Hi all!

I am new to trying to propagate plumeria clippings. Received a few clippings from a family member and running into a few issues.

Clipping 1:
-looking good but recently saw it starting to have some black tips


Clipping 2:
- same thing with black tips
- no leaf growth yet


Clipping 3:
- it has turned yellow and the top is turning black


-These were all planted about 1 month ago
- has been inside the whole time sitting on the window sill.
-what should I do with the clippings to ensure a successful rooting?

Thank you!

You are going to have a difficult time rooting them inside. They need lots of heat to root. Your best bet would be to place them outside on a patio or somewhere that gets good morning/afternoon sun. Water the soil thoroughly, and wait until leaves begin to develop. Some early leaf claws will shrivel, turn black, and fall off. As long as the stem itself is not turning black, you should be fine. The last pic in question looks to be in pretty rough shape. I wouldn't get my hopes to high for that one. But, you definitely need to get them outside.

TeamCll said:You are going to have a difficult time rooting them inside. They need lots of heat to root. Your best bet would be to place them outside on a patio or somewhere that gets good morning/afternoon sun. Water the soil thoroughly, and wait until leaves begin to develop. Some early leaf claws will shrivel, turn black, and fall off. As long as the stem itself is not turning black, you should be fine. The last pic in question looks to be in pretty rough shape. I wouldn't get my hopes to high for that one. But, you definitely need to get them outside.

Great thank you! I'm located in Cedar Park, TX and it's been in the 90's. I thought during the rooting phase it needed to be indoors.

Do you think I should replant in larger containers before sticking it outside?

For the 3rd clipping would replanting and trimming off that top inch to try and re-root it be a good idea?

with @teamcll on the last cutting.

Don't go to big on the pot. I prefer rooting them in a black quart nursery pot or clay pots and put the pot on a pavement that gets morning sun.
Hopefully your cuttings had a chance to heal or callous before trying to root them. Important not to water new cuttings until 4 sets of leaves are out. Although I sometimes mist the top to avoid dehydration.

I've never rooted in Dixie cups like that, although I know there's plenty of people that do. I, like @gigiplumeria, also root in black nursery pots. They absorb and hold heat better. I stake my cuttings and put a thin layer of black mulch on top to hold moisture in. Water well once, then wait for leaves. If I see that it has become overly dry, I will give another drink. I'm in Houston, so I know about those 90's. I have pots on pavement, dark wood tables, and just about anywhere I can squeeze them in to get that early sun. More established plants get the prime real estate that gets pretty much all day sun. Just make sure you use a well draining mix, give it support so it doesn't wiggle around too much, and plenty of heat and you should be fine. As for the 3rd cutting, you can always try again. Lord knows I don't give up easily, but it looks to be in bad shape. Then again, what harm can it do? It either roots, or rots. Not much other than that. Good luck!


Some cuttings started in early May

Thx everyone! I ended up pulling them out of the plastic cups and replanting in the black nursery pots and putting it outside in my back patio.

Fingers crossed!

If this doesn't pan out any of you know of any places I could get more plumeria cuttings?

Keep us posted. You can update with a weekly picture here if you like. We love to see how everyone's plumerias are doing.

@teamcll do you know anyone? @drdawg is the only member I know who sells plumerias.

The majority of mine are grown mostly from purchased seeds (since 2012) or from my own seedpods. So I haven't been buying because I have a hard time taking care of mine . When you are growing from seeds it takes years for them to bloom they use a lot of real estate. Cuttings they could bloom same year or following year.

Unless there is a significant rain problem, rains every day like we are getting here in S. FL, I root my cuttings in black nursery pots sitting on concrete, and the media is 100% perlite. Lots of media probably work fine. It's just the way I do it. If you have rain issues, where the media simply can't dry out a bit, move the pots to a sheltered area, still warm and still getting lots of bright light.

I wouldn't worry about the tiny leaves turning black and falling off. Just something that I see often. Personally, I don't like the looks (color) of that mid-stem cutting. I wonder if it is viable. Mid-stems can be tricky, even for those who root a lot of cuttings.

@drdawg Ken, thank you for chiming in.
I agree on the mid stem cutting. I have rooted one this spring and it was doing great but now that the daily rain is starting it is starting to show signs of trouble. The tip and bottoms are doing great. It doesn't help that it was red Scott Pratt. Red is hard to root.

Yes, Scott Pratt, one of the super-dark reds, is often very finicky about rooting. I have almost 10 "reds" (though I think two are possibly the same as others that I have, just misplaced the labels and need to see them bloom). Some seem to root pretty easily and some not. Perhaps the darker the red the harder to root. I don't know. I also have Black Tiger, and though it's another of the super-dark reds, it roots fairly easily. However, though my experience with Scott Pratt spans over 30 yr., I've only had a handful of the Black Tiger plants, and have only attempted a single rooting of those cuttings just last year.

The reason that mid-stem cuttings are so hard to root (and this is just a theory based on fairly evident observations) is that the cutting is trying to do two things at the same time, root and grow a tip(s). This slows down everything, and the slower to root, the more likely rot will occur. It's sort of like leaving inflo on cuttings while rooting, but to a far lesser degree. Energy is being directed into both blooming and rooting. Of course, you can eliminate the inflo, thus, eliminating that factor. There's nothing you can do to about the slow rooting of mid-stem cuttings.

