated.

Hello MesaGirl, during summer and during heat wave periods, I actually water my Plumeria here everyday. I also spritz the trunk. It is very, very thirsty. Though our dry heat is not as onerous as yours, we did have it recently for 9 days, we also hit about 112F on some days, and everyday for that 9 days having about 6 to 7 hours of very dry 100F and higher temps. It will drop older lower leaves as it tries to adjust and reallocate its existing resources. It seems typical with most plants, and trees, there is just a limit to what they can take when it comes to excessive dry heat. I just water thoroughly directly the soil in the container.

I do my watering early in the day, before the hot sun hits it. That aspect of watering in intervals depends on various factors, prominent among them is temperature. Plumerias can take the heat, but it needs good humidity levels. Unfortunately during super dry heat wave, it will struggle a bit, but it will carry on, as long as it gets watered everyday, and your media has been very well draining. With the super low humidity, I think it is even hard to overwater it, water dries out very fast. It is another matter, if the plant has not leafed out yet properly, then it has to wait till well formed leaves are showing. But yours is in leaf, so it can surely drink as much as it can to survive the summer dry heat.

It is not yet too late in the season for blooms actually. I sometimes get my blooms towards the end of summer, into Fall. We all have variations in our growing areas, so it may come late to bloom, at times in my area, it seems to wait till it goes back to the mid-high 80F's to initiate its buds, so my blooming season is really short.

I have 2 plumeria in pots in Scottsdale. They are under my olive trees. I am watering them daily now that we're having such bad heat. Before it hit the triple digits I was watering twice a week.

tarev said:Hello MesaGirl, during summer and during heat wave periods, I actually water my Plumeria here everyday. I also spritz the trunk. It is very, very thirsty. Though our dry heat is not as onerous as yours, we did have it recently for 9 days, we also hit about 112F on some days, and everyday for that 9 days having about 6 to 7 hours of very dry 100F and higher temps. It will drop older lower leaves as it tries to adjust and reallocate its existing resources. It seems typical with most plants, and trees, there is just a limit to what they can take when it comes to excessive dry heat. I just water thoroughly directly the soil in the container.

I do my watering early in the day, before the hot sun hits it. That aspect of watering in intervals depends on various factors, prominent among them is temperature. Plumerias can take the heat, but it needs good humidity levels. Unfortunately during super dry heat wave, it will struggle a bit, but it will carry on, as long as it gets watered everyday, and your media has been very well draining. With the super low humidity, I think it is even hard to overwater it, water dries out very fast. It is another matter, if the plant has not leafed out yet properly, then it has to wait till well formed leaves are showing. But yours is in leaf, so it can surely drink as much as it can to survive the summer dry heat.

It is not yet too late in the season for blooms actually. I sometimes get my blooms towards the end of summer, into Fall. We all have variations in our growing areas, so it may come late to bloom, at times in my area, it seems to wait till it goes back to the mid-high 80F's to initiate its buds, so my blooming season is really short.

Thanks so much for your reply. I really want my plumeria to survive. I went to school in Hawaii and I really love the flowers but Arizona is not quite Hawaii so am unsure at times how to best care for them. I will definitely start watering them every day as I do my other potted plants and I am so excited that the one is starting to bloom. The lady at the nursery where I bought them said they may not bloom for years. Also, how often should I feed them in summer and what would be the best food to give them? I have been giving them Miracle Grow all purpose plant food.

I just use osmocote, I apply fertilizer in late Spring, once the plant has shown it is awake and leaves showing. I also add/mix in compost on my container soil. I am not heavy on fertilizer on my Plumerias, but wait for inputs from others, We have different ways of treating this lovely plant. So far it works for mine.

Sometimes, they do surprise us, by blooming when you least expect it, especially on our locations which is not its typical favored growing area.

It is good your plant has some shade. My plant also gets some shade from the city trees here, I have no choice actually since I have very limited direct sun area. And it actually worked in its favor.

When seasons change, like going into fall, then winter, once your overnights starts going below 50F, you have to gradually do watering intervals and eventually stop watering. The plant will slow down and will go dormant when it gets cold, till it wakes up nicely in Spring again. But during the hot summer time, water as much as you can.