3 Amigos and seven seedlings...

I hope I get this right. After July 4, these 3 Amigo seedlings (BeccaLynn X CG, thanks, JT!!!!) appeared, along with four others (1 PinkBeautyXRothke???, and 2 naturally pollinated, and one more BeccaLynnXCG, thanks, yet again, JT!!!) that I will show you in the 2nd photo. These three babies are in my 'datdog blue' birdbath (Hi, Kristie!!). If you look very closely, you will see that all three have, teeny tiny Ys in almost the identical location, they are clones. It's VERY difficult to see the Y on the one to the far right, but it's there and bigger now.

In the 2nd photo, which will follow, please note that ALL 7 seedlings were planted on the very SAME day, and potted on the same day, the 3 Amigos in tiny, 4 inch pots, and the other four into the tomato box. None of them have had anything, except what nature provided, rain, when it rained, and no food, no other water, except rain. I was busy with 'real life' obligations...so here are the 3 Amigos...

...and, here are all seven seedlings together, they were all planted at the same time and potted on the same day, the tiny ones into 4 inch pots, and the other 4 into the tomato box, where I had removed the tomatoes that were spent, and just tossed the 4 brug seedlings in and they have had zero, except what nature provided. The three tiny ones are the ones that were in the datdog blue birdbath, and the four in the tomato box, are, on the front, left to right, BeccaLynnXCG (a clone to the three clones in the tiny pots on front), PinkBeautyXRothKe????, and the two on the back are naturally pollinated, all from JT. Waddayathink????
(I have to take my daddy to the doc and will be outta town for a couple of days, but I'd love to know what you think about my seedlings.) TIA!!!! SherryLike

I think you should feed your 3 amigos ASAP and I do not see any Ys on them. I think brugs grow better if their roots can grow big. Were the tomato box ones bigger to begin with?

If not, I wonder if the tomato box had some unused fertilizer left from the tomatoes or perhaps the rotting tomato roots fed them. I wonder if you could get some viral diseases from tomato dirt.

I also think you have my cat Nick there! Give him back! LOL

SherryLike, I agree with what Kell says. (Well, of course, she is a brug queen!) But I think your brugs in the tomato box will be OK since they look so healthy now. Though I do agree that it's not a good idea to reuse tomato soil or for brugs - refer to Gretchen Kaufmann's post on the problem she had with tomato spotted wilt virus. I would give your small seedligs some fertilizer - though not too much because you probably don't want to encourage a lot of growth this late in the season. Next spring they will definitely need bigger pots.. Another factor in the size discrepancy of the seedlings in the small pots vs. the tomato planter may be a consistent moisture level. I have been growing most of my brugs this year in 'deep root' self-watering planters from Gardener's Supply Co. this year and they did a lot better overall than than years past when I used regular flower pots. The self-watering containers have a water reserve so they don't dry out on hot, dry days. So the tomato planter is good idea - but long-term you should have only one plant per container since they will get too crowded otherwise.

I didn't really find out about the 'Y' until this year - I grew brugs for almost 4 years and figured it out myself through observation. The 'Y' occurs at the point of new growth and for the first 'Y' the two branches are symmetrical (same size and grow at the same angle). It truly looks like a 'Y'. What you have is just branching - a new side branch forms from the stem below the terminal growth point. I think seedlings usually don't Y until they are at least 3 ft tall - and sometimes not until 8 or 9 ft!

I am soooooo happy you guys replied!!! Thanks TomH and Kell!!! I learn something new daily, which is what keeps me so interested. I NOW see exactly what you are talking about re the Ys, today, it's very obvious on the taller of the 3 amigos, that what I thought was a Y is actually a U, and the two little ones are Uing in the exact same spot. Planting these seedlings this way, in the tomato box, was not planned, but a last minute effort to get them in the ground, when I was called away from home (for 3 weeks) and I forgot about them, they ended up, lost, in the service yard until I came across them this week, hidden between empty pots and potting soil. It's possible they got some water from an outlet on the other side of the fence and the ones in the tomato box certainly could have gotten fertilizer from the soil; however, the tomatoes were almost total flop. There were zero directions with the boxes and I planted them, sat them on the driveway and, we think, they were cooked, tho we did get pretty nice tomatoes from three boxes. The brug seedlings were started in rockwool, which is why, I think, they survived. I put three unknown branches in a tomato box at my son's, took them out after 2 weeks, and planted them and they have bloomed twice and are unusually healthy. I'm going to buy some fresh soil for the tomato boxes and use them for rooting special brugs that I will bring inside this winter. When I take them out of the tomato box, to go in the ground, I untangle the roots just like taking mats outta a dog or cat, except I don't use a comb. I have to be gone until Friday and I'm not taking a laptop, but i might read mail at my brother's...............................one more thing, Kell: Potter is the world's meanest cat, a wild, stray, that is the only cat we know that can hiss and purr at the same time. Potter rides the front gate and greets all our guests and demands that each person pets him, he would rather be mean, but he just can't help it, he's a real sweetie!!! Nicky looks just like Potter's only child, Crookshank, who lives next door with my grands....

Sherry -- one more thing to consider (when you get home). I know you said in an earlier post that you're going to put your brugs in a heated greenhouse for the winter. You will want to go ahead and pot-up those small brugs to at least a one-gallon pot. My experience has been that they will grow quite a bit in a GH during the winter, and you don't want to inhibit that... Hope you had a nice trip :) Gretchen

Oh, but that is two beautiful cats, you have there :) I saw one looking similar today ... a bit more shorthaired ... and crossed the street just to pad it and stroke its ears. I love cats.

LOL Tom, I wish I were a brug queen. The girls kid me because I love pinks so much they call me the Queen of the Pinks. But it is truly a lustful thing not due to what I do or have!

Oh Kell -- you are way too modest -- You have the TOUCH!!!