Best container grown brugs

Wondering which brugs are recommended for container growing? Anyone have any experience or ideas?

I see sometimes in the descriptions of various brugs where some of them are supposed to be good ones for containers.

Owen

Owen,
I have very good results with Versicolor Peach growing in a container.

I like growing mine in the ground. Then, if I really like that hybrid I will pull it up out of the ground right before a frost and put it in a pot to overwinter and then back into the ground. Other then that I just let them die back and then sprout back from the lower hardwood branches and or roots depending on the severity of the freeze...
I know I am no good here...just rambling.

I prefer all of mine in pots, however that might not be possible this year. Too many brugs. Anyway, the resoning is that when we have horrible heat like we did last year, I can move them into dappled shade and I don't have as much bud drop and the blooms will last longer. Just have to get back to about 20 of my favorites this fall so I can keep them all in pots again.

I have an apricot bloomer, plant stays small, blooms large, have inside on stand, keeps blooming, I fertilize everytime I water. This is very good in a 6" pot.

Eric, you go ahead and ramble all you want....we all like your "ramblings". LOL Hey, don't you have to cut off a lot of roots in order to get the brugs back into the pots in the fall? Is there a tap root on brugs, or just plain roots?

Shirley, what size pots do you generally use? I have a few that are about 6 gallon size.........would they be large enough? Hate to pay a fortune for the 10 gal. and larger pots.

Owen

I guess you can go from 5 gal. on up. I prefer larger than 5 gal. size because the wind tends to blow them over pretty easy and they dry out quickly. Most of mine are 10 gal. Some larger.

Owen and Brugie, go to landscapers and ask them to save the contaners that trees come in. I also go to nursery supply houses and buy nursery containers, 25 gallon size is always less than $15. They are black and usually have handles to carry them with. All of mine did good in containers as long as they were large enough. The Frosty Pink did well in a 5 gallon pot, but Charles Grimaldi needed a huge pot. Ecuador Pink also did good in the 10-15 gallon size.

I ordered 10 large nursery pots this winter from our local nursery. Also got some 8 gal. fiber pots for smaller brugs this year. I think the ten gallon pots were about $5 each and they last a long time.

Cala, how many bags of soil does it take to fill a 25 gallon pot? I think I'd go broke quickly with pots that big and since I don't really winter all of them over, I can get by with the ten gallon okay. Just have to anchor them down with pot stakes during the summer.

OK, thanks everyone.

Cala, do you realize $15 is a whole month's allowance for me? My wife spends the rest.....gotta keep her happy though:) She likes to buy knicknacks that don't need sunshine or water:) hmmm maybe she is the smart one!

Took a pic of my blooming Jamaican Yellow this morning. Anxious to see some of my other varieties bloom now:)

Owen

as long as its a brug that all that matters

You usually don't have to buy them for full price from landscapers, usually they will give them to you.
Brugie, to make the pot lighter, I will use styrofoam peanuts or something in the bottom, the brugs love the space it gives their roots to spread. It takes two of the loose fill 3cuft bags of Promix to fill one of the big pots up. You must remember that I have these pots mixed with my passion vines and gingers too. The brug gives excellent support to the passifloras and the gingers are shallow rooted and just fill the top of the pot nicely. I will tuck a vine or annual that I like in there too. I just take the hand dolly to them and move them into the green house in the winter.(plus we buy Promix by the tractor trailer load)

and your brugs don't hate having all that stuff taking up their room? what vines and annuals do you usually tuck in, I really don't know which ones have heavy roots. I have quite a few 20 gallon pots with brugs in them. Planning on ground planting most of mine this year, but still want some in pots.

I noticed in one of Rich Sander's pictures he sinks his containers 3/4 into the ground. He said he pulls them back out in the fall to bring in. The roots grow through the drainage holes but he just cuts them off when bringing them in. I'm gonna try his method with some - I think it will help with the watering too. For seedlings I think I'll plant a row or 2 in my veggie garden and dig up the ones that look promising in the fall.

