Hi, Mike, I started waking mine up on March 1st last year. Like you, I got inflos later than I had hoped. They were opening in Sept., Oct., and Nov. This year I'm going to start them with epsom salts on February 1st. Being in Ohio, it will take some experimenting till I'm able to get them to bloom early in the summer.They'll all get hit with the lights on the 1st also. Then a week to 10 days later I'll start in with the fertilizer and super thrive. There are many of mine that refused to go to sleep this past winter. Many of them are in my dark, cool basement! Weird. I invested in a moisture meter last year. It'll get lots of work from the 1st till they all go outside in May. I don't want to lose any of them by over watering. Good luck with your plants. I hope you get lots of inflos this year!

I'd like to wake mine up earlier as well. I had very few and very late inflos last year and most aborted. The only ones that had nice inflos were the few that had been stored in the greenhouse and I don't have room to keep many in there. I'm just afraid that we'll have another cold spring and they'll have to remain inside for longer then I'd like. I couldn't keep them outside until almost June last year.

I don't wake them up -- they wake up on their own! LOL! Seriously, how do you 'wake them up'? Move them to a warmer, lighter location?

The ones in the garage start to wake up when the days get longer and temps increase from sun and milder weather.

The ones in the basement never really went dormant because of the artificial lights. In my office, the few plants there wake up when days get longer.

Hey everyone..Some great ideas...

Dave, what I mean buy wake them up? By brining them upstairs from the darkness of the cellar, dungeon,lol..I have so little room in my home because the only windows I have all my citrus and succulents in all the sunny spots..

I could put the lights on longer down there, but they share the same space under the same lights as my clivias do which require very little light in order to bloom.

Last year, I brought them up when I was able to set up my pop up greenhouse outside in March, and use a space heater at night. But March was a bit late to give them all this sun..:-(

Like many here, many inflos aborted because they got a late start till the end of July, and couple started flowering too late..

I think I am going to have to either buy more lights, and set them apart from my clivias in the cellar, or find a way to put them, all 20 in a spot with sun..Where? What to do?

Something weird, with only 5 hours of light, I have one that is still growing an inflo from last summer! It wants to flower..I hope it hangs on till spring!

Good luck everyone.. Does anyone else have any ideas?

Most of mine are now out of dormancy or getting out of dormancy. I got my first plumeria last year in late febuary and it broke dormancy in early march. Then I didnt get flowers until the first week of september. But that same plumeria has had a really hard time going into dormancy this year. It was getting spider mites in november so I cut the leaves off and it stayed in dormancy for about a week and then mid december it started growing new leaves, but the new leaves were comming up really slow until now (I guess since the days are getting longer it is starting to speed up). I would like to see some blooms maybe mid to late july.
I never really force it out of dormancy though, just increase watering a little, and the longer days do the rest.

Good luck, hope you get some earlier blooms this summer.

It s also my main problem "the late of going out of dormancy" of my potted plumeria seedlings.

I store from November my plumeria seedlings at a closed veranda with natural light and heat abt 60f all winter and I minime watering, most of them going to dormancy at January, then they get a spraying of water once per month.

At end of February I increase watering-light (artifficial) and I start fertilizing with Epson Salt-Fish fert-Seaweed and with 20-20-20 , but I don't increase the heating (maybe that is my fault),
At March or April I bring them out at my veranda.

Unfortunally last year we had many rains and cloudy days, my seedlings was out of dormancy at end of May/first days of June and I got my first flowers at September, its too late for a zone 9.

So I can't enjoy leaves and flowers from spring till winter.

John

I keep most of my dormant plants in the dark and wake them up by bringing them into a warm, lighted area and starting with ES, etc. The ones in the greenhouse start putting out new growth early in the year and some never go completely dormant.

I have been seeing alot here use ES.

What effect does it have and how on our plumies?

