Sun burn? Or more insects? Help please? We're in for a very hot August to come with triple digits starting Friday. Should I find them a break from the afternoon sun ?


And on 3-5 other trees, too


Compared to what's left mite infestation on this one. Boy! It's been a season of leaf trouble for me!

I see all kinds of leaf colorations, but other than knowing that a plant is under-potted, and is drying out too quickly in the full sun, I don't know what much of the discoloration means. Sometimes it means the plant needs some Mg, and dosing it/them with a magnesium solution reverses the problem. I just dosed all my plumeria with Mg today in fact. I also just got back from Lowe's and bought 15 large plastic pots, 12" to 16" wide, and I am going to up-pot a bunch of my plumeria later today. I have been watering some of them (in 1 gal. pots) twice a day to keep them hydrated.

I don't know the size of your pots, the media, or the moisture (or lack of moisture) of the media but you might want to get this/those plants out of the sun for some of the hours between 11:00 AM and 4:00 PM. If dehydration is the problem, that will surely help.

One or two need new pots for sure as the roots are coming out of the bottom. The trees are shaded by the house until 1-ish - sunset. That only gives them about 6-7 hours -of bright sunlight as it is. If I move them into shade during those hours (where?) They would not get much sun at all. With the heat so intense these days and only pr-omising to bec-ome hotter, I am watering every 3 days or when it feels dry by touch d-own to 1-2" below the su-rface. Is it a go-od time for a n-ew pot?

Here's the set up. Good draining soil.

Oh, and they all got a dose of epsom salt last week. Again?

No more Mg. You have one "insulated" pot that I can see. That's the white-colored one, made of some sort of Styrofoam-like material. I have eight of those, four the size of yours and four twice the size. Those others are simply plain plastic, but that's OK, they will simply need watering more often. If it is sunny all day, I am watering all my large plumeria daily now and those that need re-potting, might have to be watered twice a day, which I am now doing. When those can get into larger pots, they'll only only have to be watered daily.

If your plants are getting sun from 1:00 till the sun goes down, that is actually the most intense sunlight/heat of the day. That pretty much means that your plumeria are in a western exposure. Don't fret that your plants are "only" getting 6-7 hrs. of sun. Believe me, they are getting plenty.

I re-pot my plumeria anytime during the spring and summer months. I simply do it when they "beg" for it which means when I am having to water more frequently than I want to do. I will re-pot at least 8 and possibly 12 plants late this afternoon and tomorrow morning. Keep in mind, that growing this heavy drinkers/heavy feeders in pots is far different than having them in the ground. The combination of lots of roots and lots of square feet of leaf surface, makes them transpire huge gobs of water and the hotter it is, the more they transpire. That's why intense sunlight and heat take a toll more quickly on the potted ones.

Well, I guess it is time for repotting. Daily watering -would be difficult for m-e. I am still working full time. But I will start -watering more frequently. My plants have m-e this month because I am on vacation. I -wondered why I take summer vacations when it is too hot to go anywhere? I know it is to ke-ep all my plants hydrated during the hottest month of the year! The old styrofoam-whatever p-ot is the largest and houses my tallest oldest NOID Auntie Chris. 20-25 years old and about 12 feet tall, she is a challenge, like her name sak-e. I promised to lift her out of the pot and add 6" of new soil to the bottom but haven't done that yet. I need to Auntie Chris never put her roots d-own in one place for very long except in Hawaii. It's probably time to change her up a bit. But it is only one limb that is changing color. The pots are plastic because I move them myself every winter into protection.

I would not repot this time of year, but wait until early spring. I do believe the whitening of the leaves is sunburn.

There hasn't been a "safe" day to repot since the hard rains of April, May and June. The sun has pounded us daily after that. We got an off-icial total of 1/2" of rain in July. Today we are really lucky. A cloudy day -with 20% chance of thunderstorms. Lucky, because it decided to storm 1/2" of rain over my house! It is still cloudy out. I might go ahead and try to repot one of them to see what happens. B-ecause I t-ravel for work, I cannot water every day. I have to do something before they just shrivel up and die on me due to lack of rain and water. If I move them out of th-e sun they won't get much at all. But I will move another *o-ne* to see what happens. Thanks for all your feedback. I fear being in pots they need more than I can give th-em in this heat. It would be another story if they were in the g-rou-nd. I am thinking of putting one in the ground next spring to see what happens. And then there's fear of theft.

One trick, if you are up to it, Cheryl, is to dig a hole the width and depth of the pots, and sit the pots in those holes. That insulates the potting soil from heat, retains moisture, but still keep the roots more or less potted. Then you simply pull the pots up during the time they have to be inside. I have used this trick many times and it is quite effective.

If only I had the space to do that @Ken. I am a lover of all plants and it is getting p-retty crowd-ed ov-er here! And sunlight is less than optimum in most of my shady yard. I have to figure out a way to protect them from the harshest sun and give them light at the same time.

Isn't that from spider mites? ?? I have the same issue and I trimmed of all the bad leaf off and now the new ones are looking good!

It looks like some kind of mites to me, Mark. I never got any webbing on mine. But it was mites and it looked just like that. (See my pic above) If I removed all the leaves, I would be left with sticks. I had quite an infestation!

Since no one seems to be able to label a plant when copious pictures are submitted of flower and leaf structure, color, and size, I seriously doubt anyone can diagnose this as spider mite infestation. Perhaps it is, perhaps it is not. Only identifying the spider mite itself can possibly tell you that spider mites even exist on a given plant. My humble opinion for what its worth.

I call anything that sucks the green and living daylights out of my plant leaves and cause leaf curl I call a "Mite. That would include Red Mites, White Mites Spider Mites and the everything else mites.

My plumeria have been moved under the shade of the crepe myrtle. They won't get any direct sun only mottled sun. But I think this is wise especially since we are forecast to 104º this weekend and 106º for 3 days next week

I had to put up some shade cloth over several of mine that are out in the raised garden. They were suffering because of a combination of too small pots and full sun. I up-potted them to solve half the problem but because the plants were already stressed, I added some shade as well. The problem will be solved but I probably won't even need the shade after a week or two. Larger pots, holding moisture longer, is really the solution.

Good luck Cheryl! Hoe this time it will work.

Thanks @Gigi. Currently it's 98º with a Heat Index of 105º. The trees are warm but just not shined upon. Gonna get worse over th-e next 4 days, they say.

Relief! That is what my plumerias are saying to me since I've moved them und-er a Crepe Myrtle tree. Their leaves are dark green once again! I mist them twice a day since the heat wave started and make sure th-ey have slightly moist soil. If only they can hold out til Wednesday when this heat wave is sup-posed to end. There is a breeze going on that makes it feel like a heater blowing at everything. Even my aloe are wilting! Thanks a whole bunch for your hel-p on this one!