TiG, I've found that the lovelia, bacopa, Tiny Mice cuphea, lysmachia and dwarf coleus don't bother them at all. I also will stick in a bit of Wandering Jew or Purple Queen if I find a broken piece. I do this in all my pots, even the ones with bananas in them, I tuck a portulaca or something that likes it a bit dry(because the bananas will take all the water) and it blooms and covers the soil and cuts down on the algae that can grow in there. Anything will work in with the brugs as long as it likes the same fertilizer and moisture and isn't too agressive.

okay, you have seeds of lovelia, bacopa, Tiny Mice cuphea, lysmachia and dwarf coleus?? LOL!!! I do have a few passion vines I can put in when I repot in the spring, guess they wouldn't like it if I moved one in now, would they? I have a lot of portulaca seeds, wonder if I threw them in now if they'd be ready to bloom in the spring. The dirt part of my big pots isn't getting a lot of light, just the tops. And CG put on more buds, so looks like I just didn't water one day when I should have.

I am going to have to try the companion plant plantings with my brugs....that sounds really interesting. The passifloras with the brugs are great idea also....Cala, your ideas and enthusiasm are contagious!!! And I like the idea of the portulaca with the bananas......now why didn't I think of this.....that's what makes this forum so great...all the great ideas. As new as I am to this, I have found that I need to use at least a gallon for new rooted cuttings, then they upgrade to at least a five gallon pot (just repotted 12 today and I have another 15 to do tomorrow). I have three that are in 20 or 25 g pots. I have already notified my neighbor and my MIL that I may need to use their yards this year also!!! I am trying something new on these repots. I found this product at WalMArt.......Moisture Plus from Schultz.....this is watering crystals...helps to keep soil moist and slowly release water to the roots...

Thought it was worth a try since my brugs are little water piggies...well that is too kind....they are little water HOGS!!!

If this helps I know there are other ones out there that I can probably buy in bigger bulk and cheaper. I want to use it my gardens as I transplant working it in around the new plantings. I am also going to use it in other repottings of other types of plants

Sharbot, there is a thread about the water crystals, ask Arlene.
TiG
I will have some of the things ready to bring to the swap. Let me know what you want some of. I moved the pots around to give the soil more light, and the little plants are taking off(some a little too good).

Sharbot, go to watersorb.com next time you need the crystals, they ship the same day and is way cheaper. also if i were you i would permanently plant most in the ground, short frosts don't seem to bother at least the ones i have too much. i actually have a baby rooted culebra that has never been inside, sat in the same place since 12/1 or so and is doing great. you are right about the pots, i use 1-3 gallon pots to root--easier it seems to control moisture and they absolutely grow faster from the getgo, fertilize with time release as soon as i see growth. the water crystals not only help with watering but help maintain fertilizer i am told. i am using it now. miracle grow is selling time realized fertilizer now at walmart, think they call it throw and grow, cheaper than osmocote 8 pounds for 12.00. i am jealous too, as you live close enough to drive over to vero beach......

The lateral roots can go for quite some distance with Brugmansia, but the tap root is generally fairly shallow in comparison. I find that by keeping a very moist soil that the roots tend to stay closer to the trunk and hence the tree can be lifted up with a veritable ball of roots formed around just the base to about 3 ft or less. If one has dry soil or allows the roots to dry out between each watering though one will find the Brugmansia will set out lateral roots so far that one will have to pull like Hercules and chop the lateral roots through with a shovel to boot. On top of that one may have to dig in under the Brugmansia with ones hands and clip the tap root. Much easier to simply use a lot of agrosoke or such and then the tree pops up and right into a pot with very little chopping of the roots if any. Hope that helps,
Eric

The lateral roots can go for quite some distance with Brugmansia, but the tap root is generally fairly shallow in comparison. I find that by keeping a very moist soil that the roots tend to stay closer to the trunk and hence the tree can be lifted up with a veritable ball of roots formed around just the base to about 3 ft or less. If one has dry soil or allows the roots to dry out between each watering though one will find the Brugmansia will set out lateral roots so far that one will have to pull like Hercules and chop the lateral roots through with a shovel to boot. On top of that one may have to dig in under the Brugmansia with ones hands and clip the tap root. Much easier to simply use a lot of agrosoke or such and then the tree pops up and right into a pot with very little chopping of the roots if any. Hope that helps,
Eric

I found some great 18 gallon tubs with handles at Wal-mart for $4.00. They are blue. You do have to drill drain holes in the bottom, but that's no problem.