but you still couldn't keep the tall trees from freezing to the ground? I never paid much attention to the temps here. I just know I wear the same clothes, just in darker colors in the winter. I have not owned a winter coat for years. I am always hot. However others always wear winter coats. This year I will check the high and low temp all winter.
Do you collect any of the old things Arlene? I have a house full of things from the 1900 to 1940.
The basic structure of Brugmansia Trees
This was a very interesting thread and I never realized that I can make a tree out of my very large bush.
So...if I understand right, if I want to make a tree out of my large bush, I can cut all the branchs off the bottom of the Y and it will grow into a tree?
Since I live in a warmer zone(10) than most of you, and don't have to take in my plants, should I cut back any above the Y...to make it grow taller? I hope I have explained myself ok. Any help would be appreciated.
Donna
I remember this thread when it started - I was so fired up about the new concept of not cutting below the Y that I missed that the branches above the Y are 10 years old too.
Thanks for bringing it back up - need a refresher course.
I only have 1 baby alley tree and I am going to save it till next season or else!! In the spring I will dump it out of its huge pot and cut the roots down to fit into a 5 gallon pot. And I will cut the canopy to match (unless the canopy does not need to be done so severly? What do you all think?) Then I am going to plant it in that 5 gallon holey pot and then put it in a much larger pot for the summer. A pot within a pot!! Then the next year I will just pull out the pot.
Shirley, maybe you should do this also............... if you are doing alot of big pots next year!
guys, monika says to cut 6 nodes above the Y. kell, i like old dishes, teapots, stuff like that. i would certainly come help you if you were a day's drive away. kell, as big of trees as you have around, i don't know if you need to do anything. i would say, go knock on the door of one of your neighbors with the gorgeous brugs. to be that large, you know they aren't dying off in the winter!!! you lucky lucky brug grower you!
Well that is true Arlene, but some do die back. Remember that huge one I posted....the double white. I talked to the owner 2 weeks ago as I clicking away and he said it had died back 3 years ago. I meant to post the pictures but may have forgotten to.....LOL! If you want an fat alley tree and not a bush you need to save that 1 stalk. My sang never dies back, last year it had a little frost burn on the top 1/3 but it was just some of the leaves, no stalks. But my double white in the ground for the first time died to the ground and my Frosty in the ground that is at least 15 feet)I may be exaggerating here by a few feet), lost all its leaves and some stalks got frost die back. Though I never watered it and that probably did not help. I am just afraid a potted brug will get root burn and go to brug heaven and I will go to brug hell.
kell, don't worry about the roots, mine even in pots come back. besides if in pots, it is really easy. i have read this, last spring, am sure it will work... put the pot on its side and cover with blankets. brugs i think are really forgiving, and almost impossible to kill old roots. around here, i run the sprinklers every couple of weeks if it hasn't rained. it keeps my grass green all winter, and keeps the roots from getting stressed, even if a plant has been killed back. this is very important and i am glad you mentioned it.
Kell, at that temp, it would never freeze the pot unless it stayed that cold for many hours. I don't think you have to worry about the roots freezing either. If it is going to be a tough night, just throw some lightweight sheets over them. They will be fine.
I have taken a good look at my Brug bush to see if there was any Y's in it. My bush has 6-7 main branches that are in a Vase shape coming from the bottom. Does this mean that it is too late to make a tree from it? Or is there anything I can do to create one now?
Donna
post a pic Donna.
I thought you could not let anything touch the leaves during a freeze? you had to tent the covering? another myth I guess!
I will do that Kell, thanks.
Donna
Kell, coverings can touch the leaves as long as they are NOT plastic.
thanks brugie for setting me straight.
Bumping -
For anyone new to the brug forum - last February was when Monika started teaching us the proper way to grow brugs.
and what trees they are!!! I like this form so much better than sprawlers!
Me too. But, when you have made them into trees, have no cuttings to give to the "newbies".
You will have many cuttings because the new growth will pruned back of to the basic structure.
What I want to know is.............Monika, is this pruning to make a brug tree covered in your book that some of us have purchased?? I have so many started that I would like to try this with a couple. I can afford to do that now.
I missed this thread the first time around. My experience this past year was that the plants I cut back to ground level made bigger, nicer, more tree-like growth than the ones I brought inside in pots. When they resprout in spring, just cut off all but one sprout, and keep on cutting off everything that sprouts from the roots or the sides of the main trunk. I wound up with several "trees" that made Ys at between 5 and 7 feet, then flowered heavily. Some of these trunks were more than 3" across when I cut them down this fall, and I have some of them rooting in a bucket in the back bedroom. Wonder what they'll do when I plant them out this spring?
I do not wonder......they will make you very HAPPY Judith!
These trunks are never cut back! The basic structure has to saved.
Thought this was a good one to bump.
Gee, in Septmeber 2002 I only had 1 alley tree. Now I have them all over!
This is great information. Thank you so much for bumping it up. There's so much to live and learn, but it sure helps to learn form you guys!
Linda
Very good! Thanks Root!
Root, you did a good job looking this up. Thanks.