Rain and plumeria worries

18 years ago

Forum Members,

No matter what you have heard water or watering your plumeria in winter will not harm them. This is a fact. We have been watering ours in the winter when they become dry and doing this for over three decades. We never move our plumeria under a protective shelter. We have several thousand growing out of shelter in this environment at this moment. And we have had three inches of rain in the past month and one half in Corona, Riverside County, California.

The enemy of all plumeria anywhere is growing in an improper soil. The native soil or planting mix is where all this concern should be not the rain. In the plumeria native locales, Hawaii, Fiji, India, Thailand and other tropical places in the short daylight months there are torrential rains. As an example there would be no plumeria in Hawaii if it wasnÂt for the well draining volcanic soil and thatÂs because it has heavy rainfall during the dormant season. Our climate is cooler so it is even more import to have a well draining soil for our plumeria to grow in. There is no scientific evidence that watering a plumeria in the winter will harm it. It is just the opposite. If your plumeria are dry they are stressed and more susceptible to frost or freeze damage and that is a well known scientific fact. More attention and conversation this time of year should be placed on learning about planting mixes that are well aerated and well draining.

Jack

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Comments (5)

hubbard
18 years ago
Well said Jack
alohalani
18 years ago
What you've said makes so much sense.So...aside from the cactus mix & perlite mixtures, what do you suggest? What do you think about adding some "lava pebbles" to the mix?

I know there's many of us out there that are nervous due to all the plumies that were lost with last years freeze.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas!
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kimisdad
Original Author
18 years ago
Alohalani,

For our production growing we have found superior to most mixes that we tried including "cactus mix" is this simple mixture:

Two (2) parts Super Soil "Potting Mix" (brown bag) one part Horticultural Pumice i.e. (2 to 1 ratio)

Super Soil Potting mix is available at Home Depot or Lowes in the western states. More info about Super Soil:

http://www.supersoil.com/products/supersoil/potting_soil.shtml

Horticultural pumice is available at Orange County Farm Supply. Their location is 1826 W. Chapman Orange, CA 92802. Also, Whittier Fertilizer Co. 9441 Kruse Rd. Pico Rivera, CA 90660. More info about Pumice:

http://www.clppumice.com/horticultural.html

We have been using this mix for many years and have found nothing that superior including cost. We discourage the use of "cactus mixes" as they contain too much sand. Sand compacts readily with water to squeeze all the valuable air spaces and prevents the oxygenation of the soil. We use this 2 to 1 mix for all Apocynaceae plants such as Adenium, Pachypodium and Plumeria. In addition, we use this mix for any cacti, succulents and Euphorbia milii we grow. If you wish to add lava pebbles to the container I would add it in the bottom to assist drainage. Large Perlite can be used as a substitute for Pumice.

Jack
kbauman
18 years ago
Hi Jack.
I use cactus mix in my plumeria. But use the blend that Bill told me to use. One scoop of pearlite, 1 scoop of cactus mix... all the way to the bottom. He did say to use super soil too, but I didn't have any. All of my plants in cans have this mix, and works just fine. All drain out, and hold the water needed for the plants so far..
Karen B.
Margot Revera
5 years ago
hi,

my daughter sent me some plumaria cuttings from Hawaii which came with instructions as to soil and planting. I live in New Jersey. I've kept them indoors by a sunny window and they are looking great. They have many leaves now and are a couple of feet tall. Is it ok to keep them outside now and expose them to rain? Thank you, Margot