well if the top part still has white sap and looks healthy you may be able to re root it. Can't hurt to try.

Mike

You should be able to do 2 center cuts with this if there is latex right at the V. If you seal the tops with LET, it can stimulate new branches. I have a center cut about 8 inches long that has 5 branches sprouting. It's worth a try.

This isn't a great pic but you can see the branches starting here.

This post was edited by DelWH on Sat, Jun 15, 13 at 0:25

You should be able to re-root those tips as they look fine.

Was all of the dark rotten part buried in the soil??? If so, that was too deep IMO.

Tony

I think I'll attempt the center cuts. What is LET?

Tony,

Yes, most of the dark area was under the soil (I also just washed it with water to get the dirt off so I could see what was going on - which is why it's really dark.) When I planted the Plumeria originally, I just cut away the nursery pot and planted it, so that's how deep it was planted in the original pot, I guess - it never occurred to me to check that.

LET is Liquid Electrical Tape. You can get it at Home Depot. Comes in different colors, you just brush it on and it seals the top. That's the black stuff you see at the top. There's anecdotal evidence that something in it stimulates branch growth. I have a C Stars plant that black tipped this winter. I cut off the top and sealed it with LET and it is also sprouting 5 side branches now.

I am brand new to plumerias but if that were mine I would DEFINITELY try to reroot the top parts! the best thing about plants is that they have a will to survive!

Well, I got a single maybe 6" center cutting that was free of rot. I don't have a lot of hope, but you never know. One of my other potted plumies (C-Stars Cancun Dreams) had to be cut back so much I thought for sure it would die, but now it looks like this:

I have since planted a big Celadine in the spot where the Cal Sal was. I used a different soil mix to amend the area (drainage was already okay, and I dug up a huge section of the bed to do it, so no "bowl of water" here, I hope). I amended with gypsum and steer manure at the bottom, then mixed some original soil with Big R (finally found it locally in Covina!), a little more manure, perlite, and pumice. I brushed the dirt off the trunk some as well, and planted it slightly higher than the bed, and watered with B1 and Superthrive. Here are some pix!

Guillot's Sunset on the left, Celadine on the right

With those tips being short, I would be tempted to callus them in mulch as George has instructed works very well for callusing, especially small cuttings. You can use the search function on this forum for posts by Citizen_Insane.

Thanks, Moonie. Ever since I read George's post about mulch, I've been using it with great results! So, as soon as I took the small cutting, I immediately buried it in a container of mulch, since it can't afford any "shrinkage." I don't have a lot of hope for this particular cutting, but you never know. If it lives, maybe I should play the lotto. LOL