Advise me friends! I have a variegated Brugmansia in its second year, in a 24" pot. It overwintered in the garage in a 90% dormant state. This year, it came out easily into leaf, had a flush of a dozen blooms about 6 weeks ago. In the last month, it has been dropping yellow leaves almost daily, and tonight I picked maybe 8 leaves off. It also has easily 75 -- 100 buds on it that should start blooming in 2 days, and be astounding by the weekend. I have 3 other brugs in similar pots that are growing well, but not with all these blooms - but they were transplanted at the end of the growing season, and are not quite as large. They have not lost any of their large, green leaves,, and just started their second round of buds, a more modest number than the varieg. one, maybe 10 days after it, as was true in the first round of bloom.
Anyhow . . . the one in question is well fertilized. It did do a little 1/2-day wilt a few times this year, but perked up with water, and has not done this in at least a month. It is in bright shade with a couple of hours of direct sun. Could it be dropping leaves as it puts energy into the flowers? The leaves do not look fertilizer-burnt. It doesn't seem root-bound -- I moved it up a pot size this year, and it can go a few days in the 90's before re-watering. Is this just normal leaf drop, as the plant expands? I don't do camera, or I'd post a a picture. I'd hate to go from proud parent to brug mourner in a matter of weeks. What's up, anybody?
Brug Leaf Drop
I have one with exactly the same situation, except it's in a 15 gallon pot. Will be watching to see if anyone can advise you. I'm hoping that it's just the spider mite infestation, but have already planned to take a cutting or 2 so I can start fresh if need be.
Eileen
I was just about to post the same question! My Species has buds galore, but the majority of the leaves are gone. It did this last year, but not so severely. It too is fertilized & otherwise healthy - also dormant for the cold months. Is there anyone that can help us?
Julie
What should I look for re: spider mites, Eileen? I doubt it, since the leaves are lost progresively up the branches, and the rest of very healthy. But maybe I am wrong.
Oh, I thought everyone has been tormented by the little beasts this year. I usually notice that the leaves look speckled and the undersides have a gritty look/feel. More advanced cases, you can see webbing and the leaves die, and the plant too if it gets bad enough.
I guess nobody can figure out why our mature brugs are having this problem, although mine is about to have it's 5th flush of blooms since spring - I guess it's not ready to croak, yet.
Maybe as the branches mature to a woodier texture, the leaves die off and fall? I dunno.
You should post photos when yours bursts into bloom, that will be a wonderful sight to behold.
Do any of you have pictures so we can better see the problem?
Sometimes the spidermite webs on lower leaves are hard to spot with the naked eye. You'll see the mites themselves but not the web. You'll find the webs along the leaf blade. The leaves will be yellow and have a billion teeny tiny specks of puncture marks.
Growing tip spidermite web picture.
I have not noticed them before, but I will certainly look very closely for them now! My other Brugs, especially a cross that I grew from seed, are attacked by these disgusting brown segmented mushy worms. They eat the leaves from below, & are very fragile. They also leave droppings - so much that you cannot tell the difference between the worm & the mess! You can see their heads moving as they chew. I learned my lesson the first time I squished one with my hands - Ick.
Julie - you live in GUILFORD?? 15 minutes from ME?? Wow..now I've found 2 people growing brugs nearby. We should get together Julie. Oh...and you will find plenty of evidence of those blasted spider mites at my house. LOL
Diane Krny
I can only speak from experience. My only variegated (Maya) drops the lower leaves and I winter over just as you do.
Mine started losing lower leaves about 2 weeks ago and conts. to do so. No mites and I just contribute it to the natural cycle of the plant. It's healthy looking and sure hope I get some more buds setting on soon.
Good Luck
Thanks, GardenGuyKing!
I looked closely for days at mine, and there are no mites, no more insect holes than other leaves. So, is it only the variegated plants that do this extensive leaf drop? I lose only an infrequent leaf on the others.
