Hi folks - I come in and out - but mostly lurk here. Well, time to get serious. I moved to Dublin a year ago - leaving behind a 7 foot tree, other smaller ones for my better natured half to nurture while I am gone. But, I have never started any from seed.
I received some great crosses from an old gardening friend - they sat in a drawer all of last year - so, when pebble (from Turkey) was in Dublin visiting last month, I broke down, soaked and peeled and Deno'd. Everything is looking good. The pots are too small, but I'll upgrade them as soon as I can get to a gardening centre. Needless to say, shopping in city centre in Dublin (no car, only a bicycle) is not like when I was in Albany, NY and could get anything at WalMart or even the local grocery store and throw everything in the trunk of a Honda Accord. (Crestedchik - if you are still out there, yes, I still have that other lil silver car, too - left it in NY until I get back....go figure, from THAT to a bicycle).
The babies are crowded into 5 pots - usually 4 seedlings to a pot. They have a good potting soil - I'm not watering much at all - preferring to keep them covered with plastic bags.
If you will humor me - can I ask a few basic questions - very basic, but I hope to learn more and am sure the answers to these questions will benefit others.
1) Overcrowding seedlings - how long can four seedlings in a 4" pot survive? Should I separate them now or later?
2) Plastic bags - is it ok if the seedlings droop over a bit when hitting bag?
3) Transplanting - I've read through several posts and see varying recommendations. Is there a risk of these getting overcrowded before 4 inches tall? Is there a risk of killing them when I transplant - do I need to be extra careful; is it OK to snip roots that might have intertwined?
4) Damping - will chamomile tea help brugs?
5) Fertilizer - I'll search (gawd knows where - since I don't know where any gardening centers are) for 20-20-20 or something similar. I had read that one person starts when there are 2 sets of leaves, uses half strength and builds up from there. Confirmation? Recommendations?
I know there is a lot of expertise in this forum and you're all discussing advanced techniques, bubblers, etc. - but, I hope a newbie can join in and learn! :-))
Brug Newbie - 5 new crosses from seed (some Q's)
I'm sure someone else will jump in here to, Sandra, but here goes:
1. I've grow 30 seedlings in a four inch pot and probably 15 of them to about 15 inches tall. They are next to impossible to get the roots apart at that time.
2. It isn't going to kill them to hit the bag, however, if you want nice straight plants, I would take the pot/bag and open the top. It will still help hold the moisture in, but will also start getting the seedlings acclimated to the air and transplanting time.
3 I don't think you will have any trouble separating them at 4 inches. I've never snipped roots. Just be sure that when you transplant, you hold them by a leaf and not the stem.
4. Generally, damping off will happen before they reach 4 inches tall. I've not used the tea, but will keep a small fan running to help deter the damping off problem.
5. I believe there has been talk lately of using something that has a lower middle number and a higher last number along with a good amount of nitrogen. I'm using something this year called CalMag and it is 15-7-15, I think. I also use 20-20-20 and get along very well with it.
Sandra, you are always welcome in the brug forum. Just jump in with both feet and go. We love to help if you need help and who knows, your growing experiences with brugs in Ireland may teach us a thing or two here as well.
Brugie - you're always so kind.
Blonde question time - you had 30 seedlings at the same time in a small pot like that? Or one seedling per pot, right?
I'll do that with the bag and puff it up more - since I'm often gone for 2-5 days at a time, I want to make sure they don't dry out until I can get them outside and let Mother Nature water them (which we have a surplus of rain here, believe me!)
For the fertilizer, I have a feeling I'll be lucky to find what I can - but, I'll keep those numbers in mind.
On a bright note - I'll probably go to Hannover again this summer - and hope to go the Herrenhauser (sp?) Gartens. If I do, I'll be sure to take lots of pictures. I was in Hannover a couple of weeks ago, but far too early to visit the gardens.
Fun challenge here - just getting started with all of the seedlings and move in two weeks. Nice little courtyard with BBQ, etc. - and since I'm in the garden apartment of a big Georgian house, I'll also get the yard - and truth be told, I haven't really seen any brugs here in Dublin, so this will be fun.
Sandra, don't laugh. Eclipse sent me about 35 seeds of one cross. It was late to be starting seeds and I was up to my eyeballs in work. I tossed them all in one little round clay type pot that had a saucer. It may not have been as big as a four inch pot. As the first ones got big enough to transplant, I did move them to their own pots, but the last 15 or probably more, stayed in that pot. I moved it to the greenhouse and they grew and grew. I was going to pot them up and find homes for them, but I just didn't have the time. Pristine was one of the lucky ones that had a pot of her own. By the time I got around to potting up the last of the brug baby plants, there were just too many roots wadded up in that little pot and I had to get rid of them all.
People will love you for growing the first brugs there. I'll bet you have have lots of requests for cuttings once they see them bloom.
Probably won't see blooms until 2006 though... :( Now that I'm getting the gardening itch (after being totally overwhelmed by my move last year) - I'm wishing they'd bloom this year, but I'll be patient and nurture these babies along. I think it was you who posted that you start seeds in October for blooms the following year.... wish I'd read that earlier...grin
I started some last year on Feb. 14 and some of them bloomed before frost. Almost all that I grew on of Eclipse's seed, bloomed the first year. Stranger things have happened. LOL, but next year you will definitely have some pretty blooms to enjoy.
Sandra, I've been wondering how the seeds were doing, glad to hear that you are on your way to growing them.
I have about 4-5 brugs now, that have overwintered from last year, a couple i started from seeds, and a couple came over as cuttings. and one is from a tree here. I just went to visit a housing complex across the street from my office, lovely tropical gardens, and lo and behold, there were two big brug trees, and the gardener said, I can give you some cuttings of these, they grow like crazy, and I told him that I know how they grow, and that yes, i would love some cuttings, I am going to put some in pots in front of my office.....
Sandra, I hope you can find some fertilizer....and be sure to use some of your compost....black gold you know.
I look forward to hearing how they are doing, they may bloom this year, you never know. What would do really well in Dublin climate is the ......drawing a blank.....Kell and jerods mom grow them in California, one of them I think is called Inca queen, they are dark orange almost red, and there are sopme brilliant yellow ones..egads... I cant think of the name. the flowers are a little different, and they cant take the heat of the south, they prefer a milder climate. oh, for pete's sake...no, it just wont come to me, let me surf around and see if i can spot the name.
Sanguinea, probably.
yeah... sanguinea.....
I think that they do better in cooler climates, but I may be wrong.....
HEY SNOWDRA!!!!
although I can't call you that now...LOL
you should be able to grow sangs great in that climate
And you know ,I said I'd babysit that cute lil silver car for you for as long as you're skipping around the world
I would NEVER drive it in the snow and do donuts
and never ever go over the speed limit
and I'd even trade you my purple and pink striped brug for the privalige.......
I have a brug that is now about 3 foot tall,sitting in a 4 inch pot,I that set in on the soil of a brug in a huge pot,forgot about it and its now grown thru the pot and into the bigger pot,just gunna leave it there till it blooms...LOL
and you can always skip over to Germany and visit Monika,then you can get a brug that will bloom this year
and when you come back here.........well,if they fall in your suitcase.......
Just call me Raindra - doesn't have the same sound though....
Is Monika near Hannover? I've been there twice since last June and will most certainly go back there again this year...
Ummmmmmmm, can you show me a picture of this striped brug? This could be interesting.
Hugs!
shesh,well....ahhhh........its shy....like me!