I want to encourage my newly rooted brugs to bloom as soon as possible. Do they want a high middle number or just a general fertilizer?
Shirleyd
Zone 7b (and hot as hades)
Fertilizing brugs
Shirley, do you know whether your rooted cuttings are from above your below the "Y"?
If the cuttings came from below the "Y", they have to go through the vegetative growth cycle and form a "Y" before they will bloom. They will need nitrogen so general fertilizer with micronutrients will do.
Cuttings from above the "Y" will bloom earlier, but even they will need to attain a decent size before you get those large wonderful looking flushes. Again a general fertilizer would probably be more appropriate. Some DGers do use some sort of bloom booster. However, given that phosphates don't travel very far because they bind with the first few inches of soil, I wonder how well bloom boosters work and whether they are worth the extra expense. Given the way Brugs produce their buds, a general fertilizer, as long as it contains micronutrients, should work just fine.
Weather here has been between 95º - 100ºF all June. So far my Brugs are really growing well on MiracleGro. Last year was very hot and dry. My Brugs went into summer dormancy and didn't respond to fertilizer at all until early fall when temperatures fell below 90º
well...HI... Shirleyd.. If you want blooms as soon as possible... I sure hope your cuttings were taken from above a " Y " on the donor plant ..that alone will do more for geting quick blooms than anything you can do now..
Hotter than Hades is it there... burgs aren't in their best flowering posture then.. how about a bit of shade for them.. and some misters programed to go off every so often through out the day.. for a minuute or two.. they will like that.. and it will promote blooms
well.. after these influences that might speed up blooms... a big healthy strong plant is most likely to bloom.. I start the first part of growing.. and then transplanting with good bit of decomposed / dehydrated cow manure.. this might slow blooms down some.. but the health.... size.. and vigor they get.. soon makesup the time loss.. this first part I use the general growth fertilizers.. as they get big and developed..
i switch to the bloom booster types when
i water.. daily.. along with daily...[ if I find time..] spraying of the recipie... this is accompanied by weekly applications by spray.. of spray-n-grow.. ..alternating weeks with the other weeks applications of Messenger sprays.. This will produce large .. fast and wonderful flowers.. No doubt about it..
Gordonhawk and bettydee-----thank you so much for taking the time to give me the advice and help. Actually, in the year that I have belonged to this group I have learned a tremendous amount-----and most of it from the two of you. Yes, all my new brugs are from above the Y. As far as my friends are concerned, I have become very knowledgeable about the brugs. In fact, I had about 15 potted up from my cuttings over the winter to give away. (I took them out of the bucket of water and potted them in March.) Proudly, I told them that they would bloom sooner than those coming out of the ground (hope so). Anyhow, I wrote to this forum earlier about one of my cuttings about 2 feet tall putting on 9 buds (all bloomed)------but the rest of them are just sitting there. Soooooooo, I will follow y'all's instructions and hope for the best with the few that I kept for myself.
Shirleyd
Someone mentioned using tomato fertilizer with good results every two weeks but didn't say how much to apply. I want to augment the composted manure with either this of 20-20-20.
This would be a better option for me since they said to apply every two weeks and I have health problems.
Tomato fertilizer will work. Any fertilizer will work as long as the soil pH allows for the proper uptake fo the needed nutrients. A plant can't tell the difference. The problem I have with tomato fertilizer is it doesn't include the micro-nutrients. Since you are only growing the tomato plant for a few months, there is usually no need to worry about depleting those nutrients and how that would impact your plants, but I would hope a Brug hangs around much longer than that. Brugs are heavy feeders and during their growing cycle grow rather quickly depleting the soil of much needed nutrients very quickly. Feeding Brugs once or twice a week is not considered overfeeding. One of the reasons the Recipe works so well is that the plants get a small amount of fertilizer every single day, it contains a large amounts of nitrogen as well as the needed micro-nutrients and appears to be well balanced. Cost per pound of the actual nutrients needs to be considered as well. Most specialty fertilizers are far more expensive than the general ones. Some fertilizers contain a lot of fillers. Slow release fertilizers are too slow. Hose end dispensers are a pain to fill, connect, re-fill, etc. This year I invested in an EZ-Flo Hose system and a double hose Y connector. The double hose Y connector allows me to switch between fertilizing as I water and having access to plain water just by turning a switch. The large size (I purchased the 3 gallon model.) means I can go several weeks before I have to refill. I don't have to carry something heavy at the end of the hose which helps my back. So far I am satisfied with it.
http://www.ezflofertilizing.com/
bettydee----thanks so much for all the info. Could you please give me your recipe for fertilizing? And can it be applied in this horrible heat spell?
Thanks,
Shirleyd
Shirley,
As I mentioned above I have been trying to make it easier for myself by simplifying my fertilizing chores. I have back problems and since my DH is working in upstate New York, I've had to take over all the ranch duties as well. I can dump 15 lbs of MiracleGro into the EZ-Flo container then it's water as usual except that the water contains fertilizer. I have plans to set up a second smaller EZ-Flo system filled with the Recipe to add foliar feeding.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/803019/
I plan to connect a Fogg-it nozzle to the hose end so I don't have to lug a portable sprayer around, but I haven't gotten around to setting it up. I have all the pieces. MiracleGro can be applied during hot weather. However, despite all the fertilizer I used, I didn't get much growth last year. Besides being very hot, humidity was also very low so my Brugs went dormant — small leaves, very little growth and no blooms. I scaled back fertilizing until growth resumed in the fall.
Yes, I'd like to know the best fertilizer with the micronutrients too. But I agree about planting them. I use composted manure and bone meal (my soil is low in phosphates). Then I switch to regular fertilizer. I had to use Bayer's 2-in1 for roses some last year because of so many insects eating the brugs and it worked.
I've gotten the best growth on my Brugs when I used Bayer's 2-in-1 for Roses. I've only used it on Brugs in large pots and only when the soil was moist then I watered it in. It will burn and kill small Brugs.
Bettydee, what is the snallest sized pot you would use it on?
I use Bayer's 2 in 1 Rose & Flower care on all my Brugs which are potted (I live in MD). The smallest pot I've ever put it in is a 3 gallon. I've gotten the best results using it. Keeps the leaves green and the bugs off. I also use Superthrive in the water once a month.
peony
The smallest sized pot I used it on was about 5 gallons, but then I also reduced the amount of Bayer's I used. I used the recommended amount only on plants in 18" or larger pots.
Thanks, Bettydee and Storm, I got some yesterday and I'll try it.