I think you should not have pruned the black tips. When it gets warm the Plumeria are able to shed those and grow new tips underneath. No more pruning..let it heal and recover. In the future? Just take the dieback in stride and it will regrow. It sounds like you are like me in a climate just warm enough in winter for them to survive.

For now..just water it.

Thanks! I had only 2 nights last winter lastly below freezing but build a greenhouse around it w/ lights inside to keep it warm. Tips got frost damage but it survived & off slow start this year.

That's advice from somebody who has no idea what he's talking about and never has kept Plumeria in a marginal climate outdoors.

Like cutting your finger tips off until it bleeds to cure hangnail.

I found this article which led me to continuous pruning to this point. stoppedpruning for now but still no tip growth. One way or another, its a slow comeback this year and i lost the nice shape. .http://www.plumeria101.com/problems/stem_rot.html

That's for rot from fungus. What you had was normal tip damage from cold. Seen it a thousand times and I would never cut a growing point for that. I mean,if a whole stem dies? Of course prune- when the weather WARMS. But Plummie tips often die in my winter..when the warm comes,they shed that like people do scabs.

When you instead cut? You removed well formed growing points. to keep doing that? Will kill that plant.

I agreed with stanofh.

Leave it alone until warm weather arrive then you can do what you want to do.

When branches are damaged (squishy, brown, etc.) they need to be trimmed back to good wood. Otherwise you risk the whole thing rotting out.

OTOH if the branch is firm and solid and only the surface of the growth tip is black, the plant can usually push out multiple new branches from that damaged area. The quality of the new branches can range from good to weak/dwarfed in my experience.

Pricking the surface of the branch and looking for white latex is one way to verify whether you have a healthy branch or a damaged branch.

Well I used to cut these rotting branches up to where white sap coming out but I stopped doing it because sometime it keep rotting. I let nature take the course.

Here are some picture of black tip damage and rot branches that healed and produce multiple branches in some case.

Patience seems to be the key here. It’s June & 90 outside but I’ll let it come back. I probably over pruned it. It’s growing aggressively at the trunk (bottom 4”) popping out new limbs. Hopefully the growth comes up.

Thats it. Just let it heal. I mean you could pour some peroxide,but here we are talking about cold damage..not fungal. IF G.T.,you had never cut it? You would have been much better off..as those old shriveled tips would have been replaced with 2 or 3 new tips. Once you cut into the stem..it was like a big cutting and extra time,even years to get back to new.

In marginal climates you can't just whack tropicals like its going to be 90f at Christmas!

Yes, I need to put this plummy in the long term healing ward. Sad state for my first Plumeria which until this year had not once been pruned. Now it’s a stick in the back corner of my yard. Bummer. Next time I’ll be on this board sooner.

Sorry if i missed it in the thread but are we sure there isn't frost damage to the soil line? Maybe it's just the image or my display but the bark coloring seems concerning.

I also like to see if and where a Plumeria will "wall" off rot. Then i remove as close to it as possible and wait. I will then clean it further with a pocket knife, dremel, hand saw, etc. and temporarily seal with caulk.

Here is a good example of nature running its course. The tip was lost and dried out and I was able to "snap" the dried out area off and expose a nice clean callus.

You might be right...that black is dead. But,I think my hindsight advice that had he not cut it at all..he would have been better off. The cutting into what might have been live wood too soon..just put the nail in the coffin. I see some cold damage every year with my various Plumeria's and just let them grow out of it. Like in Km's photo,the plant heals and then buds out. That bud in Km's photo? could have been what OP cut off..hastening the death of live plant.

Very marginal climates are much wait and see.

Thanks for the tips and comments. I think the damage is done. I’m hoping eventually these stems produce new growth again but not looking good for this year. I do have 5 new shoots coming up from the trunk now so not all is lost.

Yeah,I think the top is a done deal. But your heat has really made that low growth pop. I can tell you in my climate it might take a couple of summers to get that from a top kill. My unknown "red" had its top broken off by cats ( who knocked it off a shelf and I lost 12" or so of double trunk top growth) last spring..and its just now looking like yours. Only less!