Hi rdwestfield,
to the site!
Can you upload a photo showing the stem tip with the white substance? It certainly sounds like the normal sap but I'm sure someone can tell for sure if we can see a photo.
Depending on your location, it may take awhile for your newly planted cutting to produce flowers but what you describe as a
claw sounds like the beginning of an inflorescence. A neighbor gave us a very large (approximately 7 foot cutting) from one of their Plumeria trees when they were pruning them last year. I'm in Florida so we planted them in the ground right away and both had inflorescence growth before the leaves came out.
I hope you will be able to upload a photo or two so that we can see for sure what might be going on with your plant.
