Well, I am going to pinch the top out of a branch and tie a piece of yarn around it so I know which one. These plants have a half a dozen branches, not sports, and they are all a couple of feet long.
Your poor plants look awful Sherry.
Jeanette
Monika's book regarding soil
Mabe you can take pictures so you can document it Jeanette.
I've been out all morning warring with the scaly bugs. I was soak and wet, was using the sprayer to hose them off. Works pretty good. Rj
Jeanette, thank you, lol, awful is way better than they started out, they looked nuked, how they lived, I'll never, ever know, someone watching over me!!! And, get this, nary a seedling was given anything but water, and tons of it, trying to neutralize the chemicals, for 8 weeks and 2 days, and, then I did 1/2 strength MicroMix for a couple of weeks, then added 1/2 strength fert, and that's still what I'm using - but, they were planted 2/22/05, and I have buds on quite few, and I hear many seedlings don't bloom at all the first year, so I've learned a very hard, disappointing lesson, but I really think I've learned enough to do it correctly in the future. There is no way I can do it organically, but oh how is wish I could...good luck on your experiment Jeanette - I do think that maybe the seedlings, with one stalk, put all their energy into Ying one stalk, rather that a bunch of stalks, I hope it works for you!!!
Well, darn it Sherry, you are making a case for me to take the top out of that yellow seedling x Kyles's Pink. I sure do want to see it bloom. Have to think about it.
Don't know rj if I want to let people know what I actually did. LOL
Jeanette
Hey y'all. Just wanted to say thanks for sharing all your info. I've learned a LOT. It's taken days to read through it all...and I'm still not done yet. :)
I only have one brug. Well, actually, I have brug cuttings...Frosty Pink. They are rooting in a bubbler right now. They'll be planted this week prolly.
Thanks again!
Heather
Jeanette, keep a backup if you top a special brug - I have no idea, if what happened to mine, would work under different conditions...
Hi Heathrjoy, don't do as I do, do as I say. Did your mother ever tell you that? Well, if I do pinch mine back it will be against everything I have learned on Dave's.
Purley an experiment. As I have said so many times, I have a very short growing season so I am trying to make the most out of what I have. I will try anything.
Will let you all know if I bite the bullet.
Sherry, another month and a half I will have to cut them off anyway so I might as well try it and if it doesn't work I will have cuttings.
Jeanette
Great to have you Heather!! My bubbler Frosty is going to bloom soon too and she was only put in the ground recently and is very healthy and put on buds quickly. You are in the magic zone 5a, so things should kick off for you quickly. Good luck!!!
OK.. You have intrigued me. So I went outside and cut the tips off of two brugs. One was a cutting that had two main stems coming off and the other was a seedling that I have four of. We shall see and I will update if anything cool happens.. or if nothing happens!
(am I weird?? I apologized to my plants as I did it)
I wish I could see in a pic one that is being pinched and where exactly...I may try it too lol call me stupie!
NOOOO don't, I have a complex!
Hugs
Julie
Oh, dear. Please keep in mind that what happened to my seedlings was a complete and total accident, I did not mean to break off the tops, it was done by chemicals and falling limbs. Last year, I raised seelings without the tops being broken and one Yed and bloomed considerably quicker than my topped seedlings, this year. I have all the topped seedlings I want, lol, and they have Yed and are covered in buds, so - I dunno. I do know that I will look forward to hearing what comes of your experiments. Good luck!!!
So, if I do as you say I'll live in a magical zone??? Now you're scaring me!
I don't think I'll be pinching yet. I'll wait till the jury is in first. My babies aren't big enough to experiment on or I would try. I don't know that I'll get any blooms this year, but that would be sooo nice. I'm just happy I have roots at this point!
Since I live in the boonies and can't get my hands on Promix (DH might flip if I suggest shipping soil), do you all think Miracle Gro potting soil would be ok? I use it for most everything else. It's about the best I have available to me. I've mixed my own before, but I think it's easier and cheaper to just use MG.
Of course, I do have a few volcanic rocks I brought home from vacation...I could just grind them up and add them to the soil and do my own experiemnt! LOL
Jazz, since you have four seedlings of one of yours be sure to pick one out similar size and do everything to it as you do to the one you clipped. That makes for the best way to compare.
Lurking,
sidney
Heather, Julie, and Punkin, please don't do anything we say. I told you, if you read my post, that this is an experiment. Wait until you have more than one of a kind and then try it.
Heather, your MG is just fine. Just remember that I think, check the bag, but fertilizer is added to MG.
Thank you Sugarweed.
