This year I have lost 2 ea 10+ yr old DR to root rot... The first was one that the terminal ends of the plant branches started to go soft and rot off. I cut them back numerous times before the actual culprit showed up above the soil line. at that point the terminal ends healed and started growing. In the meantime, the caudex above soil started showing more and more signs of rot even after digging some out. It had progressed further than I had thought. Before scraping the entire plant, I cut the good stems off and planted them. They have done well so far with new growth and no signs of rot after 6 months. Cutting the good off and planting saved the DNA of a plant that had always been a prolific bloomer and was one of my firsts. I hope they continue blooming like the original. Good luck, Z

Hello Clare, I work with a lot of cuttings and I can honestly tell you don't be fooled by seeing growth at the top of your plant. The best way I could describe what you see is that these plumeria cuttings are a lot like potatoes in the fact they store nutrition, moisture and have the ability to grow to a slow point with no roots. Every cutting tip has stored memory before it was cut to produce leaves or produce an inflo / flowers. I too right at this very moment have 2 week old potted cuttings with inflows / flower buds and as much as we want to see they joy of beautiful blooms, now is not the time. Just like a potato will form eyes / or bumps to grow from it's stored energy and memory to grow and to keep a potato a few more days we knock off the buds / eyes to keep it longer. Looking at your photo and because I see no leaves you will eventually need to remove this inflo at the base of the crown. If you choose to let it produce flowers they will be small and you may experience bud drop. Please note: any growth at the top is taking away the energy it needs to produce rooting. Challenging yes!, but this is what makes us learn about what we love and care for! If you get the chance post on this thread a photo of the pot and plant and a close up at the base where the cutting meets the soil. We can help you and always wish the very best!, Stuart

I found an absolutely beautiful Jade in a dumpster when I was tossing my trash. I pulled it out and after trimming a bit it was absolutely fantastic. I proceeded to over water it and practically kill it. It got so bad that I thought it was a goner...and then I did the unthinkable. I cut off the entire matted and ruined root ball. The whole thing. I let it air a few days and stuck it in an awful mixture of street dirt. 6-months later, it is making a huge comeback. I barely water it now and give it a shower every six weeks or so to blow away any mites or whatever crawlies happen on it. It is doing fine. I happened on another specimen with an 8-inch trunk and I broke it up to make about 5 new plants with 4-inch trunks (the 8-inch was rotting). I'm hoping to get at least 3 of those rooted using the same method. Re-rooting a 4-inch trunk gave me some confidence with Jades. They seem to be really resilient if you sorta be a little mean to them ;-)

I think the critical factor is soil choice and watering habits. Ideally, you'd be growing in a medium that makes over-watering something you'd actually need to work at for it to become a problem. I build my soils so they hold little to no perched water, and can't remember the last time one of the fungaluglies was a player in the death of a plant. This is the ugly planting I referred to that was put together from what was available when a visiting bonsai 'artist' conducted a workshop. It's in the 5:1:1 mix topped with dead moss and there are no drain holes in the pot at all. I used R/O water for irrigating and fertilized with fish emulsion and STEM. I think we did the workshop in Aug and the plants were tiny things in little 1.5" pots - little larger than a cell pack cell, so the growth of the plant, such as it is, was from August to sometime in spring. You can see the closed buds on the hornbeam I'm layering the top off of next to it. Below you can see I pruned the mess hard I let it grow until the next spring Then cut it back again You can see the stub from the first chop. I summered it outdoors & did some pinching I'd neglected to do before to make it full, and pawned it off on the first garden visitor that could find promise in it. The bottom leaves are original on the plant, so about 3 years old, and they look pretty good for all the low light and other adversities they suffered. Like I say - it's never been a tough plant to keep happy. I've repotted several of them for others - did one very large one with a 2.5 - 3" trunk during a repotting demo for a garden club, and cut those back to reveal a decent structure too, and they all did just fine. Al