I am wondering what is causing my brug to look like this? I have been watering it everyday and fertilizing it 2-3 times a week with liquid miracle gro. It is in the sun most of the day could this be the problem?
Thanks,
Marilyn
What is causing?
Marilyn,
I'm relatively new at growing brugs so I can't be of much help, but maybe something is eating on it, either roots or leaves. Have you checked it over with a magnifying glass?
What about taking a couple of those leaves to your Cnty Ag Agent?
Judy
Hi Judy,
Yes I have checked it very carefully for bugs and have not found anything. I have also tried using epsom salts to help it get it's color back. It was doing real good until we started having the hight temps here in Florida. Maybe I am watering it too much, since I water it everyday when we are not have rain showers.
Marilyn
Does it wilt? If so that's why the leaves are dying. I have some brugs that I have to water 3 times a day, or they will start to wilt!!!
Does it get full sun all day long? Do you know it's name?
Judy
Marilyn, Since a few of my own brugs look like that and I live in FL too I would say it has 99% to do with heat. Some are in containers and some are in the ground. The young green branches seem to turn woody very quickly on some of these plants and it causes the leaves to turn yellow quickly and to fall off. .... did that make sense? Probably it's just a dog days of summer, fall is coming reaction that is normal for trees. My x candida pink tree looked like death warmed over by this time last year. She doesn't look all that great right now either. When cool weather comes you'll see new growth.
The ground looks really dry....is the water getting down to the roots? you might try to take a piece of ReeBar (sp?) and poke a hole into the ground...and pour the water down it.
Hi Vee,
Yes your answer seems about right. By the way I am just south of you in Fellsmere.
What makes it look so dry is that we had a tree cut down and ground up and some of the bark is all around the area where the brug is.
I don't have a name for my brug, got it at a nursery all I know is that it is white. It produced a lot of bloosms until we got a lot of rain and heat. That is when it started lookins so sad.
Marilyn
Marilyn you are less than 30 mins from me. We need to go nursery hopping sometime. :)
I sure hope your brug snaps out of it's temper tantrum real soon. My mom still has my dad's old Frosty Pink tree that is one of the worst for having only tippy top leaves as it ages. It is all wood. She will not part with it even though it is hideous. lol! That's love! :)
What is your fertilizers rating, the 3 numbers? Liquids tend to not have the
correct (too low) amounts for brugs.The leaves look small, or is it just perception?
I use MG too, but found that the liquids
leave them starving.My prefered fert. right now is MG 26-8-16
Also check your PH level of the soil if you can, Brugs perfer 6.5- 7.5.
Does the soil get real hot too? Some do not like to get hot near their roots.
top layering some mulch to keep it cooler might help.
Thank you for the info Dedda. Definitely worth heeding.
The brugs planted in my own ground get peat top soil and cow poop compost mixed in with the sand soil. Miracle grow , Peters , Osmocote or whatever I have on hand at the time is what they are fed. To date no leaf or flowering problems at all. Other than a few heat related issues they grow very well. I figure if it can't survive in my environment on my terms, and without alot of fuss, then it needs to go live somewhere else! lol!
One of my ground brugs does have the same symptoms as Marilyns. But it has had that problem since it showed its first flowers. I'm beginning to believe it is genetics. I don't believe anything will ever help this brug.
I have one other dork that I initially received as a gnarly skinny little twig smaller than a pencil. After a year it is still growing very slowly and is gnarly woody and ugly.
And probably nothing will help my dad's ugly woody tree except maybe to prune it the way Kell and some others do. It would be nice to save that one.
Yes the leaves are small. When I purchased the plant the leaves were a lot bigger. The liquid is 14-4-8 I also have used some time release MG which is 10-10-10 hoping this would help. I am inclined to think that maybe I need to use some kind of mulch as the plant is in direct sun. I am going to put some on and see what happens.
Marilyn
Marilyn, I do not claim to know ANYTHING about brugs, LOL, but I know what has worked for me & we are in the same zone. I have moved all of mine in full shade or filtered sun this year & they are finally thriving. Beautiful foliage & the flowers last so much longer!The ones that are in full sun always look so stressed and spindly here.
