my first brugs

LOL Kell....you are so funny! You always make me laugh! Even today, after 14 hours at work! Have a wonderful day everyone!

:)

Shirley: Thank you! That is very kind and generous!!! As I mentioned, I do have several that seem to be doing pretty well, and I'm thrilled about it!!! I appreciate your help and advice, and that of everyone here! You all are wonderful!!!

They sell whistles at the Dollar Store, will that do? Sorry Can't whistle either.....
Dee

I'm afraid I'll have to buy a whistle, but I'll beg too.....just want more brugs...gotta have more, more, more.
Gretchen if you said something wrong, it blew right over my head my friend.

I've been bitten too....more, more, more...they grow so fast (well teh two that I have have grown really good so far). I am the over-tender of all plants, and have a tendency to overwater, so I put a sign on the brug babies....do not overwater!!!!!! If the soil isn't dry to touch, no water!

Store bought whistles don't work. You will all have to take whistling lessons or I'll never hear you in Iowa. LOL!
Maybe you should just come to the Iowa Roundup and pick up what is there. Would be easier on me, tho more costly for you.

Gee Brugie, wouldn't you just die if I showed up??? LOL

Spacecowboy, I have the same tendency but I think I have finally overcome it most days. I think it is because we hover over the plants wanting to do something to them. So we water.

The ones I have under my lights now get looked at constantly. I have had to really stop myself! Now I go down the line daily, picking them up to see if dry. LOL, hoping to find one that needs some love.

Brugie: I think you started something here :)

Pancha: Thanks! You started a very informative thread!

I do the same thing, only thing is that I want to see one flower now! Such beautiful flower, so little patience. Grow babies grow....I'll even give you the bell and whistle treatment!

Gretchen wrote: “Thanks for your input Dee. So far mine seem to be doing just fine in all the different pots. The ones that are in clay obviously require more frequent watering, but aside from that, they all seem okay. I have a few from Nestor in the 4" pots that have never shown any signs of life (planted on 12/24) and are brown and dead looking. I'll give them a while longer, but they're starting to look ready for the trash pile...In fact, none of those I received from him look anywhere near as good as those from
DG'rs :o)”

Hi everyone. I lurk all the time, I hope you don't mind if I ask for help? I also got one of the eBay lots and I planted mine on 12/28. I just checked them. I pulled up a sizable cutting and did not see ‘nubbies’.  There are teeny tiny white hair looking things at the cut end. I know what the nubbies look like from rooting them in water. The skin is now kind of soft. Think I’m loosing them? Is two weeks long enough for them to root?

The conditions are: Greenhouse, damp soil with good drainage.  Average temperature is between
65 and 75. Unfortunately I just found out I am keeping the soil damp and I should not be? I guess my question is, should I keep trying with these?

You are only out time for trying. Sometimes when they get soft on the bottoms, I will cut them off and start over. Hibiscus, I believe, says that when rooting in water, you should not let the bottom of the cutting touch the bottom of the jar. Maybe that would help.

edited to correct spelling error.

This message was edited Jan 14, 2004 3:04 PM

Thanks Brugie. Well, it was only 14 bucks. I will keep trying. I will wait a bit, let the soil dry out on top and see.

I am determined to experience a brug bloom this year!

Sue, I missed answering the part about two weeks being long enough to root. In the summer, yes, they would be rooted some. In the winter it can take a long time. Don't give up. You may have luck yet. If you have them in soil, don't water them until the soil gets almost dry. Maybe that will help.

Its a rainy, awful day here again... Good day to be in the GH -- here is a picture of my babies -- looking good, don't y'all think??? Gretchen

Beautiful! Good job. Waiting for mine to root.....

Looking great Kaufmann!

Gretchen they really look good. You should have some real beauties blooming this summer and into the fall.....goooood going ......LOL
Dee

Hey, Gretchen come get mine and make them look like that. lol

Sure Sylvia -- I'll be glad to! My only request is a cutting this fall, if I can get them going for you :)

Looking really good!!

I think I'm happy to report nubbies on the stalk of some of the vertical cuttings!..........now to wait and see!

Soil still 'moist' but I'm gonna let the top dry out.

panch, they look good!