Peter
Peter, with our weather weve had I think the brugs are stressed this year but it sounds like all the energy is going to the flowers and the leaves are suffering...my isabella did that since it had over 50 blooms popping at the same time..the leaves just started to fall but now that the blooms are done the leaves are coming back in full force..good luck and hoping your plant does well....Judy
Mine were doing this too, I was over watering. They do the hot day droop, I just ignore them (it's hard to do) unless their top is sagging too, I do not water, once it gets cooler they come back. Since I have not been watering so much, there is less of the yellow leaf drop. I had a smaller very bushy plant that was dropping leaves daily until I stopped watering it, it's not dropped a one since. Good lesson learned. I now can tell the difference between lack of water droop & heat droop. I'll try to get pictures of both.
Bj
Looks like we have a nation wide epidemic!!
My PC and several others have been yellowing and dropping lower leaves. Or in the PC's case, dropping them out of the canopy since she's got a bare trunk.
I didn't consider insects for a minute because it's not a slow change. Go to work and come home.Poof, a new yellow one. Take it off and go to bed. Go out in the morning and overnight it's yellow and ready to drop. While the temps are not that different yet, the daylength is certainly getting shorter. Plants know this and I figured this might be their natural response. Just like the mums and asters have started budding up at the same time. Also a response to length of daylight. Otherwise they look the same as they have so I'm not sweating it.
No bugds at all, but I do have a saucer under this Brug. The others are all unaffected, so that could certainly be the reason. The new growth where the leaves have dropped off is lush & green, but the whole tree looks silly right about now. I will remove the saucer immediately! The sad picture of my Species...
Diane - sending you a hello email from a neighbor!
8ft , those sound like more likely causes (shorter days, too much water). Can't change the one but I can certainly let the soil dry out more before watering. Good suggestions, thanks for your help. My leaf-dropper is a tree form, woody trunk about 5 ft tall then a nice branchy canopy and that's where the leaves are pretty sparse. Good thing there are plenty of fragrant blooms to disguise the bare branches.
hmmm, if too much water can do that in ground.. maybe me and my hoser ways have contributed. ;) Oh well, they have flow with the program or hit the door.
That pink Brug has spider mites big time. At least that is what the picture looks like. It is hard to tell how different cameras take pictures. Hope you do something quick.
Jeaanette
Finally got some pictures! Heres the
"Please please, I need water" droop
The top stems are also drooped way over as well as the leaves all droopy.
(At least as far as my Brugs go, anyway)
Bj
Next pic, just needing some shade
This pic is a droop also but not the lack of water kind more the
"I need some shade" Droop
The top leaves are still erect & the branches are not drooped.
I don't water at this droop.
Actually I only water every other day & most of mine are in 5 gallon containers a few are in the ground, they droop the same as the containers. I try not to let them do the water droop, just water on a regular schedule.
Bj
Those are great pictures. A valuable lesson on "when to water"... I confess that I have watered at the 'I need shade' droop before. Since I quit watering the one in the 15 gallon pot so much, it quit putting out yellow leaves.
I have watered at the "I need shade" droop also.. But the odd thing is.. The only brug that droops for me is the one that is IN THE SHADE!! It is close to some mature spruce trees so I figured there was less water.. it always perks up when I water it
I'm fairly new to Brugs & this has been a good lesson this year,
I am so prone to water everything droopy that I have a tendency to over water a lot of stuff.
So far so good, I have slowed the leaf droop way down.
Most of my older Brugs are on a drip system & some don't need as much water as others, I pull out the emitter 1/2 way through watering (if I'm here) So it only gets 1/2 the water. They are doing much better. I just can't go out there in the heat of the day & look at them drooping! LOL
Bj
This is amazing. Thanks for the very clear pictures, Bjs.
I was talking with my wife, who sees the plants more during the day. She points to one of our plants that droops daily in the midday sun. She only waters if it doesn't perk up when the shade returns. Fits your observation.
Perhaps it follows that those brugs that droop when not exposed to the sun are entering into an "I need water" stage, and therefore don't drop leaves when watered right away.
Still, there are times when the one that droops in the sun, as well as the varieg. brug I started the thread discussing, do not droop in the sun; so the partial droop has to be related to water needs also, don't you think?
Brugs also do something I call "fall leaf drop" it happened in TN both outside and in the greenhouse and it happened in TX. I don't think temps have that much to do with it, but more the daylength. After seeing it happen every year about the same time, I decided it was normal.
