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astralex

Plumeria in Sweden +ID help

astralex
13 years ago

Hi! Living so much up north as I do in Stockholm, Sweden I didn't know until now if I ever can succeed to make a plumeria to flower. I know now it's possible. After two years of experimenting I got this in our living room:

{{gwi:1219333}}
Would love to hear from someone else growing plumies in Sweden.

Btw, can someone ID it please?

Comments (11)

  • Dave in NoVA • N. Virginia • zone 7A
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    You truly win the prize!! Outstanding work. What did you do to get it to bloom?? It's beautiful. I haven't a clue as to its name.

  • arctictropical
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Nice! I live up "north" in the cold part of the U.S., so I'd like to know how you got them to bloom, as well.

  • juicygirl
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    No idea! But that is an awesome specimen! I LOVE IT

  • astralex
    Original Author
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanx guys!
    To make the "recipe" short: a lot of caring around and lighting the inflow.
    The ingredients are below.
    Take a lot of light
    We have very long days up north here during the summer with sun light from 3am to 10pm. I try to have my plumies out on the balcony as long as the temperatures and wind allow. If the summer is not too bad I normally get a tiny inflow by the end of July. After that it'll need at least two months to bloom. The problem is that already in September the temperature here is around 10C (50F), which is too cold to have the plants outside. From the end of August I let them stay mostly inside near the east-south facing window where they get at best a few hours of sun per day. Last year I had a god inflow, but all shells just fall off without opening. This year when it started falling off again I decided to try to add some lights. I bought some cheap IKEA lamps and 24-25W energy saving bulbs (or rather spirals) and placed them directly above the inflow, but so that it doesn't burn the leaves or the inflow. Here how it looks like:
    {{gwi:1219335}}
    It doesn't look pretty, but it won't ruin you on electricity bills and it does the job.
    I have both day light bulbs and more yellow ones and I noticed that even 24W day light is brighter then 25W yellow and the flowers respond better to the first one too with more color.
    Heat it up
    When there is no inflow my plumies don't mind to be outside if it's not cooler then 13C (55F) by night. When you have an inflow never expose it to the temperatures below 16C (60F) even if it's sunny. Otherwise the buds will get black tips and fall off. During the winter the temperature in our flat is always 24C (75F) and all my plumies are growing fine. None of them had ever gone dormant and I have about 2' of new growth per year, which I believe helps to set the inflows during the short summer.

    Add water and the "spices"
    I like to have about 1" thick layer of fine sand on top of the soil mix in my tropical plants' pots. I think it adds some tropical touch and more important it tells me when it's time to water. If the sand is dry - it's time. During the hot summer days it can be as often as every second day, while in the winter (my plants never sleep) I water them two times a week. Once a week I care them to the bathroom and thoroughly shower then I fertilize with Schultz BloomPlus Plant Food with NPK 10-54-10. This year I also add some Superthrive to the fertilizer and spray the foliage once a week with Spray-n-Grow. As for Superthrive I can tell it really boosts the roots. With the Spray-n-Grow I can't be sure, but I think the branches get thicker faster.
    Protect it
    When the plants are outside the wind is my enemy. Potted plumies seams to be made for the wind to through them around. After losing one branch I made a counterforce system to fix my biggest tree. Another big enemy is spider mites! I get them every year:( By showering and swiping with some soap solution you can keep them under control, but never get rid of them. Tried some chemicals and almost killed my darlings... The only way to get rid of spider mites I found is to get some predatory mites (Phytoseiulus persimilis). It will take about a month for them to get in charge, but then they will eat all the adult spider mites, their larvae and eggs. Then they will starve and die...

    Here is one more picture of my pride:)
    {{gwi:1219336}}

    Off topic, but I wanted also to show you my Musa Velutina (Pink banana) flower just coming out:
    {{gwi:1219337}}

  • jandey1
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Gorgeous! What a great job you've done getting those tropicals to thrive.

    Your flower looks kinda like Vera Cruz Rose, or maybe Vanda Ruffles. What does it smell like?

    Btw, is that a baby coconut tree I see in the foreground of the lamps photo?

  • astralex
    Original Author
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi Jandey and thanx!
    I love the shape and colors of my plumie, but I can't say the same about the smell. It still smells good, but a little bit too rough so to say. I've seen better smelling plumerias:)

    I checked photos of Vera Cruz Rose and Vanda Ruffles and they do look like mine, but not exactly. Mine has some pink whirl inside the yellow centre.

    Yepp, it's a baby coconut tree, but I have to admit I just bought it this way (IKEA too:). I have also six spindle palms (Hyophorbe verschaffeltii) which I germinated from seeds brought from Mauritius. I found them very easy both to germinate (100% germination rate) and to grow as potted.

  • jandey1
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    That inner pink swirl is distinctive. Could be a Thai variety, or a very nice seedling of a named variety. Whatever it is it's beautiful. Shame about the smell, but I've read that that can change as they mature. My NOID white had absolutely no smell the first week it flowered (I was so disappointed!) but now it has a lovely sweet smell.

    I must've seen thousands of baby coconut trees when I was a girl, though none since, so the photo brought back nice memories of our years living on Guam. Got to make my own leis back then from plumerias--heaven! I didn't know then how good we had it with hibiscus, plumeria, and coconut wherever we went.

  • astralex
    Original Author
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I probably should say that it's from a cutting I brought from Thailand... Does it make it to a Thai variety?:)

    I have a smaller white tree which is growing a single flower on the inflow and is going to open in a week or so. Hope that one will smell terrific. It has to do so beeing the only flower:)

  • Dave in NoVA • N. Virginia • zone 7A
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Plumerias that bloom indoors or under cool conditions can have completely different coloration than those grown hot and humid. So going by color, I doubt one can easily match yours with known varieties.

  • aimar
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Very nice Plumerias, astralex from Sweden!
    I live in Norway and have some Plumerias, but not as big as yours. Also mine are still blooming even if it`s dark and cold outside.

  • Elise Karam
    2 years ago

    Wooow i just ordered some plumeria seeds wish me luck 😅

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