Plumeria

[diamondsword]

I am wondering if anybody can help me with a plumeria I have. I have had it for three years. The first summer it grew outside, it didn’t flower. In the fall I put it in a window but the leaves didn’t start to fall off until May and it promptly grew new leaves. It summered outside again, but didn’t flower. Last fall, I brought the plant in and decided to force it into dormancy by cutting the leaves off in December and keeping the plant in a closet. I gave it water about once a month or so. In the Spring, I put it in our sunroom and started to water it. The stem was very desiccated looking. I received a plumeria as a gift in April. I grew both plants outside during the Summer. The new plumeria bloomed and my older took forever to come out of its dormancy to grow leaves, but they did grow. It took all Summer for the stem to plump up and the leaves never reached full size.



A couple of weekends ago, I brought the plumerias into our sunroom only to notice that the older one looks as though it is going to flower. The strange looking buds the eventually became flowers, that I noticed on my other plumeria are now present directly in the center of the still, not full size leaves?!? The sunroom will be cool in the winter. There are some space heaters to keep the other plants that I have in there, several varieties, from freezing. I don’t know how cold it gets in this room but my olive tree successfully flowered last winter and produced olives. I do not want to force my plumeria into hibernation and I have read that they don’t do well in green house conditions, are prone to scale and won’t flower below a certain temperature. Can you give me some advise?

[PhalPal]

I have never known a plumeria that grew successfully indoors, but that could just be because I don't have to. Mine do well outdoors all year in temps from 28-105 F. I never move them and they get full sun.

Since they are tropical plants, I wouldn't put it in a closet for any length of time.

[LeftCoastAngler]

I don't think the temps are of great concern... Although they don't like it below 45F. The light cycle, and duration should be of more concern... The more direct light, the better off it'll be... Imitating a full day of summer sun will help... Do you have some spare lights you can use, or have you ever though of say a smaller wattage HPS/MH light like maybe 150watts or so... That wouldn't put a dent in your electric bill, unlike per say a 1000watt light...

I've rooted several Plumeria plants under a 250watt HPS light with awesome results... Two to three weeks and I had roots...

Check out this thrivin' Plumeria thread here: FrangiPoni/Plumeria

[diamondsword]

Thank you both for the advice. I got the idea to put the plumeria in a closet through searching on the internet for information. In Boston it can get down to the single digits for a few weeks at a time, so I definitely have to bring them in for the winter. The 'sunroom' is heated with a space heater that probably just keeps it about 45 at night. The sunroom is faces southwest and gets a lot of direct sun all afternoon, perhaps I will look into an additional light. My jade plant loves it's location in the green house and it is close to the glass and it must get cold. My olive tree seems to do fine. I think it gets a bit cold for my citrus trees, though they still produce lemons and limes. Thanks for the advise. I am not surprised that there are other orchid geeks who grow other plants as well.

[PhalPal]

I do need to say that the few nights in a row where we had overnights in the high 20's I moved my plumeria onto my porch so it wouldn't have the chance of frosting. However it was still outside. I also have one planted in the ground protected only by the eaves of the house. It had it's best blooming year ever this summer, cold winter and all.