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southernfriedga

My new 45 Plumeria seedlings!

SouthernFried
9 years ago

Hello everyone, My plumeria interest began back in 2005 when my wife and I Honeymooned in Hawaii where we brought back a Pops Red Plumeria cutting. My Pops Red is blooming again this year and the first flower should open this week. All the excitement of it blooming had me looking at all things Plumeria so I bought 50 fresh mixed seeds from an Ebay seller in Venice Florida for $11.99. The add says "50 Fresh Plumeria Seeds Just Opened this week.....They are from 3 different Colors.....I don't know the colors of these...But I have over 10 Different colors".
I actually received 52 seed and 45 germinated and are doing well. It's really neat to just sit, stare, and compare all the differences between all of them. I have 4 with interesting characteristics. One has really dark leaves, one has yellow tips on the end of the leaves (this doesn't appear to be heath related), another one's leaves have a reddish orange line around the edges of the leaves, and the last one has shorter wider leaves.

Comments (42)

  • SouthernFried
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Wide leaf seeding.

  • SouthernFried
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Seedling with the yellow tipped leaves.

  • SouthernFried
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Seedling with the reddish orange outline on the leaves.

  • SouthernFried
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Seedling with the dark leaves.

  • bobthewizard
    9 years ago

    Nice job... Yeah it is fun... Keep up the good work and next year, you should be about here. These seedlings are a year old (some cuttings in the front I just started). These were started last August, and in early November I brought them growing indoors to keep them from going dormant through the winter. They've done very well so far, some of the branches are as thick as my thumb....

    I think I ended up with 48 when I brought them out in the spring. There are 45 now.

    Good Luck!

  • SouthernFried
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    BobTheWizard has just given me "Plumeria Envy" ;)

  • astrl
    9 years ago

    Very nice!

    It is exciting to watch them grow and identify unique things about each. Two of my seedlings from last year's batch split into two trunks, for lack of a better definition, when they were very small. That was a first for me. And I have different leaves as you described. I decided to make a note of the veining color to see if that indicates the flower color.

    astrl

  • gidgetsocal
    9 years ago

    Great job! Congratulations on your babies!

  • SouthernFried
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Well, today I had 4 of the seedlings fall over due to I guess stem rot/drying. I pulled them out or the soil and the roots were beautiful green and so was the stem except for a small 2mm thick area at the soil line. I let them totally dry out before watering so it wasn't root rot, the roots were green and strong. I cut them just above the bad ring around the stem and put them in water to TRY and save them but I dunno.

    Any ideas? This is my first time growing from seed.

    I will be re-potting all the remaining seedings into 1 gal containers tomorrow.

    On another note my Pops Red Plumeria finally bloomed.

    This post was edited by SouthernFried on Wed, Aug 27, 14 at 20:32

  • SouthernFried
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Pops Red Pic 2

  • barb13_gw
    9 years ago

    Your Pops red is very pretty.

    Here is southern CA I do not let my new seedlings dry out and I also put them in a place that they do not get a lot of sun. I keep them damp and they seem to like that. Barb

  • SouthernFried
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thank you Barb13. Well to be honest I kept them moist 95% of the time. It is so hot right now in GA that in the small seed tray that they were in got very dry by the end of each day. For the 4 seedlings in ICU I'm starting to think that the stem was broken/damaged by the dogs tail, it's a weapon that never stops moving.

    So last night 41 plumeria seedlings graduated into bigger containers.

  • SouthernFried
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    On the pops red the open flowers only last a few days and then drop off :(

    I took a very close up picture of the stem the flower dropped off of. Funny how alien it looks this close up.

  • PRO
    the_first_kms2
    9 years ago

    I have a vague recollection about a fungus being the cause of the seedling damage you posted about.

  • SouthernFried
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Well, a fifth seedling has rotted at the soil line. It could be a fungus but I don't see an unusual growths on the plants just the rotting at the soil line. Is there anything that I can use to prevent this that wont harm the seedlings?

  • jandey1
    9 years ago

    It's called "damping off" when they rot at the soil line like that.

    You can try dousing with Spanish water, which is water with a splash of hydrogen peroxide in it. Worked well for me. Then I ended up with too many seedlings and had to find new homes for many of them, LOL!

  • SouthernFried
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks Jandey. I found this recipie on this forum and have applied the Spanish Water treatment.

