Hi Chuy, Very sorry that he did this. I had one person come over when I was selling them and I showed him a seedpod and he told me that he had one but did not know what it was so cut it off also. Everybody has an idea on what is good or bad but maybe next time he will listen to you. Barb

Barb- I dont think i can ever recall reading anywhere in the forum seed pods harming the plant. How sad ;(. I was jumping up for joy when I saw them.

Chuy

Chuy- I am so sorry to hear about the seed pods. I would have been so sad, too. ;( My heart sank when I read your post.

Chuy, I have had many seedpods and they have never been a problem for the plant. You did put that his friend told him to cut them off because they would hurt the plant. I have never read that either but the friend was wrong. And so sorry that he did this. I am sure that your brother will not do that again. Barb

Some info to use as you see fit:

Plants have internal chemical messengers that help them decide where to allocate energy. These destinations for energy allocation are called 'sinks'. The plant's strongest energy sinks are blooms and fruit (seeds), so other organs will get short shrift insofar as energy allocation is concerned when the plant is blooming/fruiting. The pecking order of energy sinks is flowers - fruits - leaves - stems - roots.

Technically speaking, the blooms detract from the plant's overall vitality, but of course, enjoying the blooms is probably the only reason we grow plumeria. Seeds demand their share of the energy allocation as well, and because they're high in the pecking order, they'll get it unless removed.

Al

Barb- his friend cut them off and threw them away. My brother has a sweet heart that he believed him.
Al- thank you so much for your informational knowledge:-)

Chuy

You're welcome.

I might have mentioned that there are actually 2 reasons why we deadhead our blooming plants. One is to keep the plant tidy, and the other is to save the plant the energy outlay it takes to produce the fruit/seeds, which frees up the plant to put its energy into more blooms or vegetative growth.

I hope you fare well in all your growing adventures.

Al

Hi Chuy!!!

I'm so sorry to hear of this happening! I know it was tough to hear and we all know how much we wait so patiently for blooms and then hope that maybe, just maybe we might get lucky to see some seed pods...

Sounds like the person who gave your brother advise might not be thinking like us, but might be thinking in line with overall health of the tree. Or in line with just pruning trees in general.... He probably should have asked if he was interested in sowing the seeds....

I will do this to my palm trees once the flowering shoots start to open in the spring / summer.. I cut those off before they get to the point of setting seeds and then being so big and messy. I do this because its easier to keep clean and I know that all of the energy will not go to those flowering stalks. But back into the growth of the tree itself.. I'm sure if the people at the palm forum read this they would cringe... ;-)

It's like when we are rooting a cutting and see that an inflo is emerging at the same time as we want to see it root first.. so we have to make the decision to cut it so that the energy is focused on rooting and not flowering. It's a hard choice at this time.. But same idea. Where the energy is focused..

I guess this person is used to cutting, deadheading flowers and such. Next time your brother will make his decision to leave a seedpod on a healthy tree if he wants to sow seeds or give them away. It's not often we see seedpods on our trees, so they are valuable to us Plumeria lovers.... I'm so sorry this happened. The good news is that the Plumeria you gifted to him are doing really well, so that is a wonderful feeling !! He must have learned from a great grower, Chuy... :-)

Hi Al.. Great information as always!! It's so interesting to see and read and understand....Learned something new. " sinks" and the order..
Thank you for posting!!! It is always a pleasure....

Take good care!!!

Laura

Chuy- I have had tons of seedpods and never cut any off and no harm has come to any plants. In fact I have plants that produce pods every year and they are large, healthy and happy plants. I have never seen any negative effects of seed pods and you know what my garden looks like. Bill

Hey Laura, I see we were both keying the same answer to a particular issue a grower was having on another forum at the same time - posting only seconds apart. Hope you're having a good trip and the holiday travelers aren't roughing you up too badly.

We all know that as we step hard on our vehicle's accelerator, the potential for distance traveled on a single tank of gas diminishes, but we can't see it, not even by looking at the fuel gauge. Many of the mistakes we make as growers are made manifest in loss of potential, which is something we can't always see. We know it to be a fact that plants use a LOT of energy in the reproductive phase of growth, energy applied to producing blooms and fruit/seeds so the plant can pass along it's genetic contribution to the earth's flora. We also know for a fact that removing spent blooms and forming seeds frees up a considerable amount of energy the plant can use elsewhere, producing more blooms and fruit if that is the grower's desire, or if we continually remove the more powerful sinks, the plant will put its energy into more vegetative growth.

It's perfectly logical to think that because a plant's ability to produce and store energy isn't unlimited, that removing powerful energy sinks would leave more stored and current production of energy to produce more blooms or growth. Knowing these facts, allows the grower to have a hand in manipulating the plant's flow of energy - for the grower's pleasure or for the good of the plant - any plant, not just plumeria.

That a person isn't able to see the lost potential with his eyes or have a method of quantifying the loss isn't a good indication it isn't there. We know it's there, and once explained, should make perfect sense.

Not that it's important, but, my growing philosophy centers around the fact that our proficiency is defined by how well we are able to recognize and eliminate the limitations under which all our plants are growing. The plants have the genetic material they need to become beautiful specimens. Our part in helping them get there is in learning how to remove the cultural roadblocks (we provide or allow) that limit them.

Al