Hi all,

I am new to the plumeria world. I am hoping someone can give me some advices on how to care for my plumeria during dormant season. I can't find similar posting that is close to my situation.

I currently have one plumeria (indoor). I am located at NJ (zone 6?). My husband and I bought four cuttings from Florida during vacation last fall, I planted them by following the instruction that was supplied w/ the cuttings, but only one survived and rooted, the other three were lost due to stem rot....so you can see why I am very concern and worry for this lone survivor when it comes to watering, we really want to see it grow...

Location that I have placed this plumeria is at a counter in the guest bathroom where there is a skylight at the ceiling, the room is very bright during the day (no one use that bathroom so it's like a greenhouse to me). Because we got the cutting last fall, so we didn't see any growth showing till around March/April of this year. It tried to flower but the blooms didn't get to open before it dried off. But the original growth tip was split into three and grew some leaves. I always worry that I would over water even the soil has good drainage so I only mist the top of the soil when it was dried. The plant is about 12 inches tall right now with three small growth tips on one main stem that is about 1 inch diameter thick, it's planted in a ~8 inches plastic pot.

One day in October the leaves started turning brown and the stem wrinkled a bit. So I searched the forum hoping for an answer. I guess because the angle of the sun and the shorten daylight during fall season, the bathroom is not as bright now so the plant went into dormant. All the leaves turned brownish yellow, dried and fell off while the growth tips remained greenish w/ that shiny sticky coding.

I read that I shouldn't water the plumeria when it's in dormant without leaf. So right now the soil is very dry. I observed that the main stem has deep wrinkles on it like the skin of a dried raisin. I followed some advices in the forum to check for rot by pressing the stem that's below the soil line. It feels firm.


So my questions are:

1) Why is it having wrinkles? Is it because I am not watering it enough during the growth season?

2. If the wrinkles are due to lack of water from the summer, will it have enough energy stored to last through the dormant season? Will it continue to dry up more during the winter?
   
3. Now that it doesn't have any leaves, should I mist the soil or really no watering at all? If I mist the soil, will it cause stem rot?
   
4. Right now should I move the plumeria right next to a sunny window instead? Will it trigger the plant out of dormancy with some leaves growth so I can water it? Or the plant really needs to "sleep" through the winter?
   
5. When next summer comes, should I water the soil with more water than just misting? Pour maybe a cup of water in it till the soil drip w/ water, dump away all the drained water after a while and let the soil dry again before next watering? Or should I continue to just mist the soil?
   
   Thanks,
   
   bean_sprout