    3% Peroxide----------------------------------35% Peroxide
    1 cup, add 1-1/2 teaspoons--------------35% use 7 to 10 drops
    1 quart, add 2 tablespoons-------------- 35% use 1/2 teaspoon
    1 gallon, add 1/2 cup---------------------- 35% use 2 teaspoons
    5 gallons, add 2-1/2 cups---------------- 35% use 3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon
    10 gallons, add 5 cups------------------- 35% - 6 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons
    20 gallons, add 10 cups------------------ 35% - 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon

  • SouthernFried
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    The Spanish water did the trick! It even stopped the rot on one of the seedlings and let the trunk heal :) . The 6 that the stem rotted on are in damp soil with rooting hormone and are doing well.

    I can't believe how much they have grown and the beautiful color differences between the leaves and the stems, C'MON 3 YEARS :)

    I have 6 that are already branching but one of them is an insane brancher.

  • SouthernFried
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Left side. The one with all the leaves is the one with all the branches (middle bottom).

  • SouthernFried
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Middle.

  • SouthernFried
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Right side.

  • SouthernFried
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    To say this one will be a good brancher is an understatement.

  • SHhhhh
    9 years ago

    Very cool!! I want that heavy brancher ;)

  • plumerias_lover
    9 years ago

    Wow! I'm impressed. :)

  • Dave in NoVA • N. Virginia • zone 7A
    9 years ago

    I have a heavy brancher seedling too. But it never blooms because the branches don't get a chance to beef up before it branches again.

    But I will withhold judgement about these 'heavy branchers'. Maybe mine will bloom someday. Don't know.

  • SouthernFried
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Dave_in_nova,

    How old is that heavy brancher of yours?

  • SouthernFried
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    It will be time to bring in the Plumeria seedlings very soon so I figured that I should get busy with the accommodations. I have had my T5 4FT by 8 bulb light for a few months sitting in the corner waiting on me so I got busy and made the winter home for them. I will be adding plastic to the two bottom boxes to complete the water proofing. The light's height is adjustable every 3 inches and the two bottom boxes are held together by the piece of 2X4 in the middle so it can dissembled and easily moved by one person. The base size was taken from the pot size in the previous pictures, 4 pots deep by 5 pots wide.

  • SouthernFried
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Let there be light!

  • SouthernFried
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Height adjustment for the lights. Side vertical pieces have holes drilled every 3 inches and the center light support is a 2X2 with holes drilled in the ends that a large nail can be inserted into through the side vertical mount.

  • SouthernFried
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Moved to it's own thread.

    This post was edited by SouthernFried on Thu, Oct 2, 14 at 15:46

  • SouthernFried
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Moved to it's own thread.

    This post was edited by SouthernFried on Thu, Oct 2, 14 at 15:47

  • Dave in NoVA • N. Virginia • zone 7A
    9 years ago

    SouthernFried (love that!), my 'brancher' is probably 5 years old now - maybe more, can't remember -- it's been so long!

    What on earth are you going to do with all those seedlings? Obviously you'll have to keep some and 'get rid' of some (sort of like our farm kittens, sad to say).

    Perhaps you could keep the ones that are the darkest in foliage color as they might turn out to be more reddish or pinkish?

  • SouthernFried
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    My plans are hopefully see all of them bloom to keep the ones that I like and either sell or give away the rest.

  • SouthernFried
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Moved to it's own posting.

    This post was edited by SouthernFried on Thu, Oct 2, 14 at 15:56

  • SouthernFried
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Moved to it's own posting.

    This post was edited by SouthernFried on Thu, Oct 2, 14 at 15:55

  • SouthernFried
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Unfortunately the temps here just hit low 40's for the next few days so I brought the babies inside to their Winter home. I read in a very informative Plumeria PDF that I found to keep the light on 24/7 so they keep growing and you won't have any of the dormancy issues.

    http://www.socalplumeriasociety.com/assets/downloads/ScottLawderColdWeatherPresentation.pdf

    This post was edited by SouthernFried on Sat, Oct 4, 14 at 12:32

  • SouthernFried
    Original Author
    8 years ago

    Temps are up so out they go! My how they have grown. I built a shelf on the back fence for all of the plumerias. I think that I will need to build another shelf to the right of the door since they are so crowded. The ones in the middle of the lights grew faster (taller plants) so I moved them to the outside and the smaller ones to the middle but they never caught up. I had these growing with the light on 24/7 all winter.





  • Mediterranean_Zon10b
    8 years ago

    Waugh very nice seedling, I have just started my first one

    Greetings

  • SouthernFried
    Original Author
    3 years ago

    Well It's taken almost 6 years but I just got my first flower from one of these plumerias that I grew from seed. A neighbor got a white one.



  • Kathy Case
    3 years ago

    How many years do we wait to let seedlings go dormant?? Mine r going on their second winter in Southern Ca..do I need to bring them in or let them go dormant this

  • PRO
    the_first_kms2
    3 years ago

    Nice work SouthernFried. How many of the 52 are still with you?