I took a sucker off of a friends's Grimaldi, off the rootball. i've been reading about the "y" thing, ..about how brugs only flower above it...my question is, will my rooted sucker ever flower? i think it probably will just take a while, right? or will it never flower (this is probably a dumb ques :) lol
Question about a "sucker"
Not a Dumb question and I am just answering from what I have read here since I haven't had a brug flower yet (a newbie) The brugs do not flower until after they "Y". That means if you have a seedling, or a cutting that was taken below a "Y" on the original plant, you have to wait until your plant gets big and branches or "Ys" and then it will form buds and bloom. If you have a cutting that was taken above a "Y" on the original plant, you do not have to wait for the new plant to "Y" before it blooms. Hope that made sense.
gotcha, thanks. it makes perfect sense.
Suckers are great ,they are where you usually get the taller tree types from.
Scoot, this spring a lot of my plants are getting suckers. But, all of the seedlings I have started are nice straight plants but very green. Not small stems/trunks, but green.
So, tell me, what is the difference in the 2 as far as having nice tall trees, and when they will bloom?
Jeanette
I love suckers 22 libras. They make great standards. I try to leave them on the mother plant as long as possible because they grow so fast there. I wait till they are the height I want, then cut them from the base. I leave a node or 2 and then I get another shoot.
Very good Laura, you have absorbed it all! LOL
Are standards the tree forms? Those are what I am hoping for. Is there anyway to encourage your plant to be standard or are there certain types that are standard?
i'll second that, whats a standard?
'standard' is a term describing the pruning of any plant to a single main trunk as a treeform.
I've also done it with coleus, Hansen and Nanking cherry bushes, Jade, pencil cactus, pelargoniums and a boxwood that had an identity crisis and went to therapy. I let him hang out with some pine yearlings I was torturing.
like this?
Yes. And if I were you I would stake that so it grows straight up. I love the tree form. Plus you can underplant. I am limited for room so standards are so much more manageable. I also think a bush brug can be too messy looking. I have a brug bush that is at least 12 ft high and about as wide, and it is so messy looking. I can't keep it groomed. Too big and wild.
Laura, seedlings tend to be natural standards. Suckers are also a great source. I am not sure there are ones that tend to be though more than others. You need to keep all the side growth off. Also if it suckers, best to clip it off right away. I have let mine sucker and it leaves stubs. I have a bunch of suckers right now that would be great standards. I wish you lived here! The only brug I have that has not suckered is my CG tree. I have CG the longest of all my trees and it has never put out any side growth or suckers. A top cutting above the Y tends to be a bush brug. A piece from below tends to grow taller.
Also if you want lots of cuttings, take a tall brug and bend it sideways. You will get a sprout at each node. Sometimes more than one. They will grow fast and you then clip them and root them.
twenty2libras - I recently cut my first suckers off a Peaches and Cream and they rooted quickly and never missed a beat.
Now I have a question - are those succulents at the foot of your standard? How are they getting along with the constant watering and feeding of the brug?
kell- wow i was training my brugmansia in a 'standard' form and didn't even know it. i must be a natural.JJ :) i will stake it......but will the trunk grow thick enough to support the weight of all thos gorgeous flowers?
8ft - a friend brought those to me the other day, she thought i would want them...i really don't....it was a kind gesture so i took them. with limited pot space, i looked around and the only available real estate i had was the brug's pot...so i stuck them in there. its just some type of Echeveria, they just grow where you stick 'em. so honestly, they have only been in there a couple of days, i'm with you, i don't think they will grow well.
i'm going to plant some medditerranian (sp?) vinca in there, i think it will get along just well with the brug's watering/fertilization schedule. what do you think?
edited to tell yall-the sucker i got was a grimaldi, its rooting well and i'm excited!
(anyone i can pawn off some succulents to? :)
This message was edited May 10, 2005 12:41 PM
uh, yeah I'm a sucker for succulents. 8-)
hardy har :)
Wow Kell, I wish I were closer also.. Not just for the plants/suckers but for the possiblity of having 12 foot brugmanisa! sigh..I need to move someplace warm..
After reading this thread I bought a large Brug with two suckers. It already has blooms. I have three babies but have never been known for patience. I figure in Washington State I need all the help I can get. Soooo I will try to get up enough nerve to prune the suckers. Is putting them in water a good way? D:)Donna W
It's worked for me on my first 3 attempts this spring. 2 Peaches and Creams and 1 Dr. Seuss. In one week I had spiky nubs and put in small pots. By end of 2nd week I had white root tips at the drain holes and sent off to the proud new parents. Good luck.
8' Thanks for your reply. I will prune them today and put them on my kitchen windowsill. It's fun to watch seeds and starts there.
Hi Donna. I wait till my suckers are as tall as I want them. Usually at least 8 ft tall. Then I clip them off at the base. I first take the Y down to 1 or 2 Ys left, clipping the crown. Then I take off all the leaves except the ones at the very tips. I put it immediately in a 5 gallon pot. I make sure the stem is way down in the pot so it will put out a good root system along a good length of tree trunk. I then put this in total shade. I usually lean it against another tree so it stands up straight. I leave it like this for a month at least. By then, I usually see new growth from the growth tips.
Even if the top wilts, it should stand backup when it starts to root. If it wilts badly, I put a big, damp plastic bag over the top and secure it tightly. But I usually do not leave enough on the top to wilt. I don't water this pot until the soil is dry. You will rot it if you keep it too wet. If I must do something, I spray water on the top during the day.
Here is the top of one I did last fall and it rooted over the winter. This is the top of it if you can make it out. . It stands about 8 feet.
GOOD LUCK!!
that tree looks great, kell!
8' suckers??? I REALLY want to move to a warmer zone!
yeah but you can grow sanguinia.....i'd say its an even trade :)
Who can grow a sanguinea?? I have never tried. LOL
lol me neither Chele !
I'm looking for niki who has failed to simply acknowledge receipt of a brug I sent her. She is not responding to private email either which is where she approached me with the cutting request.
((((Blaine))))
I was given a healthy Sanguinea by a woman who lives here. I killed it (" it croaked on my watch")...go figger!).
There is chocolate and vanilla to everything...we have horrible mosquitos and terrible vog (volcanic emissions). You have snow and cold. I will take the vog!!! ;>)
for more info in twenty2libras http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/513715/
This message was edited Jun 7, 2005 11:42 AM