I noticed three pots with roots growing along the trunks. We've had lots of rain, and now no rain. I know the photo isnt very good. I took it with my phone, but the roots are visible, I think. Also, this is the first year I've had no blooms on any of the plumerias. I think all the rain and more tree shade has had some effect on them, but this is something new. And yes, I have fertilized them. Can anyone tell me what's up with them?

I have absolutely no clue, Sandi. In all the years of growing plumeria I don't remember ever having seen this happen.

Quick, cut those stems and pot them up. Instant rooting!

My plants seem to bloom much better when they get lots of sun. I would guess that 6 hrs. might be the minimum my bloomers get.

It is the excess humidity. Not to worry.

Do those roots simply disappear then, Hetty?

I have never even heard of this happening. Thanks for the pic! With gardening, you see and experience new things every day

James, I looked pretty thoroughly on every plumeria informational site I could think of, and I could not find a single mention, much less a photo, of roots growing on the trunks of trees. Perhaps this is something seen in S. FL, but I sure don't remember having ever seen even a single root form the way Sandi's tree has done.

I am waiting for @Dutchlady1 to tell us what becomes of those roots. This is sure an interesting phenomenon, at least to me.

very interesting and intriguing! I couldn't find anything about it on the net either.

I have lots of orchids that grow aerial roots, but they are epiphytes. Last I heard, plumeria are not.

I'm going to pull one of them out of its pot when it cools down later today. Maybe it's root bound.

Root bound or not, I wouldn't think that would explain the roots growing on the trunk, Sandi. I probably have dozens of plants that would technically be called "root-bound". Do you see roots growing out of the bottom of the pot? I have lots that are doing that now, but with fall just around the corner, I am not going to up-pot any of those.

I still want to know what will happen to those trunk-roots if just left alone.

Being rootbound won't have anything to do with it. Think of it as 'water rooting' in an excessively humid environment. I have seen numerous examples of this. When drier air returns these roots will simply dry up. It is not hurting the plant.

Interesting! Thanks for the info, Hetty. I've never seen that happen, even when we lived in the Marshall Islands with over 100 inches of rain a year, mostly in a 6 month period. I had a yard full of different Plumerias and they never did that.

I lived in Honolulu for three years and had plumeria "hedges" and trees, and never saw anything like this!

Sandi, we may want to submit this to the "Guinness Book of World Records" or perhaps "Believe It Or Not".

Ken, I've never seen this before, but it was an unusually wet summer. I do like your idea to cut one and see if it will "root" for me.

It started raining again this evening. I'll have to go out in the morning to check the pots. If it were only one, I'd just think the pot had too much rainwater. I do have some really big pots also, but none of those seem to have the roots growing out the sides of the trunks. 'Just the three smaller pots.

If you cut one and try to root it, definitely let us know how it turns out

Will do!

@Rainbow sent me a treemail last night that read:

"Plumeria is related to Adenium. I have observed aerial roots on 3 of my adeniums, though not as many roots as you have on your plumera. There was some rotting going at or near the base or in the caudex due to overly wet soil in their pots, and I believe the plants were stressed and its survival mechanism caused the plant to produce roots. For example, if the plant did collapse due to rot, the roots were ready to root into the soil it might have contact with."

As soon as it was light enough to get outside, I moved one of the pots up to get better photos and it started raining again. I plan to pull this plumeria out of its pot to check for rotting. And thanks, Rainbow, for another suggestion of why these have these crazy roots!

No root rot found. The soil is damp, but not wet. I only unpotted one of them.









I think I'll cut this one into four plants and see what happens. Kind of late in the season, but it'll be an experiment.

Good experiment, Sandi.