Hey Robert. How ya been? Haven't heard from ya in awhile. Did you buy one of those large JJ's yet? I did the unthinkable and re potted all my new ones a week and a half ago. All are coming through just fine but I found out my Inca had only one little root like my jenny did so im being extra careful with it. This heat is brutal isn't it. Try to give it midday shade at least and im sure it will come through. Maybe mist it a bit also.

Mike

Hi Robert1971,
you have a good size plant with a lot of leafs. It can loose a lot of water during the day. Your problem is most likely that you potted this plant in a relatively small clay pot. Clay pots are notorious for loosing a lot of water from the side by evaporation. You do not ever pot a plumeria in a clay pot; always use plastic pots that do not loose water from the side. I would re-pot that plumeria in a 5-gallon squat pot or the equivalent decoratice plastic pot if you prefer. I hope this helps.
tc,
George

George, Excellent information!
After you re-pot your plumeria you may want to stake each branch up, I've had this happen before and left it to recover in it's new pot and it did well, however the branches grew out more as apposed to upright.
Your leaves are nice and perfect, but heavy too weighing down your branches.
You have beautiful blooms there too!
Best of luck to you! Stuart

Thanks, everyone!
It did perk back up a bit (but it does look like at least one branch is still horizontal).
I'll repot when I get chance and in the meantime try to give it mid-day shade (which will be hard but not impossible). :)

Mike,

Still haven't broken down and purchased any 80 dollar JJ's plumerias but I'm still tempted. ;)

-Robert

Btw, your garden looks exceptional!

That must have been really scarey, Robert!
Even if you have to wait until the weekend to get time to re-pot it, I would still go ahead and get some stakes in there.
It's a beautiful plant.

And she's right... your garden is great!

Thanks, ProudMama & moonie!
The garden is beautiful but it takes a lot of water to keep it going (this drought has been terrible!).
The yellow daisy in the background is Rudbeckia subtomentosa 'Henry Eilers'. I recommend it if you have the room and water. :)

Guess I need to look into supports for plumies!

-Robert

Hi Robert!!

Im so sorry to hear that your Plumie had problems. I have had the same issues with some of my trees that get to top heavy.

Bill has taught me that you can tie up your branches together with twine. I like to tie up a couple together and carefully bring themclose without to much tension on the limbs. Once they train to grow upright, then you can take the twine, or what ever you use and make it tighter and pull upright just a little more. Then it will harden off, especially now that it is young tree. Be careful not to pull to much on the limbs and snap them. You can tell when it is good. I would also suggest to take the pot/container and put it in a semishaded area to adjust. You can always repot when it recovers. If you want to stake it.. I would also use rebar next to the pot or even on each side to give the limbs something solid to tie up to. Just a thought.

I have potted up some Plumeria in clay pots, but i still like the black nursery containers the best. I know they are not the prettiest containers, but they really love the heat they provide. When the temps get really hot i will take the black pots and sink them into a larger terra cotta colored Plastic pot and put mulch around in between the containers. You could always tie them ( the branches to the fence or rebar) to take the weight off of them and train them to grow upright...)

Here is a link that you might like to see.

Take care and i hope your tree recovers soon!

Hope this helps..

Take care,

Laura

Here is a link that might be useful: Containers getting to hot...

I also think it needs some extra support until the young branches mature and become more woody.

Thanks, Laura!

Excellent info. It does make sense to try and train them before the wood gets too hard to bend!
I've read posts about your pot inside a pot with mulch for insulation and thought it was a great idea as well.
Another trick I might just try!

So much to learn but it is kinda fun trying out new stuff. :)

-Robert

Wow how scary. I am happy to see how fast it recovered. I find JJs plants to be very sturdy! I have quite a few myself and I am very very pleased with them. Good luck and keep us posted on its progress.

My plumie is back in business! I used a plant support a friend made for me. I'll pot up and probably use twine this weekend.
It spent the day under the dappled light of the arbor and some of the leaves are sun scorched and it's dropping blooms but at least it's alive! :)
Thanks again for all the suggestions and info.

-Robert

Very nice, Robert. Happy looking garden in the background, too. You can see the leaf surface-area-to-trunk ratio is high on your plumie so this will be a thirsty plant for you. George is right that the terracotta makes it worse, especially in our hot, dry southern summers.

I sink my ugly plastic pots into terracotta but I occasionally get lazy and put young plumies straight into terracotta. ;)

Yay Robert!!! I am so happy for you. That plant is a beauty and I am glad you got it back on track. Keep up the good work!

Jackie

Good save there Robert! WHEW!

Thanks, everyone!

I like the idea of hiding the plastic pots inside terracotta pots.

I have to admit I freaked out (but only on the inside) when I saw the state it was in but I felt pretty confident it would snap back after reading on this forum how tough they are. :)

-Robert