Hi Dave,
I am the director of research for the PSA and I am doing a lot of work on grafting. Unlike for fruit trees, plumeria grafting works in two diametrically opposite ways causing large scars, grafts that fail to connect, etc. In addition, plumeria grafts can rot. I made a whole a lot of progress in understanding what goes on and how to counter all these things. I plan to write a series of articles in Plumeria Potpourri to explain all these things and show people how to gafrt plumerias with 100% success rate and make strong grafts with hairline scars.

So, trying to answer all you questions here in detail is not possible. There is way too much information. Just be patient and I will send you the articles.

The screen is part of the technology to prevent rotting and make hairline grafts. I use rubber bands, they are underneath the screen. The best grafting technique is the angled cut and the optimum angle is 30-40 degrees. I have grafted scions up to four feet in length with over 10 tips. My preferred scion is after flowering, with at least three tips, about 6-12" in length.

By the way, the aluminum foil is a good idea. I just use the bags that the newspapers come in. They have adds on them and they are translucent.

tc,
George

George, you're doing great work! I would love to read your articles and research, but must one join the PSA?

My very limited experience with grafting has shown me that one needs to keep the graft union: 1) stable, 2) cool (not overly hot), and 3) dry.

dave

Thank You Dave,
to get Plumeria Potpourri you need to be a member of the PSA. It is issued four times a year and contains all kind of information about plumerias. Just that is worth the $25 per year membership fee.

You do not need to joint if you do not want to. Just send me your E-mail address and I will send you the articles when they are published.

For grafting to be successful, you must ESTABLISH and MAINTAIN cambium contact. Both words are very important. For example, using a rubber band established cambium contact but does not maintain it because it is elastic and streaches. So, when the scion's soft white core starts expanding, the rubber band stretches and cambium contact is broken. The scion still touches the rootstock, but not at the cambium line. This leads to graft failures and large scars. So, you must do something else to maintain the cambium contact besides the rubber band.

Keeping it cool is not necessary. The sun does not bother the graft (unless you do what I did with the black screen).

Keeping it dry is a must to avoid rotting. What most people do not get is that the graft can get wet from both water from the outside (outside the wrap) and from moisture condensation from underneath the wrap. That is why I use a water bottle to keep the garft dry from both insise and outside moisture.

You must also maintain high humidity around the graft to aid in healing.

tc'
George

George, I would be honored to receive any of your articles. You have not activated your 'Send me an email' feature under your profile.

However, you can send me email at:

klemmd (at) gmail (dot) com

I hesitate to post my email here as there are those who phish for this stuff.

Thanks George! I say it all the time about those black pots, the plants in black pots need watered 2-5 times as much as plants in clay or ceramic pots. You can just feel how hot they are sitting in the sun.

Interested to keep up with your grafting experiments. Joining psa this week.
Tally HO!

$25 is not too bad. It's just that once one has joined the Plumeria Society, Camellia Society, American Holly Society, etc., etc. It starts to add up!

I think I actually was a member for a while a long time ago. I think the website has improved since then.