I was thinking ( I get in more trouble when I do that!) I have a Green Hut full of Brugs, still with leaves, some with Y's & some large seedlings. What buds were on the older ones dropped off. I won't be able to put these outside until May. I should have let them go dormant but I didn't.
I was wondering if I kept them in longer & kept the heat up in the GH will they get buds on earlier than if I put them outside.
Kind of like when you force Daffodils to bloom? It won't get really warm here until end of June & I'd really like to have a few blooms for our Garden Tour also near the end of June. It may be too early for blooms any way but thought I'd ask, being that I'm new to these puppies, I have no clue when they start blooming on an average. Thank-x Bj
Can Brugs be "forced"?
Bobby Jean, I see others have looked at your post and have not answered. I think that is probably because you need the help of the people with the most experience such as Brugie, Kauffman and Kell.
This is Saturday and people are busy, plus some of them are farther east. I am sure you will get some response tomorrow. Hang in there.
Jeanette
hi Jeanette,
How can you tell when someone has looked at a thread but not replied?
I didn't know that was possible.
Karen
edit -
oh, and Bobby Jean, I don't know either, but I certainly agree that those three people, plus Monika, are your best bet for an answer. Brugie (Shirley) is my personal hero.
I wish you success with your GH and buds issue.
This message was edited Jan 16, 2005 2:36 AM
Karen, at the top of the page you will see it say Views, and Replies
Since I've not experimented with this I don't have a definite answer. I just went back through my pictures and Butterfly was a tree I held over and it bloomed before the other trees held over in the cold garage. First blooms for it were late June. Now...I had a Susanne cutting and it bloomed on 6-11 and I got it as a rooted cutting, early spring. Most of my plants came out of the warm house, including two or three big trees, and I didn't see that they did any better than others or cuttings. Mine all bloom at about the same time and they started the first week in July. In August some of my seedlings started blooming. One bloomed and was pollinated and it was started from seed on Feb. 14. That is a little less than six months from seed to bloom. This leads me to believe that what helps brugs most is day length. I could be all wrong, so don't go by what I say since I've not tried forcing one. I've had some in the greenhouse in the spring that were quite tall compared to the cuttings or seedlings and they don't seem to bloom any sooner for me.
Here is a picture of Susanne on June 11th.
gee Brugie of all my seedlings, from 5" to almost 5' none of them even have a Y yet, I think they can read my mind and are going to be stubborn, now if I had as many as Kim, and Kell I would be too busy to think about it *LOL*
Doris, the cutting in the picture was taken from above the Y. Those will bloom quicker. Besides, Susanne is a constant bloomer anyway. Rarely without a bloom on her. Most seedlings aren't going to Y until they are 5 ft. or more in height. Hang in there. You will have lots of blooms this summer.
Thanks Brugie, you always boost my spirits.:) is that from cuttings, and you don't know where they were cut from, and seeds
I'm sure any cuttings will bloom this summer for you no matter if they came from above or below the Y and most seeds that are growing well by now, should bloom this summer also. I always put my seedlings in full sun, no matter what, once they are able to go outside. Some of my bigger plants that I know will do well in half day sun or less will go in those positions.
Karen, did you get your answer?
It's not on this page but the previous one. It shows who initiated the thread, how many read it and how many replied. It would be nice if the amount read and amount replied were reversed. It would make more sense.
Jeanette
I dont know Jnette, what you are up to but I think, that everyone asking for help has been helped here on the forum.
Bjs, my advice would benot to force them to grow. The climate conditions in a Greenhouse are different from outside. The texture of the leaves is much softer and only adapted for inside. The humidity in a Greenhouse is higher than outside. Your brugs will drop most of the leaves and the buds, when you move them outside.
When you plan to make a garden tour and need to have flowers on your brugs, you may keep them in the Greenhouse and force them to grow but you must open the Greenhouse doors and windows to let fresh air in. It is not guarantee, that they will grow buds. It depends if you have plants grown out of the flowering or growing region of the motherplant.
You can bring them outside on the day of the garden tour but be prepared, that they may not look very pretty anymore after a few days.
This message was edited Jan 16, 2005 11:16 PM
Sorry I didn't include you in my list of experts Monika :) Jeanette
btw, I thought everything had been answered :(
Shirley (Brugie) I love that Susanne. It doesn't look very tall. What size pot is that you have it in? Why couldn't a plant like that be used for a houseplant? Would you keep it going year round?
I think you said in another thread that you got some double pinks. What did you hybridize to get them? Or is it wrong for me to ask? If so, I'm sorry, and forget I asked.
