Tropicals & Tender Perennials: Should my 6 year old Brugs be cut back, 1 by bettydee

bettydee wrote:
Good summary, Lisa.

Kathy, There is no doubt that Brugs will grow faster and larger when planted in the ground. Where you are most Brugs may do well in full sun. If the temperatures get over 85 - 90ºF and the humidity is low, they may need some protection from the hot afternoon sun. Most of the Brugs we grow are hybrids of 4 species. With such a crazy mixed ancestry, they won't all want full day sun, but without any direct sunlight, you won't get many flowers.

Even though Brugs need to be watered as often as once a day or more during their active growing period, they need fast draining potting mix with perlite added at a ratio of 2 parts potting mix to 1 part perlite. I would be leery of using potting soil. It may be too dense and the particles too small to provide adequate aeration. The one drawback with perlite is that it is so light that if you are not careful when watering, the perlite will float to the top.

Pruning is necessary because Brugs bloom on new wood, but before you do, if your Brugs have not bloomed, check this link,
http://cubits.org/Brugmansia/pages/315/
and at my photo (because in JT's photo, the sub-equal leaf is difficult to see.) If the leaves on your Brugs look like the leaves in these photos, then your plants came from above the "Y. If both sides of each leaf on your Brugs are equal, then your Brugs came from below the "Y". It is important to know this before you prune otherwise you may be delaying their blooms.

If your Brugs came from above the "Y", then I would prune thin, weak branches and crossing branches to encourage new stronger growth and new blooms.

If your Brugs came from below the "Y", I wouldn't prune until after the plants have "Y"ed. It's OK, however, to remove a few of the branches if there are a lot of weak ones. Pruning these Brugs means the vegetative growth would have to start over delaying the production of the "Y".

When the root system of a Brug is well established, it will send out new growth from below the soil. That growth is ideal to grow as a tree-like standard because it grows long and straight. It will grow faster if it remains attached to the mother plant until it "Y"s.