Good thread!
This is my 5th year with Brugs, and typically I have brought them inside to an unheated room, and they've naturally gone dormant by January. I did have plant lights in the room, but they ended up losing their leaves anyway. One year I put them in the basement, in the dark, where it stays around 45-50F through winter. Both ways seemed to work equally well, but I felt it took too long for them to bloom in summer. I just gave them scant waterings once a month or so. I did see some spider mite activity on the tips, where baby leaves are ready to form.
This year I've done something different, I allowed them to get lightly nipped by frost. Within a few days all the leaves fell off, then I brought them inside today. I'm curious if this helps shut them down, and put them into a dormancy. I've wondered if the time I've allowed them to weakly grow indoors during winter has exhausted energy reserves, and by spring they have to make up for it before they can start blooming? This an experiment this year, hoping to stumble onto just the right schedule for them.
Dormancy! Pros, Cons, Do's & Don'ts!
Here's a picture of my VERY trimmed-back brugs, ready to spend the winter in the basement. Other plants get light at the window - the brugs I keep in the middle of the basement where they get less light and not much water.
When does yours start blooming?
Starts blooming in June, but the heavy blooms come in August, after lots of heat (and fertilizer).
