Best Island source for plumaria plants?

[Cagary]

Best island source for plumarias?

-Veritas odium parit”(Terence 195–159 BC))-"Truth begets hatred".

[Mr nice guy]

I'm not sure what you mean by best.

As far as plumerias are concerned, whoever lets me take free cuttings would be the best source.

[1voyager1]

After spending a week over on Moloka'i recently, I'm not sure if there is a "good source" for plumeria anywhere on this island, even if it is free. I was absolutely amazed at how beautiful every plumeria we saw on Moloka'i was. They all had a lot of foliage as well as flowers on them. None looked like the scrawny bare, rat tails with a few leaves and flowers on the tips of those rat tails like those seen everywhere around here.

Why are the plumerias over there so different from the ones here?

[Cagary]

quote:

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Originally posted by 1voyager1

After spending a week over on Moloka'i recently, I'm not sure if there is a "good source" for plumeria anywhere on this island, even if it is free. I was absolutely amazed at how beautiful every plumeria we saw on Moloka'i was. They all had a lot of foliage as well as flowers on them. None looked like the scrawny bare, rat tails with a few leaves and flowers on the tips of those rat tails like those seen everywhere around here.

Why are the plumerias over there so different from the ones here?

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They enjoy a drier climate like Kona or Molokai, east side BI not so much.

-Veritas odium parit”(Terence 195–159 BC))-"Truth begets hatred".

[Lee M-S]

I got a friend on Kona side to collect cuttings for me--she brought me at least 5 different kinds, 2-3 feet long.
I started them in pots, and once they rooted, planted them in well-drained spots.
But most of them died. The couple that survived are still quite small, and have maybe 2 or 3 blooms a year.

Even in Hilo, you don't see the wonderful trees you do in Kona.
Jacarandas do much better on the dry side, too.



><(((*< ... ><(("< ... ><('< ... >o>

[Chas]

quote:

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Originally posted by Cagary

quote:

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Originally posted by 1voyager1

After spending a week over on Moloka'i recently, I'm not sure if there is a "good source" for plumeria anywhere on this island, even if it is free. I was absolutely amazed at how beautiful every plumeria we saw on Moloka'i was. They all had a lot of foliage as well as flowers on them. None looked like the scrawny bare, rat tails with a few leaves and flowers on the tips of those rat tails like those seen everywhere around here.

Why are the plumerias over there so different from the ones here?

---

They enjoy a drier climate like Kona or Molokai, east side BI not so much.

-Veritas odium parit”(Terence 195–159 BC))-"Truth begets hatred".

---

We had plumerias in pots on our lot for a couple of years. Not sure if they bloomed since we aren't there all the time, but they were alive.

On one of our visits we planted them in the ground. They died immediately. Of course, there's a million reasons why they could have died but I found it interesting that they lived in pots for years with absolutely no care whatsoever.

Could it be that they were "drier" in the pots?

[Cagary]

Excess water drains out of a pot rather easily. Excess water in the ground has no place to go, so the plumarias rot.

-Veritas odium parit”(Terence 195–159 BC))-"Truth begets hatred".

[Kenney]

I've found that the cuttings need to dry out, scab over before planting. When we trim ours back we just dump them on the ground for a while in the sun. When scabbed over they can be stuck in any crack, no soil really needed. They like dry. Obviously they grow better in dry climates like Kona, but we've had great success in Puna if you don't mind some fungi growing on the limbs. The plants don't seem to mind. We got all ours from cuttings in Kona mostly, but some in HPP too. Plumeria is one plant we've never had to buy. See one you like, ask permission, and break a piece off has always worked for us.

[tada]

In Kona you can chop off plumeria branches leave them for dead but they don't die just continue blooming sweet smelling flowers lying on the ground. In Hilo I chopped down an albezia and same thing green branchlets started budding out of the trunk like that guy in Halloween. Though I figure the way to get the job done finish them off is take them upcountry to the rarified air so they die of exposure I think?

[laurarice]

The issue in Puna is humidity and too much rain.Those beautiful plumerias you see are the ones that keep their leaves all year and are not,as you say, the scrawny ones here. I have two evergreen plumerias and live in Hilo. I keep them under the eve to keep the rain off. Otherwise the diseases run rampant. Even so, I have not been able to get them to bloom. I have not given up yet though because some of the evergreen types bloom without full sun. So I just have to find the right variety.there is a plumeria facebook page and a women there who is the curator of plumerias at a garden in Southern california. She knows her stuff. If you have a south facing location under an eve i think you might be able to pull it off.

Laura