OK, so I've been out of touch for a while. I have over 200 Call ducks here that I hatched out mostly from my own breeders (that's not counting the ones I've sold!) and my husband has hatched a bunch of peachicks (baby peafowl) and I haven't had a minute to myself till now. Even now I'm waiting on 5 little ducks that are pipping, and another 5 that should soon, in the incubator. Whew!
I had some Brug cuttings last Fall and Winter that I took just before it froze here and I offered them, then life intervened and I didn't send them all out. I had several large cuttings (2 to 4 feet) that stayed in a 5 gallon bucket all winter that rooted out - I sent them to a local friend's house to be planted in the ground.
This year the Brugs that have been in the ground 1 to 3 years are up and growing fast. We have been using Miracle Gro every other week and upped it to every week, starting the last couple of weeks. I have used Miracid twice, and used Osmocote very early in the season around every plant that was in the ground at that time. I used some Ironite in granular form early in the year, didn't know about the arsenic, etc. I read about here.
Most of the older plants have multiple stems from the ground and I am considering cutting some of them now and leaving one or two each. Some of the stems have already made the 'y', obviously I'll be leaving those intact.
So, I'll have some rooted cuttings available in September - whenever the weather cools again and I'm able to, I will ship some out. Most of them will not have names. I do have some for sure 'Dr. Seuss' and some that folks guessed were 'Jean Pasco' and 'Insignis Pink'. I have 2 different pinks (I think) and a white that are unidentified.
In addition to the Brugs that were in the ground we planted several new ones this year. Some I bought on eBay, some were given to me and some were cuttings from a plant we bought in Houston (the flower color is gold). We planted one Brug in front of each bird pen, except where it would hamper our free movement in and out of the pens. In all we have 15 Brugs in front of the bird pens and 17 planted throughout the yard with 3 waiting to go in the ground. Some are duplicates. I should be able to take cuttings from all of them this Fall.
The named Brugs we have are:
Versicolor Alba
Sauveolens Yellow Gold
Candida Pink
Insignis Isabella
Insignis Pink (cutting obtained from reliable source)
Dr. Seuss (ditto)
A fairly pedestrian list, I know, but good for someone starting out I think.
I should have photos of blooms for identification fairly soon. We have several plants that have done the 'y' and are budding up quite nicely. In previous years we have had to wait until October for blooms and then they'd get frosted, thank goodness for Miracle Gro!
Next year we will be set up to water the flower garden using recycled duck water from the old satellite dish we've used as a duck pool. I suppose there's an answer to one of my questions (about organic fertilizers)!
Oh Yeah, I almost forgot - apparently Guinea Pigs are not sensitive to whatever toxins are in Brugs, my pair of Guinea Pigs have been happily munching the leaves closest to their enclosure with no ill effects (so far). We'll see what happens if and when they reproduce.
I have some questions and here they are:
Can I apply Miracle Gro more often than once a week?
Has anyone come up with a good, effective method of using organic fertilizers on Brugs in the ground?
How much does sun/shade affect the development of blossoms?
Maggi
http://vonrussellfarm.crosswinds.net/
Catching up, fertilizer and sun/shade
Welcome back Maggidew. Sounds like you have been very busy. Sorry I can't help with your questions, though I imagine it would be fine to use MG twice a week.
I have only read that sometimes brugs in full sun have more washed out colors in their blooms then tose in moe shade.
Are you using your bird manure on your plants?
Peafowl sure are pretty. Are they the same as peacocks?
Maggiedew,What kind of call ducks do you raise?
I love those little guys!
I have an East Indie with a crest that I breed to a blue swede,got 7 babies....no crests though.......
One of my peacocks just hatched 4 babies and I have one who is setting on eggs in the GH.......Why she picked the GH I have no clue...LOL
Kell, I believe peacocks are the men, peahens are the ladies and together they are called peafowl
Hey Carena! Trust another Oregonian to get it right! I guess I'm a Texican now, although my heart will always be with my home state. Anyway, you got it - peacocks and peahens produce peachicks and they are all called peafowl.
Kell, I haven't used any bird rakings around the plants directly. My husband (Ken) the 'compost king' uses leaves under the outdoor bird brooders to catch the mess and then rakes it and dumps it all in his compost piles. Years and years ago my Mom got a book called 'Peacock Manure and Marigolds', I remember reading it (a long time ago in my teens) and wish I had a copy now.
Crestedchik, you and I need to talk ducks! I started the year with about 40 breeder Calls (no Crested Calls) and am now overrun. We seemed to hatch way more ducks than I thought possible. I bought some eggs on Eggbid and hatched a few new (to me) colors. Check out our web site or go to our Club Photo Call ducks album - the album owner name is vonrus@juno.com. That's the farm email account, mine is maggidew@juno.com. I'll post some more photos later in the year when I decide what to keep.
In the meantime, I'm using the duckie wading pools to water some of the plants in the ground. I bought a bunch of the green turtle and yellow sunflower pools and move them from spot to spot - the water has to be changed every day, so the plants might as well benefit from it. The problem is it washes away all the mulch when I dump the pools.
I guess my concern about Miracle Gro is the buildup of salts in the soil. We are going into the hot dry summer and I don't want to be creating a big problem by applying MG too often with no rainfall to dilute it out. I'd still like to figure out a good organic program for all the plants, but especially the Brugs.
I get great reults with foliar feeding MG, Maggiedew and that way there will be no salt build up in the soil.
I am going to check out your pics also, I just love seeing how much fun others have doing things that are so different than my life. I always wanted some funny looking chicks to raise.
Thanks Carena, I had to say to myself DUH KELL!!!