Please share what you have learned............

I bet if alot here have not had a brugling garden yet, they will next summer. Any helpful hints of the dos and don't when planting and growing your seedlings out?

Very good question. Now, I will sit back and wait for answers. I'm still having problems with starting seeds, and cuttings in pot/plastic. Think I might be getting better, keeping the cuttings a little drier, still have 3 alive after a month.

This was my first "brug season" and I'm hooked. There is so much information here, and everyone is so helpful. I have cuttings and seedlings growing now in a spare room that has become my nursery.

One thing I learned is "the bigger the pot, the bigger the plant" and "feed, feed, feed" and lots of water.

I've had best success with seed germination when I soak, peel, then place in damp vermiculite in a cup placed in a plastic baggie or topped with another clear cup. Sorry I don't have a photo but can send one later this evening.

I plant my seeds in seed starting mix, almost like vermiculite. First I soak for 48 hrs./peel, then plant, with plastic over pot. Try to keep room temps. 73 or thereabouts. What am I doing wrong? Tried to keep soil drier, warmer, etc.

For seeds, I have peeled and not peeled. I have found sometimes the cork will get mold so I think I'll peel from now on. I have never soaked. I have also found that dryer is better. I also use a 5-10% peroxide to water-keeps yucky stuff from growing on both seeds and cuttings. From here on out, I will be mixing vermiculite with any potting mix for indoor use. All the potting mixes I have tried, hold way too much water. I'll have to think some more.

Hibiscus,

This is my second year for Brugs. I was very lucky mine came back from the ground this past spring. I did not want to take any chances on the Brugs being lost to freeze, so I took cuttings & rooted in water. Could not believe how easy they rooted, just make sure to keep the water changed.

Hope this will get you started with cuttings. If I can root them you can.

Honeybee

Thanks. I root cuttings in water under lights, no problem. Was told easy way to get lots rooted with no trouble was Kell's way of dirt/plastic over, blowing air inside then fastening. Have tried this and might be getting it better, but still not getting seeds started(only about 20%), not very good odds.

Are the seeds rotting or not taking water or what would you say? I have never soaked them. I was part of one of Susie's seed starting trials. I did do the bleach soak. I had very good germination even with some of the harder ones. I had the best luck starting seeds outside, but still good germination indoors, about 65 degrees, under lights.

The seeds start the little white shoot/root? I plant them in soil. Most are not there after a couple weeks of waiting to see them come out of dirt. I have used hydrogen peroxide/water and alcohol/water to soak some seeds in, just in case there are worm eggs in seeds. Where are they disappearing to? Some of the other hybrid brug seeds I have started, almost all of them came up. I use new clean seed starting mix, or vermiculite. I have even sprinkled powdered Sevin in the soil, in case it is a bug.

Dumb question maybe, but are you using a sterile container each time? Could you be keeping them too wet? I have not done any presprouting with them. I just toss several into one pot then transplant them out when they are big enough to handle.

My last ones were almost too dry. I dug in the dirt yesterday, found one seed, so put it back, but don't expect much from it. Thanks to all who tried to help, maybe I should just stick to rooting cuttings in water, almost 100%

Good then you can help me! LOL When I try to root cuttings they turn to mush. Mine only work in soil and occasionally that fails. Why?

I use a greenhouse tray and clear cover, like the ones jiffy peat pellets come in. Fill it with grow mix, make little rows, just lay the seed on or barely tucked in the soil, cover with vermiculite, water in, cover, place in warm light area. Uncover or vent when you see seeds pop up.

Tracey: I like the part about....when you see seeds pop up. I am waiting and waiting.

I have the big plastic greenhouse/cover, but use it only when I use my heat mat. I have tried seeds this way also, with heat mat.

When starting cuttings in water, use clear glass, put up under florescent light, change warm water almost everyday. Usually takes about 2 wks. for the roots to be formed. Have planted as soon as they have lots of white nubbies, but they do better when roots are formed.

After many failures of difficult cutting, I have found that rooting in vermiculite in small plug inserts give the best results. In other words, very little vermiculite around the cutting. Then the over-watering isn't a problem. (I have auto sprinklers in gh so that may make a difference.)Have rooted Culebra, Pink Beauty and Butterfly with this procedure with good success.

