When Does My Plumeria Branch Out?

Plumerias only branch after flowering and even then in about 80% of all cases

Plumerias grown from seeds first grow upwards like a candle. In very few cases, young seedlings will already show branching. This is about 1-3% of all seedlings. At a very young seedling age, you can achieve branching in 70% of cases by pinching off the shoot tip.

Generally, they grow until the first bloom, and with this, the branching occurs in 2, 3, or even up to 5 new shoots. Unfortunately, it can also happen that a Plumeria / Frangipani does not branch with the bloom, but continues to grow steeply upwards.

Can’t you also force a branching?

Yes, you can by cutting off the shoot tip. However, the new shoot will simply look „ugly“ because the plant will then sprout new shoots from 1 to 4 old leaf shoots below the cut, while the rest above remains as a „stump“.

So if it’s not absolutely necessary to prune the Frangipani, please don’t. A natural branching looks much prettier than a manual one.

Can my Plumeria still branch later from an old leaf shoot?

No. Very rarely do mature plants shoot out small shoots from old leaf shoots, but 90% of the time these are shed again or do not grow further. It is very rare for a new shoot to develop somewhere on the trunk of an adult plant.

A branching after a cut.

Natural branching on a Frangipani

Branching after a bloom