Alfalfa pellets works wonders!!!

etexbill, I'm in your zone, 8a, and I have planted them in the ground and I leave them through the winter. I do mulch HEAVILY with cypress mulch. You might want to take a cutting before frost, just in case...good luck!!!!!!!

Hi MVR, really getting so much help from your posts:) I started using the AP tea on the roses this spring and they went bonkers! The formula I used was from Pennsula Roses and only uses 16 cups of AP to 20 gal. trash can, also includes epson salts & is pretty watery except when you get to bottom of the can. Having no imagination;) I never thought of putting on brugs, etc.
Also my AP didn't have molasses listed, so just used some black strap from the grocery, per Jerry Baker.
Here's the link to the Take your roses to tea if anyone's interested:http://www.nurserysite.com/clubs/peninsular/tea.html
Kathy

http://www.nurserysite.com/clubs/peninsular/tea.html
Sorry, still figuring out how to post links:)
This should work, I hope!
Kathy

My tea didn't smell bad at all! Of course, like I said I used 1 cup pellets to 5 gal bucket, then used it all up. Does this sound like a good ratio, or is it much too weak? I then ladled 1-2 cups per brug and watered in. The remaining mush was mixed into 6 brugs, I'll continue to do 6 per time and see what happens.

MVR, like Linda said, I too like a more natural approach, so please don't stop!

Thanks again!
Vi

This message was edited Jun 9, 2004 1:17 AM

This message was edited Jun 9, 2004 1:18 AM

CC...no question is too dumb...probably just don't have a photo that you are asking for! Ask away....

This message was edited Jun 10, 2004 6:32 PM

This message was edited Jun 10, 2004 11:49 PM

kwells... The post on the iris forum was to inform about using alfalfa tea on iris. It'a also good for hostas, roses, and probably everything else in the garden.

This thread was started by MaVieRose about her personal experiments with alfalfa on her brugs.

This message was edited Jun 10, 2004 6:29 PM

kwells... no apologies needed! The Iris experiments were done by others, not someone of our own here (I just copied it for the Iris Forum), and you are right, they just give more proof of what MaVie is doing.

I don't watch this forum so your name was not familiar. A belated Welcome to DG!

ok - got a question. How often do you water using the AP? Once a week? once a month? every watering?? Do you need to add fertilizer to the mix too or just use AP/water? The first batch I made, I used way too many AP and did end up with a slurry looking mixture that I poured on the plants. I made several more, but didn't let them sit for long until pouring it on the plants. Is it ok to use it quickly? Or do I need to let it sit overnight (impatient here!) I'm expecting miracles!!!!

I defer to MaVie since this is her thread.

However for myself, I use the AP tea 2-3X a week on my brugs and tomatoes in pots. Usually about 2 cups each. I also water 1X a week with Maxicrop, and 1X a week with fish emulsion, about 1-2 cupa each.

no problem here. the more info is far more helpful to us all. the idea of creating thread is to help one another. i thought i have covered all the grounds, apparently not?

in my experiment, i use 1 cup of the AP concoction once a week and water thoroughly after each application. i water everyday cuz of the strong winds here are so bad! i water each day cuz all my plants are located in blazing sun all day. watering each day, give the plants extra humidity that the winds and sun robs the plants of. don't forget too that in my area, i am about 4,000' above sea level.

nothing in my experiment is written in stone. do the best u can under the circumstances. we are all in different zones and the atmospheric pressures are all different, and our planting are deeply affected by these factors, not to mention the soil we plant them in. most of my plants are grown in the ground, a few in pots.

the only fertilizer i use is 16/16/16 and the AP concoction, which i indicated in previous posting on this thread. i do not use anything else to avoid stressing the plant. i try to keep fertilizing simple and the economical way. each of us have our own way of dealing with plants. do as u feel and apply what u think ur plants need.

often times, we read too fast to get to the bottom, missing a few details along the way. it is true in my case sometimes... the reason why i often times catch myself to be missing something. when i feel there are vital points i missed, what i do is cut and paste the info i need in windows... that way i can pick up important notes i missed.

u can mix and delute the AP to meet ur own need/s, if u do not see any improvement in ur observation. add more AP to ur previous mixture, if need be. as i have said, nothing is written in stone. observe, observe, observe what reaction u get from ur plant/s. make those plants happy and u will be properly rewarded with their lovely growth and fragrant flowers =).