Still trying to get the ethics down. Dos and don'ts. LOL
Jeanette
Monika is definitely our #1 expert here and without her and her hybridizations, I wouldn't have had the double pinks in my yard. The cross doesn't matter because we don't have the brugs here to make the cross and most people wouldn't want to repeat it anyway.
Susanne does not stay small. That was the first blooms in June. By August, she was three-four ft. tall, not counting the pot and about 4-5 ft. wide. Definitely not a houseplant. By the way, that is a 20 gallon pot.
This was a July picture.
Shirley...she looks lovely!
Thanks Margie. She blooms a lot heavier than that.
Wow, she's a looker and look at those huge leaves!!! She reminds me of Rosamond and PB...is she as easy to grow/root, as they are???
Sherry, she has very large blooms. She is easy to grow, but I don't know about rooting since I've not rooted any. I may get some in today and try because I'd like to have a couple of her around here. She isn't released yet, so I can't give any cuttings away.
This thread will show you the size of the blooms. http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/407249/
This message was edited Jan 17, 2005 10:45 AM
That is wonderful Shirley. I wonder if I will live long enough to have one as nice. Thanks for sharing.
Jeanette
Shirley, Suzanne is a beautiful Brug.
I got a cutting from Tracey to trial up here. The hybridizer is Susie and Tracey was the seed parent. At least I think that is what it is called when someone grows another person's seeds for them. LOL!
Shirley,
Thats why I don't get into geneology!!! LOL
Jeanette
Well, thanks for the info. I may just keep one back & try it.
I have one Brug in my jewelry studio (taking up nearly 1/4 of it). I thought all the buds had fallen off of all of the Brugs but last night, when watering this one, I saw a 4" bud Then spotted 11 more! Woo Hoo, I may see a bloom after all this year! I don't know how I missed them before, I guess I just assumed they ALL fell off.
I guess if I don't have blooms for the Garden Tour, I just don't. It just would have been nice, as I don't think many folks up here have even heard of Brugs, much less seen one. Thank-s again for the expertise! Bj
I guess if I should be letting mine go dormant, I'm making a mistake, but mine grow year-round in my little GH and several are loaded with buds right now. They bloomed for me last year in the early Spring (in the GH) too. My 'Banana Split' has bloomed off an on since I brought it in last Fall. I think Abutilon keeps hers actively growing all winter in her glass house.
You guys are so lucky. This is the first time I have ever had any brugs and they look so healthy (I have them in the house) I just got the cuttings from all of you doing your fall pruning. Do you think there is a chance maybe even one of mine might bloom in the house? Is it too dry in the house?
BJ, what is the one of yours that is blooming in your studio?
Gretchen what are yours? Do you heat your greenhouse? You say you should let them go dormant. Are they suppose to? Are they like bulbs that need to rest and build up for the summer? I don't know why they would.
Other than bulbs and fruits and vegetables, I would think with the right environment almost any plant could keep going year round.
Now I know I am going to get a whole list of ones that won't. I guess I am talking about brugs.
Jeanette
Jeanette, I have a number of different varieties and cultivars growing in my little greenhouse. I had never heard (prior to this thread) that they should go dormant. Mine all look quite healthy except for the slug bites, so I'm going to continue as I have...
Here's my little portable greenhouse:
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/407165/
That's right!!! I watched you build that. Loved your film (pictures). Why would you change anything you are doing? Why would you let them go dormant if you never have?
It looks to me that if you have the room and environment to grow them year around why wouldn't you? I'm growing mine now because they were cuttings last fall so I think they need to make plants. If I don't have the room for big plants next winter I will let them go dormant.
BJ is that what you mean by forcing?
Gretchen what temperature is your greenhouse at night and during the day?
I am going to see if I can't put my plants in the basement as they get too tall for the lights. I can hang lights from the ceiling like one of the guys showed he did. I just checked the temperqture down there and it is 61. The problem would come if the weather turned cold and we had to use the wood furnace. Then I think it might get too hot for the plants.
I guess I am just doing some thinking out loud. If you think of something I'm not, tell me.
Jeanette
Gretchen, Brugs take a break (or rest) of six weeks in their native habitats in December - January. This schedule fits good in our overwintering time. If you let them bloom in the winter, they may take this rest in the summer. It has happened a few times to me.
Oh Monika -- thank you for clearing up the mystery! Unfortunately though, I have no place to allow them to go dormant, unless the ones that are planted in the ground manage to somehow come back. The greenhouse stays between 75-85 (unheated) during the day and 50-65 at night.
They will quit growing and take the rest because you have, like we all, not enough daylight in the winter months for normal growth.
