Plumeria Cuttings - Key Considerations

The bigger and stronger a cutting is, the more energy it contains. This means for the Frangipani friend that the chance of root formation is of course higher, although there is NEVER a guarantee that a cutting will even sprout roots.

With a large cutting, there is still a kind of „safety buffer“ in case the cut interface at the bottom should spoil at some point. Then you can always cut off 2-3cm, which is not possible with a stub.

Of course, one cannot rule out that a thin cutting can also develop into a beautiful plant.

Aztec Gold cuttings

In 2020, I just had some fun and purchased cuttings from various suppliers.

In the picture, you can see the difference between the cuttings. The farthest left (19cm, 1 shoot, already extremely shriveled) was a bargain from eBay for €15. What I needed to do with it was on a small note in English. Without my glasses, I would never have been able to read it. The middle cutting (34cm, 1 shoot, slightly shriveled) I bought through Facebook from a supplier for €19 (without receipt, without care instructions). Just payment via PayPal, the cutting arrived wrapped in paper without any extra notes.

Cutting number 3 comes from our partner and at 61cm with 2 shoots, it is in a completely different category. The price for this one in our shop is €29 (depending on the rarity of the variety, it can be more)

So you really have to keep in mind what you are getting.

If you absolutely want to take the risk with eBay or Amazon, ask the seller the following:

• how long is the cutting ¹
• how many shoots does the cutting have ²
• was the cutting taken from a flowering mother tree ³
• is the cut interface dried and not sunken ⁴

If all of this checks out, a private purchase should lead to a nice plant.

So here we see 3 cuttings of the variety „Aztec Gold“ and it should be clear which has a higher chance of root formation.

¹ The longer a cutting, the more energy it has stored.
² The more shoots a cutting has, the higher the chance of flowers. Sometimes even in the same year of rooting.
³ Unfortunately, there are also suppliers who cut shoots from seedlings that have never bloomed. Only cuttings taken from flowering mother plants can guarantee the variety.
⁴ If the cutting is freshly cut and not yet dried, the chance of rot is many times higher than that of already dried ones.