southern growers

we pulled up one today that was very unhappy..... nematodes it looks like...any one else?

brugman said something on a thread the other day that rang a bell in my head: it seems like after frosting back a few years the number of blooms drop significantly. i am thinking this is not because of the hybrid, just a fact of brugs lives diminishing with each frost. had this problem with my 2 brugs, who have frosted back 2 winters already..... very ver few buds.
any one else? this is changing my thinking on how to grow.

Arlene..I have some plants that are 10 years old in pots...some seldom bloom any more so going to start them over from cuttings and see what happens.Can't hurt...some are so woody..trunks several inches thick!!After they get so big in pots they get fewer and fewer flowers too.So guess every couple of years we need to restart these from fresh cuttings.

but not ones that don't frost, right?? just look at Monika's trees.

And the southern california trees.....

I took it that Arlene was talking about those that frost back every year in the ground or did I miss something here. I hope that won't be something we have to watch with the potted brugs. I don't always change the soil each year if they haven't eaten up what is in the pot.

Kyle mentioned ones in pots, so I was wondering too.

Mine in pots, even the ones I've had for several years still bloom like crazy. The ones in the ground are always loaded with blooms, just later in the year. Mine get frozen to the ground, unlike Arlene's. I haven't had a problem with nematodes, isn't there some new natural stuff for those little pesky things?

Cala, mine do get frozen to the ground!!!! my poor dr suess has frozen back two winters, and has had about 30 blooms all year!!! and it is huge. several that brugman and i dug up out of his yard have the same problem. how many years have yours ffozen back?

the brug near my canas is the one, the roots were full of knots!! Dee took a cutting of a stalk with buds on it. they say lots of organic matter helps prevent nematodes, but that who was full of organic material. at least it is a good ways from most of my other brugs, which haven't shown the signs this one did. i had no idea it was nematodes til we pulled it up, it's the only thing dee and i could think of.

Arlene,
I have the same problem with the freezing and coming back....less blooms. This year I'm going to cut them back save some cuttings and plant new plants in the spring. ...I will dig up all the old roots in the winter. Since I have a greenhouse I can start new plants in Jan and by March they will be a nice size and ready for planting outside.

Can't you treat the soil for nemetodes?

Here's a link to Gardens Alive http://www.gardensalive.com/pestguide_item.asp?article_id=49

Poppysue, thanks. the affected ones are 3 out near my banana/canna patch. their soil was greatly improved! i don't have them everywhere, thank goodness, at least i don't think i do. maybe the UF aggies can tell me where to get beneficials, but i am not sure if i need to mess with it if i just plant something nematode resistant there. this also answers why a brug out near there didn't do well last year. they don't seem to bother any other plants in that area.

I bought beneficial nematodes from there once to control Japanese beetle grubs. They come in a sponge-like thingy. You soak it in water and than spray the water over the soil. It seemed to help a lot with the beetles. I haven't had them as bad since then. I still get a few but for a couple of years they were awful.

thanks for the info, poppysue!!
Glory, Dee helped me start air layering a brug yesterday. I have a few more i am going to air layer, and a couple i will dig up and put in pots.....kyle's pink and pink floyd! have a few in pretty large pots will overwinter like that. gonna buy frost cloth. will do cuttings of others. praying we don't have such a late hard frost this year,

Ack!!! I have a couple that keep wilting adn that's a sign of nematodes. I'll dig them up this week, don't think they are near cannas.
Mine in the ground have only frozen back two years in a row. I think you're right though, they don't bloom as soon in the spring as the ones wintered inside and then planted out. Didn't realize you had bad freezes!! My plants that froze back are huge, but didn't have as many blooms per stem as those never frozen. Guess I never thought about it too much till you mentioned it.
We use beneficial nematodes to control fungus gnats.They come as a liquid that you mix with water.
Mine in pots, I need to root prune and repot in the spring?

Cala, yes, my dr suess bloomed great first and second year, after second year frost... so disappointing. it seems you would do the pruning in the spring to keep the growth rate down a little over winter, but i am not sure. have you seen frannie and lisa yet?

Yes, they are such sweeties!! Lauren loved Lisa!! She talked their ears off. They are staying in a motel(yes, I offered for them to stay here) and will visit more tomorrow.
Arlene, I guess I should have some brugs ready next spring to take the place of the frosted on ones. I know they bloomed later this year than they did last year, thought it was because of the late spring.

Cala are you saying that the ones I leave in the ground won't do as well next year???? tell me now while I can change my plans

tig, i had 2 my first winter that froze back, they did well the next year. after the second year's freeze, though, they just haven't bloomed as well at all. ditto the grown plants i had gotten from brugman. i'm gonna leave some that were just planted in the ground this year as they will probably be fine next year, but nothing that has been in the ground longer.... am gonna air layer a bunch into tree form.

okay, all of mine went in this year. well take note of them and make sure I start new ones for the next year. thanks:)

This would explain why mine last year had only a few blooms. This year everything that is blooming is new plants.

Hey Arlene,
I was searching the web and I came accross this. It says that these nemetodes have been found in brugmasia growing in Florida http://doacs.state.fl.us/~pi/enpp/nema/m-ayaguensis.html

Poppysue, good work! i found the # today to the local ag extension, they are connected to UF as is the site you linked to. i'm thinking maybe nematodes may be the reason why butterfly bushes only have one year here before looking terrible. i can take a sample in and they will supposedly hook me up with something, i am sure you are right it will be beneficial nematodes of some kind. it looks like the particular kind in this article is new to florida. funny, it was brugmansia sunray.....

this year was enough to take some of my addiction away. i had transplanted quite a few of eric's plants into my yard, and most of them did not bloom much at all. my old faithful dr suess was a disaster.... very few blooms. it bloomed great last year. but it was killed back twice this winter! dee helped me start an air layer on one brug, and i am going to air layer quite a few, to make sure they have nematode free roots, tree forms for next spring. might have to keep them in pots.

Arlene,
This is very interesing and news to me. Please let us know what you find out.

JT, gotta have your imput on this! and our other southern growers.

Nematodes are terrible here.I am going to pull up some of mine that aren't doing well and look at their roots.Our place was once part of a soybean field.The topsoil was pretty well used up but they left us with plenty of the little eelworms.
I'm betting the failure to bloom well after the second year is due to deficiency of some micronutrient that we are not replacing.If there is anyone growing in compost enriched soil are you having the same problem?

JT, i used the osmocote with minors last year. Dee and i bought a bag of osmocote while she was here, and a bag of minors separate. my plants bloomed really well last year compared to this. think i'll get some minors on a couple of nonbloomers tomorrow. interesting, i didn't think about micronutrients. they grow well, just haven't bloomed. it has pretty much been a bummer of a brug year with a few exceptions.

I think we have to import some of tigs soil.....

yeah, that red clay works wonders. lol!!!

I think that red clay is why your the pink queen!