We Don’t Feed the Trees. We Feed the Soil.
People ask us all the time what we fertilize our plumeria with. The answer sounds backwards the first time you hear it.
We don’t feed our trees. We feed our soil, and our soil feeds the plumeria.
That is the direction we chose. South Louisiana rain and heat, air pots for the first three to five years, a custom organic mix, and Tru Organic products plus a few other natural supplements. We wanted to grow them naturally, and see if the trees came out strong. So far, they have.
The soil in the pot
For the first three to five years most of our plumeria live in air pots. The sides are full of holes. Roots hit the air, stop, and branch, instead of circling the way they do in a solid nursery pot. In our rain, that helps. A solid black nursery pot holds more water. An air pot lets the extra out.
What goes in the pot is a blend we mix ourselves: an organic soil base, perlite for air, worm castings, pine bark, and coir. The bark and perlite keep it open. The coir holds some moisture without turning to mud. The worm castings give the soil life something to work with. The air pot and this mix do the water job. What we add on top is for the soil, not a drench aimed at the leaves.
Organic soil hangs on to the meal
This is the part we like best. A bark, coir, and castings soil has places for nutrients to sit. Microbes hold them, break them down, and hand them over as the tree asks. A feeding in spring is still doing something in June. We are not chasing the pot with another scoop every time it rains.
A fast synthetic feed does the opposite. It is ready the day you water it in, and in a thunderstorm a lot of it leaves with the water. What stays can pile up as salt. A 50/50 cactus blend and perlite drains well, which we understand, but it does not have much in it to hold a meal. Salts sit on the perlite and in the dry pockets. Then a hot afternoon pulls water out, the salts get stronger, and the leaf tips burn. Those pots often need fresh soil just to escape the leftover salt, not only because the plant grew. We still repot as the tree gets bigger. We are not dumping the soil every season to get rid of a crust and salt buildup.
Heat and leaf burn
July and August here are hard on a plumeria even when you do everything you know to do. A synthetic push on top of that is when burn shows up: brown tips, pale edges, a tree that wilts at noon even though the pot is not dry. The leaf is trying to move water and a load of salt at the same time. Heat makes it worse.
Organic feed does not cancel a Louisiana summer. It takes that extra load off. Guano and a liquid bloom feed release more slowly, so the tree is not hit with a spike of nitrogen on a 96-degree afternoon. Softer, rank growth is what scorches and what snaps in a storm. Slower growth handles the heat a little better. We still shade a new cutting if it needs it. We just are not feeding it into a flush it cannot support.
What we put in
True Organic is the line we use. Seabird Guano is the dry piece, higher in phosphorus, with some slow nitrogen. Phosphorus is what plumeria use for roots and for the flower stalk. We work it into the top of the soil in spring, summer and again in fall, and water it in.
True Organic Liquid Bloom Boost is the sip during the growing season. It is a 2-3-2, made from fish, molasses, soy, kelp, and potash. We use it about every two weeks while the tree is in active growth and setting blooms. Around those two we use other natural supplements. Same idea every time. Feed the mix. Let the mix feed the tree.
We ease off as fall comes on and the lower leaves start to yellow. A tree heading into rest does not need another round.
What we get to enjoy
Roots that fill the air pot in a net, not a coil. Tips that are firm going into fall. Leaves that hold up better in the worst of the heat. Bloom on the tree’s own schedule. Too much nitrogen, organic or not, makes lots of leaves. A lighter hand and a phosphorus source leans toward flowers. That has been a nice thing to watch.
We are not saying this is the only way. For us – this is the best way — growing them naturally, for strong, healthy trees. If you have been curious about feeding the soil instead of the plant, this is what that looks like in our grove in Denham Springs LA
Air pot. Organic soil, perlite, worm castings, pine bark, and coir. Seabird Guano in spring, summer and fall. Liquid Bloom Boost every couple of weeks while they are growing and setting flowers. Ease off when the leaves yellow.
“We don’t feed our trees. We feed our soil, and our soil feeds the plumeria. And our plumeria seem really happy.”