I have about 50 or so plants, from cuttings. I followed brugman's cutting methods and took a leap of faith and planted them like horizontal logs. Thanks brugman!!! Each place I saw a node I made a cut after the node. Out of 8 large woody cuttings I now have about 50 plants.
A couple of the Frosty Pink have wilting leaves. These are the only ones I have names for and all the others are "unknown whites and yellows". Are they suffering from lack of water or what? I checked and there does not seem to be any insect infestation either. All the others are growing like crazy.
I read the thread on fertilizer so when I water I use fertilizer and they are starting to look like brugs pumped up on steroids...LOL.
Last week I planted about 50 suaveolens seeds. I have them on a heat mat set at about 25 degrees centigrade. How long do they take to sprout? Do I seem a little impatient?
My brug and datura book came in the mail and the photos are gorgeous!! This has to be my most prized book in my collection. When these plants begin to flower you will see me sprint across CANADA. I think I can add brugs to my addiction of daturas!!! I refuse to get any help from Brug & Datura Anonymous!!
QUESTIONS
I hope that's 25 Celsius. I hope you're running across the country to my house! 3000 miles isn't too far to sprint with an armload of brugs is it?
Liz,
hahahaha.....I may have to take the train 9/10 of the way and then walk casually and sprint from your property line to your front door. I did mean Celcius...ooops my bad.
How long will they take to sprout Liz?
Joydie
Joydie, I planted my first seeds the day after Christmas and I'm getting a few sprouts now. I hear it makes a big difference if the seeds are fresh - and most of them that have been sent through trades are very fresh.
Joydie, could you stop at my house on the way through to Vancouver? I'll have some brug juice with super energy in it to carry you the rest of the way. Annie
Just don't get that brug juice in your eyes, lol.
Jodie, How are your Frosty Pinks? This is a reply from Monika on the brug group to someone that had a wilting problem with cuttings -
"They should not be fed with any fertilzer, especially not with organic material. It needs micro organism to change the organic into mineral material. The plants can eat only mineral material and pot soil has only little or no micro life at all. Organic material will rot and kill the plant roots.
The growth of roots depends on the amount of fertilizer in the fresh soil. Less of it will make the roots grow to seek for food for the growing plant, therefore much more roots will be made. If you feed the plant there is no need to make to many roots"
Sounds like what I did with a couple of my cuttings - Killed them with too much fertilizer. Maybe that's happening with your Frosty pink. She also says they should be kept in small pots and repotted to larger ones as they out grow them. Large pots keep the roots too cold and wet.
Well,I certainly don't agree with that part about not using organic material.I have started about 300 cuttings and have started them all in a 50/50 mixture of compost and topsoil.
I have not lost a single hardwood cutting except those few waxed ones from LBJ.I have lost a few from immature wood and tip cuttings.IMHO it too much water logged soil that kills cuttings.
And in addition,you can bring back plants from the dead(well almost) by repotting in 100% compost,watering spareingly and placing in a shaded location until they recover.
I agree with G2S, the compost has many of the micro organisms that the plants need to be healthy. I think too much water kills them. Especially if they are kept too cool. I do start out my tiny plants in little pots and move to larger as the roots touch the bottom of the pots. I look in the drain holes for roots, and when I see them, I move the plant up to a slightly larger pot.
Well the fertilizer in question was fish emulsion & that's what I used on mine. Most of them handled it fine but I did loose a couple - to obvious rotting. My Pink Beauty is what broke my heart :-( It was growing great and looked as happy as can be. In a matter of 3-days in had completely wilted. I do believe that fertilzers high in nitrogen will encourage rotting and should be avoided until the cuttings are well established.
What size pot is small enough? I started most of mine in 4-inch geranium pots. Do ya think they should be smaller than that? I have a couple of cuttings that have been just sitting there forever. They look green and healthy but no growth at all. I'm tempted to tip them out of the pots to see whats going on - but I haven't wanted to disturb them in case they're rooting. Is it normal for some to take so long? There's NO leaves ... just the stem in the pot. One of them is close to 3 months now.