I wish I had a magic Jeannie that could blink a few mature shade trees into my back yard. I've never seen such a horrible state as FL to rip everything out of the ground to build new homes. They don't even spare one little tree. It takes years to grow a mature landscape. Shade is a rare commodity in developments that are less than 20 years old. My mature trees are in the front yard. The perfect place for brugs. Can't grow brugs there because I do not know if we have kids in the neighborhood that will eat them.
Amen PudgyMudpies! More shade is the way to go. Those of us with not enough shade can only hope for cooler weather soon.
Amen!
Fortunately, I'm in an older community, and have plenty of shade in my back, and in the three years I've been here, have added trees in strategic spots in the front for more shade as it faces SE.
I did have to have one removed after the cane last year, cause it cracked badly and threatened to fall on the screened lanai. I miss it!
We get very disheartened when we go for rides and see all the trees being downed for new structures, whether they be residental or businesses, and seeing that they don't even spare one, it makes me boil inside!
Marilyn, did you read the "Brug leaf drop" thread?
Your plant looks like it has lots of yellowing leaves & if it's not bugs then it's probably watering, not that I'm an expert but I was way over watering my Brugs. They were losing leaves daily, They were stressing, I was stressing, then I stopped watering! Until I saw the "I need water droop" I now know I can water mine every other day & have not lost one more leaf since. (except this huge one in a little pot & it needs water everyday.) It is hot here too.
Maybe you need to move to Calif. Where there are trees & no hurricanes!? LOL
Gosh BJ! Decisions, decisions!
Should we stay in Florida and take the chances of floods, destructive winds, wildfires, tornados, freak lightning, and being scorched forever due to life without trees? Or should we move to California and face Santa Anna winds, wildfires, mudslides, freak snow storms and severe drought and praying the whole time that our trees do not get swallowed by an earthquake ?
hmmmmm .... I need a few days to think about this one! rofl! :) :) :)
Ha! You forgot the cults and serial killers in California. Those earthquakes shook up their brain cells. That's their story and they're sticking to it.
Mary
Mary dear you are not helping me very much to make my decision ....
Cults in CA vs con artists in FL
CA serial killers vs FL child sex predators
The decision's getting harder!
......... and all because Marilyn's brug is a dork! lol!
Sometimes the leaves will yellow like that if they are getting too much sun. Some brugs handle it very well while others do better in part sun/part shade, and still others like all shade.
Kay
Vee,
I feel the same about trees and their demise at the hands of greedy developers.The only reason they cut down everything, it's cheaper to have it clear cut before starting.
Anywho, have you heard of the paulownia tree(royal empress)? It can grow up to 10 feet a year, beautiful flowers too.
Marilyn,
The osmocote fertilizers do not release enough or fast enough to make a diff.
I had lousy growth: small leaves, tons of leaf drop this spring-summer,of course no flowers
even with a double dose of time released. I started to feed twice a week with the MG 1 tbs p/g
and finally got buds after 4 weeks.First thing I noticed the leaves greened up, got bigger, stayed put after just a week.
Picture is of my oldest shrub, flowers opened after 6 weeks of switching fertilizer
I agree with it being a heat issue. My brugs look great each spring and fall, but during the summer nearly everyone (even those in the ground) look exactly like your picture.
I appreciate all this information. Friends gave us what they called an Angel Trumpet and said it was full sun. Looked it up and found references to both brugmansia and datura. II had planted it in full sun here in NC and after a couple of months became concerned b/c of the daily wilting even tho it was being watered daily. About 2 weeks ago it was moved to part sun/part shade and it's no better but no worse. Our weather has been unusually hot and humid, so I'm going to attribute it to that after reading your responses and quit worrying!
Greta
Thank you for all of your responses. I am leaning toward the possibility that because it is in full sun that has a lot to do with how it's looking. I have a couple of other brugs growing in partial shade and they seem to be doing OK. So it looks like I need to find a shadier spot and see what happens.
Marilyn