Congrats! You are definately on the right path :)

Mine are nicely resting, and are starting to break dormancy a little, which is probably a good thing so when they go back out in april they are already full (my guess is my tallest will be about 6 1/2 feet by then, its already about 5 1/2 feet and it was only 2 1/2 feet when I got it off ebay last year)

Good luck and dont forget to post some pics !!!!!!!

Also, keep them away from spider mites becuase they are the reason the inflo. on my "pretty princess" plumeria dropped, and I wouldn't want you to go through the same thing.

Thanks tropicalzone7. Where do you live? I'm surprised they are breaking dormancy already. Where do you have them? Yes, I end up spraying for spider mites about every other week. It seems like they come from no where!

arctic:

How long are you keeping the lights on?? I ask because my Hilo Beauty under regular old flourescents is also putting up a nice inflo right now. I have lights set to 13 hours. This is in my basement. Temps around 72 degrees.

What do you mean by 'sun bleached'? Are you sure that's not spider mite damage?

Hi Dave! I actually keep them on for 18 hours. Temperatures during the daytime are always over 80 degrees. Sun bleached is correct, just like other outdoor plants that get too much sun. The leaves appear more yellow where they've got too much sun. The spider mite damage I've had, appears as little white spots.

Hi artic tropical!
I live by NYC so its getting a bit cooler out here now, but my plumerias are facing a southwest window and get lots of sun. For some reason that is actually one of the colder rooms in my house in the mornigng and temps are in the upper 60s, but when its sunny outside it reaches the upper 70s in there easily and has gone up to 90F when the heat goes on. My plumerias seem to be very willing to grow in there and the humidity is higher than in the room it was in previously so hopefully spider mites wont be so much of a problem. Fortunately my plumerias currently are free of spider mites (because they dont have any leaves, but new ones are slowly growing). Now my bougainvillea is slowly crumbing from spider mites.
I never had a problem with spider mites before, but this is the first winter I am growing plumerias and bougainvilleas and both plants are extremely susceptable to spider mites. And I couldnt agree more... "They seem like they come out of nowhere". They are one of the weakest things Ive ever seen, but they suck the life out of the plant very quickly and one day its a small infestation, and a week later the whole plant has them all over! Even when you think you have them all if you dont apply something and the room gets dry, they come back in no time.

But its a small price to pay for a tropical backyard (which in my area lasts about 7 months out of the year).
Im looking forward to seeing how your backyard looks this summer with plumerias incorperated in the landscape! They really add a very tropical feel even though they aren't associated with the tropics as much as palms and bananas are.
Good luck :)

Man, I'm sitting here in my house at 9:32 PM, and it's already -5 degrees outside, and plummeting quickly! THIS IS TOO EARLY IN THE SEASON FOR SUCH TEMPERATURES! Global warming? No way. Not where I live! Tropicalzone7, thanks for the update and information. I looked again at my plumerias, and another plumeria plant (Islamorada) is starting to shoot up an inflo. stalk! These new lights are great!

Kevin

Islamorada is actualy a city in the florida keys, it must have been created there. Looks like a nice one though. Good luck, at least your plumerias arent outside :)

Hey, tropicalzone7, I drove down all of the Florida keys last May and didn't see any plummies on the keys! I'm sure they were there and I just didn't notice. Well, the plummies are still pushing up their inflo. stalks..... slow but sure. It has been -18 F. outside already, a few days ago, and there's a foot of snow on the ground. It will sure be nice when these plummies bloom in the next month or so.

My hats to any of you who continue to put up with mites as such high temps and lots of light....I have yet to meet a plumie grower in my area that doesn't deal with some sort of pest, and doesn't loose inflo's or can not avoid black tip due to these suckers and or thrips, actively growing your plants all winter..

Therefore the reason I put mine away and down until the spring..

I am very proud of any of you here that are willing to take on that challange and be successful at it....

Mike..:-)

Thanks Mike. Yeah, it's definitely a challenge! If you don't watch for spider mites about every day, they sneak up on you and take down a plummie in no time. You've got to wonder just where they come from. Maybe they float through the air with the dust particles!

That's great to know. I just finished building a winter growing area inside my garage with a 1000-watt MH lamp. The plumies look happy in there. The temp is 83 without a fan, when I turn on the fan for a few hours/day, it drops to 79. I also placed a 5-gallon bucket of water among the plants for humidity. I can't wait to see more growth and hopefully flowers too.

newgen, how many plummies do you have under the MH lamp? I've got about 5-6 blooming size plants, and about 11 one-foot seedlings that I germinated last summer that are doing very well under the T5HO lights (eight light bulbs).

Kevin

Kevin,

I have 2 short cuttings, 1 long (36") one, 4 plants with leaves, 1 plant with just an inflo (no leaves). They all have been in my dining room up until 2 days ago. Now my garage is warmer than my dining room!

Newgen, I'm surprised that your garage is warmer than your living room! Is it because of the lights?

Well,these lights continue to do the job. I have a new plant that is producing an info. stalk, "Mele Pa Boman", an evergreen that's a cross between Celedine and Singapore. So now I have the following that are producing info. stalks: Carol H., Mele Pa Boman, Dwarf Decideous, and Islamorada.

Wow, you are definately getting the hang of it!! Looks like this summer will be full of blooms for you.

I got a cutting of Celedine off ebay, this is my first attemt to root a plumeria cutting so we will see how it goes. I also bought a plumeria pudica off ebay which should come in the mail soon, and Ill probably look for one or two more plumerias before I decide I have enough for this next growing season at least.

All of my plumerias are free of spider mites for now, my pretty princess in in dormancy, and my unnamed plumeria is growing like crazy. It saw the coldest temps, but only stayed in dormancy for about 2 weeks before it decided to start growing. My pretty princess plumeria is still in dormancy (they are both in the same room). I think Im going to call my unnnamed plumeria, plumeria "vigorus" because it just wont stop growing (it was 2 feet tall when I got it in march and not even a year later and it is about 6 feet tall from the soil to the top of the stalk.

My bananas were also suppost to be dormant, but have abotu 3 leaves on them now. I saw your bananas on another post, they are HUGE!!!!!

Good luck and hope you see some flowers soon (on both your plumerias and your bananas!)

artictropical: Yes, the garage is warmer because of the light.