Poppysue,I can replace your pink beauty in the spring,just remind me,and pray I don't kill it!
Don't give it fish emulsion CC ;-) & I'd keep her on the dry side too if I had her back. You keep her growing and try to get some blooms from her. If she does good for you I'll take a cutting in the fall. I read on one of the sites - that Pink Beauty likes warm climates. I hope she'll do good in NE.
The Frosty Pink started to wilt after transplanting to 3" pots. I'll move them to a different location and put them under grow lights to see if they will recover. I'll also let the potting soil dry out a bit. I certainly hope so as I only have about 4 of the Frosty Pink ones.
All of the plants are in regular potting soil in 3" pots and when they are better established I will move them up to larger pots with half potting soil and have loam.
I have yellow brugs coming out my ears (literally)and more cuttings of the yellow rooting (about 30 or so more).
Annie in Woodstock,
I will certainly trade with you in the spring when the weather warms up enough to post plants.
Liz, I don't know what type of suaveolens these are as I received the seeds in a trade and the color was not marked on them. I'm hoping the suaveolens aren't more yellow, gosh I'll O.D. on different yellow colored brugs!!
I'm checking out the route for illegal traffic of brug plants...lets see~~~~~~> New York State~~~~zone 7 U.S.~~~>Maine~~~~~~~>maybe Florida...I'll be wearing a grey trench coat, dark sun glassses and carrying a suspicious looking package to the post office...hahaha
Joydie
I usually start my cuttings in 4.5" pots, in Pro-Mix or Faffard. I sometimes use the one with composted bark. I water the cuttings in with tea-tree oil and set on a heat mat. I only water when they are slightly dry, but not bone dry. If a cutting starts to wilt right off, I pull it out of the pot and stick it in water for a day or two. This usually perks it up and I will stick it back into the pot. If the cutting has started to rot, I will cut off as much of the rotted as I can with a razor and dip in fungicide, then repot. If a cutting is doing fine, not wilted but still no leaves, I leave them alone. It's normal for some to take longer than others to root. Pulling it out of the pot may bruise it and cause it to rot. To check for roots without disturbing the plant, just pick the pot up and look at the drain holes. You should be able to see little white roots if it's rooted good. The plant should be rooted well enough to take out of the pot without losing the soil from around the roots, but not completely root bound when you transplant it.
Sometimes, if I have lots of cuttings from something (like CG/Jo) I just stick them in one pot and leave them all winter. If they make it fine and if they don't well, too bad. In the spring, I just dump them out of the pot, pull them apart and plant where ever.
I start mine in 2 1/2 inch pots.This I copied from Earl.
Four of this size pack nicely in a priority box for shipping.
I like Calalily's idea of sticking them all in one pot.That would sure save winter greenhouse space.
Brugcarazy where do you get the coco fibre? I wonder if agro-soak crystals would work with the hard to root ones.
G2S, I stole the idea of sticking them all in one pot from Glory.
Poppysue, i was wondering about the agrisoak too for starting the hard to root ones. I may have to try that. I was also wondering about using it instead of agar for the seeds in the colchicine.
You can get the coco fibre in a block at the garden centres here. You add water to it and it expands 10 times or so. I just put the cuttings in it, water it once and then leave it for 4-5 days before I water it again. I can't remember where I got the idea, but I read it somewhere and Liz gave me some coco fibre when I was down visiting in October and I have since found it at Art Knapps Garden Centre. Just ask at your local garden centre. It's different here because people garden year round so the garden centres always have stock. Search on the net and I'm sure you'll find it.
Poppysue,
Is the agro-soak those little things that look like Jello when they get wet....if the answer is yes it did work real well on a Peaches and Cream cutting. I now have two cuttings of the white sky vine rooting in it.
I solved the problem with the wilted cuttings. I pulled them gently out of the pot this morning and low and behold they did not have ROOTS, lots of top growth but no roots so I put them back into the rooting pots. Never thought to check to see if they were actually rooted, just assumed with all the leaf growth that they were.
Like Calalily I put all my cuttings into one big pot and then pot them up later when they sprout. It saves a lot of space in the greenhouse which fills up fast.
