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Jimmy Buffett - The Key West Years

Jimmy Buffett - The Key West Years

2010 Featured Plumeria

Plumeria Care Through the Ages

 PLUMERIA CARE THROUGH THE AGES
A History of Plumeria Care and Propagation

Published in c. 1768

Plumeria were cultivated in England as early as c. 1690. The Royal Gardeners responsible for the Royal Botanic Gardens and conservatories of the Kings of France, England and Spain were among the early experts of tropical plant culture.

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew was created c. 1759

When reading these page images you'll need to interpret what looks like an f as an s. For example, the first image below reads as 'All these plants may be propagated by seeds, which must.. ; they should be sown in pots filled... should be transplanted into separate small pots.... observing the shade...' .

Plumeria propagation from seeds, c. 1768

continuation of seed propagation, c. 1768

The references to "the stove" which appear as "the ftove" are references to the room of the conservatory where the heat is provided for the conservatory which would be the same as a hot-house. References to the "flue" means the "pipes" that carry away the hot exhaust of the wood fire.

Propagation from cuttings, c. 1768

Notice above that it is recommended the cuttings have two-months before being planted.

You'll sometimes read references to the tan. Tan is short for tan-bark or tanners bark. Crushed bark has tannin which is applied to drying animal skins in order to tan the skin to leather. Bark is natures protection of trees and contain natural controls of plant diseases. Bark mulch is good for the garden, in potting mix and for rooting cuttings. Plumeria cuttings can be rooted in nothing more than pine bark.

Above is the recommendation to harden a plant off by slowing increasing the amount of sun exposure.

c. 1794

Two months to ten weeks prior to rooting, c. 1794

THE UNIVERSAL GARDENER, c. 1778

Propagation from seed and cuttings, c. 1778

continuation of propagation from cuttings, c. 1778

AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF GARDENING, c. 1824

A recommendation to use large cuttings and crushed bark (tan)

published c. 1825

From the Encyclopidea Londinensis, c. 1825

Propagation from seeds, Encyclopedia Londinensis, c. 1825

Propagation from cuttings, Encylopedia Londinensis, c. 1825

Published c. 1829

Excerpt from The Practical Gardener and Modern Horticulturist

 AMERICAN GARDENER'S CALENDAR, c. 1859

Bottom heat and the bell-glass as a humidity chamber

The bell glass assures a warm humid environment as bags do with bag-rooting, maintaining desired conditions with a minimum amount of water within the enclosure. The bell glass over cuttings or similar humidity chamber avoids excessive loss of water from the cutting.


An important recommendation for those outside of the tropics is in the above page image. It is best to have cuttings well rooted before winter storage to reduce risk of losing the plant by early spring of the following year.

SUMMARY

For those of us living outside of the tropics, most of what we need to know about plumeria culture has been documented over two-hundred years ago. An important lesson from the past is the emphasis of allowing ample time for the cuttings to become well callused. Typically, eight to  ten weeks of curing time is recommended. The use of bark, the bark bed and loose well draining soil mixes are recommended. Large cuttings root best. Warm and humid conditions for cuttings and plants and the use of bottom heat have long been practiced in plumeria culture. The plants should have little or no water during winter.

Reasons to Consider Grafting

ADVANTAGES OF GRAFTING

• A newly grafted tip can have root-supported new growth within 10-14 days. Rooting a cutting can take 4-8 weeks for new root support.
• Grafting has a higher success rate rooting the newer plumeria hybrids.
• The growth of a grafted plant will be at minimum one-year ahead of a rooted cutting plant.
• Seedlings of classic plumeria, particularly the white varieties, used for grafting under-stock will have better root structure and better disease resistance for both the roots and the grafted plant tissue. As with hybrid roses, the newer plumeria hybrids are selected for the blossom appearance and not the disease resistance of the adventitious roots.
• New introductions can be propagated more rapidly thereby speeding the availability of the variety to the public as well as bringing down the plant cost sooner.
• A single plumeria tree can display a variety of hybrids.
• The bloom tendency and appearance of a new hybrid can be determined more quickly if the seedling tip is grafted to a mature plant rather than waiting for the seedling to mature and bloom. With this method, the original seedling is preserved and markings matching the grafted scion.

HOW DO YOU KNOW IF A SPECIFIC VARIETY WILL BE HARD TO ROOT?

·    You paid a lot of money for the cutting

·    You are in a hurry for it to root

·    You feel like you must do something to make it root

·    Varieties originating from Thailand are more likely difficult to root because grafting is the predominant method for propagation

·    A newly released cultivar is more likely to be difficult to root than the old American classics

·    Rare and hard to find plumeria are more likely to be difficult to propagate from cuttings