Gosh, MaVie, I just noticed that you are in my zone, 8a. That makes me wonder what they base the zones on, temp. rainfall, or what????

Sherry... i did not know the answer so i have to look it up http://www.growinglifestyle.com/h/garden/climate/ , http://www.helpfulgardener.com/tips/03/zones.html

we maybe in the same zone but i do deal with snow and winter temp of 10ºF, summer temp of 110-115ºF. the winds are always blastering here, often times dirt devils and sand storms. the area where i am is surrounded with mountains ---> i feel blocks of the rain and smog that affects neighboring cities. we are lucky if we get any rainfall in this area at all! seems like we have sunshine 360 days a year.

i have to take my plants indoor, or keep them in the open patio during winter time since i do not have a greenhouse. some brugs i leave on the ground sometime make it, sometimes don't. it is a difficult decision sometimes since space is so limited. if i have to leave a brug in the ground, i do take cuttings from the flowering region and start from scratch to be assured in case the mother plant never make it. some i share and give away and share with friends.

MaVieRose, my friend emailed me today, she is very pleased with the way her plants are doing. She has noticed a improvement already and it's only been a couple of days since she used her AP mush on her plants. She said she also put this on some foxglove plants she had in the garden that were not doing so good, she said the ones she used AP on are looking a lot better, she has now put it on all her plants. So I went out and bought some today. Will be mixing up a batch in the morning. Thanks for sharing this wonderful information. Cathy

The USDA zones are based on the cold temps, how many days you have below freezing weather, etc., they also have heat zones, and the most accurate in my opinion are the Sunset Zones, which takes into account the heat AND cold.

MaryinLa, where would I look for the Sunset Zones???? Thanks!!!

Oh me me! I know! I 'googled' Sunset Zones and wha la!
http://www.ucfpl.ucop.edu/491/Garden/vegzones.htm

WOW!!! This is the best brug thread ever. I can't wait to try the AP concoction. I noticed many of you had problems with it stinking if allowed to stew. There is a super simple fix for that and it allows you to let the mix sit for days on end. The best part of it all is your increasing the numbers of beneficial bacteria by the millions. Take a aquarium air pump and airstone and let it bubble away as long as you wish. You can add more molassis to help feed the bacteria and help it multiply too. The stink you guys speak of is from anerobic bacteria growing, that makes everything smell stagnant. By adding air to the mixture, you are feeding the aerobic bacteria(thats the good stuff we all want and need in our soil) and helping it multiply bigtime. By adding more molassis, your just feeding and helping it all out more.
I've made a very similar concoction except I was using fresh compost in panyhose rather than alphalpha pellets. You have to add molassis to the compost tea for the bacteria that is already present in the ap. I can't wait to try this method!!!

This has been a very odd year gardening wise for us, everything is ahead of schedule. My brugs I have potted are doing so much better than the brugs in the ground sadly. I had a big pest problem too, something was eating away at the leaves bigtime. My wife just happened to be mulching our flower beds again for the 1st time this year. We were so amazed by the results of using cypress mulch around the base of the brugs!!! The leaves didn't have any new holes eaten in them at all! They also began to turn darker green but I also fertilized a little so that maybe why they greened up. We've always used cedar/cypress combo or just cypress mulch to help control the flying pests like mosquito's etc. that picked on us!LOLOL I had no idea what it was doing for the plants! This is my first year with brugs and I'm so happy you folks turned me onto them. The brugs are teaching me a lot about gardening in return with there huge green leaves. They tell me if I'm over watering, if I have pests and on and on.
Sadly we leave for vacation this weekend and I'll be missing out on tons more blooms just like I missed over our week long Memorial day weekend. They showed me how much over watering I was doing when I automated the sprinklers with timers. They started getting pale and My CG went from 6 blooms to none. They all still have tons of buds though!
Here is a pic of Charles Grimaldi on the deck.