Gloria, they're not coming up after you pre-sprout them? Are you planting them too deep? I just barely cover with soil. Pre-sprouted seeds should come up in just a few days.

Do you have gnats flying around? I think they'll go after the seeds after they're planted. I found if I keep the seed pot enclosed in a zip-loc bag until they start coming up .... the gnats don't have a chance to get at them.

For special seeds I do Calla's bleach soak method and germinate them in paper towels. There's a fungus that will cause the seeds to rot... the bleach kills it.

Kell, your question is a challenge to answer succintly but I will try. I started my 'Brug Mania' in February of this year with six cuttings from Glory and some seeds from Farmgirl21. I soon found how easy it was to start the seeds and root the cuttings and I was a happy camper, adding to my assortment whenever I could, mostly with other seeds. I labored through the learning experience of too much water or too little. I read this forum and other forums on other sites but realized that learning came from doing, not reading. I cannot learn to play the piano by reading books on piano playing - so I had to swallow my pride and be willing to try something and make my mistakes and learn from them. My mistakes were in the area of improper watering, insufficient fertilization, lack of attention to an invasion of spidermites. Another mistake was my hesitancy in asking for assistance, just hoping someone else would ask the question and I would get the answer I needed. Wasted a lot of time that way. I was unprepared for the wind storms that tore the heads off several of the brug trees and learned how to put in proper and adequate supports for the short as well as the tall brugs. I have learned that the compassionate support of the brug nuts crosses all boundaries, national, ethnic, religious, providing wisdom and encouragement as well as seeds or cuttings for fellow brug addicts, cooperating with God to make the world more beautiful, a brug at a time. Thanks to all who gave me the encouragement, example and inspiration.

Padre [Still learning and enjoying each day playing in my garden.]

Bless you Padre, we are all trying to live like that.

Sue: No, just barely cover the seeds. No gnats. Thinking it might be something in the soil, dug in a little Sevin powder. Sure haven't figured it out yet, where my seeds disappear to? Won't give up, "practice makes perfect".

Honeybee, do you want some more varieties? We are neighbors, and I will be more than happy to share with you. Glory and Cala and Tracey has really kept me with many different kinds and I will be cutting back sometimes in the later fall.

May sound weird, but I have always baked my soil... seems to work ok so far, things are growing anyway lol. I have done this for seeds, and cuttings both. Before I pot or plant, I bake the soil in some of the throw away cake pans, @ 200 degrees for about 2 hours. I dont know if this has anything to do with the success, or if Im lucky, that everything seems to be growing great. I dont even know if I need to worry about "sterilizing" the dirt that I purchase, but with this being my 1st go at brugs, I didnt want to take any chances.

I think I learned this year that I was not fertilizing enough. When I asked about fertilizer, I was told manure and bone meal at first, then a creative mix of osmocote, Peter's, commercial fertilizer, etc. But mostly a LOT. I had plenty of growth and more blooms than last year, but still nothing like the hundreds I sometimes see on the photos here.
As for rooting, I didn't change the water daily and after the roots just started as little bumps, I didn't pot them right away so some of them rotted. I am going to cover the pots with platic bag "caps" and pray they will survive. As for the one Isabella at my house and one at a historic mansion I've been growing, well, I'm gonna just cut them down and mulch them heavily and pray. Of course, I took cuttings from them, too...

Do brug seeds need to be stratified like other seeds? I haven't learned the answer to that one yet...

I do not use water Woodspirit much for mine rot also. I wonder if it because of all the stuff they add to water these days. I know you can't use the water right out of the tap anymore for fish, for it will kill them in California. Makes you think twice about drinking it! LOL

Morph, I have only heard of planting them whole after soaking them for a day or so in water or peeling off the entire outside corky layer before you plant or lay in a wet paper towel and then plastic bag to germinate.

I have well-water here, the same type of mountain spring water that is used to bottle and sell. I think I just left them in there too long. I went back to work full-time like a fool, grrrrrrrrr. I spend all my time playing catch-up with my gardening and historical interests. But then, that's the nature of gardening, isn't it?

