Never having raised brugs before i have a few questions from those of you who have. I am waiting for my first brugs to arrive and i don't even know what to expect. Is it a bulb.....is it a root. How big of a pot do i start them in. Full sun or partial. I know i could look up alot of information on the net and my Wymans plant dictionary but its the little things for differant plant zones i want to know. What say you all?
need advice
Well to start with if it is a plant it will be a root, the pot depends on how big the plant is, to start if it is a small one then you need a medium size pot, they grow fairly fast so you may have to start out small then repot later, also I don't know what zone you are in, up to zone 8 you can plant outside, I am in 6 so have to keep it in the house all winter as with all zones below 8, they need plenty of water, and I fertalize mine every week with M G
Good luck, and enjoy them they are great plants.
Doris
Judahbrat,
I'm assuming, as did Doris, that you purchased a plant rather than cuttings. Brugmansias can be fast growers and can develop a large root system quickly, but they can also quickly succombe to root rot. So don't over pot. It's difficult to tell you what size pot to use because I don't know what size pot it will arrive in, but don't go much beyond 2" all the way around the original root ball. They are heavy feeders and so they respond better to liquid fertilizers than to slow release fertilizers. Doris mentioned feeding once a week. Some growers feed twice a week. I've set up an EZ-Flo so I feed a slightly diluted solution of MG every time I water and use plain water every other week to leach out old salts and to try to bring the soil pH back down to ~7.0. Pot up as the roots fill the pot.
Full sun or partial shade? A safe bet would be to give it morning sun and to protect it from the hot midday and afternoon sun. Here in central Texas where humidity can drop down into the teens, that is the best sun exposure for Brugs. If the humidity is consistently high, they can take a bit more sun. Also the farther north they are grown, they more sun they can handle provided the humidity is high. If you plan to put it in the ground, I would leave it in a pot and move the pot around to see how well it grows in that location before actually planting it.
Most growing sources will tell you they are root hardy to zone 8. That is they will die down to the ground in winter, but will return from the roots the following spring. Some Brug lovers have pushed that limit up to 7b. It's important to note that not all Brugs have the same cold hardiness. I live on the border of 8b-9a. I lost 2 Brugs I left in the ground even though the temperatures only got down to 26ºF. Many growers dig their Brugs up in the fall and overwinter their plants indoors where the temperatures stay above 40ºF.
When you have time, read through some of the great threads in the forum. They contain a wealth of information. Sooner or later you will run across reference to a "Y". Brugs exhibit two types of growth. Seedlings and growth coming from the soil line on mature plants produce vegetative growth. This growth is straight, long and un-branched. This growth is controlled genetically and can vary from a few feet up to 6' - 8'. Some can even grow up to 12' before branching. It is this branching that is referred to as a "Y" because normally only 2 branches are produced, forming a "Y". Thus the name "Y". This type of growth is set and punching to encourage side branching only delays blooming because each new branch has to start the cycle over again. Once the Brug produces that "Y", it will switch to flowering growth. Buds are produced at the new nodes. These new branches will split again and again form a progressively larger number of "Y" and thus more flowers.
Old established Brug plants growing in a frost-free location form large bushy shrubs or trees, but for those of us that live in locations where they freeze to the ground, they will exhibit a more open or scraggly growth. As the plant ages, it will produce branches from the ground and along the main trunks improving its look.
Brugs bloom in flushes that can last up to a month. Then they rest while buds are formed for a new flush. On some cultivars, the flowers open almost all at once. The Brug is literally covered with blooms. The rest period on those plants is very noticeable. On other Brugs, the blooms open over a period of 4 weeks or more. So the blooming periods almost overlap.
Veronica
i live north of okla. city. thanks for your info veronica