Just wondering if it would help brugs to bloom a little faster if they only have one trunk??? I got to thinking, that if I took off the new shoots from the bottom, that maybe more strength would go into producing flowers. I have so many lovely plants now and not a bloom on any of them.
Would it help?
I've always thought of bottom sprouts to be suckers! As I am not a brug expert...I would try cutting some and see what happens!
I just pinched the top of another brug about 6 ft tall just growing like crazy! Experiment as you go! You can receive lots of advise but nothing better than trying something new!
Good Luck!
Rebecca
PJ, remember arlene's and how they grew and were blooming. Many trunks and tons of blooms. It's almost time, don't give up.
Now that I think of it.. last year I had bought a brug with 2 trunks and one trunk y'd and bloomed and the other never did...if I had known then would have pinched it back as I did the others this year and are y'ing and blooming!
Just look for your y's and maybe you should pinch the others! Why not? What have you got to lose?
Experiment!!! And you will learn!!!
I have never pinched back my brugs. Especially the ones with multiple trunks. I'm not an expert but just as I know that I have always picked the slowest line in the grocery store - sure enough the stem I would pinch would be the only one that was going to bloom before fall. I have only so long of a season to get my brugs to bloom, I can't take chances that I'm slowing them down.
Azalea, i don't know. i have at least 2 brugs that have Yed, Yed again and a third time. my faithful dr suess that was blooming in june last year and never quit has had 3 blooms this year. it came up with 14 stalks, i cut 6-7 off. about a week before you were here i cut 3 side ones growing back off. i've pulled up most of the salvia near it, hasn't helped yet.
jamaican yellow in 20 gallon pot by back door has not had one bloom. 3 sets of Ys. I think the key is extra fertilizer and water, which i have been adding to these since june but apparently not enough. i got behind on my fertilizer trying to use cheap stuff, Vigoro with minors, turns out the bag says it only lasts a month and apparently didn't that long.
i have used two 20 pound bags of Vigoro, between 15-20 pounds of miracle grow and bloom booster, 50 pounds of Osmocote.
my advice, fertilize some more, and sneak them more water, i now you are on water rations. most or all of the bigger plants you took home with you had already bloomed, so should bloom again real soon.
also have a seedling that is over 6 feet (all 3 of these are 6-8 feet tall) has Yed, Yed again at about 5 foot. no blooms yet.
Azalea,
Being new to this also, I have some 3 feet tall blooming and some 7 feet tall that have just decided to put on buds. Go figure. I have decided they will bloom only when they are darn well ready to. Act a lot like kids!
Connie
I guess patience in this game is really a virtue - last year I thought my big yellow one would never blom, but when it did, it was spectacular, over 100 blooms at once, I have just discovered 2 small y's on it this year, It has 6 stalks and way over my head. I have really been adding more fertilizer & using MG or Bloom Buster almost every day.
All the other 8 that I got from Arlene are doing great, just feel bad that I got all the blooms knocked off before I got them planted. They all have y's and should be a real show when they decide to! One that I got from Tig that was Eric's has 4 stalks, only one stalk has y'd and it does have about 5 big buds on it. It will be a real surprise when it blooms. That's where I got the idea to maybe take off the extra stalks, and let the strong ones do their thing. Thanks everyone for all the support.
Azalea,
Try it and let me know if it works.
Try which, pinching or chopping off stalks - I really hate to do either, just wanted some opinions. Especially when I see Monika's Ally, all those blooms and only one trunk!
You said:
That's where I got the idea to maybe take off the extra stalks, and let the strong ones do their thing.
I was just saying for you to try what you wanted to try. I have no idea as I will leave all mine alone this year.
I think they look fine the way they are, but I am not doing an alley...
I'm not really doing an ally either - just want some blooms NOW!!!
I guess it all depends if you want it to look like a tree or a bush. Remember than some of Monika's alley trees are up to 12 years old. I don't think I have that kind of time to wait for the look, even though it doesn't take that long. Some of mine are trained as trees and some as bushes and they all bloom well. Even the side shoots bloom a lot. Just a matter of personal preference I guess.
PJ, don't use Bloom Booster a bunch. regular MG is better.