The Genetic 'Y'

As you can see,I did not have the mallet flush,and ended up giving it a little wound.

4 days later,it is starting to Y.
I have seen this used with fruit trees,to stress them and make them think they are in danger.

root...could you tell me more about what you are doing and why? Thanks!

I am experimenting with this one,I wanted to see if I could force it to bloom out,I am going to take the tops back,and make is a better shape next.

Wow! I had never heard of this! Thats interesting. Thanks for showing this rooty! LOVE all the info.

Now it is going to get a good shot of food.
I have taken the tops down,there are still leaf nods on it.

OMG not to change the subject, but your banana is so big!!! Mine is just a small little fraction of that. Your place really looks great!

Thanks Shelly,my big one is finally putting out a new leaf,the temps are starting to come up here.

wow!! I think I dont have a chance with my poor pitiful one! Looks great!

They really like water,I sit the hose by mine and let it trickle.

ok! thanks!

Brug watching.

Boy, you have a rough life Doc. Hey, what is that vine on the front porch that is blooming a redish color? Looks cool.

Really great thread Root

Shirley,you are looking from my porch,that is a rose on the vacant house next to me.

Edit to say Thanks Donna,I want to have something for the new folks to be able to see,these plants are not hard,don't be afraid to go with your instincts,we are all gardeners,or we would not be here,so I don't want anyone to be afraid to ask any question,or pluck any leaf.
Now back to the Brugwatch.

This message was edited Jun 8, 2004 10:55 PM

LOL! Brug watch! I love it-maybe I should try it instead of weeding when I drink my evening brew! Easier to keep the dirt out of it anyway!

Thanks Bob. I should have been thinking and would have seen your block work wasn't there. Just saw the flowers and forgot about the rest.

Great thread, Root! Your brugs look great and your garden does too!

Once you become accustomed to what they look like when they Y, its pretty easy to spot. Took me a while to learn what I was looking for, but once I did, I can now tell from across the yard if one has recently y'd.

Edited to add: I have heard of beating a tree trunk to encourage growth -- many years ago, and I can't remember where -- some gardening show on TV, I think. I'll be anxious to hear of the outcome on that one. Also, you say its okay to go ahead and strip your bottom leaves off the seedlings? I was afraid to do that -- thought they'd need the extra energy to grow tall. Guess that'll be my morning project tomorrow if the rain ever ceases... Thanks again, Root!

This message was edited Jun 9, 2004 5:11 PM

Rootdoctor: New at this so heres the question.
I over wintered my first brugs. They lost all their leaves then shriveled up on the branch ends. They are leafing out all up and down the stocks and branches. How do you trim them to get the best form and..... Ah! what would you do to them. Have nine of them in 5 gal pots.

Ted

Ted,that is almost hard to answer without seeing them,how tall are they,have they Yed out?
If they have a Y to them,clean up below the Y and let the upper growth fill out.
I was just out and have one open,it has been raining,so I was surprised to see it open,gosh it is good to smell one again.

Example:
All have Y in them but you can see it it leafing out all up and down the trunk and stems. Still waiting on a bloom

Yeah, Root! Glad you have a bloom -- which is it? P&C? You go enjoy it in the Brug watching chair under your umbrella :)

Root, in photo #12, I think, the tree brug in front of the fence, is very similar, in the original shape, to a common brug I bought from a local nursery. That sucker (my brug) has grown one limb 1 1/3 times the length of the trunk and one that is twice the length of the trunk, and the rest of the limbs are very long too. I know something needs to be done, I know the brug needs to be groomed into a more pleasant shape, like your #12, but what's it going to do with the brug blooming, it's a blooming fool and has been blooming for 2 months, and has yet more blooms WAY out at the end of those LONG branches and Ys all over the place. What should I do????? Oh, I hope you guys can help, otherwise, I'm going to very soon have to go out there and whack away. If I whack, where should I whack??????

Ted,that is a sweet little one,looks like it is ready to grow,I would trim the dead out and lift it out of the pot to see if it needs repotted.
Sherry,I would like to see a picture.
Kaufman,by trimming the bottm leavesI just like to keep them out of the dirt,I leave as many as I can,I like the way this one goes to sleep at night.

Okay, now I'm confused... On mine that are between 3-4' tall with a Y, shouldn't I go ahead and remove the large leaves along the stalk (trunk), to give it more of a tree appearance? I hope the answer is yes, because after I saw this thread I went out and removed a bunch of lower leaves on my driveway plants (in between raindrops). If not, I'm sure they'll recover... Thanks Root!

Sure,I run my hand up and down to remove side shoots,and when I trim large leaves,I cut it about an inch or so from the trunk,like in the last picture.
Gretchen,I just read your post about sticking the top under a shade tree,good move,I remove all but the top 3 or 4 leaves on one I wan to root,so if it wilts on you,take some clippers and drop some leaves off it.
Be sure you use gloves or wash your hands between plants,if you do the rubbing off of shoots.

Thank you again, Root! On the tip that I stuck in the ground I did remove all but the top few leaves. And, thank you for the glove advice, although I've learned how to snap the bigger leaves off without touching the wounded part of the plant. The gloves though, will be a must for the smaller leaves.