Jeanette
LOL OK ok ok lololol You guys are making me laugh!!! I promise I won't do a thing....yet! But it really would be a help to see a play by play pic display of the plant, then the actual pinch, when and where at on the plant? lol
I'm game on a two of a kind brug, eh
Julie
Jazzpumpkin we're counting on you.
sidney
I'll tell you guys it too me a long time to actually get up the nerve, and it was when I had a lot of them so that I wouldn't be bereft of anything special. I usually wait till they are about 4-6 feet, and then only the very tip fleshy tip, about and inch or two, but as Sherry indicated, it seemed to work on a variety of sizes. My pict above is a plant with the pinch, where it Y's is where I pinched it. You can see the double Y's right after it Y'd.
Rj
I hesitate to say this, but one of my damaged seedlings has what I'm calling 'cluster Ys', instead of a plain ole Y, it's a three way Y, and they have Ys, amazing!! Jeanette is is oh so correct!! Last year was my first growing season, and just about every step I take is new territory. I see you lurking, sidney, join us, you'll have fun, we are just chewing the fat...
Well, I might find out sooner than I had planned. I went out tonight and found 2 of my brugs, not very big, but they were all wilted down so bad the leaves were wrapped around the trunks. I over-fertilized them. I started running water through them and tomorrow I will take them out of their pots and give them some fresh soil.
Anyway, I might pinch the tops out of them. I will have to see which ones they are. and how bad they are.
Will let you know. Jeanette
I think maybe the first branching after pinching isn't a 'Y' in the true sense.
Usually when it actually 'Y's there will be a bud set right there and in each successive Y.
Take just about any deciduous tree or bush and cut the trunk or a branch and it'll usually throw out a couple of branches right at the cut. A bunch of them in some cases.
So while the first growth after pinching results in a Y shape as the new branches grow out an angle. Your first bloom doesn't happen until that new branch acutally Y'd.
Still... if it accelerates the blooming phase and also keeps the blooms within range for easy enjoyment, then this will be very beneficial. Especially if you're short on space or don't have step ladders. I've got one I started from seed that didn't branch until 6'. Is now around 9' and has branched a couple of more times but hasn't set a bud yet.
I just pinched off about 1/2 to 1 inch of the top. Maybe I should have gone further? Anyway.None of my seedlings are the same height. They are all doing their own thing! I pinched the shortest one.. the middle one has already "y"d and is getting ready to bloom.. (I am soooo excited) And the third one is very very tall and no sign of "Y"ing yet though I give it lots of verbal encouragement. (Wondering where the fourth one is? Living with my Dad in Indiana)
Here is a pic of the one about to bloom... ignore the ratty flower bed. There used to be a tree here til last fall and the weeds are just BEEEZERK with all the sunshine!!
Makes sense Blaine....They can be such 'Tempermental Angels' at times .
Blaine the first part about 'there will be a bud set right there (in the first Y)', does not hold true here, but, man, oh man, I wish it did!!!! PF did do that, but several different Rosamonds/PBs, and others (I'd have to go look) have not set buds in their first Y, they tend to Y on the ends - I checked and that is the case with Golfito, sp, Frosty, unknown, CDW, EP, all getting close to their first flush, without buds in their first Y, and none of these were damaged or broken off. Golfito has some stalks with buds in the first Y, and some stalks that have buds, but NOT a bud in the first Y. Waddaya bet it's something weird going on here in Arky!
The 'bud at every Y' is more a reference to the book(s) than personal experience. I've got a goofy Sunray that Y'd into next summer but hasn't had a flower since it was 3' tall in the hoop house. Maybe Y at every bud under optimal conditions. Lemme see, thats Germany, California and Equidor or something, right? Guess that leaves me out. :)
I only have two plants to go by. My isabella has set a bud at every "Y" and so has my Pale Pink X that Gretchen sent me.
Nope, you are included, Blaine, zone 5a is magic, as well as zone CA, lol, but that is true, IMO!!! Here is a photo of an unknown, without any of the damage we've been discussing, and I hope you can see that there are several lower Ys, without buds, while upper Ys have buds...
Here is another brug, Golfito, sp, without buds in all Ys, getting ready for her first flush. The brug in the first photo, is also gearing up for her first flush of the season. Please forgive Golfito's dust, she didn't know she was having her photo snapped...
*For some reason I dated these photos incorrectly, they were taken today, 8/8/05.
Beautiful nails... now all the ladies'll want to know how you do that and play in the dirt too.
Yup, Sherry, I see it. Ys with no buds and buds on the upper Ys.
