How to care for Plumeria in winter. Replace the removed soil with a mixture of compost and/or well-composted cow manure.This is a great time to give you plumeria a jump-start by soaking the root ball or drenching in a mixture of Vitazyme and Carl Pool’s Root Activator.Feed and water thoroughly using a fertilizer such as a granular slow release fertilizer with micronutrients such as Excalibur 11-11-13 or drench with a water-soluble fertilizer such as Bioblast.Place the plant in a warm and sunny location.
With smaller in-ground trees, remove leaves by stripping or clipping, cut into the soil around the trunk at the desired root ball radius, then lift the root ball from the soil before pruning roots to a manageable size.
Many new plumeria growers just do not know that plumerias go dormant over winter.But this is the annual, traditional rite of passage into winter, or dormancy. But the Colder weather brings on new challenges to those of us who grow Plumerias and a scramble to move our “babies” into a more protected environment. To see this page as it is meant to appear, please enable your Javascript! Maintain good air circulation in the storage area to discourage pests by storing plants upright, on shelves or hanging. In late May, after the threat of freeze was over, we would retrieve the plants and bring them back to their country home. It also has a ton of great micronutrients in it as well.If you want, you can throw everything above all together at one time to feed your plants. However, in order to discourage excessive stem elongation and to promote flowering, balanced fertilizers such as Excalibur 11-11-13 with micronutrients are, once again, recommended. But after a while they get sun-bleached and don’t look good, in my opinion.
It last 9-12 months, so you only need one application per season. It is difficult to predict the weather and therefore it’s difficult to give a date by which your plumeria should be safely stored for the winter. They should stay dry, or nearly so, throughout their entire winter-dormant period. Excalibur IV will last 6 months and Excalibur IX will last 9 months.During exceptionally hot periods, plants in above ground containers may need thorough watering as often as every other day. A greenhouse that is too hot can do as much damage as a greenhouse that is too cold!Fortunately, Fred, who is somewhat of a pack rat, had pulled the shade cloth off of my big greenhouse when we left SE Texas and brought it with us to NE Texas. After several days, with the help of my sweet husband, the greenhouse was in place complete with a sand base, heavy ground cloth and raised pallets for the plants. Set it up and hung the outdoor sensor, using a string, to a limb of one of the larger Plumeria plants. If temperatures are forecast to dip to 35 degrees Fahrenheit or below, tent the base of trees with sheets or frost cloths to store heat, or string small lights on branches to add warmth. Do not allow the tip to touch the outside walls. We definitely needed another plan.The following year, I knew that I needed to find a different solution for storing my plants.
For us in southern California, that has happened very early this year because of our warm winter (sorry, east coasters). Carl Pool’s BR-61 are excellent choices to use early in the season as a foliar feed.
I checked around and found a climatized storage facility about 25 miles from our house. It seems that the lingering effects of a cold storm combined with a clear sky can really wreak havoc on our plants.These photos are also a good illustration for the article by Hetty Ford on the problems with
Most varieties can be damaged or killed by temperatures in the low 30°sF for even a few hours.During the winter plumeria require very little care. The fall and winter … My goal is to merely keep the greenhouse temperature at 40 degrees or above. Cutting are easiest to root and will provide plenty of time for the roots to be established before dormancy in the Fall.As mentioned before plumerias are heavy feeders. During winter no water is needed, the plumeria goes fully dormant dropping most of its leaves.
Just want that out there.Starbucks tip…You can drop by your local stores and ask for used grounds. As you can imagine, only about three fourth of my plants survived the winter and other had serious tip damage. Vegetable bags from your grocery store’s produce section work great. Plumeria tips are fragile and easily snapped off when the plant blows over.Spring is the best time for propagating plumeria. [This is the time of the year when your neighbors see your naked plants and complain about the deer antlers in your front yard!