These brugs have not flowered, much less Y'd yet. Unlikely I'll see any blooms this fall so overwintering will be the plan. They're both about 4 feet tall.
Should I cut these suckers/shoots off and root them or leave them on the plant?
Would it be best to dig up the brugs in the ground and pot them for winter, or cut them off and root them?
Chuck
Chuck,
I'm in zone 8b even though the lowest it has been in the last 5 years is 25ºF. I left 3 Brugs in the ground as an experiment — one large Brug and two1' Brugs I had rooted the previous spring. Even though I covered them with burlap and bubble wrap, they died down to the ground. The two smaller Brugs did not return. The older plant did. If you dig them up, pot up and overwinter indoor, they will get the best start next year. The next best thing will be to cut the branches off, root them and mulch what is left in the ground. If you leave the the rooted portion in the ground, as young as they are, they may or may not come back.
I would leave on any growth they have. The leaves they have the more food they will produce and the faster they will grow. Brugs are heavy feeders and need to be fertilized often. Every 3 or 4 days is not out of the ordinary.
I'm in 8a, so I know they won't make it in the ground through the winter here.
Sounds like the plan should be to dig em and pot em for the winter.
Thanks
we are in 6b/7a and we leave them in the ground. hubby puts a bag filled with fall leaves over the stumps after i cute them off. so far (15 years or so) most of them come back. every once in a while we have one that doesn't. i root the cut off stems, so we'll have an extra.
i saw a picture and description here of someone who wrapped their brug with bubble wrap. if i can find the thread, i'll pull it up.
The bag of leaves is an excellent idea. As long as you can protect the stem from freezing into the roots, it would work.
Thanks
I'm going to try overwintering my two in the ground. I've seen these tallish (2-3 ft) styrofoam cloches (they're sorta shaped like clay pots--wide round opening tapered to the bottom) that I may try to cover them with filled with dried leaves. If I cannot find those a couple of cheap small styrofoam coolers or bait buckets will do the trick and add some insulation. I think I've got a decent micro climate going too since my apt is brick and gathers heat which reflects into the beds.
The two varieties I bought were grown close by and the member who grows them has had some success overwintering the two varieties I bought so fingers crossed:) At least I know where to go to get more if it doesn't work:lol:
i'd forgotten all about going to find the bubble wrap thread. getting old i guess.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1020200/
I live in 8a and we can get down to 10-15 degrees in winter and have lots of wet. I have some bananas that I use burlap on or plastic. I start by staking about 2 feet away from plant. Use stakes as high as you want to protect plant. I wrap plastic/or bubble wrap around the stakes and staple it in place. I also leave a foot of plastic laying on outside ground around the stakes. Fill the interior with leaves/pine straw. Make sure it is packed but loose enough for water to drain. Weigh down plastic on outside-rocks/bricks and mulch with several feet of pine straw.
My bananas always make it. The top freezes but the core of the trunk remains alive. some times I will do a second row of stakes and fill to give extra protection of a rare plant.
I have not use it on my brugs because they always come back from ground and I keep rare ones in greenhouse. But it might be worth trying the wrapping. The key is protection but it must be able to drain and breath. Just a thought. Hope it helps.
Read on the rose forum where someone was putting the pipe insulation foam tubes around the standard rose trunks. These tubes are made for pipes and slit all along one edge and they pop right on. I have never tried it but thought I would throw that out for someone.
