Newbie first year

11 years ago

I am new to the forum and growing of Plumeria. Last December 2013 I traveled to Maui, I purchased a Rainbow Plumeria cutting for my Son-in-law who loves Orchids and tropical flowering plants. He potted the plant unbeknownst to me in a small clay pot. The plant over the summer started growing leaves, which never got over one inch long and this fall, turned black and shriveled up. He did not remove it from the bright bathroom in the fall when dormancy would normally start. He decided to give me the plant. Knowing it needed to be out of the clay pot I wanted to move it to a black plastic large pot, leave it dormant and hope for growth by spring. I asked him a few questions, he had never fertilized it, but he did use rootone when he planted it. He kept it indoors and with his Orchids in the bathroom garden area he has. He had just begun to water it since it had been with him after the fall. When I got it home, and checked it out the cutting is shriveling, and the tips are turning black. There appears to be only a short length of stock that is healthy looking about an inch and a half, the rest is shriveling and about mid way down turning dark and is soft. When I removed it from the pot, the soil fell away and was very dry and powdery, there were no roots, zero, nada, coming off the callous. I then planned to bag root the cutting and basically start all over so it would have a chance to grow roots mind you this all has been four days.
So my thoughts and questions are, 1. is it dying, 2. should I cut it off at the end of the healthy part and restart it in a bag, and hope for the best, 3. treat for black fungus,and do the above, 4. or toss it buy myself a new one and start all over. So want to give this little guy a chance to survive. I will upload more photos as well. Thank you so much Andy

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Comments (5)

flyart
Original Author
11 years ago
Update, I live in Northern Colorado, zone 4, the plant more than likely won't go out doors. This photo shows the distinct line where the cutting is changing, not sure what it means, only that this may be the place to cut it off and let it dry and callous and start a new?
All the info and assistance anyone would give will be taken in and put to use if I can.
I would also like to purchase other cuttings to get started and have several plants, not in a situation to have a greenhouse or be overwhelmed with plants, but a couple would be perfect.
Thank you,
Andy
flyart
Original Author
11 years ago
Since there were no responses so far, thought I would just say that I placed it in a root bag today and set it in the dark and warm laundry room. Marked the date on the calendar and will see what happens in a few weeks if it changes or not and will then check again in late February. Not sure what is going on with it - but hope it is normal stuff.
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merkity
11 years ago
sorry i saw but am not overly experienced with plumies - unfortunately that doesn't look good to me at all :( that off color usually denotes rot - which doesn't go away.
lc4273
11 years ago
I'm no expert either but the bottom looks like it might be rotting, you can always poke the stem closest to the bottom that looks more dark black/green and see if white liquid comes out. If not then it's rotted most likely. Good luck!
Loveplants2 8b Virginia Beach, Virginia
11 years ago
Hi.

I wanted to welcome you to the Plumeria Forum! Ã°ÂÂÂ

Lots of great people around here and I'm happy to see some others posting for the first time!! It's great to see people love these beauties!!Ã°ÂÂÂº

Good advice given!! Thanks to those who posted! We are all learning Ã°ÂÂÂ

I would recut with clean shears . Cut bottom off if brown and looks rotten. You are looking for clean white tissue with no brown. White latex indicates a healthy cutting. Or white stem . ( clean shears with cotton ball dipped in isopropyl alcohol and cut off bottom until you have clean white stem. If it is brown as you continue to cut and it's still brown inside .. It's not a good sign. The only way is to re cut and let callus before you bag root it. Place it on seedling heat mat after it's calluses . First you need to see if cutting is still viable.

Good luck.

Laura

This post was edited by loveplants2 on Mon, Jan 19, 15 at 17:55