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Plumeria cuttings during winter

eskimo_gardener

13 years ago

Hello,

I am living in Pisa (Italy) and it's cold winter right now. A friend who lives in Hawaii and now is visiting Italy brought me yesterday four plumeria cuttings. They are a little bit wrinkled. She also brought me the rooting hormone. I don't know what to do with them right now: potting and giving them some water and then forget about them until late Spring or leave them in their bags and pot them directly in Spring? Please, could you advice me? Thanks!

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Comments (3)

Andrew Scott
13 years ago
HEllo Eskimo Gardener,
I figured maybe someone would have helped you out by now so I will try and help you the best I can.

You can pot up those cuttings now but you must understand that this it is harder to get them to root this time of year. If you can keep them warm meaning temps at least 75 degrees and also have them on bottom heat, then you may get them to root for you. I lucked out this year but I believe that my 600 watt HPS light is what made it a little easier for me to get mine to root.

The biggest mistake you can make is watering them in. You should never water a plumeria cutting until you see its leaves actually growing. Once you see leaves growing, your cutting will have roots. To water before that will only make it possible for it to rot. The cutting cannot draw up water without roots. Plumerias are succulent and store enough water to nourish them while they develop there roots.

If you have all ready potted them up and watered them, I suggest you take them out of the soil right away and then let them and the soil dry out completly. Then you can dip them in the root hormone and plant again.

Another tip to seriously consider is to put a whole raw chicken egg into the bottom of the pot. Sounds weird but if you go to the Aloha Plumeria group you will find tons of info and success stories.

Good luck!
Andrew
eskimo_gardener
Original Author
13 years ago
Thank you Andrew for your advice!
Following your advice I dipped one cutting in the rooting hormone and then potted it in dry soil. I don't have more than 68 degrees in my house. This means that it won't develop any roots until spring? What about the other 3 cuttings? Even if they are wrinkled, do you think they will make it until spring when I will pot them outdoors?
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Andrew Scott
13 years ago
Hello Eskimogardener,
I think your other cuttings should be fine. I have never stored cuttings to root in the spring but I know others here do this. If you check older posts you will find good info on doing this. My celadine last year was wrinkled pretty badly and even after it rooted and bloomed it was wrinkled. I don't think you always have to worry about the wrinkled appearance.
For your potted cutting, I think it will just take longer. Some people will actually do this when they get cuttings in the winter. I have read that they do exactly what you did with your first one, and by spring they have roots. Without the heat, it just takes that much longer. Just keep an eye on all of them and watch those tips! If you see any black or feel that they are soft, then you may have rot. I don't think it would be such a problem with the cuttigns that your just storing out of soil.
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