I sure do wish you hadn't said that about lava flow from hawaii sandy, Freak4plumeria! I bought one from her last summer. Nice big fat cutting, rooted easily, and it now has inflos on both branches. I was afraid they'd look washed out due to our short growing season here in Ohio. I'll have to post pics when it blooms. Do you think spending the winter warm and under grow lights will help with the colors? I sure hope so. My Leela bloomed during the winter, and it was mostly yellow and white. I do believe it is a Leela though, because of the shape of the petals. I'll probably have to wait till next summer for more blooms from her. Crafty

Crafty I've kept blooming plumies under 1000 watt HID lights during the winter and the color is still washed out. Maybe if you have a good amount of natural sunlight supplimented with full spectrum grow lights you'll get better color. I don't know.

Alot of times the color, size and shape can be effected by the temps and the sunlight etc.
Purple Jack is a lavendar but only if you have enough heat and light. My plumies are by the beach so it rarely gets to the low 90's and if it does it the heat only lasts a couple of days. Usually the temps during the summer are anywhere from the upper 70's to the upper 80's.
My Metalica even without the heat looks pretty purple.

Also Lava flow I think needs more heat to get the really pretty red stripe.

I am posting a pic of my Lava Flow and Metallica and Penang Peach so you can see what my blooms look like in 80 something degree heat.

Lava flow:

Metallica:

Penang Peach:

Hi,
love the thread.. I don't know about my penang peach, still young 2nd year, and has not bloomed or grown! Watching DAves for the color on this one also.

Karen b

Even if your Lava Flow didn't color up as much as you expected it's still a beautiful bloom. I've never seen it before. Might just have to go look for that one. lol

I think my most overrated is the Princess Victoria because some years it will only produce Metari Pink flowers and then every once in awhile it produces the color break. I love the look with the color break but, like last year, I waited all season without one single flower with a break.
Freak-4- I think you are correct about Lava Flow as it looks so great when it has high heat and humidity but here in soCal mine has just been an ok yellow. Bill

Hey Ya'll
Thanks for your comments about your plumies.

Bill I feel for you as I have the same situation as you with the heat.
Actually people in the Valley and Inland Empire get great color, pinks look purple, colored stipes, splashes etc show up since they have incredible heat of 90's and 100's on an average during the summer months. The only difference is the Inland areas of So Cal get the color where the Coastal So Cal growers get the size, our flowers will be twice as large if not larger than the hot areas.

OK...I must just throw this out there...

All those with a Lava Flow that they are not happy with...I will take her off your hands!!! I promise to give it high heat and all the humidity it wants here south of Houston... :) I'll send you 8 x 10 glossies annually...

That is one plumie that is #1 on my wish list...

~Mary Jane

Mary Jane?
Is that a pseudonym for your favorite hobby.....is it 420 yet..lol..lol...lol
Couldnt resist..

F-4-P I've been thinking (usually trouble)... I wonder if as an inflo prepared to open, if it were sprayed with mist and then inflate a clear plastic bag and rubber band so it forms a dome over the inflo, if the flowers might be more colorful. Of course you would have to mind the temperature outside so it did not get too hot....oh well, just more thinking to get me in trouble. Bill

F-4-P I've been thinking (usually trouble)... I wonder if as an inflo prepared to open, if it were sprayed with mist and then inflate a clear plastic bag and rubber band so it forms a dome over the inflo, if the flowers might be more colorful. Of course you would have to mind the temperature outside so it did not get too hot....oh well, just more thinking to get me in trouble. Bill

Hey Bill,
That is a smart Idea, simulates a greenhouse with heat and humidity.
The only issue I might have is that without circulation you run the risk of spider mites and disease. The other thing is If there were only couple of inflos than it would be great, but some of my plants get anywhere from 50 to over 100 inflos so that would be a lot of work. In Japan if you go to the country side and you happen to see a apple farm you will notice that they put cloth bags over every apple on the tree now that is a TON of work..lol.
The last thing is that if I took off the bag I would be scared that the shock of the temperature change would cause my inflo to possibly abort.

