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meralo_gw

Growing Frangipani from a cutting

meralo
15 years ago

Hello!

I am completely in love with the yellow and white variety of frangipani - and was given a very large cutting from a friend's 30 year-old tree which is already used to our climate. I was told to place the cutting in a bucket of water, until roots developed before planting. I did so, and placed the plant in our garage and I now have a cutting that is sprouting leaves and buds after 6 weeks in water but no roots - what do i do??? I don't want to lose this opportunity to have my own plant and I'm nervous to just plant it in the gournd.

Please help!!!

Comments (16)

  • meralo
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Thanks Karen! I have borrowed my mother's gardener, who has been working with plants for decades and is a bit of a "garden whisperer". He severely reprimanded me for allowing my cutting to rot! He then traumatised me immensely by creating 5 smaller cuttings and has placed two of these straight in the ground, and the other 3 in water, with strict instructions to only leave them there for a week in full sun. Apparently he's coming back every week to check on them for me until they take...here's hoping he will work a miracle for me!

  • kbauman
    15 years ago

    Hi,
    good luck, I have never tried the water cuttings..plants Can also into cans, not in the ground.. good luck
    Karen B

  • chrismac_flutter
    15 years ago

    Here's my question, where are you located? Here in Florida, taking a calloused cutting (A cutting that is allowed to sit and dry out for a few days), dipping it in a fungicide rooting hormone and then placed in cactus soil and perlite mix, watered in once and left alone is all you need to do to root a cutting. I have cuttings in rooting tubes and I watered them a while ago. Misted daily, never watered. They now have huge sets of leaves which is a sign that they have developed roots. I NEVER water root my cuttings, although so people do it successfully, because roots created by water are not as strong as roots created by soil. Also, placing a cutting that is used to that much water into soil shocks it a bit. I will place a cutting in water without roots if it is shrively but only for about 24 hours.

    Chris

  • meralo
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Thanks Chris - it seems that the cuttings that were planted are definitely doing better, than the 3 in water. The leaves that were budding have started to open - will keep you updated on the progress. Thanks for the tips too, you've given me some lessons for my amateur green thumb.
    I'm in Johannesburg, South Africa by the way - NOT the perfect climate for this type of plant and they are very rare around here. This cutting comes from a 30 year old tree that has been thriving in the coldest part of the city so the theory is that the cuttings will thrive too. I guess I'll find out soon enough!

    Carol

  • ray4805
    12 years ago

    Hi
    I cut some cutting about 4 months ago, let them dry for a few weeks and put them in pots, today I decided to see if they had rooted only 2 of the 7 has roots. The others were just as when I put them in, some had rooting compound some not. So what am I doing wrong.

  • Andrew Scott
    12 years ago

    HI Ray,
    Your not necessarily doing anything wrong here. Plumeria can be very stubborn. They root when they want to. I have had multiple cuttings of the same variety and not all will root at the same time.

    I would say as long as there isn't any rot, your good to go.

    Hi Carol,
    When it comes to water rooting, I use only rain water and Vitamin B-1. Some cuttings will not do well in water but I have only lost 1 so far. I think if your going to go this route, your better off to plant them as soon as you see roots. The water roots are pretty fragile, so I now will only let them get maybe a half inch long and then plant.

    Right now I have some with inflos on them but no roots yet. I can see that the cut ends are starting to swell so it's only a matter of time.

    Good luck!

    Andrew

  • vikrantsingh
    12 years ago

    Hi,I have had a frangipani tree for 5 years and it hasn't flowered can somebody help. I live in Brisbane,Australia.

  • labland
    12 years ago

    I knw that some plumeria take longer to flower than others. If you have real long branches, you might want to cut them and make new cuttings, which would help it to branch as well. Check this website for more on creating cuttings. There is a lot to it, but really not a lot, but read about how to do it, before you actually do it! There is a booku by Jim Little on plumeria growing available on Amazon which is very helpful. In addition, there are a lot of sites about plumerias that have info as well. Look under Plumeria, and you may find more info than frangipani, if you have little luck on info. Good luck!

  • vikrantsingh
    12 years ago

    Thanks alot 4 ur help!!

  • jandey1
    12 years ago

    Vikrant, I have one several years old that also hasn't ever bloomed because of cold weather black-tip damage. It's possible your plant isn't getting enough light or it just isn't mature enough yet. Some cultivars just take a long time.

  • vikrantsingh
    12 years ago

    Thanks. You are probably right because its in a pot and dosnt get enough sun.

  • janinemartins
    11 years ago

    Hi Carol,

    I know this is an old post but I've only just come across it. I too am in Johannesburg and love the frangipani but am concerned about how it will do here in our climate... how have those cuttings of yours from 2008 come along?

  • jandey1
    11 years ago

    Janine, I haven't seen Carol post again recently.

    You might check with your local botanical society about the adaptability of plumerias to your climate. They could point you to a particular cultivar that's best suited to the area as they vary somewhat in cold tolerance. Failing that you could try good ol' Celadine, which is fairly hardy, and bring it in during cold snaps.

    If your summer is reasonably long I don't see why you couldn't grow a nice-sized frangipani in a pot; many people around here are in New York or colder and grow them well.

    Jen

  • vici1
    7 years ago

    Hi Janine Martin's and Carol

    I am also from Jhb, I import plumeria/frangipani seed and grow them. Frangipanis are relatively full up here, many have them on their pavements but it is the normal white, yellow, light pink or a darker pink. As our climate in summer is very hot rooting a cutting I a pot would mean that every now and again you would have to spray the soil to keep it just slightly moist of the cutting g may dry out completely and die. Keeping them to moist causes rot and you will lose the cutting. In milder climates the soil won't dry out as quickly as I South Africa but here I find missing the pot every 3 days or so in summer keeps just enough moisture in the pot to prevent drying out. I also use a an instrument to measure moisture content in my pots especially amorphophallus as they need water but not too much.

    Regards

    Vici



  • Deelan Jariwala
    7 years ago

    I know this is a old thread but I will ask a question..

    What normally roots faster? Tiny or huge cuttings?