Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
arbo_retum

Are Your Brugmansia Blooming Yet?

arbo_retum
13 years ago

I have one bud showing out of 5 pots. You?

best,

mindy

Comments (5)

  • cloud_9
    13 years ago

    Mindy - Mine blooms pretty much constantly - from late Spring until I bring it in in the Autumn. They are REALLY heavy feeders. Give them a half dose of Miracle Grow or the equivalent every other time you water them. If you haven't been fertilizing them start off with a full dose. Good Luck!
    Deb

  • arbo_retum
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    deb, REALLY??!! from SPRING? plse give details about that.i can think of nothing better!
    how do you overwinter them; when and where do you bring them after overwintering; what do they look like when you start the heavy fertilizing(which i have been doing the last 1.5 months but not before)?
    thanks so much.i mean, why the heck do i grow these things if i can't get lots of blooms?? in winter they take up half of our tiny 1740 cellar!
    thnx much deb,
    mindy

  • cloud_9
    13 years ago

    Mindy - In our old house I brought them in to the house at the end of the season and when they started to look especially bad I put them in the cellar to go dormant and then just brought them up in the spring. I don't start feeding them until I put them outside. This past year - no cellar, so I had to keep them in front of a sunny window and they got aphids halfway through. Really looked sad - what a mess. Every time I found a ladybug in the house I would put it on my poor brug. They started to eat them, but then I noticed a new infestation that I didn't recognize. Then I realized that they were little ladybug larvae. They were scooting around that plant like little Roombas eating all the aphids. By the time I was ready to put it outside permanently, the aphids were gone baby gone. Not to rub it in or anything (much), but I had so many blooms at one time this Summer that they were breaking branches. I counted 65 blooms and buds at one point. Mostly they come in waves as I don't remember to fertilize as diligently as I am recommending. The dwindling number of blooms act as a reminder. This is a plant that I got at a swap from Virginia a few years ago. Her mother breeds them I believe. It is a huge monster now. Are any of yours unbranched? They don't start to bloom until they have a stem that looks like a "Y". I have no idea why.
    : D

  • WendyB 5A/MA
    13 years ago

    I have two going right now and they are both blooming like crazy. Yes, lots of fertilizer and water on a regular basis to keep these blooming machines going.

    I overwinter mine in the basement under flourescent lights. Takes a lot of room, but the blooms in the winter are well worth it. I only did that one year. Since then I just take cuttings in the fall and pot them up and keep in the basement. The cuttings grow to 4-5' tall in no time and start blooming around July.

    The one time I overwintered the whole plant, it not only bloomed in the basement in the winter, it started right up again when it went outside. It just keeps cycling through bloom periods no matter what.

    Below is a link of some photos with captions of some parts of the process. I put this album together for a recent brug-convert friend.

    Here is a link that might be useful: overwintering brugs pics

  • reball517
    13 years ago

    I have an Inca Gold that pretty much blooms through the summer (it's on its 3rd flush of blooms now). I have one that should be in bloom this PM - not sure of the variety -it was picked up for a few dollars at Logee's with a "lost tag" note. Then I have what must be the yellow species which is huge and covered with buds - it does not consistently bloom before it gets cold - last year I had to bring it in - it bloomed but the scent was so strong I had to take the blooms off! I agree with cloud 9 - lots of fertilizer.