Our plumeria seedlings are going to sleep! At least, that’s what we think. If you’ve been following our plumeria posts, you will learn that we’re coming to a close on our first year of growing plumeria in Central Florida. Raising the seedlings, however, is even newer for us.
Our teenager is in charge of our plumeria collection. He’s secretly hoping that his future plumeria cuttings will help him pay for his future college tuition.
Last winter, we overwintered 2 “pregnant plumeria” plants. While both plants survived the winter, the other plants’ seeds didn’t come out to be viable.
In the photos below, you’ll see the seedlings belonging to the Kool Aid parent. We harvested the plumeria seeds this past Summer and we were able to germinate most of them, by God’s grace. We’ve only had 5 seedling casualties to date, for this variety.
Unfortunately, none of the Espinda seeds even germinated.
Photo of Plumeria Seedlings Going To Sleep
The colors of the plumeria leaves started changing this month when the temperature started to drop (even but a little–remember, we’re in Florida) and the daylight hours started to decrease. We’re not exactly sure what signals the plants to go to sleep: is it the cooler temp or is it the decrease in light?
We’re not here to tell you what exactly causes the plumeria to go to sleep; however, we’re happy to share our observations with you as we happily go along. Feel free to tell us what you think makes them go dormant.
It’s interesting to see our own version of the color changes of the Fall Season here in Central Florida, right on our pool deck. As you know, we don’t have very much of ’em nice seasonal color changes over here. The process that the seedlings go through (with regards to the color of their leaves changing in the Fall) seems to be different than that of the adult plants (or cuttings). For the seedlings, the leaves turn reddish first, then yellow, then brown. For the adult plumeria, the leaves immediately start turning yellow, and then brown, before they fall off.
Perhaps, it’s just coincidental that the plumeria seedling leaves are turning reddish this Fall. There’s a possibility that the color change is but a normal process for all seedling plants, regardless of the season. We don’t know. Perhaps, we’ll have the opportunity to do more research in the future when our newborn baby is old enough to enjoy our plumeria garden with us.
We think it’s pretty cool that I was pregnant around the same time the plumeria plants made seed pods. They “gave birth” around the same time I did. It’s funny how things work out sometimes. God has blessed us with these little plumeria babies which we know nothing about!
Anyway, we’re still deciding on when we’re going to begin our plumeria overwintering process, specifically for the seedlings. Do we remove their leaves according to the popular suggestion for the adult plants? We didn’t even remove the leaves on our adult plants and cuttings when we overwintered them last season.
Last year, we overwintered our adult plumeria plants just before Thanksgiving and only had a few casualties when we woke them up on the first day of Spring. We hope we won’t have any casualties this year.
Until then, we’d like to know: do you have any plumeria seedlings that you’re raising this Fall? How will you be overwintering them?
I inherited a couple of my mother’s plumerias that she raised from seeds many years ago. She is now in a nursing home and I love having this piece of her that is a daily reminder of how she loved and cared for them.
I was delighted when I discovered seed pods on the largest plant (standing around 7 feet tall in a large pot). I harvested the seeds and now have 15 beautiful little seedlings that I baby on a regular basis. Since these are my first seedlings, I’ve been wondering how I should winter them. Should I take them into our garage where I keep the older plants? Or should I keep them inside our house durin winter? My husband and I live in South Louisiana so our winters are mild.
I now have two other plumeria plants that are “pregnant” with four pods each. SO excited to watch and harvest them next Spring!
Could you tell me how you started your seeds? On the advice of a plumeria expert in my area, I placed mine on a sturdy paper plate, laid a paper towel over them and kept it wet until they sprouted. And I now have them in small clay pots which I’m not sure I should have done. Would you recommend plastic pots instead?
Thank you!