Thanks..:-)

Maybe next week! So excited. I love Phoenix :) Just moved my 15 gallons into the Arizona room from the outdoor covered patio. A little worried because we had crazy rain and they got wet. My 1 and 5 gallons are inside in a sunny room, one even has an inflo. I had frost last week, but am thinking that was it...

I bought a rooted Plumeria last spring.It is about 5 feet tall. It bloomed fine all summer thru the fall. I brought it indoors before the first freeze occured. I haven't watered it since December and the leaves started to fall and go dormant. It stays at about 55 in the storage room with a little outside light. My question is when the danger of freeze is over and I bring it outside again, when should I resume watering? Thanks:

After reading this thread I checked on mine in the basement and here's what I found. They also started their inflos late and I forced dormancy. I dragged them up to my living-room, yesterday and stuck them in the sun. Sorry for the poor photo,{{gwi:1149505}}
I can't believe they started flowering and growing the late inflos. All three are growing leaves and inflos. I guess they will stay upstairs. I wonder if I'll get flowers this summer. Doesn't look good.

Jane

It will be interesting to find out what happens jane...

I have one myself that has two inflo's from last fall that have not fallen off yet.Funny thing is, I am only providing 4 hours of light, and one is actually still flowering from last fall.

All the others are putting out a leaf or two since I upped the light input from 3 to 4 hours...many have no inflo's yet, and it is these that I am hoping pop new ones come spring..I can't believe that you are actually growing these along with your beautiful orchards..Plumies are certainly a different breed of plant for us up here..

Let us hope we get some beauties this summer..

By the way, gorgous floors and what is the plant on your glass table in the back round? Is that a clivia? Looks good from here.....

Mike

My goodness Jane, is that an Angreacum sesquipedale in bloom????

When do you resume watering or do you ever stop watering during winter storage? Thanks

I begin regular watering when I take them out of storage. I'll give my plumies a bit of water during dormancy, maybe once every 4-6 weeks just to keep the roots hydrated. I keep them in a cool area so the soil doesn't dry out that fast. The dormant plumies in the greenhouse get more water because it's warmer and the soil dries out faster. They also get wet while I'm watering everything else if I use a hose but I've never had a problem with rot. This year I'm storing some plumies bare root. I have the rootball wrapped and I keep the wrapping moist. I guess I'll see if this method has worked when I repot them in a few weeks. I'm afraid that the roots of some might have dried out while I was out of town. I forgot to tell DH to moisten the wrapped roots so some were probably dry for almost 2 weeks.

When I say regular watering once I bring them out of dormancy I should have said that I water and feed but don't begin regularly watering until foliage starts to grow and then not that much until they are outside 24/7.

Karyn- since plumerias are from areas with sand (islands) or volcanic soils (Cent.Am and some islands), I think the roots are able to dry out for quite a period without damage. I think Emerson just piles his up in a big garage with the roots are in the air for the winter. So I think you are ok. Bill

Hi Ssteeler,

I water mine all winter long just as any other cactus. That is the way I treat them all winter. Once the soil completely fries out, then a couple more days than that, I water thoroughly.

I can do this though, because I have mine planted in a gritty mix that hold very little water for a long amount of time, and some are root bound.

So far, so good. I have lost them to under watering though.

It is the feeding that resumes once spring arrives..The more frequent watering once the leaves have formed..

Hi karen and Bill..Hopeing you are safe and well. Thanks for everything you say and do here!

Mike.;-)

Dries out...lololol. Not fries out!

Bill, you are so right about them being able to goes a while without water. Although I do water mine evry week, sometimes I will forget a week or two, just slips my mind they are in the cellar, and they hold just fine anyway..

Mike

That's a relief. Thanks for the info. I was thinking that I'd have to treat them like a cutting and start the rooting process over.

What is ES ????

Is it an abbreviation for Superthrive???

Please help.

Thank you.

Erica

ES is for epsoms salts a source of magnesium for plumerias to help them process fertilizers. If your nursery sells Sul-po-mag it is slightly more expensive but does a great job.