Was just in the greenhouse and something occured to me. Are sanguineas like poinsettias in that day length is a factor in flower production? And maybe heat bud drop is just environmental not seasonal? I am still having the tiny buds drop. Of course there is one bud stuck to aurora still, but it remains 2-3 mm long, it seems stunted!
I have flourescent lights over cuttings and seeds, the light pollutes the entire greenhouse, for 18 hours a day (longer than a summer day).
Do any of you leave your lights on late too, and still have sangs covered in blooms?
At one point when growing poinsettias as a crop, we had to make sure that even street lights were shaded, or the bracts would not turn red on time.
Another one for the sang people
Dennis, I have often wondered if the Lunar cycle plays any part in the development of the flower flushes since Brugs seem to be night driven as much, if not more so, than daylight driven.
I seemed to find that my major flushes occurred around full moons this season.
What do you feel about this?
Dennis,
I was just wondering a similar thought, although my cuttings are not ready to have buds yet, but... I had left one of my lights on for days. Not even realizing until my husband said to me one night" are you keeping that light on for a reason?".
The plant was getting more light than they need but funny enought the ones that were under that light are growing like mad in comparison to the rest.
So.... is there such a thing as to much light in the growing stage?
Crystal
Someone else with more experience may answer this better, but I read once (aside from sunburns) that the plant can only use so much light per day, the rest is wasted electrical bills. I usually grow seeds under 24 lights, for no good reason, without consequence. Then to 18 hours after a few sets of leaves.
Back to the sangs and lighting, they do Y, just the bud falls out. Where as a poinsettia will not flower with excessive lighting, or grow red bracts either. Maybe my bright idea came from before my coffee set in.
Most people in Europe say that sangs will have a good growing and flowering when temperatures are under 21°C.
Becoming warmer temps the small buds will fall down and growing will stop.
Is there a strong changing in day- and nightlength during a year in homelands from sangs? ( Southamerika ). Like we have here.
Dennis, a very interesting thought. To be honest: Much brugs,also aurea and so are blooming strong and very good in spring and autum. Short days and cooler temps.
We all should watch this.
GL
You have the Preissel book don't you Dennis? In the sang section it refers only to higher greenhouse temps as a reason for buds not developing completely and/or dropping off.
As to your theory on day length - as you know, we've had a lot of cloudy short days lately. All my outdoor sangs are blooming. Of the few indoor ones all but one has blooms. The temps are kept in the 50F range, the timers haven't been set on the big lights so they get turned on when I get to it. Sometimes the lights don't go on until 9am and go off at 3pm. I'll start ramping up the lights at the end of January. I really think the plants need to rest. As nice as it is to see blooms in the winter - summer is when I need them to go to work.
Liz,
My temps are below 20'C at all times, so it really can't be heat. (min max thermometre)
But my lights are on from very early morning to about 11 PM. Although I'm sure I am wrong about day length for flowering, you do turn yours off around three, meaning when it is dark outside, your plants are also dark, giving them a natural winter photoperiod. Even our cloudy days wouldn't affect things because there is always the bright glow from the seedlings lights.
So yours are good, the main difference b/t us is lighting. I fert'd with 15-30-15 twice this fall. I also lost buds when I sprayed with kelthane/avid. But the new growth has much surpassed the chemicals by now.
You sprayed too, with no trouble right? I'm just a bit frusterated because they did so darn good last year, and obviously I'm missing something because not one flower has opened this year. Not even off good ole 'fuzzy small leaved'!!!
I have x flava and sang seedlings sprouting from every direction and I'm thinking that it's useless if they aren't going to do anything.
I'm going skiing this minute, to get out the angst! ARG!!!!!!
I just googled bud drop - nothing on brugs but everything else seems to note fluctuations of temps, ** irregular watering**, mites. Any of those apply?
Dennis, when I had the sangs in the downstairs GH last winter, they didn't bloom a lot. Since I've put them in the plastic house, they're still blooming. It's much cooler. I think it's probably too warm for them if it's 20 C. in the daytime. Is there a place you can put them with less heat?
Cooler?- it's downright cold - mid 30s at night high 40s during the day. I swear that they like it best. Remember that they grow at an altitude naturally of 2000m-3000m on the sides of the Andes. I don't know about you but I've always thought of the Andes as cold. You know where I live Dennis - Mt Seymour is right beside me - 2000m is the snow line today.
Most of them are - getting whipped around by the wind and the cold. You have yours under plastic - mine are out in the open. Some are on the north side so get hit with the Arctic outflows and some are on the southside getting beaten up by the storms coming in off the ocean. Even the light frosts that have landed on them haven't caused the buds or blooms to drop.
Shure all of us are right. Sangs are growing and flowering very different all over the world.
I like the thought from Dennis, please let us watch our sangs next year.
May be Davers can find out some news, working together round the world.
Either short days or temperatures
this is the question for next season.
G
Ludger
Well Ludger, when I read that sangs were prone to the tomato virus in conservatory environments I decided that it was best to leave them outdoors. Where I live it doesn't get cold enough to kill them. On the other hand - growing tomatos outside here is risky business.
Thanks for all of your comments. Skiing was so good.
My temps, just checked both thermometers, one in coldest spot, one in hottest spot:
Coldest Min 5'C Max 16'C
Warmest Min 6'C Max 16'C
I have always figured this was perfect, and last year with the same temp, I had much success.
Mites- have had none since mid- September, and even then, only very minor on sangs, it was my sauv/aureas that had them seriously.
On the virus subject, my guess is if you are a smoker, to not smoke near them plus wash your hands after smoking, as tobacco mosaic virus transfers to tomatoes and eggplant, so I'm sure also Brugmansia.
One other thing, when I was hiking in the Andes, in their autumn, it was cold and there was snow on mountain tops. It snowed a little, but didn't stick to the ground. I saw a plant (the one I just gave you Jeanne) called Verbasina turbescens aka 'crown beard'(maybe wrong spelling I can't find it in a book) and it was growing all over. So I left mine outdoors the next year, and it froze to death. The 2000-3000m line is quite low down the mountains, since I went up to 4950m or something CRAZY.
Dennis, maybe your sangs just don't want to bloom so much this year. Brugs are finnicking plants, as you know, maybe they just want a rest. Your temperatures sound fine.
I'm ignoring mine in the plastic house, haven't fed them, water them only once in a while and they keep blooming.
Put them on IGNORE for a while and maybe they'll behave better.
Really Jeanne, I agree! I was just outside in my war zone looking yard that has been soaked beyond satuation, and battered and bruised by such amazing winds of up to 60 miles an hour and even hailed on and my huge sang has flowers........battered flowers that have brown dots on them from the incredible moisture but a few flowers!! It also has fallen over on itself again from the weight of the rain. It never stands back up, the limbs just make a u turn and the new growth starts growing up again and just covers it in a even bigger mound. As soon as all danger of a hard freeze is over that tree is going to be cut in half if not more.
I will try to neglect them. Do you know how painful this will be LOL???
LOL - when you start to have withdrawal pains Dennis we're here for you - we make a great support group. We could probably come up with 12 steps for you.