Plumeria: Training....Pruning....Shaping...Etc.

10 years ago

last modified: 10 years ago

Spent months reading through all the older postings, especially concentrating on the photos of plants. When out of bloom and leaf, Plumerias look like ugly, sling-shots, or deformed antlers sticking up out of a flower pot!

Can branches be pruned back to induce budding and to sprout extra branches? Can branches be wired and bent into more eye-pleasing positions? Most of the new growth, leaves, and flowers are concentrated near, or originate from the branch tips, and hardly ever from further back, on older wood...is this correct?

So....will pinching back terminal buds bring more flowers, more branching, change the direction of newly sprouted branches?

Basically, how can one train a Plumeria?

Frank

Featured Answer

Loveplants2 8b Virginia Beach, Virginia

10 years ago

Hi Frank..

Some trees are known to be tall and Lanky but others are known to be more dwarf /compact in size and will be a better looking tree with more multiple branching. You can always cut a limb to introduce branching, but you are sacrificing not having blooms earlier because of cutting that branch. Some of us have tall lanky trees and will cut back after it blooms ( which causes multi branching.) I have cut out mid sections and grafted the top section back to the root base to get rid of the tall tree ( when it was a single branched tree) I have also cut and re rooted the top after it blooms to start a new tree with a better look. ( three tips)

If you are looking for a fuller more multi branched tree, I would check out the compact trees offered from Jungle Jacks. Divine is known to be a beautiful compact tree.. As well as many others they have for sale . John is an awesome person and will help with all of your questions.

Plumeria naturally branch after you have an inflo ( inflorescence ) but you can cut to increase more branching, if you do chose to do this ( you still could see only one to three branches from cutting it back). You also have to leave at least 7 inches of the branch to have back budding from the leaf nodes. I personally won't do this only because I'm not going to set my tree back another year or so to see blooms. I'll let it grow naturally and enjoy... If it is a large tree, I will select prune ( cut one branch that season) to allow to see the other branches send out an inflo if it is mature enough to flower . The following year, I will cut another branch from that tree.

Check out Jungle Jacks Plumeria and look at their compact trees. This will be your best bet...

You can encourage the branches by taking floral tape or twine and gently pulling the branches together to make it appealing to your wishes. Green branches are easier to pull and place until they mature and harden off The older branches more brown and woody can still be pulled.. But then we get into staking and rebar etc. I like to take any wayward branches and tie them with tape to let them harden off so they won't grow wide ..

Most of us like the the "Antler" look and it just becomes a vision that most of us are used too!! Lol.. We love the stick look.. ;-)

i hope this helps a little..

Take care,

Laura

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Comments (13)

bossyvossy
10 years ago
I can tell you what I did last year, but don't take it as gospel. I cut all branches and the following spring I got twice as many lanky branches, but at least I had more foliage and more flowers (fertilizing a must for flowering). I don't have that many plumies b/c I have to overwinter in garage and a big pain to haul in/out but when I tire or lose one, new new acquisition is a COMPACT hybrid which usually have much better shape naturally, not so sling-shot like. I will not prune this spring but I will prune the following. There is one tree, however, that I might experiment with and prune again, to see if I get even more branching. IMO, I think some of the lankiness is b/c of being containerized. If they grew inground like in S FL or Thailand, I think the canopies would be more attractive.
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bronxfigs: New York City/7b
Original Author
10 years ago
Gee....thanks for the quick answers, and for the great training suggestions. I can only assume that training Plumeria will become a work-in-progress, and that's OK. I'm used to doing this....as a hold-over from my bonsai days.

Like the suggestion about selecting and growing more compact varieties for better shaped trees. Time to start hunting through the catalogs.

Frank
plumejunkie
10 years ago
I pruned my biggest tree back from 6ft to about three. Cut it down to 6 inches or so above the main y & it poped out 5 new branches. They were growing too straight up & in odd directions for my taste so I tied them to stakes with Velcro strips & it made a beautiful arching shape.

I've never tried it but I'd be cautious with the bonsai wire as it might restrict branch girth as the circumference can grow quickly. Length grew quickly also, got 2 feet or so of growth per branch.
bronxfigs: New York City/7b
Original Author
10 years ago
P-junkie....

Appreciate the added information and thanks for letting me know about your experiences when you tried to train/alter the shape/size of your tree.

From what I have been reading, I have a funny feeling that there will be a lot of pruning back, and then selecting and allowing only certain branches to grow. I'm also sure that many inflos will be sacrificed in order to get a tree with a nice shape.

Thanks again for sharing.

Frank
plumejunkie
10 years ago
You might not need to be as selective as you think. Branches can be quite flexible. I'll try to post a pic of mine to give you an example.
plumejunkie
10 years ago
bronxfigs: New York City/7b
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks for the additional photos. I can see the need to bend branches while still green, and young.

Frank
plumejunkie
10 years ago
Hey Bronx, here was the tree before I cut it...

Way too wide & had a poor shape due to lack of pruning.....

this is shortly after I cut it.....

Most branches decided to go straight up & I wanted a more arching look.....

It's kind of tough to make out but only pick I have before the training...

I really like the final look I got from the training, 5 evenly spaced branches that arch out. I'm debating if I'm going to cut again this spring or let them bloom & cut nxt season.

A nice bonus was I ended up with 10 rooted cuttings.. :)

hope this was of some help to you Bronx!

Happy bending & happy new year!
bronxfigs: New York City/7b
Original Author
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
P-junkie,

Thanks for the interesting photos, and for the pics of the pruning results. Good luck with the training process. Happy growing and happy new year.

Frank
Mark Snow
8 years ago
My grandson broke our plumeria off about mid trunk (we have potted). It was about three feet high now broke off. Do I need to cut the break tip off? It appears dead now?
Buford_NE_GA_7A
8 years ago
I'm new to Plumeria, but I am a rose grower, so I'm used to pruning. I have one white Plumeria that I've had for years that was getting too tall. I also had to repot it. Here is the finished product.

I have three nice cuttings to root and I'll give them away. I don't know if the shorter cuttings will root, but I wil try. I was in Hawaii recently and bought 2 more Plumeria cuttings, a red and a pink. I have to keep them in pots so I can't get too many.
roseanddean
7 years ago
A neighbor around the corner from us grows Plumeria in the ground in his front yard. They do really well. I noticed that after pruning, he wraps the pruned ends with something I guess to either protect the ends or encourange branching. Have you ever seen this? Why the wrapping and what do I use? I pruned mine ( I have to grow them in pots) about a month ago and they look healthy but no branching is happening yet. I was just curious about wrapping the pruned ends. Thanks alot!