Hi,
Welcome to the Plumeria forum. Someone will come in soon and help you and answer your questions. It would help if you can post a picture of your plant, photobucket.com is a free service to the board.

Karen B

Is the branch firm or soft? If it is soft, it may be starting to rot. I had a red that seemed to stall leafing out in the spring on some branches and eventually just rotted. If the branch is firm, you can wait a bit more to see if it takes off. You can try the test of poking a needle into the branch to see if latex oozes out. If no latex, it may be rotting.

If the branch is soft, you may want to cut it off in case it is rot starting.

Mike

Thanks Karen for the welcome and tips. And Mike for the information. Mike, I will try the pin test to check the latex flow. It is really puzzling as the other branches are going great, but this one just sprouts out with the tiny leaves about 1/4 to 1/2 inch and then they shrivel and die. After a couple of weeks, it tries to sprout again. The branch appears to be strong and healthy, but will give it a poke to see about the latex flow. Not sure how to post a picture, but really not much to see----just the branch and the shriveled ends of ths sprouts. Is there some special way to post pictures?

Hi there jtkz!! Yes, it's easy once you've opened a free 'photobucket.com' account, just upload your pics to it from wherever you store them on your comp using the upload facility on p'bucket, copy the 3rd lne of code (HTML line)from under the pic and paste this into the message box on the garden web page you are writing a thread on, lines of gobbledegook will appear, go to preview message to check pic is ok...and that's it!!!

Thanks Gill for the added info and I will give the photo options a try. Hopefully my plumeria will eventually leaf out as well, but no luck as yet and it has been over 4 months. I will keep my fingers crossed. The other branch is doing fine and producing hardy leaves right and left. -----thanks again--J

It was suggested to me that it could be black-tip fungus...Plumeria Problems & Solutions

Update on lack of leaves. Good news!! the branch is starting to leaf out now and the buds are not shriveling up. I am not sure why they stopped drying up-----but the only change that I made was to move it from the hot full son to the shade. About a week later the leaves stopped drying up-------so maybe it was the heat and sun. It had been in the high 90's and low 100's for many days. Who knows--------maybe it was just being cantankerous and wanted attention. Thanks for all the feedback to help with the problem.---best regards.---J

Cboz- You have black tip. Keep the tips dry especially in the evening. Take a small, sharp knife and cut carefully right along the black line and scrape out any dark. Let it dry. It should be ok but no flowers on that branch this season. You can just leave it be and then pop off the black part when it naturally cracks along the line but I get rid of it so new growth can start. You have new growth on the left one already.
Itkz- often too much heat will slow the branching on particular branches. Shade it in the middle of the day and if it does not grow this year it should next, as long as the branch is firm. Bill

Sorry to jump on this thread but I was looking for answers for this same issue. It's June and my Plumeria has yet to produce leaves. I just cut some blacked tips and it's milky so not dead, but it won't leaf in any branch. Here's a few pictures... what should I do? Thanks

b_bird. It is growing leaves. It take a long time for many plants to root. I do not start worrying until August. Leave it alone and let it get going on its own time. If it was already rooted it is just a slow starter. It looks healthy. On the right branch, I would use my fingernails to remove the little black parts and leave the reddish ones which will be leaves. On the left you have leaves forming (those long reddish things are new leaves). Bill

Thank you for the response. It had been potted before, but I transferred it to a larger pot about a month ago. It had grown out leaves by Feb/March the previous year. Do I continue to water it? I'll remove the black too.thanks.

Anytime you transplant, water with b-1 or superthrive and water to reduce transplant shock and stimulate root growth. A plant that experiences shock can be set back in growth. I do not know where you live but here in Calif. I still have several plants just leafing out. Others are fully leafed out. The weather has much to do with this. I recommend you get a water meter as pots can take a surprising amount of time to dry out unless in very hot weather. It is best to drench and then allow to dry out to between dry and moist (3-4) before watering again. In 70 degree weather this can take almost a week for pots larger than 5 gallons. The time is effected by heat, wind, and humidity.

Very hard to see but It is possible there is some black tip going on. It could be caused by insects such as mites or possibly cool wet weather. Some plants are more prone to such things than others.

My plumia bloom flowers but no leaves

Hi Linda. I recommend you start a new thread if you have a question and if possible post a picture of the plant to get the best advice.

I have a different problem. Loads of flowers but leaves are always small and ugly.

That sounds like a possible insect issue. Best advice is to post an image of the issue.

.

Hi everyone,

This is my first time posting to this group and I hope it is OK that I jump into this old thread. I am plantsitting five plumeria (Madagascar?) that I rescued from our office just before going into COVID lockdown. In my over-enthusiasm I put them in full sunlight on my terrace for a couple of days, and as a result, they lost almost all of their leaves over the next two weeks (the plants had been growing on our desks in the office for a couple of years and never received any direct sunlight). However, I am happy to say that, after moving them inside, four of them have sent out new leaves and are doing fine.

However the fifth one only has two old leaves and no sign of any new leaves. I have noticed that although the rest of that plant seems OK, the top part where the leaf buds should appear is completely dry and brown. Note there is no sign of rotting; it is just dry. Is there anything I can do to stimulate leave growth? Should I try to score the brown part?

(note that the thing to the right of the stem is a bamboo stake used to hold it up, in case that isn't clear in the photo)

I have a similar problem only my plumerias are outdoors in the ground and one is over 40 years old. It can’t be too much or too little sun/heat/cold/water because it’s either on the same plant or an immediate (inches away) neighbor of unaffected branches. The tips have tiny leaves and buds, which should not be simultaneous. The leaves should come first. When the leaves open they are thin and scrawny, they don’t even look like Plumaria‘s. The buds have yet to open. There’s no black tip/fungus visible. Could a gopher or other pest be eating the roots on that side of the plant? What can I try? I appreciate any input. Pics to follow

Same plant, branches are firm, why is this happening?

More examples

I have this same problem. Did you find out what the cause is.

I have not seen this before but was curious about something.... where are you guys located (city/state/country) and exactly when (month? day? this year, I assume?) did the growth start coming out like this?

in reference to the most recent posts...To me this looks like the plant attempting to recover from some sort of insect damage or some other type of physical damage to the branch tips. In regards to the picture of the canopy branches not producing leaves....Perhaps you found this already as it's been several months since your post but check for some sort of damage to the branch such as sun burn or a similar looking brown fungus which ends up cutting off branches from their nutrient supply. Agri-fos/Agri-phos (I cant remember the spelling and it's in my garden shed across a muddy 200ft.), neem oil, or even a systemic granular anti fungal for ornamentals may be a solution.