Thanks for the great feed back and Ideals Bill.
Love discussing and hashing over concepts and Ideals about growing plumies.

Hi, Freak and Bill, Let's push this idea a little farther. My Lava Flow only has two inflos. How about I do an experiment and do as Bill suggests on just one of the inflos? They are very nice sized flower heads. Will a rubber band stress the inflo in any way? Mine are still inside, but I've been sitting it in a very sunny, warm window most of the day. I'm game, if you'd like me to try it. Anything that might get it to be the color it's supposed to be. Crafty

feak,

regarding the apples, I covered about 50 marble-sized apples with sandwich bags last year(you thin each cluster to only one apple, then bag it). Each apple was perfect! -- no coddling moth worms or anything. Only trouble was, the bags grabbed the attention of the racoons or maybe squirrels. Each bagged apple was systematically removed from the tree and the small developing apple was consumed. Bags littered my lawn. Only four apples remained and that was because I covered that branch with a chickenwire cage! LOL! They even reached in and tore the baggie thru the chicken wire! Life is really hard in the suburbs.

F-4-P: My dad loved the candies....

{{gwi:585577}}

Ok..before we get back to plumies, gotta know.."is it 420 yet"?????? I didn't just fall off a turnip truck, but I don't 'recall' that one??? Please enlighten... :)

~Mary Jane

Mary Jane,
LOL>>LOL You dont know what 420 is?
In this case you should have said the HEMP truck VS. Turnip truck....lol

420 is another name for Maryjane aka Pakalolo aka Goodtimes.
Not that I am talking from experience I have only heard..

Freak,
Just wanted to share a photo of my lava flow, summer 2008. This is a young plant, first time blooming here in the Inland Empire. With time the colors should become more vibant.
Dave

Jeannie Moragne,blooming July 2008 showing darker colors of an established plant. One of my favorites.
Dave

Hey Trojanfan,
Nice pics. I mentioned in early posts that if your in the Inland empire you will get great colors, very saturated.
Your pictures prove my point, the one thing we get with our cooler coastal temps is larger/huger flowers.

Thanks for sharing great colors on your plumies.

Crafty- I would guess the bag needs to be large enough to enclose the whole inflo and be attached to the branch. It may need some wires to hold it from blowing into the inflo as it forms. I often use coat hanger wire to hold up seed pods which I tie to the branch with no damage. Again, this is just a thought and I do not know if it will work or not. Bill

Hey Dave n Nova,

In Japan they use Fabric bags, that way the fruit can breath.
I believe they were Fuji Apples. In Japan the farmers also limit the amount of fruit a tree carries along with the amount on a branch. The Japanese are looking for perfection, thus quality not quantity. Plus when you limit the number of fruits per branch you can get some huge fruit. When you go to the Japanes markets you can find special displays with these huge apples the size of a small cantaloupe. The skin is usually flawless and gorgeous, but you pay a premium price I believe I spent like $12.00 american for 1 large apple in the Ginza area. Even in the American markets you can find some quite large fuji apples but they do not compare to the largest Japanese ones.

Try the fabric bags, you might have to make them or find a specialty store that sells cotton bags
The fabric bags may also detour the birds,etc from trying to get yoru fruit as they will not see it and will be hard to tear through fabric.

Good Luck

Good Luck and let me know

Greetings group,

I'm on a break in my therapy read this thread and was interested by some of the comments. Particularly about size and color related to heat. No longer will a grower have to be concerned about smaller flowers in the heat. We have for the past three seasons not only doubled flower production also increased the flower size in our inland area of So. Cal.