Well I just showed my wife this thread, I'm told I'm buying AP 1st thing in the morning. I wanted to let it "stew" for a few days but we leave for Fla. early Saturday morning. Like I didn't have enough to do already before we leave! I guess I'll have no choice but to leave the mush on top of the mulch and let the sprinklers water it in more. I'll pour all the liquid in there and that should be a good start. This should help my Golden Lady and Frosty pink out a bunch. I came home to their 1st blooms and well...it was a little sad. The GL was a double bloom and almost white. The FP was pink but a pale pink. The CG was the only pretty 1 of the bunch but I know I can make it's flowers much more brilliant. I have to post my 1st D. Tatula blooms too, I've never seen dats soo tiny!

D. Metal are the only new 1's blooming. My old/boring D. Inoxia are huge for this time of year and its blooms are "normal" sized meaning they're the same size as the mature 1's last year. Around 5-6 inches across. The D. Metal flowers are maybe 2 inches. Do you guys know if these lil guys will grow as big as the D. Inoxia or will I just get bunches of tiny flowers? The plants themselves are 1/2 the size of the D. Inoxia, I'm hoping that is the reason for the small flowers. But the Inoxia never blooms when its as small as the D. Metal, that is what makes me wonder about the size difference.

Darnit! I did it again.
I apologize for hijacking this thread folks, I got carried away with my own stuff again. I'd move it all right now if I wasn't so tired and short on time. I'll check back tomorrow, if you all think I need to edit and remove my stuff, I will with no hard feelings at all. Once again, I'm sorry for the interuption of this incredibe thread.
Thanks and goodnight. Jeff

Jeff, that is a very healthy happy looking CG on your deck. I would not have recognized D tatula as being a datura, of course I know practically nothing about daturas. I did buy some seed from Hudson and Root very kindly sent me some datura seeds. The Metel ones from Hudson and the ones from Root are planted out in my garden but still a long way from blooming.

Hope you have a great vacation. How do your plants get watered when you are away. That is my problem here if I want to be gone more than a day. Donna

I have one thing to add about the AP concoction that I found out the hard way this past week. Don't make more than you need! :O I have a bucket full of fermenting alfalfa that is so RANK I can barely walk by it....much less bring myself to dump it out anywhere. eeewwwy. So- the moral of the story is - follow Ma vie's recipe and measurements and dont let it sit for 2 weeks with a cover on it. lol

Jeff your CG looks great! And the flower pictures are great too- I for one never mind seeing more pictures. :)

A more detailed Sunset zone info and map can be found here

http://www.homestore.com/homegarden/gardening/landscaping/zones/climate/index.asp?poe=homestore

Was just browsing this morning and came upon this thread. Great info! I will try AP on my hydrangeas. I have 3 brugs. One was from last year (planted in ground), but I lost a variegated leaf that didn't come back. Now I have added two more but they really aren't doing anything. Maybe this will perk all 3 of the brugs up. I think they are so beautiful but just don't know anything about growing them. Should I be growing these in pots instead of in the ground? Now I know I should have brought a cutting of the variegated inside for the winter. Oh well, live and learn and we can all learn. MaVie thank you for sharing. Now, I have to make a trip to town and hope one of the two feed stores has the A pellets with molasses. Thanks again. Jenny

Jenny, WECOME! Sorry about your variegated brug. I find in the ground they get a lot bigger. Do you have a place to overwinter them? You can always plant it in the ground in a pot with big holes. Check out Monika's thread.
http://davesgarden.com/t/200213/

If I had the room, I would grow all mine in the ground. Have you fertilized regualrly? Brugs love to be fed. And I also foliar feed esp when they are small.
Good luck!

Kell, I am just learning about Brugs and I love them. No, I haven't fertilized as much as I think everyone else does but I am going to get better. I intend to use the alfalfa pellet mixture that MaVieRose told about on one thread. We have cows and I have plenty of that stuff, but you have to let it sit one year so it won't burn your plants. I do have osmocote on them and they are mulched with leaf compost and pine straw. They are growing. I also have two small ones (cuttings that I traded for) which I have put in big pots and am going to try that method. I will probably just take cuttings after our first frost so for sure I won't lose them completely. The variegated one was the only one that I bought (from PlantsDirect) about a year and a half or more ago. I don't know what happened to her. She isn't on DG anymore. Do brugs like a lot of sun or just dappled sun? I just have got to get more info on growing these gorgeous plants. Thanks, Jenny

Kell - Is it the variegated Brug that is stunted the most in a pot? I have one that is very healthy and pretty, but not over 1' tall. The others (with solid colored foliage) I started from cuttings a friend kindly shared last fall, are about 4' tall, gorgeous!

