such beauties Jandey...you must be very proud. roxanne

Jandey, Orange Spledor seedling #1 is awesome, just beautiful!

And as for the red, Theodora Crimson looks fantastic (even given that photos don't do the crimson justice, like you said). I wish you lots of good luck with that one. It loves to bloom, rarely less than 12 open flowers on an inflo (and double that for total) so you're in a for treat.

This post was edited by SimiDude on Tue, Oct 8, 13 at 11:28

Hi Jen!!!

Love the seedling.. What a beauty!!

I have a name that you could consider... It popped into my head as soon as I looked at it.. " Jen's Splendor" What a gorgeous beauty!!!

Love all of the pics!!!

My Moragne 23 opened and I thought of you!!! ;-).

Theodora Crimson is a beauty to see with the naked eye. The camera cannot capture the true color this one likes to share with us... I tried to take a pic as well, but it just doesn't work well for me. Your pic looks great!!

Congratulations on your blooming flowers!!!

Take care,

Laura.

I really love the simplicity of the seedling. I think its beautiful.

My seedlings too also grew like weeds this summer. I had to put 2 of them in 2 gallon pots already due to their roots protruding out of the draining holes. My Vera Cruz Rose seedling is almost as half as tall as I am from the bottom of the pot to the tallest tip an I'm only 5'3. Her leaves are the normal green shaped plumeria leaves with peach colored veins. She also seems to be a pretty fast grower (unless its the fertilizer lol!!) and she's already taller than my 2 tip vera cruz rose cutting! My Queen of Hearts seedling is becoming a little fatty -- that sucker has royally plumped up. It is probably 2 or so inches around at the top an is producing nice dark green with red vein leaves shaped as tear drops -- so I hope that I will get a nice red or dark pink since I have been told that that's an indicator of reds. QOH seems to be a slower grower as she is almost clocking in at a 1'. Deep Desire, my other seedling is also growing and plumping up pretty good an is showing dark green with red veins too. Her leaves are long an slender. Also I spotted a woody root in her pot too...

It is odd looking back at pictures of them when they looked like wee little weeds and how they are now. It makes me proud of them an I call them my 'babies'. :)

Very nice, Jen.
Lonnie

Hey Jen.

That one is really nice. How long did that one take to flower? Ive got a good little seedling patch going also. not sure what ill do with them.

Mike

Very beautiful shape to the blooms!! Congrats to you and very happy for you. I know the feeling of excitement!

Chuy

Wow!!! What a great seedling!! Can't wait to see if the flower will stay the same next year!!!

Congrats!!!

Mark

You sure have the touch Jen! Another beauty! You seedling forest sure has grown. I'm afraid to bring my inside as I'm afraid I'll run out of room before I run out of plants. I feel your pain!
Peg

Rox, thank you! I'm like a first-time mom, and that first seedling will always be special.

George, TC is a glorious shade of red, very unlike my others. I even get a light scent some days. Thank you again!

Laura, you are very sweet, as always! Would love to name it for my other baby, but I like to keep his name private. Like him, this inflo keeps getting better as it ages.

Kim, my VCR seedlings are also quite large and vigorous. Two look just like each other and the other two are completely different. I also love the really fat seedlings, they just look so sturdy, lol. Seedlings are fascinating to grow!

Thanks, Lonnie! The AC you gave me is growing like crazy right now. I think it's put on a foot of growth since we met. How's the Broomstick doing?

Mike, thank you. That seedling bloomed just shy of three years from the day I planted it. My seedlings are old enough now that I'll probably do like George H. and bare-root them in a big trash can with some mulch at the bottom. Yours may be big enough to do the same next winter. When did you start all yours? Two years ago?

Chuy and Mark, thank you! I'm very happy with how long they last, the shape and the scent. It makes a lovely inflo and the foliage is gorgeous, too. I'm also excited to see what happens to them next year!

Peg, we need more land, LOL! I did gain some more by cutting that tree down but I still need to find new homes for many of them. Your collection hasn't reach critical mass yet, has it? At least you can move to Florida one day, if Laura will let you go :)

Hi Jen,
very nice flower. Congrats.

With respect to storing bare rooted plumerias in mulch it does not work very well. The mulch is too porous and looses all of its moisture over the 3-4 months of winter storage. It is like bare rooting the plants and putting them on the shelf. I have tried different methods. The one that works the best is to dig them up with some soil and wrap them with a plastic sheet. It keeps the moisture inside and the roots are in the best shape in the spring.

For young seedlings, if you bare root them and store them like that the young roots dry out and most of them will be killed. Matured plants do OK. What I am going to do this year is gang tie a bunch of seedlings together and plant them in potting mix with perlite that has some moisture in it (not wet). Then I am going to wrap the pot with plastic and tie it on the trunks of the seedlings so it keeps the moisture inside and keeps the roots from drying out. I have more than 100 seedlings that are 6-18" tall to store like this. I think it will work well. The key is to have some moisture in the medium to keep the roots from drying out and to maintain a reasonable moisture over the storage period.

George

Good to know, George. I plan to take all the woodier seedlings--big 3-year-olds and older--and tie them together in a big garbage bin with mulch over the roots. Are you saying that this is no better than storing them bare on a shelf?

All my younger--under 3 y.o.--seedlings will stay in their pots over winter.

I've always worried that wrapping in plastic could potentially lead to mold. Have you had those issues? Thanks for sharing your experiences!

Hi Jen,
yes, those with mulch will be like bare rooted plants. The mulch loses all of its moisture over the long storage period and the small roots dry up and die. The plants gets wriggled from moisture loss.

I think it will be better to use slightly moist potting mix (with 50% perlite) rather than mulch. That will keep its moisture. I am going to try this this year.

Last year, the plants in 1 and 2 gallons pots did great. The soil dried up but not 100%. Even the feeder roots survived the winter storage. Even plants just rooted did great.

Here is a 2-month old plant. Soil is relatively dry and all roots are alive.

Here is a 6-month old plant. Dry soil, roots look great.

Here is another young plant. Soil is relatively dry and all feeder roots are alive!

Here is another one wrapped in plastic.

Your worse enemy is wet soil. Period. Here are some examples.
This plant in 1-gallon pot was too wet when placed in storage. Bottom of pot is still wet after 4-months in storage.

Look at this nice TLD. The soil was too wet when put in storage. My only casualty for the year. Remember, dryness will not kill mature plants, wetness will every time!

I got a lot of data on this. I have a lot of experiments planned for the coming season. After that I am going to write some nice articles in the PSA newsletter.

George

J,
Great job on your seedlings. You and E are sparking an interest on this forum about growing mature seedlings. Maybe its just me but your OS1 has an Edi look to it in some of the pictures.

George,
How tight do you tie the plastic around the root ball or does it matter? I would expect you would want it to breath a bit.

Kms2,
I tie the plastic around the trunk with a string like in the picture below. I am sure it breaths some (it is not sealed like using a tape).

George

I looove the new bloom! Congrats! Give her a beautiful name, as her!

Mima

Jen, I think you'll be able to sell that seeding. I think you should call it Jen's B & B( bread and butter) Barbra

GORGEOUS SEEDLING JEN!! Great job, what a beauty!! Such a great feeling to have a blooming seedling, I bet you're ecstatic!

George, great pics of the roots- I'll have to be really careful to let them dry out, especially the bigger pots.