"Mama" flower developed in extreme heat.

Tony,

Are you sure your plant is candy stripe? My candy stripe is very different from yours.

Kawagoe-

You are correct, my mistake. I've determined that this plant is actually a Maui Rainbow and seed pod. Thanks for helping me differentiate the two.

Tony

No problem. I like color of your flower and good luck on your new babies.

15 baby plants emerged...Next week or so I'll separate them into Solo cups with cut outs for drainage and nest the cups into a couple shoeboxes. Then, it's natural sun by day and cfl lights and the grow tent by night...throughout the brutal San Diego winter.

TunaTony,

I was going to get clear plastic drink cups after my seedlings need to be transplanted. What size are you going to use and how are you making the drainage?

Kat

Kathy-
I use standard 18 ounce Solo cups like you see people commonly use at parties and get togethers.
I use sharp scissors to snip out two holes along the bottom edges.

It's environmentally friendly to re-purpose these red cups after they are done being used on the Beer Pong Table.

You lose a lot of beer with the holes though, don't ya? LOL

I loose most of my beer through the big hole on the top of the cup.

TunaTony,

Did you separate them into solo cups? Keep us updated on the progress please!

"Then, it's natural sun by day and cfl lights and the grow
tent by night...throughout the brutal San Diego winter."

Do they need 24 hours light (day/night) ?

Ali-

A couple more seeds sprouted and I'm letting them all grow a bit prior to separating them...so pics will be coming several days from now.

They require consistent warmth and some moisture in the soil. They would be just fine with 10-13 hours of sunlight and/or high quality artificial light... however, I am pushing mine to grow faster, especially at this juvenile stage, subjecting them to 20-24 hours of combined light, on average. In this way, I'll get them bigger, stronger and lower in maintenance.

(There's a millennial joke in there somewhere...lol)

TunaTony

They are nice:) . Thank you for advice .

(unfortunately I did not get the point ;) )

Separation anxiety!

The young plants separated easily and many had a good rootball. The planting mix was a custom blend that also included small particle pearlite and a very small amount of Excalibur time release plant food.

In a few months, graduation to 1 gallon pots.

Going to have to re-configure the lighting. With cfl's you want them bright, close to the tops of the leaves, and as full spectrum as possible.

Hi Tony

Wow , 1.5 months old, good job.

It seems you apply only cool white CFL's .Do you use warmer ones ( warm/soft white) in flowering phase?

Thanks Ali,

I do mix in some warmer cfls together with the cooler whites on about a 3:1 ratio.

Lights now re-configured.

They look marvelous! Hope my seedlings do half as well! Month or two behind yours though. Hoping a few more germinate out of the 72 pack. Picking tops off yet...

Great job with your seedlings!!

i also keep my seedlings from going semi dormant if they are less than a year old going into the winter season.

They stay on seedling heat mats and are under T-5 lights for 14 hours a day ( timer)

i love seeing your pictures everyone!!

Laura

Update- not growing real fast, 20 hours of combined natural/artificial light per day.

Is what it is ... I'll take it.

Happy Holidays.

Hopefully the growth is below the surface and will result in a strong root structure.

How much water are you giving them at this stage?

I've got some seedlings too tall for the seeding starter tray, but some not sprouted and some just sprouting. The bigger seeds of course came up first. I will have to transplant these soon to fit the cover back on. A bit afraid because they are just getting second leaves, but hopefully they are strong enough.

Did you plant them any deeper than they were?

Mine get alot of light and heat considering it's winter...upping the water requirement. I water them once a week all the way through. However, I also water them lightly with two spray bottles, daily. One spray bottle has a solution of a couple cap fulls of liquid kelp and a miniscule amount of liquid fertilizer, and each plant gets a couple shots from the spray bottle. Then that gets watered in with the other spray bottle(with just water in it) with 8-20 shots from that one.

And, no I wouldn't plant baby plants deeper. Yours may be stretching to a need for more and better light. Planting deeper could increase "damping off"/stem rot.

Happy Holidays!

Dec. 20, 2017

They are looking great!!! Thanks for info Tuna!

Update 1/12/18

Great :-)

Update 2/16/18

Had a problem with leaf sucking bugs, until I sprayed a combo of neem oil and Bayer 3 in one.

Planning to put my "grown up"

plumeria(s) outside the first week of March, they're in the indoor "garden room" now.

I see some nice reddish leaves on some...congrats

They look very nice Tony .

