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storing cuttings during winter

17 years ago

i was wondering what is the best method of storing my cuttings during winter. Right now, I have them standing in a box with a piece of material covering them. I've decided to not plant my cuttings till early spring. I don't want to loose them since I've never planted them during winter.

I know you need to keep them in a dry place, but does it have to be dark?

:) plumeriagirl

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Comments (14)

kevabear
17 years ago
Good question plumeriagirl. I would like to know that too. If one gets a cutting now, before dormant season, can you just store it away untill spring, and like you asked, how is the best way to store it?
Lauri
mystwitch
17 years ago
As with any other plumie question, the answer depends on who you ask. I have left pieces of plumies that broke off when we were putting them up for winter laying in the garage all winter long and they have rooted the next season. Many have said to store them in a pot of sand standing up and some of the cuttings have put out roots during the winter. If you are located where there are mild winters, I would just store them with your plants as long as they remain warm and dry. They may look a bit shriveled next spring but should root nicely when the temps warm up.

Karen
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I purchased 7 bareroot apples from Stark last summer during their sale. I planted them in pots and never got around to planting them in fall, so I overwintered them. I placed the pots as tight together as I could against the wall of my garage, but outside. Ideally I suppose I should have covered them with leaves and tried to get a tarp over them, but I was unable to do so. The only protection that they got was that I'd shovel snow over top of the pots every time that it snowed here, so they were under a pile of snow for at least 50% of the winter. I'm in zone 5A and they came out of the winter fine, are in the ground now and have broken dormancy and look fantastic. I'm not suggesting that trying to overwinter potted trees in cold areas is ideal, but if you have to do it and can give them any protection, they'll likely be OK. Admittedly, we had a fairly mild winter this year but were still sub-zero quite a few times.
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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
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If you wait to prune the tree, the cuttings should last a few months. Keep them in a cool, dry place and root them in the spring. The better way is to root them over the winter on a heat mat or other bottom heat source. Some have used human heating pads with a plastic cover in case of spills. Get a fluorecent grow light and put that above the cuttings giving it about 12-14 hours of light per day. This will give them a head start in the spring and increase the chances of blooms from the cuttings the first year. Mike
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Hey John, Thanks for that info and I think I may have read something similiar before. Aonther article I read on the internet was saying that storing cuttings in non tropical areas is diffrent than storing them in areas like zone 8 to the tropicas. I read that there dormancy time was less in those area. My friend Mimi in Hawaii had said that Plumeria are in bloom there constantly so there dormancy time there is considerably shorter than like my plumeria. I live in western NY officially zone 6 I believe. I always consider us to live in a micro climate zone 7 for parts of the year because Lake Erie is around 10 mintues away and for the most part it keeps us considerably warmer than the rest of the area. Even at that, my plumeria come indoors around mid to late September, but they will go out for the occasional warm weekend if I can get temps in the 60's for the day and even 50's at night. I know the fifties sound cold but my Dwarf Singapore Pink maintained both of it's two inflos. Both of my I.R. plumeria would also have kept them if I would have given them proper lighting. All my other plumeria are growing under a 600 watt HPS light. I initially let them go dormant for a couple weeks but according to the article, it stated that norther n growers should try to keep first year cuttings going to avoid root rot. All of my plumeria are continuing to grow. I only have my Dwarf singapore pink with the inflos but I also got a 'Penang Peach' that I bought a few weeks ago. It came with a new inflo and loaded with buds and actually right now it has bloomed. I had lost around 4 leaves but nothing else has dropped and even the second bud that opened up around the 3rd day I got it is even still there! Do you think that if they are first year cuttigns this is a good way to grow them? How long do yours go dormant? Andrew
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kevabear
17 years ago
Thanks for your response Karen. Seems lately there are only a few of us checking this forum.
Lauri
mystwitch
17 years ago
You are welcome Lauri, I don't post often but thought I could actually answer that question. I'll go back to lurking now :0)

karen
gover314
17 years ago
You can just lay them down on a towel, Since there is no water and light plus heat, the plant will do basically nothing.I label any cuttings from the fall so I know what it is in spring. I have my plants listed by number as I got them and have that written in a journal where I keep notes on what I have done in the garden. I can just write the number with a pen on the cutting about 5" from the bottom cut. This cuts down on the error of giving someone a "Texas Sunshine" which turns out to be a Seashell.
kevabear
17 years ago
Thanks so much Karen and gover314!
plumeria_bill
17 years ago
I root inside in the winter, but I have found they require water with out roots. Only very light water, but I would check them for drying out (shriveled). Maybe give them a "bath with ST ".
gover314
17 years ago
You can just lay them down on a towel, Since there is no water and light plus heat, the plant will do basically nothing.I label any cuttings from the fall so I know what it is in spring. I have my plants listed by number as I got them and have that written in a journal where I keep notes on what I have done in the garden. I can just write the number with a pen on the cutting about 5" from the bottom cut. This cuts down on the error of giving someone a "Texas Sunshine" which turns out to be a Seashell.
plumeriagirl
Original Author
17 years ago
hi everyone.

thanks for all the responses. i'm going to store away my cuttings. i do have a few free ones i recently acquired. i'm going to try to plant them and see how they do. i'm thinking about putting outside during the day and bring inside at night. we'll see how that goes.
tdogdad
17 years ago
gover314, Tacky and definitely not very cool. Bill
kevabear
17 years ago
Yea I found that a bit not cool too. The advice was good the first time around. Different people do different things and that is why we like to hear from multiple people. I'm sure there are those that store them away and those that root inside thru the winter, neither one the only "right way".
Alrighty...let's move on now.
Lauri
gover314
17 years ago
My profound apology to Bill and those that were offended.I was really trying to help.
tdogdad
17 years ago
I am not the least bit offended nor was I upset at all. Just pointing out that too many here read everything and remember all so it is best to paraphrase or give credit to a source but from my perspective it is small change and done. Thanks for the apology and lets get back to the problems of plumies. Bill
kevabear
17 years ago
Thank you from me too gover! And yes, let's get back to our beloved plummies. We love our plummies!
Lauri

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