Peter

This message was edited Jun 10, 2004 4:24 PM

Jenny, sounds like you are doing all the right things. I may have heard that pine is too acid for them. Maybe someone will come along and tell us. If you search under the brug forum and under the word pine you may find the discussion.

I find that time released osmocote does not last very long so if you are depending on that for 4 to 6 months, forget about it! LOL. I use it but then make believe I didn't and use everything else also. In the ground I toss HD cheap fertilizer all around, 20-20-20, and even though the phosphorus is high they seem to thrive. Though I probably would get better blooming if I followed Monika's advice.

Peter, I had not heard that a variegated brug gets stunted in a pot. But maybe I have had more slippage. Is it Snowbanks? That can slow down I hear in a pot or in the ground. Maya for me grows too fast in a pot or in the ground. Brugmansia suaveolens variegata is a small variegated. It is small even in the ground but it does bush out.

Also if it is rootbound brugs tend to stop growing. They can stay in a 4 inch pot for 2 years, look like [deleted], but then you repot them and they are off and growing again. Fertilize Peter and apply some to the leaves also thru a hand spray bottle.

Peter, I was just reading another thread by Pancha about his new P & C. Then I remembered Brugie telling me that can be a picky grower. I have never had it so I have had no experience with it. Do you know which variegated it is?

Kell thank you for all the advice. I'll replace the pine mulch with something else. What is a good mulch for brugs? My water is very alkaline so I use a lot of pine compost/mulch since I have quite a few azaleas and hydrangeas. I'm going out this evening and throw out handfuls of the cheap fertilizer all around my brugs. I'll keep watching and reading these threads about brugs and I'm bound to find out everything there is to know. I have to be careful about catching this "virus" that was mentioned in another thread. I can feel it coming on. Jenny

My bush bean seedlings have doubled in size in 3 days. Most of my other seedlings have grown too - overnight! They had all stunted from the odd weather we have had this last couple of weeks. I can't wait to see what happens with the rest of my garden, especially the flowers! I found a horse feed called "Trotter" that was reasonable in price (50lbs @ $7) so this is a keeper. More sucess stories yet?

art n garden and all. If you have a good source for oxygenating you AP mix, it shouldn't ever get stagnant IMO. I haven't used this method on AP but its all the same principle. You can also add more molassis if you let it stew with a big airstone bubbling. That will increase the beneficial bacteria by the millions. "Paul the Garden Guy" had a lady on his show using a 55 gal. barrel and compost/cow manuer instead of AP. She had this neat aeration "gizmo" that hung on the side of the barrel. I wished I could find 1.
Thanks for the compliments on Grimaldi, it now has atleast 6-8 buds with their curly tips dangling and waiting for just 1 sunny day to explode. I know it will happen Saturday when I'm on the road along with so many Passiflora's, Dat'setc....the list is too long and painful to go into.

