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beachnutbaby

Is there any saving my Plumeria? Please help

beachnut
11 years ago

After a long difficult summer/fall (dh had surgery) I cut back my 9 year old Plumerias out of pure frustration. It was time to bring them in for the winter and they were lopsided from falling over so much and breaking limbs, plus they were a little more than I could handle at the time. I read somewhere that they could be cut back but I never paid attention to what time of year they should be pruned. I cut each branch off up to 3 or 4 inches above the V. Those branches are now shriveling and I do not see any sign of new growth anywhere. Did I kill them? Is there any chance of survival? The trunk is firm and the only sign of rot is on those stems.

On a positive note, my dh felt bad when he saw what I did. He saved the branches and replanted them in the basement. About half of them are doing ok and growing.

Thanks for your help

I am having trouble adding pictures so please bare with me.

Here is a link that might be useful: plumeria pic

Comments (5)

  • sflgplume
    11 years ago

    Hi there,

    Your link didn't work for me, but, I'll start you out with the information you gave in your post.

    First, if you have rot on branches but a firm trunk, cut off the rot with a sterilized knife or shearers. Make a good guess as to how far back on the branch to start, but you want to cut back until you see only white inside the branch. If you see any brown at all (which is rot), keep going.

    Since you said the trees were lopsided and/or were falling over, what I'd probably do is this: once you have the rot cut off, I'd examine the roots. If they look healthy, the trees will probably be fine. If there's rot in the rootball, say a prayer!, then cut away the rot (I've never dealt with root rot because I live wayyyyy down South, but I'm pretty sure that's what you would do--maybe someone else can confirm).

    Either way, it wounds like it would be a good time to root prune your trees. Laura just posted a terrific photo tutorial of the root-pruning that she performed on a bunch of her trees. It should still be on page 1--have a look at that.

    This is a good time of year to prune branches AND roots, so if your trees are still alive at their core, they'll be fine. Once you re-pot them (and you'll want to re-orient them so that they're nice and upright), stake them up, water once, put them in dappled sun, and once you see new growth, put them in full sun and water regularly.

    Hope this helps. Good luck!

    Greg

  • beachnut
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thank you Greg for giving me hope!

  • beachnut
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    From Plumeria

  • irun5k
    11 years ago

    I think you might want to cut them back to just below the two V's. (or should I say W's, since those are 3-way branch points?)

    If you do that, new branches should grow from that point.

    On the other hand, a couple of the tips could potentially be saved but as Greg pointed out it all depends on how far you have to cut back to get to clean wood. A couple of the tips in the far background look like they are definitely goners.

    Good luck- it does seem like there is a good chance you can breath new life into this plant.

  • animalcraker
    11 years ago

    As long as they are firm I wouldn't cut them at all. Die back is not un-common and usually doesn't affect the health of the tree. You can try to prevent fresh cuts from dieing back by sealing them with some sort of plant sealer or even just apply some alchol to the fresh cut. If the shrivled parts on the branches are soft and squishy then you need to re-cut with clean tools.

    ~Jen

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