That's too bad. I haven't even checked my dormant plumies that are in the garage since this miserable storm. I'm sure the temps have dropped in there. I've been having a hard time keeping the greenhouse warm at night for the past week. There's snow blown up 8+ feet against the side of the greenhouse. At least I was finally able to get out of my house yesterday.

Sorry Dave. Penang Peach is such a nice flower and in your humidity it must be quite lovely. Hope it is the only loss.

Dave, You do an awesome job with plumerias, I have seen your pics here and they are so beautiful. Wonder how you manage that many moving indoors/outdoors. if you have any cuttings to spare let me know, I will be happy to take them. I am new to plumerias and I have only 2 of them and they are doing good in my sunroom. I got 2 more cuttings from Florida that are in rooting phase.

karyn,

Ideally, I need a spot that gets no colder than 55ºF, and gets up into the 60s during the day, with some light. Just don't have it. Now that I've moved some of these plants indoors, I'm sure spider mites are going to be a problem! Gotta try to keep the growing tips sprayed with Safer insecticidal soap.

Tdog, yes, the 'Penang' is my fav of all so far -- smaller size, good bloomer and variety of colors in blossoms with heat and humidity. Nice fragrance too. Probably should have kept it in the basement from the start. Just didn't think we'd have such a protracted period of cold weather and wind. My garage heaters are working overtime. Last year I only had one tip get mushy on the Celadine.

kandhi, I'll let you know in the Spring whether I have any plants left! Hah!

I cut off many mushy tips in my garage to stop the rot. I am drawing max amps, so I just used flood lights insead of a heater ::. It wasn't enough for some. I noted the most damage on 'Gulfstream'. I concur 'Penang Peach' is tops for most home gardens. I think that varmit from PA got it right this year; 28F last night and again tonight.

I have about a dozen varieties in my garage all winter, which regularly sees upper 30's night temps with no supplemental light. All of my plants are fine. I have been doing this for years. I have had a few casualties over that time, but they were all weak growers to begin with. Some Plumies are vigorous, some need pampering.

My point is I'm not convinced that cold is the sole culprit. Something else probably contributed. Maybe dehydration, poor air circulation, root trauma, who knows. I believe a weakened plant is prone to ailments. A healthy specimen should have no problem handling a cold, dark, dry dormancy.

x

x,

Well, this plant was very healthy when I brought it into the garage last Fall. It was pot-planted last summer, so I had to sever all the roots growing out of the pot when I pulled it up last Fall. Is that what you mean by 'root trauma'? Perhaps it did dry out too much. I have a fan running 24/7 over all the plumies in the garage so doubt it's an air circulation thing.

houston pat: what caused your mushy tips??

Dave

I wouldn't consider root pruning to be trauma. If a plant is yanked out of the ground, yes that is trauma.

I believe there is a fine balance needed to keep bare Plumie stems healthy: the right amount of moisture/ humidity coupled with cool temps. Too much drought, and they can't cope with fungus. I don't know how to qualify or quantify what that is, it's just a hunch.
I wonder if the application of a systemic fungicide, like Daconil, at the end of the growing season would protect plants during winter storage. Has anyone here tried?

x

Whether it's the so-called 'Black tip' or 'stem collapse', it's all basically cell death brought on by stress to the plant. My understanding is it is not caused by a fungus. Therefore I do not think any fungicide will be able to prevent it.

I think you're right about maintaining the right 'balance' during dormancy between soil moisture, temperature and air circulation. Still trying to figure out what that balance is! I do think that plants stored dormant for a long period of time, regardless of temperature, should not ever dry out completely. I think perhaps that particular plant of mine did dry out too much. Perhaps higher humidity could have prevented it.

I'd be interested in knowing if any Northern growers have had any luck storing their plants bare-root. If so, under what conditions?

Dave I should be able to answer that in about a month. I stored half my plumerias bare root this winter. They might have dried out a bit too much while I was away. I'll find out soon enough. After unpotting them and removing the soil I wrapped the roots in several layers of moist newspaper and laid them flat on wire racks. I moistened the paper occasionally but forgot to ask DH to do it while I was away and kind of forgot about them when I got back home so they went several weeks without having the newspaper moistened. They all still look fine with no mushy or discolored tips or mushy stems. I haven't unwrapped any to look at the roots.

I'll report on my bare root this spring. I just yanked a rainbow outta the ground after sunset befor the big freeze. It's just laying on a box in the garage.

houston pat, we'll be waiting for your report. But your plant's dormancy period is very short because of your long growing season. How long do you 'store' your plants? And what do you think contributed to your mushy stems?

I won't be storing my plumerias bare root again. They look like @#$%. Granted I was out of town on and off and the roots weren't moistened as much as they probably should have been. A number had damaged tips. The room was cool but I don't think it ever got below 50. I'm not sure if the tip damage was due to dehydration or cold. The small roots are all brittle but the larger main roots are still moist. I'm soaking the rootballs in buckets of water with some Superthrive and will pot them up tomorrow. I guess I'll know how everything is in a few weeks but for me and the conditions I have to deal with I think it's worth giving up the space to keep them in pots.

Karyn, sorry to hear that. I think the bareroot thing might work better in the South where the dormancy period is very short, and where temps are warmer and humidity is higher. In the South, even in an uninsulated garage you will occasionally get daytime temps around 80.