Plumeria rubra Black Tiger
Plumeria rubra Hilo Beauty
Plumeria rubra Key West Red
Plumeria rubra Miami Rose
Plumeria rubra Malaysian Red
Plumeria rubra Rose Red
Plumeria rubra Scott Pratt
Plumeria rubra DD's Merlot Red
Plumeria rubra Terry Fisher

Your best bet would be to call around to some nurseries in the the Austin or Leander area and just ask if they carry them. I source most of my plants here locally in Houston. I have made purchases in the past from eBay or Etsy as well. I travel to Austin and San Antonio fairly often for work, and typically will just search for nearby nurseries while in there and see what I can find while I'm in the area. It all depends on if you're looking for a specific variety, or if you're good with just a "red","pink", etc…

Houston should certainly have sources for plumeria. Heck, that's the home of the PSA. I'm sure other Texas locals will have them too. Finding reds, oranges, musks, and rainbows is the challenge.

drdawg said:Houston should certainly have sources for plumeria. Heck, that's the home of the PSA. I'm sure other Texas locals will have them too. Finding reds, oranges, musks, and rainbows is the challenge.

That's for sure! I definitely keep in touch with a few rare variety suppliers near me, like George Hadjigeorge, or Mike Kennedy. Great guys to know when you're looking for something new, different, or hard to find elsewhere. It also depends on what you're willing to spend for something like that.

Supply and demand drives the price. A couple of the largest growers in America are here in FL, and even they can't keep most of the sought after varieties available.

That's so true, that's why I started growing from seeds for that unique quality.

It's taken me over 10 years to have been able to name nine varieties, Gigi. Though they are unique, one-of-a-kind plants/flowers, they are generally priced the same as my other varieties. The ones that I named early on, 8-10 years ago, I would not name now. I was so excited to see those first flowers, heck, to me at least, they were all "special". I've become a bit more selective now, only naming varieties that I think have real beauty, real uniqueness, and/or real value in the overall scheme of plumeria development. But I'm a small fry, a really, really small fry. Thailand and Malaysia are turning out new varieties by the dozens every single year. Some of those I love and some I hate. Some just look too "artificial" to me. I guess that I am sort of a purist.

I am lucky to name a single variety in a year, and because of the move 3 years ago, my seedling growing was halted for over 2 years. I really only began to propagate and grow seedlings again in 2020. It could be several years before I'll have another variety that I deem worthy of naming. You never know what you'll get when you begin to see those new flowers. All you know is that they'll be unique, perhaps nicely unique, perhaps not.

Growing plumeria is a fun thing for me, a rewarding adventure, considering the fact that I even have a single named variety. It's a chore for sure, and though I consider it a labor of love, often it's just "labor".

Ken, I just like the idea of having them as "private collection", I have a few that I really like that they bloom every year. Others skip 2 to 3 years, which could be annoying.

Gigi, I've been doing this for so long that I have read many posts over those years, dozens and dozens, from folks that have never seen their plumeria bloom. I can't tell you the number of times I've been contacted directly, wanting to know what they can do to "make" their plumeria bloom. The vast majority of those contacts are now on FaceBook, and I get several messages every single day about all sorts of plant-related things. Back before my move to Vero, I frequently got messages in my 'Tropical Plants & More' inbox. I still occasionally get a message related to that business, but usually those messages ask me when I'll start the business again. LOL

In my limited experience, and also in my opinion, having plumeria bloom consistently is based on numerous factors: consistent water and fertilizer, early spring till fall; a minimum of 6 hr. of direct sun; heat; and the variety's DNA. Heat is not just related to the daytime highs. In my opinion, those night time highs are even more important than the daytime highs. But nothing, absolutely nothing trumps the DNA. The blooming spectrum is extremely variable. I've got varieties that bloom and bloom, every single year. I've got some that just won't bloom yearly. Heck, I've had some only bloomed every 3-4 years. I generally get rid of those varieties. And there's everything in between.

The nice thing about growing plumeria for decades and having long-term experience with a lot of varieties, is that I know what their performance should be. When I obtain a new variety from someone, I always question them about what they expect that variety to do. I depend on their experience. I know that I'm perhaps a little bit picky about what I grow and propagate, but mainly I'm simply inquisitive about things. I do a lot of asking. That probably drives some folks batty (particularly some of the large growers), but that's the way I learn. There are so many varieties being introduced constantly, mainly coming from overseas, and there is typically no track record of performances. None. Though the large growers have transitioned to selling a lot of Thai and Malaysia varieties, often new varieties, I have never purchased plants from overseas. Not yet.

@drdawg with DNA trumps everything. I have some plumerias in the area where my Stardust seedlings blooms every year but no luck on others. I just started propagating my Stardust seedling and one of the multitip cutting (2 feet tall) has buds and the mother plant, 5 feet tall has buds. The 3 tip I tried to plant on the ground.

You definitely have more experience than me. Hey lots of inquiries mean lots of business. I don't buy any plant from overseas. I did buy cuttings and seeds from a FL family owned nursery when I was just starting.

I sadly see our two main growers, Bud's and FL Colors going more and more in that direction. Easy, cheap, and quick.........let someone else do all the hybridizing and rooting. The WalMart philosophy.

I don't need the added sales. I can't keep up now. I often pull all posts showing available plants, just so I can take a break. I never used to do that, I just sucked it up. Age changes perspectives.