What I've learned is that starting seeds or cuttings is not easy!!! I cut down 4 of my brugs that I had brought in the house a couple of weeks ago - got 80 cuttings. I have lost about 40 of them that just turned to mush - got all soft and spongy at the tops. The only ones that look good are the "log" cuttings I've done - the're on heat mats under grow lights and humidity domes. I did my tip cuttings and put plastic bags over them after I blew them up. I'm wondering if you have to do this when they don't have leaves. I check them every morning and find I've lost another and another.

When I take cuttings, I strip all the leaves off of them, daturalady. The cuttings from the more woody parts of the brug are put into moist soil. Green wood cuttings will root in the summer for me this way, but right now I'm putting the green wood into water until they get the white nubbies and then into soil. Tip cuttings, I generally remove all the leaves except the growth point. This is just how I do it and we all do things differently. What works for one won't work for another.

I have great luck with plastic bags even now in fall but you must make sure the soil is not soggy and the bag is well drained but with moisture on the side walls. Did I send you exactly how I do it Daturelady? I must have 50 of them in my dining room just sitting there being ignored.

I do my leaves like Brugie does hers though maybe not so severely.

Make sure you do not water yours until dry. New cuttings esp green ones rot easily esp if you overwater them. If my top gets soft, I cut it all off immediately and put rooting hormone on the fresh cut. I read that it has antifungal ingredients. It has worked for me the couple of times I have used it.

Good luck in finding a good way for you!

Kell - yes you did send me the instructions. My problem seems to be with the tiny cuttings from the very ends of the branches. I have repotted the bigger sections into soil - not watered in at least 4 days - barely watered in the first place and again it was only the small tip cuttings that are smaller than a pencil in diameter I'm losing. I guess I need to learn patience and to just consider this whole cutting thingy an experiment. First year I'm doing this. Not like I can't get more brugs next year.

I've learned not to root in water. I have great luck with the cuttigns wrapped in a overlydamp paper towel then put in a baggie. Then I put the baggie and contents in a warm area.

This thread is just great!!! Since I am new to brugs I am soaking up all this information! Thanks to everyone for sharing and Kell, thanks for starting this!

Brinda :)

Thanks, Kell, for the seed info. I've not had too many problems with starting the cuttings in water as long as I change it frequently. On the cuttings I make, I do remove all leaves & have just a short fat stick. Some good ideas on this thread to try! Thanks for starting it, Kell.

I finally had time to plant seeds. This is what I do. I peel, then give them a 10% bleach bath, barely tuck them in the soil, cover them with vermiculite, water them in, put the top on, and forget them for a while.

Planting seeds already, Tracey? Those look as neat as can be.

I am on a mission to have blooms by the first of May so I can be ready for the trip to Biloxi! This way if they are blooming by then if I like them, I can have them rooted, and ready for a group evaluation.

OMG - first of May? If anyone can do it... you can!

Tracey: Please tell me how you water them in? Vermiculite floats when you water them. Do you not soak your seeds? I have been, for 24-48 hours, then just barely cover. I'm going to get this right, at least I hope so.......

A very soft sprinkle, I use a head similar to those on the end of a watering wand, and only about half way open the valve. I water the flats first, plant seeds, cover with vermiculite, and then when I get done all I have to do is sprinkle them in lightly. No floaters!
Forgot to answer, I don't soak, some people do though, I just let them sit in the bleach solution about a minute.

This message was edited Oct 21, 2003 9:59 PM

Would someone be able to point me to the thread about the bleach solution? I'd like to try that :) Thx...

Well if Kell comes along she will know right where it is, but basically it is. 10 parts water to one part bleach, peel and then soak for about a minute, then if you want to, you can wrap them in a wet papertowel, place them in a small zip-lock baggie, write the cross on the baggie,set them in the window, or somewhere they will stay warm, they germinate in a couple of days this way, then just place on top of the soil and cover very lightly.

This message was edited Oct 22, 2003 12:06 AM

Thanks Tracey and everyone. Will be starting brug seeds shortly, this is a lot of what I needed to know. Still think I might be keeping them too wet and seeds are rotting, that's why they disappear. Wish me luck!