I live in N. Louisiana and bought a brug this spring for the first time, after reading so many posts from y'all. Now, I need to know how to care for it this winter as it's planted outside and too big to move. I've never seen a plant grow so fast. It bloomed well and now has more coming. It was labeled only yellow, so I'm not even sure what I have. Is there a link where I can learn about the care and feeding of it? I've read enough to know that it is a hungry and thirsty plant, but that's about all I know.
I have a green thumb and would love to acquire some of the different ones and some that have good odors. This one has no smell. Do people share cuttings? And, if so, may I get on the list?
TIA,
Pat
Brug care???? Newbie here...
Hi Pat! Here is a great link about what Monika suggests as far as fertilizer. She has been growing brugs for well over 25 years. http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/429533/
Im sure someone will come along and suggest more for you. I kinda just toss on them whatever I grab that day, usually 20-20-20.
As far as cuttings go, remind me come fall, and hopefully I will have a few I can send you.
glad i checked here. i had to look at the miracle gro i have in the garage. thatnks for the question, pat, and thanks for the link, shelly.
=)
annapet
Hi Pat, I wish I could give some advice about wintering your plant but I'm in zone 4. Hopefully someone from your zone will jump in and tell you how they overwinter.
Oops! I just put some Blooming food around the base...with a 55 middle number, and it's raining now, so I can't check the bag. But, seems I did the wrong thing for it. Hope someone comes along and helps me both with feeding and wintering it. Shelly, I'll do my best to remember to ask questions about cuttings, come fall. I have a greenhouse, so thanks for your offer. It's surely happy and growing good where it is.
Pat
The fertilizer you used isn't going to hurt the brug, but I wouldn't use it more than a couple of times during the summer. As Shelly said above, a good all around fertilizer will be okay, just remembering to keep the middle number no higher than the other numbers. I use whatever I grab also, but right now I'm using one called Cal Mag. The numbers are 15-5-15 on it. I've used yard and garden granular fertilizer on the ones I have planted in the ground. They really aren't picky.
I've read where others in your zone have success at winter them in the ground. In my zone, everything has to come inside. Wintering inside is pretty easy. Keep them above 40 degrees, very little water, and very little light or no light and they will go semi dormant for you. Start watering and feeding in February if you have the room to bring them into the light, and they will be on their way to making you happy another summer. Depending on how root bound they are, you may have to repot them while cutting off some of the roots. I'm sure others do it differently than I do, this is just my way of wintering them inside.
My favorite fertilizer is the Bayer's 2-in-1 systemic rose and flower food. I use a capful about once a month. It keeps off all the bugs and feeds the brugs nicely. Some folks also use a little epsom salts and even alfalfa pellets or meal, which is actually a horse feed. I always plant mine in Black Kow and bone meal and then start using the Bayer's after about 2 weeks in the ground. Monika has written the definitive book about Brugs; but it's in German. Maybe she will get a publisher here one day to print it in English.
pat, I got a lot of my different ones from members here. They share cuttings a lot later in the year...
Pat, I cannot remember where Minden is, but I do know it's south of me, lol. I'm in southeast Arky, an hour 1/2 from Monroe, 30 minutes from Greenville MS. My family is from LA, and I was born in the Quarter in NO, my family from there and the Franklington, Covington area. I suspect that what ever grows good here will grow for you. I'm a one year and a few months newbie, and I wintered my brugs in the ground the last two winters and they all came back in the spring, even two Versi Peach, who, I'm told, do not like cold weather. But that doesn't mean that next winter won't be a killer and they could all be lost. I like the same fert Brugie uses but I have to order it, I cannot find it in this area. If you do, PLEASE let me know. Good luck!!!!
I live in zone 6, but my daughter, who lives in zone 7, live about 1,000 feet lower than me (only 8 miles). She has mulched her brug heavily for 2 years and it comes back nicely. This year she built a greenhouse and it has been very vigorous. I think she has moved it back outside.
I take cuttings every fall and root them. They don't grow much as I don't have a greenhouse. So when I finally plant them out, they sulk for awhile and finally take off, giving me nice blooming in the late summer-early fall. It's worth the required patience.
I am 1 hour West of Monroe on I-20 and am going to leave it in the ground for wintering after hearing what y'all have said. Do I cut it down? I can mulch it well if that's what is called for...and it is just outside my greenhouse so it'll be warmed by that. I do want to get cuttings from it to share, but it's waaaay bigger than I'd want in my little bitty greenhouse...8'x16'. I keep clivias, etc. in it.
I need more information on it and Datruas which a friend has...she didn't cut hers down, didn't know to and it has had wonderful, frangrant blooms early this year on it. I WANT some of it!
Pat
You should cut it way back. It will probably come up from the ground and not what's left of the top unless you put a wire container around it and mulch it all the way to the top of the branches.
I have learned about cuttings here. If you take cuttings above the Y, you will get a shorter busier plant from them. If you take the cuttings below the Y, you will get taller, more tree-like plants. Some folks just leave the cuttings in water all winter, changing the water once or twice a week. But my Spring is cool here and so are the evenings in the Summer, so after mine put out good roots, I pot some of them (saving some in water just in case the potted ones don't make it). In that way, I get a better start on growth and hope they will start blooming before September. I don't have a greenhouse, so you can get an even earlier start on the cuttings than I do.
I can't help you with the daturas. I got some seed from a neighbor but they didnt germinate.
patdart, I don't cut mine down, but I do make cuttings for back up and I use my bubbler in the GH for that; however, this year, I'm going to use a bubbler inside my house as an extra back up and to see how it works, and just how small a space a bubbler can be housed. For those with really small places, I think you could stuff a garbage can with cuttings and put it in a small closet, turn on the bubbler and come back in the spring to pot up your rooted brugs. Might require a little more that that, but not much, I would think...I've forgotten where Minden is, is it near Junction City, Ruston, Shreveport???
what's a bubbler?
Pat, Datura is easiest from seed. I'm not sure I've heard of anyone having luck with cuttings of datura. One seedpod will probably have close to 100 seed in it. Snag some seeds and give them a try next year.
woodspirit1 - this site might help:
HYPERLINK@davesgarden.com]
I know there are other threads about bubblers and I'll try to find more. Maybe someone will come along and point you to others. Good Luck!!!
I see nothing but a blank e-mail with the address line filled in.
Sherry, wrong URL that is an email address.
Doris
Ooops, I'm sorry about that, it was a bubbler thread. I'll see if I can find it again...