Thanks, Larry!!! I will take a photo, but I don't know if I'll be able to get the entire plant in the photo, but I will do my best!!! I appreciate your interest...SherryLike

Root - I know the blossoms are spent and that this photo isn't good, but of course my battery went down right when I started the pics, so I just got this single. This is my tree brug, as you see, planted in a large plastic pot, I bought it maybe two months ago and it was in a 2 gallong black plastic pot. It has tripled it's size, and any number, at least four limbs are longer than the trunk, from the dirt to the 'intersection' of a bunch of Ys, and there are Ys all over the limbs and more on the way, as well as more blossoms - so far, this 4th flush, coming up, the buds that I've seen so far, are at the end of the limbs.
There were, I'd say 20 blossoms the first flush, 35 the 2nd flush, and nearly 50 this time. The only reason I'll keep this brug, if I do, is because it is a dandy producer and it has a wonderful fragrance. So, my question is, how long are these limbs going to grow, some are 1
1/2 times longer than the trunk and others twice as long as the trunk, and one is almost straight. Thank goodness it's in a pot, so I can give it more room if you don't think it should be groomed. If you need more info or a better pic, please advise. Thanks ever so much for your help!!!!!!!!! SherryLike

I am not Root Sherry but from where I sit it needs to be pruned way back. What is it you want it to look like? An alley tree? I do not think it will ever be a tall tree but you can do a short one like they do roses. Is all the side growth coming from the top of the trunk? I would cut each side branch back to 4th or 5th nodes on the branch to encourage more bushiness. I would also move it into more sun. It looks like it is leggy looking for light.

It looks like a very pretty flower. For some reason, yellow ones seem to be the flower floozies!

Kell, your reply is exactly what I wanted to hear and I will be pruning this one right away. I knew when I bought this brug that it would be short like the rose trees. I'm not thinking this trunk will ever grow very much in height. I want it to be bushy and showy and nicely proportioned. And, pruning, it will be. Actually, it isn't a great flower, it turns very dark quickly, a rusty red/yellow dark, looking sickly. But, it blooms its fanny off. The one thing you said that gets me is that it looks like it needs more sun - well, yes, it looks that way, but it is in full sun several hours a day and it wilts like there is no tomorrow, but pops back - we are looking at a real drama queen here. I'm going to leave it alone for a few more days, until all the blossoms open, and then I'll be pruning. BTW, do I just cut the branches, or should I slant the cuts?? I'll look for a pruning thread. Thanks ever so much for your post! It's so very nice of you to help me and I sincerely appreciate it!!! SherryLike

Thanks for taking one Kell,good advice,Sherry,I cut straight off,not too close to the trunk.

On the wilting-I have found that running a soaker hose is convenient for those brugs in full sun -a little water every other day or so-but I've heard there are some that just can't take too much sun.

Root, I'm just curious as to why you cut the little brug (shown in the second picture on this page)? It looked to perfect.

It looks like the perfect tree form (to me). This is the shape for which I would be striving, but perhaps that is not a good shape for growing brugs?

Asking before I shape my brugs incorrectly.

Jean

Sweetpea,I am just cutting on it to show how to,I don't want people new to Brugs to worry about every leaf,it was just a Demo,it will bounce back and be fine,another thing,I did not trim it back this spring,so I what the new growth to be a little sturdier to support blooms.
I have another I am going to shape up later this weekend,I have a yard full of contractors right now.

Oh, I see. Thanks Root.

Since I have only three baby brugs, I couldn't even think about cutting them! I do everything but put diapers on them. LOL.

Jean

Ooooooooh Root, whatcha doin' in your yard??????? I can't wait to see!!! I just got cable, wow, I'm a happy camper!!

To each his own about shape. I tend to let mine be natural if they are in the ground and I leave on most leaves. The ones in pots tend to lose their bottom leaves more because they wilt more and dry out more, thus the leaves get puny.

Sherrylike, the not watering when they wilt thing is simply that if you know the plant doesn't need water and it wilts, that doesn't mean it needs more water. Brugs will wilt with extreme heat index on the leaves, but the roots don't need water if you watered them recently. Later in the evening or by the next morning they will usually be perked up. If not by the next morning, you need to water them. Of course your potted ones are going to dry out faster than the ones in the ground.

On sun, I find that here in the deep south (FL/AL line) brugs can use some afternoon shade.

My understanding (hoping I understood right) on the above/below the y cuttings goes like this: if the cutting is above the y, the plant will bloom earlier, while the plant is much shorter. In fact, I thought this plant would not get very tall, but if it was cut back to the root (or died back in winter), that it might be some taller the next year, but not extremely tall because the cutting was taken from the flowering region not the growth region and it would continue to bloom earlier. But if the cutting was taken below the y, it would grow taller and bloom later because it was taken from the vegetative or growth region.



This message was edited Jun 11, 2004 5:42 PM

This message was edited Jun 13, 2004 8:11 PM

If I received a cutting taken above the Y and the following year gave someone a cutting below the y from that plant would it be the same as the growth region, or the same as the flowering region. A newbe question.

That is the question of the day Ted! I think,if you had let your cutting form a Basal shoot(sucker) that is a below the Y cutting,but any cuttings above the Y and cutting from this plant,will be flowering region cuttings,are we confussed yet?LOL!

Not all of mine get grown as standard tree form,I do like a good bush.