Leaf sucking bugs :(

Here I couldn't find neem oil . I used tobacco extract instead of neem oil to get rid of them .It was effective but with bad smelling.

Update 3/3/2018

Can't wait for Spring. We've just gone through a frigid two week plus period in So. Cal. due to a dip in the jet stream...happy with the young plumerias, the big plants get to go outside in the coming days.

Yes the past two weeks for us have been challenging. Looking good Tuna.

I'm a plumeria newbie and need some help. My husband brought back a seed pod from L.A. I didn't know how viable the seeds were, but planted them anyways. Out of 24 seeds, 18 of them sprouted. I planted them in cactus soil from Home Depot around October 2017. I don't have any grow light, so they have been growing by a south west window, on a old heat mat that is used for the back. They seemed ok, but now the leaves are looking spotted, and transparently thin. Is it sick? Also, do they look too leggy? Any suggestions on fertilizing? Thanks!

Good news is that you got them through the short cold days of winter. I've found them to be fairly tough and resilient if you keep them within the parameters of how adult plumeria like to be treated. A lot of light, warmth, a bit of a "drying out" between waterings, figuring a way to provide light but consistent nutrients. Perhaps moving them to a warm, sunny, sheltered outdoor area all day and bringing them in at night until summer comes along. The cactus mix is probably adequate.

As for mine, their next progression will be from the solo cups to 1 gallon pots filled about 2/3 so as not to over pot them. I will mix some sort of custom soil I deem appropriate for young plants. As spring becomes summer mine should make a smooth transition to a routine that's pretty much just like the adult plants.

Please keep us all posted and best wishes!

Update 3/27/18

Mid April I will up-pot

these to 1 gallon nursery pots. Many already showing character of mother plant- stout, robust, branchy, smallish leaves, takes infrequent water well.

Got my plumerias outside for spring but not liking the stubbornly cold nights (briefly 40 degrees last night)...only cold sensitives remaining indoors.

Thank you for the advice. I'll be able to put them outside soon, as our weather is warming up.

great job !

Update 4/18/18

Graduation day!... up-potted all 16 seedlings of Maui Rainbow (not Candy Stripe as originally stated)...into 1 gallon nursery pots containing...

a mixture of miracle grow, cactus mix, seed starter mix, pumice, turface, and a little decomposed granite. Mmm quite a recipe!

Mother plant, Maui Rainbow, latest bloom!

Here's an update. I started these seedlings 1 year ago. They're all different sizes, the tallest one is about 2.5 feet and the smallest one is in the 3 inch pot. My question is how should I winter them? Should I leave them outside, in a sheltered location, or put them in the garage and let them do dormant? Those are my 2 options, since I don't have a green house or growing lights. And I don't have enough space in the house for all of them.

Mimi-
Yours look fantastic!
I think you've done very well.
Over winter, I keep mine in a warm room, mist occasionally, and a few sprinkles of water into the pot once or twice a month.

As for my seedlings. I pushed mine a little to hard with a bit too much compost and fertilizer. So lesson learned when I repot all of them in the spring, I'll come up with a fast draining soil mix, while going easy on the nutrients.
Then, I'll be more able to add fertilizer and compost as the plants "ask" for them next season.

My Maui Rainbow seedlings.

'Tony'.....are you going to sell or trade any of your seedling plumerias? Can you let me know? I still have a lot of room to fill in my yard, in Ft.laud...Hurricane Irma knocked down my huge yellow plumeria, last summer, and a white swirl I had going,...about 5 feet tall, and bloomed all the time.

So....I am looking to fill up a lot of empty land still. Hoping to do so with plumerias. Seedlings, cuttings,...but as you know, the bigger, nicer varieties, the more expensive they are. So...I have to get a start, at some size,...cuttings are easy to root and grow,but expensive, even on EBay. so any of those Maui Rainbows up for sale/trade? Thanks.

PoohBearLvr-
Please private message me regarding Maui Rainbow seedlings. I also have several multiple tip small rooted Celadine. I'll let you know.
Thanks!

Id like to send you a message, but i dont see an email address to send you a note. Isnt that Celadine a plain old white/yellow one? I HAD a huge tree of that. Can you tell me how to email you? Thanks

Check out upland nursery for cuttings. Dwarf pink Singapore $3, Nebels rainbow $6.

Anyone know how to reach 'TunaTony? I dont see a way to send a private message.