Looking real nice Mike. Do you keep a minimum of 60F in your greenhouse during the winter? Do the plumies keep their leaves like that or do they go dormant?

George

Hey George. thank you. Yes I do keep that temp. Mainly for the citrus i have on the other side. I try and keep their roots at 55+ to keep them active and avoid any leaf drop.
Im only keeping a couple of plumeria in here during winter Just the ones that have late season inflos. I did strip these of most of their leaves to save a little space. Last winter the ones I kept in it never did loose all their leaves that I left on them but never really put our new ones either so I would say semi dormant. The rest of my collection in out in the barn where is stays 40-50 degrees unheated.

Mike

Thanks Mike, you have been very helpful. One more question, do you use growing lights or they just get natural light?

No problem George. Just natural light. My greenhouse is a 10x12 hoophouse and runs north south. Its virtually in full sun from rise to set with exception to about an hour after sunrise when the house barely shades it.

How are all yours doing these days?

Mike

Hi Mike,
thanks for all the answers. The reason I am asking there are a lot of people that claim the 'photo period' (number of hours of light) affect the plumeria dormancy. They claim that short days cause the plumerias to go dormant. My data show that it is cold temperatures that cause the plumerias in North America to go dormant and not short days. Keeping the plumerias above 60F in the winter keeps them growing despite short days, and your data proves it also. Someday, if I decide to write an article about it I will ask you for your data. Thanks pal.

My plumerias are still outside and blooming. I have new inflos opening. I just cut off all the leaves and stopped watering them to force them to go dormant. I plan to move them to storage in about a week after the pots dry up. We do not get freezing temperatures here till the first or second week in December, so I got plenty of time.

You're very welcome George! This is just my 3rd winter having plumeria so I am still learning. This year will be my first to store most of them in a cool dark environment so I am crossing my fingers hoping I dont screw them up. Everything I have learned has come from everyone here and cant thank people like you enough for sharing your knowledge. Ill will be glad to help you with any information I can.

mike

Mike,
when you store them in a cool place and dormant make sure the pots are as dry as possible. Wet soli kills dormant plumerias. Dryness does not; you can even store them bare root but they take longer to recover in the spring.

Ok thanks george. I did let them get dry so hopefully all will be good.

Mike

Lucky you, Mike! They look great, and you get some wonderful blooms when the rest of us are all sad-faced and hauling our plants in.

Looks like mine will come in a bit earlier than usual. We have a forecast of 35 next week. And I have too many to haul in and out like in the old days, LOL!

Keep us posted if you get open blooms this winter!

Hey Jen

sorry I didnt notice your reply. How have you been doing? have you seen that cold weather yet?

this morning it was a bitterly cold 20 degrees outside. Nice and toasty 60 in the greenhouse.
here are a couple of blooms

I also noticed that on my desert rose I should have about 10 seed pods. I will probably have atleast the many if not more on my plumeria. I guess the pollinators were working overtime.

Mike

All I can say on the Desert Rose is WOW! Mine is a little bigger but never has more than 3 or 4 blooms at any given time. But, always a few. I use Miracle Grow and misting, outside on a table in direct sun, all day. Do you prune? BB

BB

Thanks! I have never pruned this one. It did get a new pot late summer and really liked it I guess. I have on at work that needs a new pot and a prune. Its getting pretty leggy. If you havent already you should check out the Adenium forum here. Talk about awesome Desert roses. Some members here have great ones.

Mike

need to plug into smellavision... :-)

Haha. wouldnt that be nice Rox. if it makes you feel better even thought they still smell like Divine and Celadine the scent is noticeably weaker then back in the summer.

mike

Hey, thanks for the heads up on the Adenium forum. Just spent about three hours there, even saw a post from somebody named mike. A lot of food for thought. BB

HI Mike! I had to work that whole weekend before the big freeze so my family moved most of my plumies into the garage for me--whew! They are angels! Crazy how much space those plumies take up in the garage.

The rest are in the house but I think we only got down to 33 or 32 for maybe an hour or so. The ficus, clivias, croton and philodendrons I left outside are fine, and so are all my hibiscus and citrus. We usually don't get killer freezes until January.

Btw, I have some Peaches and Cream brug cuttings from honeybunny rooting, if you want some in the spring. I'll have a plumie cutting to ship to you anyway. Let me know, and have a great weekend!

Hey Jen
that is great your family helped you out. It takes special relatives to understand our obsession. My family loves all my plants too.

Hopefully you will miss out on the freezes. it got darn cold the other night.

Id love to try peaches and cream. I got so close to seeing Strawberries and cream flowers this year. Dang caterpillars would eat the blossoms, then when it was getting cooler I pulled them up even though I was informed they could have stayed a bit longer. Oh well next year Ill see some for sure.

I got my work cut out for me next year. I putting in an orchard at the new place. My plan is to have 4 peaches, a couple plums, a few cherries and maybe nectarine or 2. I just picked up 2 peach trees on sale yesterday. Goodness I have no idea why I get myself into all this work, LOL

Im excited about TLD but please dont feel obligated. of course if you are trimming anyways, :)

I need to know what i have that you want/need so I can return the favor.

Mike

Nice! I would love a greenhouse, one of these years. Though really, I can not complain most years. I drag in a few plants for a day or so then drag them back out.

20! I would be packing for the move south lol! I whine when it`s 70.
Tally HO!

Hi Mike! I'm arriving a little late but love how beautiful your plumies are blooming in the gh. When you get the chance could you please take some pics of the whole gh, please? And also tell us about your heating system.

I'm so disappointed with my gh this year. The past 3 years I have not heated it because previously I only had propane buddy heaters on a 20 lb cylinder tanks. That worked great for mild winters. Then, a colder year came along and I ended up putting my plants in the house.

Well, just today I had to move all my plumies into the spare bedroom... and my daughters bedroom... and in my bedroom. LOL. You get the idea!

It's suppose to get down in the low 20's tonight and I don't feel like the electric heater I have is going to keep them above 50. And it looks like this is going to be another cold winter here. I'm feeling really down because I do so enjoy the gh but I have not properly prepared and put in proper heating. I think it's my husband's fault, not mine! LOL

Here is an old pic of my gh before it got filled up. Please post some pics of yours.... and everyone else with a gh, too!

{{gwi:580990}}

just wanted to add that this is a really sucky pic, but I have no patience with photography. My gh is 20 x 20, roughly. I may buy a solar cover and give that electric heater another shot this year if the winter weather patterns change and it looks like it might not be a really cold year.

Please, everyone post pics of your gh's!

This post was edited by moonie_57 on Sat, Nov 23, 13 at 21:18