Hi,
Could someone give me some instructions for planting a brug in the ground using Osmocote and AgriSoak crystals? I need to know where the crystals should be placed....at root level, lower, how far around in the planting hole, and how much to use would be helpful. The same with the Osmocote. I've planted in the ground before, but never used these two aides before. Use them in pots, but have a problem with the water crystals coming to the top and looking like jelly all over the place. I know this sounds like a stupid question, but I want to get the most bang for my buck with them.
S.
Need instructions for
Brugie... not sure on the agrisoak,but the osmocote I mix it in the ground after I dig the hole also mix in perlite too so I would do the same if I were to use agrisoak
Pete
popping up from brugman. ms brugie, i would put under the rootball and around the area you have dug, stir a little, then fill in with soil. i think brugman uses a pound on 4-5 plants can't remember. with your shorter growing season and depending on your soil you may not need as much. we have pure sand...dirty gray sand, mine sitting on limestone.
i think he also said if your soil holds water as with watersorb the lateral roots right under the surface won't run as far, will be much easier to dig up. hoping he'll come by and correct me.
Brugie....when I use agrisoak or similar i make sure it is mixed into the bottom third of the pot to encourage deep root growth...then as i place the plant in the new pot, I sprinkle some around the base between the rootball and the new pot.....it is suggested that you don't put the agrisoak material higher than 2" from the top of the root ball so that the roots are encouraged to grow down and deep.
I repotted over 25 babies into 5 gal or larger pots two weeks ago and used an agrisoak type product......the little monsters are growing by leaps and bounds and I haven't had to water excessively at all!!!
Forgot to tell you about the osmicote.....I mix it into the bottom third also and then I mix some into the potting soil going around the root ball. I go a little heavy on it since brugs are such heavy feeders.
Thanks Arlene,
I have black dirt and was thinking about tilling in some compost, ground spahgnum, and tossing in some perlite too before planting. I don't want them to stay too wet, but would love to get by with watering every other day if I could. I'm sure in the hot part of the summer, I'll still have to water daily. Last year, the one I had in the ground had to be watered several times a day. Of course it was huge. I'd love to see them all get that big this year. I could really hide the weeds in the vegie garden with a row of brugs across the front.
Thanks again. I'll do what I can and hope I don't overdo it.
Sharbot, you were good at explaining that, that's what i was trying to say. ms brugie, i add lots of peat and black cow in when i plant them, helps hold water too. you will not have to worry about over watering any planted in the ground, i am sure! had a couple planted on my drain field with cannas and bananas, and i watered that area a lot too although not as much as the rest, even sitting on the drainfield! wish i had about 4-5 more of those.
I live in an area where we have a rainy season - runs from November to April. Late spring, summer and fall is dry. I used water retentive potting soil in my pots last year. Awful for the early spring here. Held so much water they never dried out. Ended up repotting every single one. But i see you're all from hot dry places so this wouldn't be a problem.
So, I guess planting in the ground would require the same kind of treatment, right? Keep the agrisoak low to make the roots grow down instead of out. I think you guys covered it all very well for me. Thanks a bunch. Now, could you tell me how I can water everything without having to hook the hose to my hand for hours at a time. I can't use soaker hoses on what I have. Too spread out and too much of it. Guess I'm doomed to water by hand. I pray for rain a lot, but then I have to sit in the greenhouse instead of on the deck. Can't please me. Again, thanks.
That's what I did wrong with mine. I just mixed it all thru the soil and it looked like slimey jello when it would rain. I do mix the osmocote in with the soil, figured the nutrients would eventually wash down where they were needed. I also go back and top dress with the Osmocote.
Liz, it might be possible to get too much water with young ones in pots here, but not in the ground! an inch of rain will dry up in 15 minutes here. and once they get big the roots fill the whole pots anyway. we used to have wet springs, have been in drought for several years. they say it would take something like 15 hurricanes to get our water levels back to normal.
It wasn't the young ones Arlene - it was the ones in the BIG pots. The ones from the years before. Hate that jello stuff on top of the soil -was scraping it off with a trowel. I guess it's just where I grow them.
I have pure sand to grow in. I don't like that. So, heres what I do, I dig up a trench 2-3 ft wide by 1-2 feet deep and mix in peat and cow dung. I also mix in an excessive amount of those water absorbing crystals directly on the bottom of my trench and in the general mix of things as well. I generally keep the crystals out of the top 4 inches of soil, but not always. This produces Brugmansia with very little lateral roots and most of the roots are formed around the base...extending out 2 ft at the most during the first year. Brugmansia planted in just tilled soil will have lateral roots 4-6 ft long very easily in the first year. I have pulled Brugmansia planted both ways out of the ground and I have pulled Brugmansia planted directly into unprepared soil out. The stronger the root system the better they come back from a freeze. The shallower the root system the easier it is to pull them up and put them in pots to escape the freeze. Of course if one top dresses with some bark etc, then that jelly is less likely to move to the top of the soil. I mix bone meal in with my soil as well....
Thanks Eric,
I think I'll be able to come up with something that will work with my soil. We are usually so dry here in the summer that it won't be much different than planting in the sandy soils. However, pulling the brugs out won't work. I can barely pull out a marigold at the end of the season. I'll work on that when the time comes. I just wanted to make the best use of the crystals and when they are floating on top, they don't do a lot of good.
Cala, I'll be sure to top dress with Osmocote too. I've only mixed it in before. Today I'm trying a spray on all my stuff using seaweed. It is supposed to have all those nutrients in it that will be absorbed by the leaves and that other fertilizers don't usually have. Might just try a few brugs to start with to be sure I don't hurt them all. :-) Need to get the chelated iron out too and deepen the color of the leaves a bit. Especially the vines. I'm starting to ramble........enough!!
S.
Brugie, I can't believe you were rambling!!! It's contageous isn't it? Let me know if the seaweed works.