You know that cross I have from Kristi Datdog that I was telling you about, a yellow seedling x Kyle's Pink that is so husky. I just saw it has a sport about 18 inches long and a branch. Maybe I will pinch one of those. What do you think? which one?
Jeanette
'splaine sports to me - is it like a variegated brug that has suckers in a solid color?? What makes me think they often do not thrive?? I surely would like to see one - take a photo, I'd love to see it.
Thanks, re the nails Blaine. I don't wear gloves, except when working cement, but I'm always careful and protect my nails...
Im adding to this thread ..I know its long but I wanted people to know that I found a site you can order the volcanic soil.....
http://www.earthplusproducts.com/
Its called adzsumplus and at our local nursery it comes in a large bag for around 24.00...hes selling it to me for 20.00.....
hope this is what everybody is looking for....Judy
This message was edited Aug 9, 2005 7:29 PM
I'm seeing a main Y on the trunk and Y's coming off the main Y which is what they do from my experience in watching them. Hence, the buds are to be in and on the Y's above the main Y. Does this make sense? lol
Nice color too Sherry wooo hoooo, I'm lovin' that hot pink too!
Sports are what comes from the root and not on the actual plant.
Hugs
Julie
Thanks, Julie, my pics weren't the best, but that's how they generally look here. BTW, the brug that I identified as Golfito, sp, was actually Frosty Pink. I would love for mine to bud at all their Ys, they just don't do it often. I had an unknown that I don't like that does bud from all her Ys, but what a price to pay, her blossoms were not an attractive color and her leaves were blah. Oh, well.
Sherry, you and I are not on the same wave length when it comes to sports. You could be right but I don't know about verigated. Just like Julie said they come from out of the soil away from the main plant. Nothing to do with verigated and solids.
Now, someone else can come along and tell me I am wrong and I am sure they will be right.
Jeanette
I thought a sport was a plant that deviates, obviously, from the parent plant, and a variegated plant, having a solid green or solid white sport was the only one I could think of - but I've never had or seen a sport of any kind. What would be the kind of sport you are talking about Jnette, a green plant with an albino sport?? Maybe someone could help us and maybe show us a photo of a parent plant with a sport. I think I saw such a photo last year, but I don't, of course, remember the thread...
**I found a thread 'Mayasport', started by Ludger, and it has a photo or a sport, but I haven't read it, I have to walk my Golden.
This message was edited Aug 8, 2005 10:40 PM
You sure could be right Sherry. Where is Scoot when we need her? Or any of the other experts? I didn't know it had to be anything quite that complicated. Maybe mine is just a plain old sucker. LOL
Anyway, if it is a sucker, which would be best to pinch out? The branch or the sucker?
Bet that Golden cherishes those walks more than you do Sherry. I know them well.
Jeanette
This message was edited Aug 8, 2005 8:58 PM
You guys are so funny. You are solving the worlds brug problems on here. I had a great time reading thru this thread.
I think Jeanette you mean a sucker. That grows up from the roots and can be a distance from the main plant. It is identical to the mother plant. Suckers often make great standards.
Sports can be suckers also. My Maya suckered a sport here in this picture. But because this particular sport is without chlorophyll it is not doing much. It is still alive but not growing at all. A spot is genetically different than the original plant that grew it.
Lots of new plants are made from sports. The new Miner's Claim was a sport of Frosty. Lots of great coleus are from sports.
Judy, I emailed that site today wanting to know about shipping costs. The paper order slip said $4. I found that hard to believe. Thanks for sharing that site. I am game. LOL
Here is a sport on Brugmansia suaveolens - variegata. It is a branch that started to grow from a regularly patterned branch.
This message was edited Aug 8, 2005 10:39 PM
Thanks Kell, so Sherry was right. No, not solving the world's Brug problems, just having fun guessing more than anything. I hd some of those Maya's without any chlorophyl in them. Mine weren't supported by a mother plant and I threw them out. They were seeds.
Bet it took you a long time reading all of this thread. LOL. It has been a lot of fun. Especially meeting new people like rj, Emily, Judy, Sugarweed, Punkin, Heather and others. The rest of us, Blaine, Sherry, Julie and I have been around more. Also, we actually got Monika involved there once. LOL
Believe me if we solved all of the problems WE would write a book. LOL
ttyl, Jeanette
This message was edited Aug 8, 2005 10:14 PM
Kell,let me know what they say about teh shipping cost since a few other people are going to get the adzsumplus too.....that picture of the Brugmansia suaveolens - variegata is gorgeous....Judy