Viewing post #389168 by GigiAdeniumPlumeria

@cyra the comparison about the people who gamble and only brag about the winnings but rarely about what they lost is sooo true!!! When I was searching about air-layering plumerias, I found blogs about their first attempt to air-layer plumeria but then no follow-up post whether their air-layering was successful or not. However, there was someone in one of the websites who claimed he was successful with airlayering plumerias and kind of guarantees that you will not lose the inflo. So I had to try it myself:). I have a few DSPs so they became my experiment...and now the collateral damage, which broke my heart . The first experiment is gone, but I grafted the remaining 3-tip to give it a 2nd chance. The 2nd one rooting in a cup still has healthy tips and firm stem, so hopefully I can save it. By the way, I initially used scotch tape and bread ties.


@Hetty, you are soooo right, I have more success growing from well calloused cuttings.

@drdawg great observation that air layering is better for hardwood and soft cuttings. I will try airlayering my favorite Pink grapefruit and My lemon tree I agree, about the light colors rooting easier than red colors.

Observation:
There were other things too that I think contributed to my failure, I used sphagnum moss (instead of half perlite/half soil), which got a little bit nasty and stinky. Also, I started my airlayering experiment during winter time when the DSP was not in active growth. I thought having it indoor and the fact that it didn't go dormant will not hinder the rooting process. When I moved the DSP outdoor because it was starting to warm up, we had a cold snap for 2 to 3 days, which was the last nail on the coffin. So, I'm guessing it might be worth a 2nd try but carefully avoiding what I think contributed to my failure. I read somewhere that soft wood is good for early spring air-layering and hardwood around summertime.

Here is a link on the the journey of my failed air-layering experiment:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/g...

It will be nice though to hear from one of the plumeria growers who successfully propagated a plumeria by air-layering, with the before and after photo. However, if Hetty, who is a plumeria expert and the commercial growers do not use this method of propagating the plumerias, as drdawg mentioned earlier, maybe the success rate is very low.