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New to brugs - any advice?
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Posted by mooseling CO (My Page) on Thu, Nov 5, 09 at 18:41
| This summer, I was at a nursery and they had a massive Brugmansia tree. And when I saw that they had little baby ones for sale, I couldn't resist. He spent the summer on my porch and is now in my living room. When I brought him in, he lost a lot of leaves, especially the lower ones, but he seems fine and has grown quite a few new ones, especially when the grow light's been on.
I've just got a few questions.
1. How big of a pot should he be in? Will it negatively affect the plant if he's in too small of a pot, or will he just not get as big?
2. Is it okay to use the grow light on him all throughout the winter? The window is fairly sunny, but I have a few other plants that like a little more than what comes in naturally.
3. Is there anyway to identify what the cultivar is? All I know is that it has peach colored flowers. It's not too important and I can always see if someone at the nursery knows next spring, but maybe peach isn't a very common color?
4. Has anyone grown them in Colorado? When can you start leaving them out full time? Anything special I should do for him?
If there's anything else that you think might be useful, I'd be glad for it. I want him to be the happiest little brug ever. Oh, and his name is Warren, by the way. Because I like to name my plants. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: New to brugs - any advice?
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hi mooseling
welcome to this addiction group....
i live just north of montreal..
i have grown brugs for several years but am no expert...
i have been very successful with the 30 or so i have...
every fall i cut them down to about 4 inches above the soil line...strip of all leaves and trim the ends about an inch or so of the wilty green tips...
i then put the cuttings into buckets of water(i have over 100 rooted already)to get more for the following year..some for me some for friends..
then i just put the plants that i trimmed in a dark place in the basement and water a cup a month...
i have not tried to keep one growing all winter,nor would i recommend it...they need sleep to produce flowers the next year...
i place them under lights around the beginning of april and then outside after the last frost in spring...
i like to tell people to place the plant in a big pot with half soil and compost and the other half soil and compost....lol....and lots of fertilizer....
hope this helps and good luck...
cheers
diggy |
RE: New to brugs - any advice?
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| a big welcome to both of you. Diggy I think you gave the best advice and I sure hope that you would start sharing pictures with us. We even love looking back. The only thing I can add is that your Warren is a NOID...NO ID brug. Lucy |
RE: New to brugs - any advice?
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OOoohh! Another Coloradan!! I'm so happy there's someone local I can share with now! Let me guess, did you go to Timberline Gardens in Arvada? That's where I got my first brug. If you bought your little peachy brug there, it's Peach Versicolor. They take cuttings off that huge tree in the greenhouse.
Mine have all been inside since I guess late September, one's been cut back and set aside in a dark place, one has been trimmed down to 1/2 its size and in a west window, one is in its first year and has its first flower in an east window and the last just flowered like mad and got cut about 1' and in a south window. They're all in 14" pots which is as big as I can handle. Yes, they'd get bigger if you put them in a bigger pot. I know some guys with a tree that's huge, probably in a 25-30" pot, but they're in the plant biz with a dolly, truck and warehouse.
You know we always get cold weather in May so it's not safe to put brugs out till probably Mother's Day, when they say you can start planting your warm weather veggies. Some folks in northern climates plant in the ground during the growing season and dig them up in fall to go back in pots. I don't have a good spot for this but if you do, I'd be interested in the results.
Welcome Moosling, good to have a fellow Coloradoan on board!
Diane |
RE: New to brugs - any advice?
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| Yep, he came from Timberline! I kept petting their tree every time I walked by. My friend kept asking me if I was aware it was toxic. Guess it's time to start cutting him down! Too bad I can't really keep cuttings. I don't have much space for brugs. I have to keep him in a cage just to make sure the dog doesn't try to get him. She doesn't really eat any other plants, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. Or I could buy a second cage I suppose. I do have a place I could put him outside in the front yard, actually. I might root one of the cuttings and see how that works out. How long should they be dormant for? Is there any sort of minimum? Or maximum? |
RE: New to brugs - any advice?
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i keep my cuttings in a pail of water a couple inches up the cutting all winter,changing the water or adding to it weekly..
around april,they go into pot in front of a window,then after last frost...outside they go.... cheers
diggy |
RE: New to brugs - any advice?
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As far as dormancy, they don't even have to go into dormancy if you want to keep growing them all winter inside. But you can cut them back, strip the leaves, let them go semi-dry and put in a dark corner for the entire winter/early spring. They'll start putting out new growth no matter what you do in March - somehow they just know!
For keeping them over the winter outside, that's pretty risky in our climate. If you have a south location that's very sheltered and we have a mild winter and you mulch heavily, it *might* work, coming back from the roots, but I don't think I'd count on it.
Welcome to the mania!
Diane |
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