Need to know about this "soaking seeds and peeling" business...what exactly do you 'peel' off from the seed. I didn't soak the suaveolens when I planted the seeds. Can someone help me with this? Duh, 'Newbie' to brug seed growing.
Joydie
Joydie, After soaking the seeds you peel the outer corky material off. Underneath is a little seed. I just did some of mine and find I had to be careful not to damage the underneath seed with my fingernail. They germinate much quicker if you take that outer cover off.
I peel before soaking as that gives me less seed damage.The
seed looks like a tiny bean.
I don't peel at all. Considered peeling once, but it takes me a full day to plant my seeds as it is. As for organics, I use tons of manure and fish emulsion with my rooted cuttings. I generally root in anything from pure peat to pure sand. It really doesn't make that much difference. Is pure peat considered organic?
How long does it take for seeds to sprout that are not peeled? Do you soak before planting? What material matter do you plant the seeds in? I will be receiving seeds soon and I want to be successful with them.
More "Newbie" questions.
1. The brug seeds I received were dark almost black. They don't appear to have any covering of any kind on them. Does that mean they were already cleaned?
2. When I get Calalily's seeds should I soak them and for how long?
3. Has anyone tried the 'wet paper towel" method to sprout brug seeds? I seem to be having better luck with any kind of seed with the wet paper towel method.
Joydie
The double white X pink seedsI soaked them all ,peeled half,3 have germinated,2 peeled,1 unpeeled,2 days differenceso probably not going to waste the time peeling.Also 1 of the PEELED seedling's has the seed stuck to it!
CC, can't wait to see Candida x pink (candida x pink) in the future from you.
Just trying to figure out how to set up the electric fence around them so creature's both 4 legged and 2 legged cant get near them .DH says not in the house....
CC, you weren't going to put an electric fence in the house were you? Tell your DH to get busy and build you a green house. I peeled every single one I got from Karen, didn't peel any from Busybee or TiG and the only difference I can see is that CC's all germinated within 2 days of each other. The ones from BB and TiG are more sporatic with their germination. I did soak all the seeds. The ones from Valleygrow are really weird in germinating. I've had them germinating for the last month, one at a time.
Cala, wondering it is because earl's seeds are mixed, not out of the same pod?
Arlene, I was wondering that too. The leaves are so different on his. TiG's, CC's and BB's little seedlings all look the same, but Earl's are so different. No two seedlings alike in his. Even the ones I got from (that place) look exactly alike.
Earl's are also of very different ages.
That explains a lot then. I'm not complaining, I ordered 25 seed each time and he always sent extras. I've got 4 red sangs up!!!
I have 11 versi Peach x Butterfly seedlings and all 5 of the red Sangs are up. I did notice that even if you soak and peel the seed covering is still stuck on the seedling.Gonna have to put another grow light up tomorrow for all the seedlings.Now just to find an empty spot to put it.
Yes,I want a electric fence in the house,to keep a great dane,great pyrennese,a macaw and 8 cockatiels from making mulch out of these seedlings......
Oh I see now. I have a doberman and a cockatoo. They can be destructive and not even mean to. Wally's feet get him in trouble, he runs into the green house so excited to have found a stick or leaf and just has to show me. Now Elliot the bird, he is another story. If it can be chewed up, he will do it!! I rarely take him to the green house, he's done enough damage in his own room.
Joydie1
Tell me about how you start cuttings in the horizontal log position. Where do you place the cutting in regards to the soil? Do you lay it on top or do place it half under the soil and how long should the the cut pieces be? Also, what are the benefits of starting cuttings in this manner. I am asking because this seems to be an interesting way of starting cuttings. I would like to hear from others who have done this.
Frannie
Hi, Another newbie to brugs. I rooted the cuttings in water. Since there was limited space I divided them up into 12" pots, where they seem to be growing very well. Some are almost a foot high, others a bit smaller, but they have all leafed out quite nicely. When do I give each one it's own home? I can look at the bottom of the pot but since some are growing faster than others, can I safely leave them this way for a while yet? I have 6 in each pot.