Hello everyone,

I’ve got a really quick guide for you all today on propagating plumeria trees from a 5-10 inch cutting, using rooting hormone. These trees are native to Hawaii, however they are often grown in-ground outdoors in the southern U.S.

I’ve tried to make the process as simple as possible so that you can quickly read, and understand what to do, and more importantly, why you did it!

Let’s get started!

Step 1: Take and Prepare Cutting

The hardest part of the entire process for plumeria propagation is figuring out where to take your cutting from.

You typically shouldn’t be taking cuttings from young trees; on larger more established ones, aim for a branches that are a) not too young b) not too old/ structurally integral to the tree, and c) full of healthy leaves.

This may seem counterintuitive at first, as you’ll soon be removing all of the leaves on your cutting, but trust me:

You want your cutting to come from a healthy part of a well-established tree.

Once you’ve taken your cutting (about a biceps length), remove all of the leaves

Question: Why should I remove all the leaves from a plumeria cutting?

Answer: OK. Here's an analogy for you! Imagine the energy and energy production of a plant as a full bucket of water the is being continuously filled up. This bucket, however, is full of tiny holes that deplete its energy.

The bucket will stay full as long as the hose continues to fill up the bucket at a faster rate than the water can drain from the holes.

What happens when the hose is turned off (the cutting is taken)?

The water stops filling up the bucket, and the rate at which water is leaving the bucket is now greater than the rate at which it is filling up (levels of photosynthesizing dramatically decline).

How do you keep as much water (energy) in the bucket (plant) as possible?

Patch the holes! Well how do you patch the holes of a cutting?

You remove all of its leaves so that the little energy left in the cutting isn’t being spent on maintaining its’ foliage.

Good question!

Let the cutting sit for at least 24 hours before you go any further.

This will allow the cut end to callous, so that the rooting hormone in step two won’t ruin the cutting.

Step 2: Apply Rooting Hormone

For those who don’t know, rooting hormone is a compound that is to be applied to the end of a calloused cutting to promote root production.

Whenever I’m discussing propagation, I feel as though I must mention rooting hormone.

Not one of my propagations have failed since I started using rooting hormone!

This isn’t some green thumb of mine. It’s not a miracle. Rooting hormone actually works!

Go ahead and dunk the bottom knuckle in the rooting hormone (and try not to feel like Walter White).

Step 3: Plant and Situate Cutting

Now it’s time to plant your cutting and set it up for success!

Pot your cutting in a light potting mix, such as coconut coir (what I’m using in this photo), and pack it so that the cutting is well supported.

Heavily water it once or twice, and not again until leaf production (hopefully) begins within the next 2-weeks.

Leave the pot in a location of high humidity. The cutting will receive signals from its environment (the moisture around its developing rot system, and the humidity around the branch) that it is in a fit environment to produce roots and thrive.

And that’s it! Seriously it's that easy!

Propagating larger (¼ - ¾ inch diameter) branched houseplants, such as plumerias using rooting hormone is such an easy process, and I hope this quick guide has helped make the process even more simple and enjoyable!

Make sure to check out my post dedicated entirely to using rooting hormone!

Thanks for reading! ;)