what am I doing wrong

I have several big brugs that have buds. teeny tiny buds, that are staying teeny tiny. They have Osmocote on them, watered well, good light. What is going on??? It's getting very frustrating. I have 4 brugs blooming right now, with FP (i think) having the most blooms, and the least care. All the others have 1-4 blooms. I MG at least once a week, try very hard for twice. and the ones that bloomed earlier haven't rebloomed. getting very frustrated here.

and btw, if fall isn't stunning around here, DH is going to reclaim some land!!!!

TiG, wish I could help. Seems like you are fertilizing more than me. I've got blooms or buds on almost everything. I don't MG, but did mulch with Osmocote. Do the ones with the teeny buds have mites? I've noticed that the ones that were under mite attack took much longer to bloom.

no, no mites. I've been checking and spraying. I went to put more Osmocote on a few this morning and they are still covered up with it. :(

Tig - don't some brugs wait until all the buds are ready so they can open up all at once? I thought it was the versicolors that did that.

I could understand that if the buds were all growing. I've had buds on Butterfly for over a month, and they are no bigger now than then. You can just barely see them. I'm hoping that maybe the heat has something to do with it, and when it cools down they will go to town. But Cala's jungle house is the hottest place on earth and look at hers.
I have them in full sun, half sun, morning sun and afternoon sun, and they all seem to be doing the same thing.

TiG, Butterfly and several others had y's or buds forever and didn't bloom till I took them OUT of the Jungle house. I think it's the heat too.

Cala,
You are right about the heat....I have some Brugs that look down right sad right now but once the weather cools off they will be beautiful again. This is part of growing Brugs in the heat and humidity of the South. Hang in there tiG....

thanks:) I have just put my whole heart and soul into them. want blooms all over.

I've noticed that up here in Iowa, I'll have the same problem with some of my brugs that you are having Bonnie. Buds, but no bud growth. My Culebra has taken forever to get 3 blooming size buds. The others either sit on the plant and don't grow, or fall off. Same thing on Insignis Rosea. So, it will happen, I'm sure, but it sure isn't fun waiting for the show. I am surprised that with all you have, that you haven't had more bloom at this point. I've even quit fertilizing now. Will probably do the pots, but not those in the ground. I better have more buds and blooms. Would be a horrible disappointment to not have them.

I wonder if we are fertilizing too much - I'm just getting lots of nice growth & healthy leave, but no flowers, not even buds on most of them.

but brugcrazy waters with MG every time she waters. and look at what she has. I'm not going to add more Osmocote, I can't afford it. I did notice that the absolute fastest growth I had was Erics that I put in the ground at 3', less than one month ago. It has Y'ed and bloomed last night. I backfilled the entire hole with compost.

tiG,
Jeanne's weather is a lot different then ours.

I sure don't know- just guessing, I use MG almost every day too, and put peat & compost & osmacote in the holes.

tiG, its the heat. I have the same problem. It has been the hottest summer up here, I can remember. One day, we had 37°C and the leaves turned white on several brugs - sunburn!

thanks monika!!! will just hang in there, keep watering and misting to fight the heat. come on fall and be a long one.

I would think though that if you are constantly force feeding a high nitrogen diet the plant is putting all its energy in putting out big green leaves. I can tell you all the brugs in everyone's yard around here are in constant bloom and I am sure are hardly ever fed. I have been feeding more since I have been Daved, but I do not come close to lots of you guys. I do have constant flowers on all the ones that should sizewise have them. So maybe we should feed high nitrogen till the plant reaches a good size and then switch to a lower nitrogen one?

Tig- you have mail

TiG, this is weird, I was at the green house and checked on some plants that have been in 4 inch pots since May. They had been in the cold frame which is a HOT house in summer. They NEVER get fed, no Osmocote and guess what? They are all either budded or blooming. I think we should starve them till they give up and bloom!!
Of course they are still short and the leaves are a pale color, but they have buds and blooms!!

I've thought about what kell said, and asked everyone on here what they do too. The heavy feeding works for some and not others. I thought about the heavy nitrogen, so went out and bought a big box of bloom buster, and the next day someone said not to use it but once or twice, so I only used it that once.
I'm just going to water from now on I think:)

tig, i don't think you have a problem using bloom booster. also, i think the main reason for heavy fertilizer is to get them big enough to bloom!!!! If you think about the huge plants in the ground, and older plants like Monika's and Kyles, they already have a very good structure to bloom on, they shouldn't need as much.

Does this make sense????? in other words, the fertilizer is to get them growing quickly to that stage where they can bloom.

the only thing i have found about the bloom booster is that perhaps you might be "wasting money" if you don't need the extra middle number!!!!! sure don't see a problem and as it likely has minors in it, i would use it!!!!!

okay, how often? I have enough that I can experiment with a whole bed.

I swear I read that some varieties save up their blooms so that they bloom all at once,I think versi was one of them so anything thats been crossed to them would carry the chance of having that trait

tig, i don't know but it might be good to wet the leaves with it also for quicker absorption. i'be been thinking about doing that with my powder, usually just put it around the plants and sprinkle it in. don't laugh, but these last few months i look at my brugs and say "snowhermit's leaves are sure greener than that", and decide they don't have enough fertilizer!!! the few that had my good oscomocote on them from last year in the spring did so much better, darker leaves, faster growth, faster blooms and better flower color, like the white pearl X big, seed to blooms in a bare 4 months, pink beauty, butterfly, an isabella in a pot, couple more! i'm gonna work real hard this winter at over wintering some!

CC, you're right, versicolors do that. But Butterfly and Pink Beauty aren't versis and most of mine aren't.

Do they have versi in their background makeup?

I don't think so. RK x Ocre. And it's not just those two, Only one Solid Gold has bloomed, the other is much bigger and nothing. no Jamacian Yellow, or a lot of others. I'm not complaining (trying not to) because I have blooms and others don't, but the season is getting short and I want to know if I should be doing something different for now and next year.

I saw Snowhermits brugs. You won't believe how green they were and how huge the leaves were. Her soil is to die for, dark and rich loamy type soil!!(sorry TiG, she had lots of blooms too). You just need to get Azalea to borrow her DH's truck and come get some of these with buds, lol.

What we really need is a load of that good loamy soil!!

LOL!!! and Cala to walk by and touch them. or snow, or Liz, or brugcrazy, or tonny or monika, or Brugie, or kell, etc.

Yep - jus wiggle their noses at them for us!

Tig....my two cents worth.When I planted mine I put some regular 10-10-10 garden fertilizer around each one.Then mulched with about a foot of bedding hay.They have not had more fertilizer but are blooming like crazy.All I do now is water as needed.
Those in pots do get MG about once each week or two,or three
or whenever I remember.They are blooming too but are all in shade from mid morning on.

with this heat and no rain, I already plan to move all I can into afternoon shade. I'm having to go out and mist them mid day every day and water even the ones in the ground every day. you just confirmed it for me JT, thanks.