The temperatures in your Greenhouse are optimal.
So, Monika, what about the ones we all started from cuttings? If we don't get them growing they aren't going to do anything this summer. OR, are you saying that even if we have them growing nice now they still will not bloom this summer?
Jeanette
Jnette, th first growth on cuttings and old plants can be noticed with 10hrs daylight. Optimal are 12hrs, like in SA or longer.
I dont know, why you want to have them grow nice now!
The indoor sprouts are very soft and weak, especially at this time of the year. Besides it, it takes much strength out of the cutting, which he needs for strong and powerful growth in the spring.
Jeanette, when I held over my first brug, Monika said...you will need to cut back the new growth when you take it outside because it is weak. Well, being the stubborn person I am, I said to myself that it would be okay. So, I took the plant outside. It did do well the first few days, but as soon as we had a little bit of wind, it burned the heck out of that new grown and it all died back, and then it had to start over again. I wasted a few weeks time that could have given me an extra flush at the end of the season.
I have cuttings in the house that barely have anything on them. As long as they are alive, it's okay with me. They will all bloom this year, probably three times, even tho they are only about 8 inches tall right now. I remember when I was new with brugs....I worried about everything too. Now that I've grown them and listened to Monika, I don't worry about them anymore. They are going to do what they feel like doing during the summer and we can't change that.
In answer to your question Monika about why do I want it to have nice growth now? Because I thought I was getting a start on the summer so it would be a nice plant then.
But, what you and Shirley are saying, it doesn't matter what they do this time of year, anything we do now is a waste of time. And not only that, but we are actually taking strength out of our plants.
So, what about all of the plants you have in your greenhouse Gretchen? When you take them out of the cover of your greenhouse are they going to shrivel up and fall apart?
IThe growth I have on my plants is not weak growth because I have lights on them approximately 13 hours a day. Plus ferilizing. It is nice strong growth. There is a difference between growing them for commercial and growing them as a hobby. This is my first year and maybe (probably) I will put them in dormancy for next winter.
I would think that even though these are not small seedlings, that you would still harden them off as though they were. I thank you both for your advice and now I will have to think over that advice and decide what I am going to do. My root celler, which would be the ideal place to put them, is full of begonias, fuchsias and potatoes and onions. So I am assuming if I just put them in the warm basement and don't water them or give them any light that they will die back.
Jeanette
I do believe I'll be taking the popular advice and cutting back the big ones. The smaller cuttings and seedlings, I plan to treat just as I did last year. Plant them in the ground around the middle of April and hope they do well.
Hi everyone, I am a new member to DG, although I have been turning to this site for 3 years for advice with all kinds of gardening questions. I love (can I say am "obsessed with" brugs?) because of their beauty and challenge for me as a gardener. They say you always want what you can't have, and since I'm in the Blizzard capital, Buffalo, NY, I just have to have a tropical paradise in my back yard. :) I am up to 5 brugs now, and I have lost my fair share from overwatering etc... but I can't overwinter in the house properly because of the villainous spider mites. I have one good size brug in her pot (pink suav?) who is doing ok, but I am on round two of removal of the little pests and webs. My others are in their pots in an unheated stairway that hangs out at about 50-52 degrees, and they look great so far (I don't want to jinx myself.) My question is, can future mites be avoided on my brug inside my sunroom, or should I move her to the stairway now too? Would a humidifier help? Any info appreciated. They will all be potted specimens outdoors when Buffalo thaws. Thanks!! Jackie
PS...Thank you all too for teaching me so much!
Welcome Jackie. Yes, a humidifier helps, but if the stairway has more room, I think I'd go that route and try to avoid the mites all together. They seem to like it dry and warm. You really do expect Buffalo to thaw this spring? LOL! I always thought Iowa was bad until I heard how much snow you guys get.
Shirley
Jackie -- welcome to the Brug Forum! And, good luck with spider mite eradication!!! They are the bane of my existence these days LOL...
Hey there, Thanks for the welcome! I just came in from outside, shoveling 18 inches of snowy, icy mush out of the base of the driveway. (Good for my non-existent bi-ceps I guess.) Would it be too late to move my suavy pink into the cooler temp? Also, I'm afraid that I will transmit any hangers-on to the stairway. What do you think? I've tried many insecticides to remove the stinkers, and the best thing I can come up with is a good blast from a shower head with a spray of alcohol & water. It doesn't seem to bother the plant. Shirley - my mom is in Omaha, she told me that they close the schools for two inches of snow.... are you at that end? Kaufmann, where are you....ahh I envy zone 8-10 (teehee!) Jackie