Plumeria Transplant Question

9 years ago

Hello--

I've recently moved to an island off the Gulf Coast of Florida, and we built a house on what had always been a vacant lot. On the edge of the property growing out from scraggly palms is an ancient frangipani. The neighbor tells me that most of the frangipanis in the area came from this tree; as it had been a vacant lot, many of the locals evidently helped themselves to branches from this one over the years.

At any rate, it's one long 9' branch that's 7" in diameter (and had been growing nearly perfectly horizontal to the ground) with three smaller branches--each about 3" long--growing out of the top. About 1/3 the way up the main 9' section is a 3" diameter branch that curves around and then runs parallel to the main section. (When I cut it off near the base and planted it in an upright position, the shape roughly resembles the letter "y.") The only place where there are leaves/flowers is at the very ends of the branches.

As I was cutting the fairly inaccessible base in a compromised position, I had a sawhorse set up just a foot or two below the main branch, and I'd instructed my 15-yr-old daughter to make sure that the tree landed softly onto the sawhorse, and that the smaller branch didn't swing around and smack onto the ground. As these things seem to go with a disinterested teenager who'd rather be inside the air-conditioned house and chatting with her friends on the iPhone, the smaller branch in fact swung around and smacked onto the ground, which resulted in the leafy & flowering green tip to crack right off.

I have the heavy y-shaped frangipani planted and staked about 2' into the ground, and I planted it with some Miracle-Gro dirt. Naturally I expect the leaves to severely wilt for a few days or fall off altogether, but my question is this: will a growth emerge from the end of the branch that my daughter wasn't able to avoid from smacking the ground? Along the same lines, is there any rhyme or reason as to where branches sprout from on the frangipani? I can see a few "battle scars" along the main 7" diameter branch from where the neighbors took donor limbs from; is there any way to promote growth from specific areas of the tree? As it is now, I have a @150lb y-figure in my yard with beautiful flowers and leaves sprouting out of the tip top of the primary thick branch, but just a bare, leafless second branch as a result of the second branch smacking the ground.

Thank you for any advice on this wonderful tree.

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Comments (3)

tdogdad
9 years ago
First when you cut a plant you need to remove all the leaves and flowers which require water and since you have no roots now it will pull water from the stem- not good. Next you should wait a week and let the bottom callus over before you plant which reduces the chance of rot. If the branch that broke is about 6" or longer, it will usually sprout new branches (1-4 usually)from the side of the branch right below the cut. Now you need to limit the water while it is rooting since it has no roots to remove excess water. When leaves appear you can add more water. Big branches take time to root but do easier than smaller branches. I personally would root in a large bag and then when roots appear, plant it in the ground. Check bag rooting and just use a larger bag.
Secret
Original Author
9 years ago
Hi, and thanks for your response. It occurred to me that I should remove the leaves; I will do it in the morning. I've had luck every time with sticking frangipani cuttings in the ground in the past, but never with anything near this large. Should I expect it to grow new leaves again this season once it begins to root, or will it likely be dormant until the spring?

The part that broke off was the very tip of the secondary branch (I will upload a photo in the morning). I'm hoping growth appears from the tip that cracked off, because otherwise it will appear to be a dead 6-foot branch.
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Secret
Original Author
9 years ago
Attached is a photo of the frangipani in question. From ground to tip top is about 12 feet, and the curved branch on the left had a plume of leaves and flowers on the end that broke off; I'm hoping that blooms will again sprout from this tip. Thoughts?

Also worth pointing out is that what now faces 9 o'clock in the photo was facing straight up for the life of the tree, and hence the reason everything appears to be curving left. This had been coming out of the center of a cluster of spiny, inhospitable scraggly foliage, and it had been growing perfectly sideways in order to get out of the brush and into the sun. The stump that remains from where I cut it looks like a periscope (a sharp 90ÃÂº angle) that peeks out of the ground.

I'm hoping that in a few years of full sun and being free from encumbrances, it will begin to fill out. Is there any way to promote new branch sprouts along the tree, or do I have to basically let it do whatever it's going to do?