No one seems to talk about dead-heading brugs - since everyone is aiming to get seed pods. I have to wonder how a brug looks after the flowers fade. It seems to me that those big huge flowers would look pretty yucky once they start fading and turning brown. Do the corrollas normally fall off after the bloom fades? I know spent datura blooms look sorta nasty after the go by. I would think a big huge brug with hundreds of spent flowers would be quite an eye sore. Just curious....
Spent Blooms
mine seem to fall off on there own.somtimes I have to pick the blooms that fell off a branch because its yuchy looking I also will pull yellow leaves off as I do my daily tour of the garden
aisnamgurb
Dec 14, 2001
The brug is definitely an eyesore when all the flowers start dying. They turn different shades of brown and shrivel up. The whole flower will normally drop on it's own but many times the corolla falls off first. Brugs constantly drop leaves and tiny limbs so the dead flowers are not really the only eyesore. Depending on the size of your collection of course, it should be simple to keep up with the mess the plants can make. Brugs are considered to be trash plants/trees, meaning they are litterbugs,.... but who cares? ..... BRUGS RULE!!! :)
I enjoy hand removing the dying corollas. In the end they are easy to remove by tugging just a little. Sometimes it's like an easter egg hunt only you find baby seedpods that nature made.
I do like Vicki, I just tug on them. They are really ugly if left and if a little seed pod is forming and the corolla is stuck to it, sometimes the end will rot. I have a green house full of brugs and each morning it's the first thing I do, clean up the spent blooms. I have a problem with the slugs getting on the old blooms if I leave them. I then pick off any yellow leaves, next I take a broom and sweep the floor (this is the only green house with black cover on the floor, the brugs don't mind the extra heat it causes and it makes cleanup easier). I then check for insects or any other problems, then it's time to check the seed flats to see if anything new has come up. I've been keeping the diatomaceous earth around the seed flats to keep the slugs away. They got one of the seedlings from Vicki and also one from Karen.
sorry, there I go rambling again!!!
that's good rambling as it always is. They do make a mess don't they?? :)
They may be a little messy, but aren't they worth it in the long run. Now that I've found brugs, I don't know what I could do that would satisfy me more than caring for them. Then of course, I always want more and different. I think this is a hobby that will last for a very long time.
S.
I generally let the flowers fall off on their own, with the exception of my doubles and Rosabell which tend to rot from the pistal base right where the corolla attaches.
I never thought mine as being messy but I do have a 30' china berry tree in the back yard now thats messy
Ahh, another tip-for those wanting to start seeds on a Double...pollinate as soon as the green corolla starts to emerge and one can pollinate even when the corolla is fully open in color if one wants. Removing the corolla seems to be best done in the heat of the day as at night it appears to be a bit more rigid or swollen. I personally either tear a slit in the corolla and give it a slight twist without grasping too tight and this generally removes the corolla without removing the pistal, or simply give it a slight twist and pull. Trying to remove the calyx while still green or at night has not given me the best of results, but it is possible. Hope this helps.
Brugmansia