Brugmansias at my sisters place. The white colored is Sommertraum, the yellow CG and the pink Rosa Traum.
Size of Brugmansias in 90l (25.5 Gallons) pots
Now how did she achieve this shape? The Sommertraum especially is almost ball-shaped. I still can't get over the size of the plants compared to the size of the pots. Amazing!
Monika, did she use upper blooming area cuttings to get shorter and fuller plants?
the fuller plants happen here when they come back from frost, many many stems.
Wow! They are beautiful plants.I wonder too how they are made into such a perfect shape.
My sister doesnt know anything about brugs. I raised them in 1992 from the flowering region for her and pruned them for her every year for overwintering. They roots got cut to achive a smaller root ball and next spring, the old soil was removed and new one added. She fed them after my advice;
every third day 60g of a 16-8-24+Mg and minors fertilizer in 10l and then water throroughly. There is pic on page 11 and 67, on 67, you see the same plants being cut back. The fertlizer and how to use it along with the different water types is on page 61 + 62.
I'm new at brugs - what book are you talking about, Monika?
Monika has a book out, GL, but for now it's only in German.
What brand/type of fertilizer do we get - i.e. liquid, powder? Is there someplace to order it off the internet? I can't seem to find those numbers at the usual places around here. Thanks :)
Monika, do you feed from early spring every third day??
RiseAnn, go to a Lowe's, Home Depot, or one of the WalMart stores. You can get Miracle Grow or Peters in 20-20-20. It will work just fine. I think you would have to find the exact brand that Monika uses to get the same numbers. They are all different. I've used Peters for years and it works just fine. I believe Kyle uses it also. One year I had to use the only kind that our local greenhouse had and it was a 14-14-14, and it worked just fine also.
Brugie I use both Peters and Miracle gro....both at 20-20-20 or sometimes use Peters blossom booster.. :-)
I'm pretty good at using what is available and also use Bloom Booster, but not as often. I'm not sure that I've noticed a big difference in the amount or size of the blooms by using it though. Have enough Bloom Booster to last me ten years. I think mine is Schultz that I'm using right now. I know the middle no. is 60.
I am surprised about the heavy amount of phosphate used. Brugmansias need much more nitrate and kalium and minors as phosphate. It is an old believe, that phosphate stimulates flowering, but this long overthrown. Nitrate and Kalium are washed out every time, you water your plants throroughly. Phosphate itself is attached to humus soil, it stays in the pot soil or ground. To be available for the plant, Ca must be available too or the calcium must be given in form of lime or when available, hard water, depending on the ph of the soil.
I learned, that phosphate is needed for fruit plants of all kinds for fruit building and growing, but in a lesser amount for flowering plants.
We have here Peters Excel for soft water and Peters Excel for hard water available, but I believe to have better results with this Hakaphos and in addition: Kalksalpeter.
This message was edited Feb 10, 2007 3:23 PM
Monika, thats what we were always taught here..that phosphorus was for flowers and not use much nitrogen. So I guess I'll experimemt this year and see what I get.Thanks!! :-)
Kyle, this is still here in many heads too. I convince people best when they either see my plants flowering with their own eyes or with my pictures.
I must admit, this is what I learned in school, but I kept on to educate myself. Its about 15 years ago, that this change in knowledge about phosphate began.
Monika..so a fertilizer with say....a formula of 20-5-10 might be better?? :-)
It would be better. But the third -Kalium- should be more. Besides many other things, Kalium regulates the water household of the plant. Now dont start laughing - I translated it exactly because I dont know other word for it.
Lack of Kalium shows in brownish leaf halfs. It rolls in and remarkable: the leaf still hangs for quite a while on the plant, before falling off.
Peters Excel has a good combination for hard water:
18-10-18+2Mgo. Can you get Flory fertilizer?
This Fertlizer companies have often the same mixture. Look into this thread in about 15 - 20 Min. I will give you some more information about a good formula.
Good formulas are 18-12-18, 16+6+26 16-8-22
watch the minor Fe. it must be declared or marked EDTA or HEEDTA . Its chelated and for the plants available in acid or alkaline soil.
Monika..thanks for the tip. :-)
Thanks a bunch Brugie, Eclipse and Monika :) I appreciate all the help and have some names and numbers to work with now. This is such a great forum!
I think they have green fingers!!! Very pretty.
Monica, I don't understand the size of the pots..What is 901 ? Is that 25.5 US gallons?
Sugar
This is the liquid measurments in Germany.
1l = 1 Liter. 1 Gallon = 3 1/3 - 3 1/2 Liter.
To fill up one gallon, you need the above amount of Liters (litres, I believe, in english)
monika, wanting to be sure. the ones you put into the ground are 5 gallons, correct??? the ones with holes?
I use 20 Liter-sized pots. divided through 3,5 makes about 5gallon714.... about 6 Gallons
bump
Thank you Monika for the wonderful information on fertilizers. I was just thinking of switching for all my tropical plants(brugs included) to a fertilizer I had just bought for my tropical hibiscus. I did a little research, and I am finding that the more I read the more professionals are recomending a lower middle number. The fertilizer I bought has this ratio: 18-10-28.
Dott
25.5 gallon pots? That sounds ENORMOUS!
Thanks Monika - I have been looking over the internet trying to find the pruning, wintering and the fertilizer all in one place.
Dottnmd- the fertilizer you bought - is this soluable? Is it easily available?
Thanks
Just wonderful for you to have bumped that judycooksey!!! Just the information I wanted!!!
I was surprised to learn about the phosphate as well...the fact that it binds up in the soil and usually never gets to the roots!!! Learned about this in the Master Gardener Class...and our soils here mainly come from the old sugar cane fields where the soil is HEAVY with it. Unless it is mixed in with the soil at root level, with some calcium, it does no good. buuuuuuut, I think that foliar feeding a bloom booster is a great advantage...
Thanks again for bumping that.... :~D carol
Great thread ...thanks for bumping it up Judy :)
Julie
rjuddharrison, yes it is available through mail order. It is water soluable and looks just like any other blue fertilizer. It is avable through
http://www.yardgeek.com/fertilizer_view_prod.cfm?SKU=10880
Hidden valley hibiscus also has a simular formula but there shipping was a little more. Yardgeek has a lot of different fertilizers for sale.
Dott
I'm a little behind ...but thanks!!! and the place is not too far from where I live to boot!!....at last! I've ordered some. I have a whole back yard of Brugs to try it on.
thanks
Rj
What an awesome thread! Now I know why my brug leaves look so yellow after all of the rain we've had. I see nana fert in their future.
I still don't see Peter's Excel on the market for the public. A friend that has a garden center with greenhouses can buy it in large quantities.....I'll bet roses would like it too...
Ok - I figured out what was going on as far as thinking a 25 gallon pot was enormous. I saw a link that I think Kell gave recently for some 25 gallon pots she'd ordered. I clicked on it and it showed the dimensions as well. Those are the same sized pots I use. I just always envisioned trying to squeeze 25 empty milk gallons into it and knew that just wasn't the same. The gallons thing does throw me off though - because I'm used to a gallon looking like a gallon - like a big milk jug.
Monika...and all...thanks for the wonderful advice on ferts!!! And plants' needs. Phosphorus IS necessary...but it is only in combination with other macro/micro nutrients that it works. Most folks have far too much P in their soil since it binds in the soil. We are using much more Cal/mag in our pplanting mixes now...
Carol
Karrie, if you dump a gallon of liquid (from a milk container) into a regular gallon container for plants it will fit.