Ordering Late Season Plants

Ordering Late Season Plants

A lot of people like to continue to order new plumeria, even when fall comes knocking. Is there a risk in ordering late season plants? Yes, there can be. However, the dreaded Winter Rot doesn’t just single out all recently received plants. On the contrary, it can target ALL plants that are in their first year in your greenhouse or other winter storage set up. Below are some tips which we hope you will find helpful.

Potting: Pot your plumeria in no larger than a one gallon size pot. Use a very well drained soil consisting of peat, perlite, and chopped pine bark. Make sure peat is not the main ingredient and soil is sort of “chunky” with the perlite and bark when you squeeze a handful. When you release pressure, the soil should easily fall apart and not remain in a ball from your squeezing it.

Fertilizing:  fertilize only once after you pot the plants, but no more after that until next spring since it can interfere with natural dormancy.

WATER—VERY IMPORTANT: It is also extremely important to remember, that, once plants are dormant, watering is something that should not be done at all unless wrinkling or shriveling of the stalk is evident at some time during winter storage. In this case, give a small drink, but no more. ALL first year plants, regardless of when they are received are at some risk of winter rot, which happens while they are in storage in pots for the winter. I have never understood why this also applies to first year plants that seem already established but, it can happen. Most of the time, it seems water is the culprit. If there isn’t a strong root system taking up most of the soil in the pot, the plant’s younger and smaller roots end up sitting in water that they cannot take up because they have no leaves. This stagnation can lead to bacteria and fungi which, if the plant is weak and doesn’t have a robust root system developed, can cause winter rot.

Temperature: If you live in a warmer area with little cold weather, your chances are better, especially if you can simply leave your plants out all year with no worries of weather below 50-60°F (some people say 50, some say 60—we store ours at around 50°).  Also, if you leave them out during winter in an area below 60° that does not freeze, you will want to ensure that your plants are not constantly getting wet via rain or irrigation.

So, in closing a recap:  just remember that damp soil, a plant having few roots established, and cool temperatures below 50-60°F can prove to be a risky combination, even for plants you might have received as far back as 3 or 4 months before fall and winter weather arrives. Also, trying to keep plants from dormancy with fertilizer is not recommended. Plumerias go dormant. It is part of their life cycle, so please remember this. They will perform better the next year if you let them rest.