Plumeria, also known as frangipani, grows to be a large flowering plant in the tropics. The blooms are beautiful,have an intoxicating fragrance and are easy to grow. Plumeria go into a natural dormant period so it is easy to grow them in containers and bring them inside for winter storage in case it is snowing or freezing.
Light:Plumeria love full sun or at least half day sun. However, if you have your plumeria in a shady area and you want to move them to a sunny location, you need to move it gradually so it can adjust to the strong rays of the sun to avoid sunburn.
Water:When watering your plumerias, make sure to give the plant plenty of water and allow the soil to dry between watering. The most important thing to remember with plumeria is that they don’t like “wet feet”. Don’t let the soil become soggy. While dormant, plumeria do not need to be watered at all except if you live in a dry winter climate then plumeria will need a quick water ( watering the plant very fast on surface of soil not regular water) once every two weeks.
Soil:Only use cactus soil mixed which can be purchased at the local nursery or nursery supply. Doesn’t matter if you want to plant the plumerias in a container or planted in the ground, always use 100 percent cactus soil because plumerias like good drainage soil.
Fertilizer:Fertilization should be applied during the growing season. Balance 20-20-20 is a good fertilizer to use during the growing season then switch off from time to time with the fertilizer that has a high number of phosphorous (middle number 50 or higher). We recommend the “Grow More” brand for 20-20-20 because we see better results than any other brand. When the plumeria starts to get into a dormant season, stop feeding the plumeria and wait until the next growing season to feed them again.
How to grow plumeria from cutting–The following information that we provide is suitable for our area. However, you need to adjust it according to where you live.
- Cut off the adult leaves, stock of flowers (if any) and let the cutting dry out in a shady area for a week. If you order the cutting on line, you might be able to planted them right away or wait for few days before planting them.
- Prepare the container; it should be between one and two gallons (depending on the cutting size) and only use mixed cactus soil. Once you fill up the container with cactus soil, water the soil thoroughly and make sure it’s all evenly wet. If you are unsure your soil has good enough drainage, add extra pumice.
- Dip the cutting in the cup of water then immediately, dip it into the rooting hormone (rooting powder). If you don’t have any rooting hormone, then skip the step of dipping cutting in water. Put the cutting into the soil about four to five inches deep and insert the stalk to support it; by doing that the cutting will be more stable and won’t move around
- Water the pot again very well and put them into the partial shade or bright shade area anddo not waterthem until you begin to see the new growth that come out from the tip of the cutting. Once the new leaves start to grow out to about 3 inches in length, then water about once every seven to ten days (depending on where you live). During that time, you can move the plumeria out to an area that receives more sun exposure — but not full sun just yet. Wait until you see more leaves come out, then, you can move them to a sunny area. Best to leave them in the same container for one more year before planting them into the ground or larger container (do not use an over sized containers ).
- Please remember that location, climate, soil mixed and temperature are also the factors of growing plumeria and color of flowers. First blooming from cutting will not be as big and colormay be slightly different than adult/mature plumerias.