Well, the apple tree is dropping some yellow leaves too and I realized that's normal for it in late summer. So it makes sense that other plants would do it too.
Thanks for the photos - they explained a lot! I have seen the "I need shade " droop on a daily basis, & it perks up as the sun goes down. Very helpful - keep up the good work!
Valuable thread!
My brugs that are in the ground do so much better than the ones in pots......they don't droop nearly as much, if at all, except for 'Whiskers', and she is under a tree, with dappled sunlight.
I agree, it depends on the time of year and so many other factors play a role.
I'll be happy when the cooler weather sets in, so they can do their thing.
The oppressive heat this summer didn't help at all!
BJs, I over treated 2 of my brugs and they looked just like that one. The leaves actually wrapped themselves round the trunk of the plant before they fell off.
I forgot I had given them the Bayer 2 in 1. Got interrupted and dosed them again. I use this for the spider mites. I took all of the affected leaves off and ran a lot of clear water through them. They are coming back real good now.
Also, if you overwater plants in pots, remember you can use Hydrogen Peroxide on them. Or Oxygen Plus.
Jeanette
Jeanette, can you tell us the ratio of hydrogen peroxide to water? And what's Oxygen Plus?
I have used the Hydrogen P. It did save the plant.
Is it one teaspoon to a gallon of water? No, 2 1/2 teaspoons to a gallon of water is what I have written in my rememides notes.
I didn't notice the "fall leaf drop" until way late, nearly winter here last year. I do hope they contunue to bloom in the cool of fall. I have lots of tiny buds but it doesn't seem like they are doing much.
Bj
Jnette, can you explain how the hydrogen peroxide works?
Peter
My leaves are doing the same, I think it's just what they do this time of year.
Peter, I think the peroxide adds extra oxygen to the soil.
Thanks Linda - That makes sense with the oxygen molecules. So, the leaf drop may not be from too much water, but too poor drainage. And of course, a plant in the same pot, or with the last year's root ball put in a new larger pot, could have trouble breathing. I am thnking that when dormant, it would be good to clean the roots of an older plant and start with new soil or potting mix. And maybe include coarse sand or small gravel. I am going to try it with my variegated brug this winter, or maybe all those now in pots! Come to think of it, this may be why I have lots of yellow leaves developing at the bottom of an older tropical hisbiscus in a pot, which is otherwise quite healthy!
I intend on doing the major project of root pruning my Brugs next Spring, after they come out of dormancy from Wintering in my cellar. I know it will help them greatly. I mean, how big a pot can you FIND? And awfully hard to lug around too! I suspect next year will be much better for blossoms as a result...
JRush - Talk about lugging big pots! The new, synthetic ones are nice; clay is totally impossible in the mega sizes, and I don't usually see anything bigger than 24", which is probably 15 gallons. Anyhow, to root prune, you naturally have to clean them off, so it sounds like you advocate doing both, refreshing the soil and containing the plant's roots to prevent root constriction. I guess you can't fool mother nature, and try to grow a real Brug tree where you can't keep the plant in the ground! Dagnabit!
Linda - Do you find that you have to frequently put the peroxide into the water when leaf drop starts, or does once or twice do it?
Peter
PD. Geeze I know what you mean about lugging pots. I have 2 of mine in 15gal pots & they are probably 11 ft tall. I'll have to prune those to get them into the GH.
I need to get the others into larger one too. Yikes!
Bj
Can this root pruning & maintenance of the same pot size continue forever? Or is there a point where the plant will suffer from having its roots "abbreviated"? I do enjoy the Brugs - I do hope to be able to keep a few on hand. Is there a time when it is better to begin anew with a seedling, rather than keep up the root work with a mature plant? I don't know how I would ever trade out such big plants - if I had to find them new digs!
My guess is that one keep them going a long time, like giant bonsai. But I haven't tried. However, don't think about seedlings, if you ike what you have. They root easily from cuttings, either in water or soil, during the winter and can make great plants the very next year.
JRush - 11' trees in 15 gal pots. Wow! Good thing our garage has plenty of head room.
Peter