Minnesota had almost the earliest spring on record followed by a hot humid summer and late fall, great long growing season. 2 weeks ago we had 60's and today we've had 6" of snow for one week.
I ordered 20 packets of seed from Park and started them all in Apr. 3 packets were Ballarina Angel Trumpets-purple, yellow and white doubles. I thought they were daturas until I read a site on the internet in October that said angel trumpets = brugmansias. Wow am I dumb (uninformed?). From 5 seeds planted of each variety, I got 1 seedling of each color that grew to 4' tall and were beautiful and much enjoyed. They all grew seed pods that I harvested but I also wanted to salvage the plants as well and try to root (no greenhouse). It's been a disaster. I cut the plants into pieces 6" - 12" long and placed the cuttings in water in quart jars about 2" deep. I change the water everyday, tried adding peroxide to the water a few times and still everyday cut more of the slimy, smelly, rotten bottoms off - only a few cuttings have retained leaves (but one is a "Y"!). The covering on the stems is neither bark nor green wood. Stems have a hard covering though and the bigger stems are like cork to cut thru - hard to describe. Is the "bark" covering why they rot?
I've placed a few of the cuttings left laterally in a lite soil mix and am even trying some in wet paper towels (read about both here). But I fear all is lost. What did I do wrong? Is Ballarina not conducive to rooting like most of yours or is it my inexperience?
I'd do anything to see white nubbies. Ideas, please. I promise not to post so lengthy again.
Help Please
Doon't worry about the length. It easier to help if we get as many details as possible. There are no purple Brugmansias. What you have are Datura metel cultivars which are considered annuals. Usually Brugmansias are commonly called Angel Trumpets and Daturas are called Thornapples. Park has always listed their Daturas as Angel Trumpets. I guess that the name would sell better than something called Thornapples.
Annuals complete their cycle in one year then die. They are difficult to root, but they are easy to grow from seed. The whole plant can be overwintered, but digging it out can be a pain. You didn't mention what you used to germinate the seeds, but if you google "germinating Datura metel" you will find plenty of hints. I don't grow them here because they can become invasive and I don't wnat them spreading into our pastures.
This coming year, it might be interesting to see what the flowers will look like since your 3 plants probably cross pollinated each other. If you want the seeds to come true, you need to grow only 1 color.
Do you have a way to start your seeds earlier and to keep them stocky and sturdy? That would give you plants ready to plant outdoors after your last freeze date.
Thank you for answering my post. I'm not sure who to blame, Park or the website that said ALL angel trumpets are brugs. Pretty embarassed about my mistake, but now know why all the slimy mess has been occuring and no nubbies. I do grow moonflowers - datura - and know how invasive they can be. Mine are white and I had them so bad in my veg/flower garden I cut and burned one year. Since then I only get 2 or 3 that self seed every year and I enjoy them.
I know that Park seed doesn't have the best reputation but their spring cataloge tempted me to try seed starting again. I'm really bad at it usually. Out of about 25 different seeds only 9 were viable. Awful. But I will say their foxgloves are beautiful and they grew like weeds; an unusual strain. Hope they bloom next spring. Usually don't start seeds at all and we travel winters so April is usually the first of spring here.
Would you believe that in addition to saving the stems of what I thought were brugs that I also dug the roots? Think I'll keep them just to see if they survive the winter. Also will keep the few cutting that still have leaves - I did enjoy the plants but know they're invasive in the south.
The pressure is off now and I can say goodbye to the quart jars, that's a good thing. I've been gardening for 40 years but you're never too old to learn new things. I joined DG this fall and launched right into trading without exploring the site and am mad at myself that I didn't use the trade tracker. Someone sent me a cutting of Taylor Dawn that I had in water without results. I just found out it's a brug from reading an old post on this site. Now that I have it in a paper towel the white nubbies are sprouting and I'm excited.
I would like to know how fast brugs grow. I'd have to treat it like a houseplant and set it out in spring and take it in for winter. If Taylor doesn't make it, I'll just have to break down and buy one and see for myself. Thanks again for your help.
Brugs can grow pretty fast provided you feed them enough. Their growth is not like that of Daturas, however. Brugs are big shrubs or small trees. If you have a cool basement that remains between 40ºF and 45ºF and once they have an established root system, you can store your Brugs down there and let them go dormant. If you treat them like houseplants, they will need more light than normal houseplants or they will get leggy and spindly.
Brugs need a complete fertilizer that contains all the micro-nutrients, but one that has a lower percentage of phosphates than nitrogen or potassium. A hibiscus fertilizer would be ideal, but it's also very expensive so something like MG water soluble fertilizer or an Osmocote type will do. During spring, summer and fall, when they are growing rapidly, they will need to be fertilized about twice a week.
Unlike other shrubs, pinching Brugs will not encourage branching. If the cutting you have came from below the "Y", then only thing pinching will accomplish is setting back the formation of the first "Y". Pinching doesn't do much even if the cutting came from above the "Y" because of the way Brugs grow and form buds — new "Y"s accompanied by new buds. When growing actively, Brugs will suck up a lot of water and may need to be watered daily, but in winter when growth slows down, an excess amount of water may lead to root rot. So keep the soil on the dryish side. A warm dry atmosphere is the perfect setting for spidermites. If you start to see mottled and yellowing leaves, look for them. They will be on the underside of the leaves. You can use a systemic pesticide or use a neem oil spray.