94,129
edits
Changes
→Cultivation
==Cultivation==
==Cultivation==
Feeding late in year will cause soft growth, which is venerable to the lightest frosts.
Fertilize plumeria with 10-30-10 every three to four months (in frost-free areas) at about 1 lb per inch of trunk diameter, distributing the fertilizer around the the plant to 2 feet beyond the foliage line. Feeding late in year will cause soft growth, which is venerable to the lightest frosts, so in frost-prone areas, only fertilize during early to mid-growing season.
Pruning is easiest in winter, after leaf drop, but pruning heavily will reduce the spring bloom. Shriveled and bent stems are infested with the plumeria stem borer, cut these back to their joint with a main branch (or lower if there you can see internal discoloration), then destroy these infested branches. Many old trees respond well to a pruning practice known as pollarding. Pollarding is a system in which a framework of branches is created with yearly pruning back on each branch to a point called the pollard head. The pollard head develops many growing points due to the annual pruning, and produces a fresh batch of shoots each year. In plumeria, if you pollard while the plant is dormant, the new shoots might develop flowers late in the year. Summer growing season pollarding produces a set of short branches that will go dormant in the fall rather than produce a flower head, then grow out as longer branches the following growing season, then many of these will flower in late summer.
Plumerias grown for commercial flower production are planted 10 ft apart in rows 12–15 ft apart, and pruned to produce a low canopy, encourage branching, which makes flower harvesting easier. Branched cuttings are selected for propagating, and the branch axil is set low to the ground to result in a shorter-statured plant. Once established in the ground, a plumeria can reach 10–12 feet in 6 years, given adequate fertilizer and moisture.
===Propagation===
===Propagation===