One of my plumerias lost all of its tiny new leaf buds. Shriveled, turned black and fell off. It's been several weeks and there's no sign of new growth although the stem tips are still green and appears healthy. Thought it might be root rot so dug into the trunk a bit and still feels firm. The trunk does seem wobbly so maybe the roots have rotted deeper and hasn't reached the trunk? So now I'm not sure what to do.
-Should I just leave it and check the trunk regularly and hope leaf buds appear?
-Dig deeper around the trunk to inspect the roots?
-Or just dig the whole thing out, inspect the root stucture and if healthy repot. If appears soggy and rotted chop it off rotted portion and start over as new cuttings. If this option, should I cut the top 3 longer branches or let the main trunk callous and repot the whole plant. The entire plant is about 2ft tall.

Yeah the base look suspiciously brown. Just check if the roots are good or if there is a root rot.

Kalamodo said: One of my plumerias lost all of its tiny new leaf buds. Shriveled, turned black and fell off. It's been several weeks and there's no sign of new growth although the stem tips are still green and appears healthy. Thought it might be root rot so dug into the trunk a bit and still feels firm. The trunk does seem wobbly so maybe the roots have rotted deeper and hasn't reached the trunk? So now I'm not sure what to do.
-Should I just leave it and check the trunk regularly and hope leaf buds appear?
-Dig deeper around the trunk to inspect the roots?
-Or just dig the whole thing out, inspect the root stucture and if healthy repot. If appears soggy and rotted chop it off rotted portion and start over as new cuttings. If this option, should I cut the top 3 longer branches or let the main trunk callous and repot the whole plant. The entire plant is about 2ft tall.

Any update on the roots?

Ended up being root rot all the way to the upper branches. 😂
Should've checked it earlier.

"Base looks suspiciously brown." Gigi knows her plumerias. 😊