Note below:

{{gwi:1158545}}

When label issues are resolved with the "FDA" we will be releasing some nutrition formulas i.e. some various ferts to add to the Inland growers arsenal of goodies. All of our formulas are fertilizer and supplements that are used in plant and food production (no exotic chemicals). The benefit of this is outstanding as we will not have to suffer with the small fast developing flowers and continue to have more vivid colors than before.

{{gwi:1158546}}

Jack

Hi, Bill and Freak, I'm going to figure out what to do tonight and set the plant up tomorrow. I'm going to use yarn instead of the rubber band or wire, it's much softer. For now the plant has to stay inside, it's still pretty chilly yet here in Ohio, but it gets really hot from the sun in front of my front door. I'll post a picture when I'm done. I think I'm going to stick with a plastic bag so the sun still hits the flower head. Cool idea about the cloth bag though. Fuji apples. Yummmmm....... My favorite kind! Crafty

Crafty,
You can try Twist ties or Pipe cleaners or Ribbon or Raphia.
The only issue again I would have is that there is no circulation in your bag, thus you may end up with a rotted inflo or perhaps spider mites, etc.
You know the blooms and inflos get pests also.
Just becareful and experiment on a plant that has many inflos or you dont care if you lose the inflo.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Hi Jack,
Love that look of California Sally. Wow a 5" bloom, would love that. I have a two year old plant, sure have hopes it may bloom this summer. Would love the darker colors too.

Also saw Jeanne Morange, hope to see that one bloom this summer too, a 3 yr old plant..hope hope.
Keep feeling ok Jack.
Karen B

Trojanfan & Freak both your lava flows are beautiful w/ or w/o the intense color, and I love your metallica Freak, I will have to add them to my wish list....Thanks for sharing
BTW where did you get them from? Thanks again...

Nikki

Nikki,
Both of mine were from Hawaiisandy, JL products.

Thats too bad about some of your plumies freak. My EPN flowers look great, but i dont have to worry about the heat factor here in Texas. Its over 100 degrees pretty much every day here in summer. I remember talking to Emmerson and he emphasized that you really need the heat for that flower to bloom at its full potential. I would have to agree with bill on the princess victoria. Its a nice flower, but i barely ever get a good color break out of it. Someone told me that you really have to stress the plant to bring the color break out. I have an inflo forming now, and i think im gonna try to stress it as much as possible. See if that helps. Other than that i havent really been let down by any others besides seedlings that bloom white with no scent. Those are the worst!

J, Bill - Agree w/ you guys 100% on the heat and humidity bringin out the colors. I just had to look at any variety on da aina vs. what I have here in the south bay to come up w/ that conclusion. After noticing the color variations 2 season ago I experimented w/ a hot house that I would keep at 80-90% humidity and 10-15 degrees hotter than the outside temps, mimicking tropical climates and I definitely saw the difference. Most notably was the difference in a cv dubbed Aztec Pink, that I got from a nursery in Irvine
Maybe some of you remember from the MPG thread in 07. basically light pink outside / purple in the hothouse. Many others confirmed the test too.
you can see evidence of this if you frequent c-stars' sauna, I mean greenhouses. what blooms there is not what blooms in your yard, even though I only live like 2 miles away. So, greenhouse = good, but I don't have the luxury of property to have a 50' x 20' greenhouse. I love my plumies no matter how they bloom, as long as they do BLOOM! - haha
Happy Easter everyone

Hey HIWAY 86,
I love my EPN, it only rarely gets the white around the center, but I love the fact it blooms so profusely and is the most reliable bloomer every year.

Hey Kaz,

I agree with you when you say you still love your plumies regardless, I do also.
The only thing is when plumies are undercover or in a GH you ahve to worry about Spider Mites and even different types of fungs...even rust.
Even without a Greenhouse I tend to get spider mites, I think it is because my plants are too close to each other so the circulation is not the best. This is a sign that a person has too many plants and not enough room...lol

Thanks again ya'll

Hi Freak, thanks for the info, so those are pretty pricey then since they are from JL, being new and all I'm afraid to kill them, I'll wait till my thumb are a little greener. BTW how do you order from them? Do they have a website?
I totally agree with you Kaz, some of my plumies I have are the common whites and yellows, but still I'm anxiously waiting for them to bloom, I love them nonetheless, just want to see a bloom and of course smell them lol.....