Thanks y'all!!! I appreciate all your help and advice. Now if I can just keep them going.......

Just checked in after a short absence and found another brug addict in the making: Pancha. We acknowledge our addiction and we don't want to be cured, do we?

My experience rooting brugs, after experimenting, I have found the best way it to bundle the cuttings together, start them in water for about a week (changing the water to replenish the oxygen. After about a week the "nubbies' appear, which we know are where roots will sprout. I then take this bundle and place them in a pot partly filled with a light potting soil rich in organic matter, then add more organic potting soil around the sides, shake the pot to get some in between the bottom ends, water and thereafter add just enough water to replace moisture evaporating. The soil should be moist but not soggy, as the roots need oxygen provided by the air pocket in the loose soil. When new leaves sprout from the leaf nodes on the cuttings, this would be a good indicator that roots have formed. I grab the bundle, turn the pot upside down and gently extract the bundle. The roots should be evident. If not, stick the bundle back into the container and check again in a week or so. If the roots are visible I shake out the soil and separate the individual rooted cuttings and plant each rooted cutting in its own pot, sprinkle with Osmocote, a slow, time-release fertilizer, water and tend to it as it grows. If the roots on the cuttings should grow such that they're a tangled mass, they separate easily by swishing in a bucket of water.

By the way: for small, short cuttings I use small pots, actually using clear cut-off beverage bottles with holes drilled at the bottom for drainage. This way I can also see the roots developing. For long or thick cuttings I may use a 1 or 2 gallon pot, or also a cut off clear plastic jug.

Here is another photo showing cuttings rooting in containers made from cut-off clear plastic beverage bottles.

In this close up photo se can clearly see the roots. The cuttings are ready for transplanting into individual pots.
Please note that 2 of these containers are actually 6" plastic tumblers. I bought a pack of 100 at my local Smart & Final food warehouse type store. The added feature about these tumblers is that they are tapered, so the rooted cuttings come right out with a gentle tap at the lip of the tumbler turned upside down.

Here we see the rooted cuttings grown in a bundle in a small pot, separated, ready for transplanting in individual pots.

This bundle of cuttings was rooted in an ordinary 4" square pot. By the lush top growth I knew they were well rooted. They extract very easily from the slightly tapered square pot. The roots are very evident. They are ready to be separated

Normally I transplant freshly rooted cuttings into 6" square pots, to grow until fully mature and ready to shift to 1-gallon pots. These cuttings were so well rooted and their top growth so advanced that they went directly into 1-gallon pots.

Rooting cuttings together conserves space, a premium for most of us, as well as effort.
.

Normally I transplant freshly rooted cuttings into 6" square pots, to grow until fully mature and ready to shift to 1-gallon pots. These cuttings were so well rooted and their top growth so advanced that they went directly into 1-gallon pots.

Rooting cuttings together conserves space, a premium for most of us, as well as effort.

Update: the huge cuttings I received on 12/24 that I had pretty much given up for dead are all (but one) beginning to show signs of life. Don't ask me why, but even though they looked awful, I kept hoping and even removed some from the pots and re-cut the scab off a second and third time in hopes I could get them going, and (fingers crossed) they are making it!!! Just thought this might offer a little hope to others -- don't give up too soon :)

Good for you Gretchen. Guess that really does mean to never give up on brugs. They can surprise you.

I cannot stress this enough, watch the amount of water you put on the new cuttings, I have tried several experiments and watering to much is almost a 100% sure loss.
I had 2 pots of Insing.Pink and 2 pots Isabella that were left outside. They were rained on and I watered them as well. I also have 2 of each I potted and kept in the Greenhouse and watered only when they looked a little droopy.
The ones outside that were "Well" watered are gone....and the others are doing great.....
Watering is a key to success or failure in the beginning as far as I am concerned....
These are not the only ones I lost to overwatering before I learned better.....thanks to all the DG's and their experience....
Seems these babies can take less water better than they can take to much.....
Dee

ok now think i know some more i will get with it with the seeds till get cuttings.. have one coming - i think... oh oh i love them. do not know how to put things on but i have shoots...

Here are my cuttings from my wonderful friends at Dave's Garden, as of today. They've grown too tall for the shelves I had them on, so for the time being they're under my mesh top bench.