I automated all my flower beds with those mini sprinkler and drip systems I run on timers. I started doing this around 4-5 years ago. I was laid up from surgery and my wife was bored with the garden for a few days. Well if you skip 1/2 of a day watering here...lets just say itsa horrid site and should be punishable by law!!!LOL That little 2-3 day laziness cost me a few hundred $'s in plants and just ruined the looks of everything!!!I still get a little angry talking about that 1, she had a few dumb little hanging baskets dye and turned on the rest of the garden. GRRRRR! So now I have buried 1/2inch black poly tubing through every garden and where ever along that line you just poke a hole and stick in a dripper or sprinkler. They have so many different models out now its unreal. I even have 1 on the deck for vacations. Lowe's, home Depot and similar places carry them and I just can't say enough good stuff about them. If you have as many beds full of plants as we do, you'll need better timers that can turn on twice daily for whatever duration you choose and that keeps up with the different sprinkler/mister and drippers installed. In August, I would have to hand water twice daily and each time takes over 2.5 hours not to mention the 100+ F temps out. I LOVE THEM and now the wife knows she can't live without them either. My patio kit simply screws on to a hose end and I run 1/4inch lines to each pot with misters that are adjustable from 0 to 10 gallons per hour. Its the best thing since sliced bread IMO as long as you take the time to make sure nobody is getting to much or too little water. I didn't have time to dial it in before our last trip and ended up leaching all the nutrients out of many nice patio plants(Charles Grimaldi included! He's much more pale green right now than usual but rebounding nicely.) by over watering so much. I was shocked since I took all the saucer's from underneath all the pots and wa only running the water for 5 minutes per day!!! It must have rained MUCH MORE than my nieghbor told us(she was responsible for turning off all the water when it rained). I'll be installing rain sensor's to automate that as soon as I get home. The only downside is my water spigots on the side of the house look similar to an octopus!LOL. Try to picture 5 different hoses and 3 timer's to 1 spigot!LOL Just making that look decent took a year. My buddy just gave me a 6 station timer for a regular undergruound system so I can remove the other timers and install small selenoids underground that will turn each section of the system on and off whenever I wish. I can't wait to program just 1 timer rather than trying to hang and configure what I have now.
I use a combination of atleast 4-5 different companies parts for the sprinklers and misters. And i never follow their directions for hooking it all up except for the measurements of gallons per hour and what spray patterns I want. FINALLY! I just found X10 home automation products(while I was looking for links to post here on systems I use) that will allow me to program ALL my different areas from my desktop where I now have to use individual timers and deal with minor drips and space problems.WOOHOOO! I LOVE X10 products.
http://www.misterlandscaper.com/ I've been using a lot of this companies products since Accu-drip went out if business.
"Toro Blue stripe" is a take off of theirlarge sized underground systems, look under "Toro", Home Depot carries them and Lowe's carries the Mister Landscaper brand that I preffer. They have MUCH cheaper prices on the 1/2 poly pipe alone(by atleast 1/2), I haven't taken the time to compare prices with Toro products as they don't make hardly a fraction of the parts Mister does. It's going to seem exspensive at first BIGTIME when you begin making your system. I was lucky enough to find an entire display of accu-drip products(they had the best variety of parts bar none) as they were clearing it all from their stores. I saved a few hundred ther easily. But if you pay attn. to the water savings( since you only water exactly what you want to water with the precise amount of water needed) and then try to put a price on your time spent hand watering daily(which used to be a blast until our gardens spread to all 4 corner's of a 3/4 acre yard.). Now I just get a cup of java and walk around WATCHING the beds being watered as I get a good look at all our plant's condition etc.. Not to mention dragging around 2 sections of hose at 200 ft. per hose atleast. Man 200+ feet of hose full of water being dragged around makes me believe that the wieght of water per gallon has gotten much heavier IMO or the gravitational pull on a garden hose when full has been altered. I think that ever since we had the planet Venus align with the sun and earth, it has effected the wieght of water, fertilizer and all other gardening stuff to increase in it"s density or something since it's now much heavier than before! LMBO Anyone have the info to back up my theory? I know it's out there somewhere and surely at the age of 35....I'm just entirely too cool and fit for anything this small to have any effect on me!LMBO As I peel back my shirt to show the giant "S" on my superhero disguise...Too bad the S isn't for superman, I'll have to settle for "Super Gimp" or the like.

I was going to post another brug or Dat but they need a little more time to bulk up. LOLOLL Well I'm obviously delirious so I gotta go before I get myself in trouble. Goodnight all.
JD
Below is another link for sprinkler systems and 1 of my Passiflora's(P. Caerulea) that is looking good considering our gloomy weather

http://www.wgldesigns.com/rain8.html?site=rain8sprinkler_site

I wish you would be my superhero and come install your system for my yard! I am getting sick of hand watering. I wonder if I show your post to my DH, he would get inspired?


Jenny, I think it is too late and you have already caught it! I am looking for a good mulch myself. Alfalfa hay.

This message was edited Jun 11, 2004 3:24 AM

Kell, you're like me. You need the system here and there and at the church plot. LOL

This message was edited Jun 11, 2004 8:16 AM

here is Tequila Sunrise today. taken a few minutes ago. this is the same plant on the 1st photo on this thread. there are more than 3 buds ready to open any day soon. lots more Y-ing in the process and new buds too.

to conclude... AP really works LOL!