Nikki,
I bought years ago from EBAY from Sandy which means I paid a premium, 500.00 for my metallica cuting 4yrs ago. I get JLS price sheet and have ordered a few from there as of last year.
There is no website sorry, dole use to sell some of his cuttings but I think their webstore is down right now.
Write into JL and maybe he will send you a price list, but supposedly he was not going to sell to new customers on a retail level anymore, but who knows.
Good Luck

I've seen a few nurseries online that sell JL cuttings, Nikki. I'm not sure if you are looking for a specific cutting or just a JL in general. I like the JL Red Orange.

Freak, $500 thats crazy, I hope the price has gone down now so that I can maybe get one, was that for a cutting or a rooted plant? But perhaps JL doesn't do rooted plants, just cutting right? But Metallica is really beautiful...In your opinion was it worth the $500 that you spent?
Astrl, I'm not looking to find JL cuttings I just really like the Lava Flow and the Metallica and they just happen to come from him. I heard that the Golden Pagoda also came from him, thats another good one too, but also pricey too. I haven't seen the JL Red Orange yet.. BTW congrats on your blooms, the Kauka Wilder was really pretty....

sorry about a late posting, as I've been off this forum for a bit...

Interesting topic, and I found the discussion about coastal influence very pertinent. The colors don't always develop or intensify. However, my flowers are definitely smaller than those in hotter climes. I bought a plant from a grower about 5-10 miles inland which had a 5" bloom - when the inflo bloomed at home, it was 3" across

{{gwi:1158547}}

In another example, the flowers on the right side of the inflo bloomed in the greenhouse, the flower on the left bloomed in my backyard in June.

{{gwi:1158548}}

My conclusion is that the heat and/or humidity drives the size and color intensity. Has anyone else experienced this?

Ditto on Madame Poni. Plus, far too many flowers look similar without the heat to drive the color.

=^,,^= diana

Interesting discussion about heat and humidity and the impact on flowering. As far as I can tell, Hawaii is known for their spectacular Plumeria...but I don't think Hawaii is classified as a hot climate with temps regularly breaking the 90's - isn't it consistently very warm but not hot? How then are they able to produce perfect flowers? Maybe humidity or very warm nights play as an important a role as temperature???

I'm curious to see the result of enclosing an inflo in a plastic bag to simulate a greenhouse...my gut tells me that the entire plant and leaves need those conditions, not just the flowers but I guess someone will have the real answer for us.

x

Hi, all, I've been so busy preparing for a wedding, waiting impatiently for a new granddaughter, and taking care of grandkids, and plumies ;o), I've totally forgot to let you know my results with the baggie. I can't post a pic yet, as my daughter still has my camera. I can tell you that I aborted the experiment within 2 weeks. The bagged side started looking sickly, and I didn't want to lose the inflo. The unbagged side has already bloomed, and the inflo is much larger than the bagged inflo. I didn't get any bugs in the bagged one, so that was a good thing. I'm still hoping the smaller inflo will catch up. I'll post pics when I get my camera back. Can anyone tell me what the scent of lava flow is? I can't figure it out. I apologize for forgetting about reporting on this. It's been crazy here! lol Hope you all have a great day! Crafty

Very interesting thread you started here F-4-P. While I don't post often, I have followed the thread with interest, not only to see what growers consider over rated plants but to note the different locations of the growers and their findings. I thought I would add these pictures of huge Penang Peach inflo from 2007 to show the intense color as it blossomed. We experienced almost a month of rain shortly after and you can see how the inflo changed.

