Here is the other cutting I am not sure about. I also noticed there is a lot of discoloration on the cuttings, a nice green and a sad poop yellow green on the plants, though they feel firm. The claws also have the outer baby leaves die as soon as they get to the outside of the claw, slowly turning black with a very thick brown/orange sap that gums up the claw. Do I take off the black baby leaves or leave it be? Is it not humid enough?

the cuttings appear to be from a middle branch. Not ideal, but they will do. Tip cuttings are more desirable. The cuttings you have can turn into a nice plant, eventually. They just look overwatered so do not water again until you see foliage emerge. This is very important and the diff between success and failure.

Looking at your picure, the glistening tips that look tiny little claws are the beginnings of foliage, a good sign. The black thing was GOING to be a leaf but it dried up (or rotted) and died. no biggie, it happens.

They don't appear infected to me, just a little overwatered, In your case, I'd say do not water til you see a leaf. I don't know where z10 is, but it sounds like it'd be warmer than where I am and it looks like you can keep it outdoors in the brightest, strongest sun you find and just let it do its thing. Jut leave it alone til it puts out foliage.

good luck and good growing

This post was edited by bossyvossy on Thu, Jan 15, 15 at 18:26

I am so sorry. I see now that they are potted. Just don't water any more until foliage emerges. If you get freezes, and I don't know what happens in z10, they will need protection til next spring. Definitely do not water when overwintering, they will ROT. Water again in spring, when you see foliage emerge.

Thank you for the wisdom! He had planted some of the cuttings in the ground, but they look much better. I imagine because our ground drains faster than anything, it is almost half sand. So even though he watered them often the ground drained too fast for them to "go bad".

Thank you for information on the claw! I just stare at it wondering if it is ok, never had a plant that loses all its leaves. I always used leaves as an indicator on the health of the plant, so I feel a little lost.

I don't get freezes but we do have strange winters. We will have 2 weeks in the 50-60s and then 2 in the 70-80s and so on until winter is over. Do you know if this strange back and worth is very rough on Plumeria?

So basically you think I should leave them in the sun and stop fiddling with them? :)

No pruning off the black parts.

If your night temps don't drop below 40-45, I would say they don't require winter protection. IME, short fluctuations have not adversely affected my plumies and don't expect it would harm yours. The worse thing that could happen is some leaf drop and/or decrease in blooming, temporarily.

As to the black ends, the area will callous over and what is now black will just blow away, not unlike what your succulents would do. If you are an experienced succulent grower, I think you can do plumies just fine . The only diff is that plumies love being fertilized--it makes them flower much much more than if not. Anything for Tropicals, or plumie-specific will do.

I figure since my succulent garden can't survive cold nights either the night time temp will probably be ok for Plumeria. I was reading Plumeria are considered succulents. So I suppose they should do ok.

As a gift the roomie gave me a cutting , in october, I stuck it in the ground to the side of some crussula and ignored it.
It grew nice leaves and I was just starting to fall in love with it, as it was nice to see something large in the succulent garden that wasn't an agave!
The temps went to 86 for two days and all the leaves fell off but two. Any Idea why it lost its leaves as winter is ending? Is it because the heat wave reminded the Plumeria what warmth feels like? ;)

Thanks for the advice on fertilizer, My succulents do like a fertilizing (I think most plants do) but they really like a 1:3:3 formula. Low numbers all around as well. I suspect fertilizer formulas for plumeria have a higher middle number.

Thanks again for all the help!

Don't know if your foliage fell b/c too hot or too cool, I'd say it was more b/c abrupt temp change. In our winters plumies completely defoliate so normal. Thinking about this thread I took these pics today,

Future leaf dried off and died. It will fall off w/I me messing with it

Here is another wound from where I took a cutting. I little bit of dead before it calloused over

wow, a picture is worth a thousand words right? It isn't easy to find someone posting an image of a sort of blemish unless something is wrong. It is good to know these things are completely natural. :)