They will do good in a pot and probably get more attention. You can fertilize with MG in the spring and that will help with the growth and branching. Usually they don't branch until they flower but you can cut about a foot off to get them to branch. Just make sure to cut on an angle. Good luck!

1. Older leaves or early leaves are often dumped to give energy to the new leaf growth. These usually are the leaves farthest from the tip. If this is the case just wiggle the stem and it will snap off. If not, just wait another week. You can just leave them and let them fall but they do attract insects like whitefly. 2. A cactus mix or a soil that does not retain moisture is best mixed with pumice and or perlite at equal parts. You can search this forum for soil mixes and find many. I prefer Jack Morgan's mix formula but the ingredients may be hard to find in Texas. 3. Wash off your leaves and annoy the bugs so they go elsewhere. You can use an insecticidal soap or other formulas mentioned in this forum. You can mix 3 tablespoons of garlic, a few drops of dish soap, and some ground up celantro in a gallon jug of water. Let it ferment for a few days and the ants do not like this solution. Bill

Welcome, Amerique2. A plumeria will root in the late spring or in the summer when it is ready. This means it could be this year or later. Once it starts blooming it usually blooms each year. I recommend you give your plant two tablespoons of epsom salts sprinkled around the plant and watered in. There is a big debate regarding using high middle number fertilizer or even number but I have found both work. High nitrogen is usually not that good for it causes leggy plants and more leaves than flowers. I do not recommend Miracle grow as it has uric acid that hurts soil health. If you search on this site you can find many debates on these plants. Most will agree that you avoid cold weather and do not over water as they do better a bit dry. Too much moisture especially with cold soil will cause rot from the roots up. Good luck. Bill

Al, Thanks very much. I do understand a bit of soil porosity from studying Bonsai and other container gardening for the last 10+ years. But it's certainly a bonus that someone did some of the leg work. It's actually fascinating from a Bonsai standpoint how people USED to think striated soil was good because it was more "natural", but have now come to realize that you ended up with areas where water/nutrients would "pool" between layers. Now, uniform soil is considered the norm, and ideal. I actually had 2 of the 3 components around for "gritty" even before I'd heard about it. Turface has gained a lot of popularity in the bonsai community, and mixing in various levels of organic matter (sifted bark) is sometimes suggested (though there are many that just use straight turface). It makes a much more stable alternative to akadama (which tends to breakdown pretty badly after a year or two). Though, I'm using hemlock bark as it's what is easiest to get a hold of here in western Oregon. Plus, it's splinter free. I sift it all from the few yards we get for mulching every year. =P Turface, as people have complained about, has a LOT of fines. But, I'm imagining I'll be able to use those some day when I buy a LOT of turface to redo my front yard. And I was lucky enough to find cherrystone at the local Coastal Farm supply (50# bag for $13). Anyway, I made up 2 gals of "gritty" today, and replanted the out of left plumeria (it's been a weird spring here in Oregon), after bare-rooting it of the peat:perlite mix. It looked to be in good condition, but was a bit wet. The biggest issue with the mix is the fact that once it gets dry, peat is a real b*tch to re-hydrate without soaking it. Anyway, I've digressed. The mix came out quite well, and I'm hoping will work well with the Plumeria. One of the biggest issues with Plumeria, as any attempted grower should know, is rot. But that's usually when starting cuttings. I actually kind of wonder how well Gritty would work for things like Nepenthes. Heck, next time I get a wild hair to try Citrus, or even an olive, I will have to give gritty a mix. I just wish it wasn't so spendy (relative to the generic potting soil you can get at the store that's peat based). =D Heck, this weekend I got to play with 2 new soil types. This, Gritty, and also Coconut husk chips that I used for repotting some orchids. Gritty is far easier, since the coconut husk I had to soak "all" the sodium out of. Though that makes me wonder... have you thought about Coir use in the 5:1:1? Obviously de-salted a bit. Thanks Al!