7-6-07

note the dates and shortly after the second pic, with even more rain, the inflo just fell apart. It was nice while it lasted. We have no shortage of heat and humidity in S. Texas but the lack of sunshine did a number on the color!

Hi, Everyone, I finally had a free day to take pics of my Lava Flow after the experiment. Notice the size difference in the inflos! On the small one that was in the plastic bag, I'm picking 2-3 failed blooms off daily. I have no idea is the inflo is going to progress or not. It hasn't changed, other than losing buds, for the past 2-3 weeks. Maybe this experiment would have worked better in a warmer climate. I don't know, but I do know I won't be trying it again! Ah, well, you live and learn, right??? Hope you all have a great Memorial Day! Crafty
(Sorry the picture is so big, but I wanted you to see the dying buds on the small inflo.)

{{gwi:1158552}}

Hey Mystwitch,
Good to see you posting been forever :)
Love yoru P Peach, and I truly do see the difference...its a huge shift.
Thanks for sharing and love the pics

bump

Okay, now I have plumeria envy as I have a standard Celadine. I have high heat and lots of water, but due to location it only gets about 3 - 4 hours of direct sunlight a day. So the blooms are beautiful but the inflo is smaller than in your pics.

If I remember correctly the island of Hawaii has 11 of the 13 climates so it is hot and cool, dry and wet, etc. We did not see any plumeria in the hot and dry area.

I got the plumeria bug from St. Kitts 3 years ago and there temps range from moderatly warm in winter to very hot in summer and with huge seasonal rainfall. All of the plumeria on property are big full trees that reach up to the second story. However, the blooms don't appear to be any different than the ones on mine at home.

I have been very pleased with the fast growth rate of mine and it has now survived 3 separate frost days, better than the giant heliconias (bihai) I lost this year.

Singapore Dwarf Pink, I'm surprised nobody else said so. I love Glenn Stokes and his crew but I thought his "One plumeria you must own" was not great advice from somebody I otherwise had great luck with. In my opinion, it's the smallest, feeblest, least interesting blossom there is, and it gets those annoying speckles on it. I've seen it on Maui, where people grow it like a shrub, and I still don't like it.

I like this old thread, any new update for us followers of this post? There a lot of newer varieties by now. Thanks, much appreciated!!!

I agree on the PJ, I have a purple jack blooming right now & its not impressive, I wont be keeping this one around.

Ed

My California Sunset is blooming it's head off but the blooms are completely yellow, no pink edges, and the shape of the petals are elongated. It's supposed to smell like peaches but my flowers smell like suntan lotion. My local temps are fairly mild and the plant is new. Hopefully, I will see some pink coloring as the plant matures and the weather gets warmer. I'm giving the plant partial shade since it is young. Maybe I should move it to a place where it will receive more sun.

My CS really needs heat to get the right coloration going (and it usually starts out small and yellow at first, too) - I bet yours will get better as it gets settled in. It's a really nice flower/inflo, though, so worth hanging on to!

I'm getting rid of my JJ Thumbelina. It put up 2 inflos this year (sounds awesome, right?), which proceeded to spit out 1-2 sad-looking flowers at a time. I've tried putting it in sun, filtered sun, mostly shade, hot, cool, you name it. Whatever the problem is, I'm over it!

I'm also probably giving up on Paul Weissich - it's having some root issues or something since it never got past the long claw stage. It's just a small stick, though, so I might dig it out and take a look. This is my 2nd PW - the first one I had (a couple years ago) rotted over that winter. If this one goes, I don't think I'll replace it.

JJ Mini-white was on the chopping block, but got a reprieve because it put out an inflo (maybe it heard me talking!). Now, I kinda like the little guy - the flowers are much prettier than I thought they'd be, and the inflo has had good staying power.

Add 'Vera Cruz Rose' to the list of under-performers for me. But I grow in pots. This one is LANKY with a capital L. I just don't have the space. Maybe I'm giving it too much water and fert though.