The temperaturea are now getting now in the mid 50's here at night. What is the lowest temp brugs will tolerate? Mine are still blooming well, but looking a little sad and tattered. I want to get them inside before it is too late.
susan
Bring Brug in for the Winter
Frost will kill the leaves and a really hard frost/freeze will start killing off anything above ground. Last year I think I let a light frost take the leaves off and then I trucked the pots down to the basement and the plants became dormant. The seedlings that I hoped to have bloom were brought into the house when the nighttime lows reached the upper 30's. The versicolor ones can't take as cold weather, I think the 50's are about as low as they like to go.
Hope this helps.
Are you bringing them into the house? Basement? greenhouse? where are you taking them at? When do you guys usually get your first frost?
WE don't get ours till maybe the end of november, but I bring mine all into the greenhouse in October. It's just easier for me to care for them in one place, and they don't go through any shock or anything going from outside to the greenhouse. And they don't go dormant during the winter. It really depends on your circumstances & space etc...
It gets windy here early too, and they get beat up, lack of care makes the blooms fall off, so I usually tend to bring mine in early.
kathy_ann
I usually put mine in the garage for the two or three nights that we get our first frost and then it warms up for two or three weeks and they go back outside to the front of the garage. It's a lot of work, but it extends the bloom time for a while. This year, they aren't going to have another bloom flush from the way they are looking so I'm going to start preparing them to go into the garage for the winter around the first of October. Many will not be held over again. Physically, I just can't do as many anymore. I'd love to help people out by sending cuttings, but this year I can't do much of that either and two days ago I found that Vixen had SB. So, it will be safer for all that I don't send any cuttings this year. As far as temps that they tolerate outside, they will all take short periods of cold down to near freezing. Mine survive in the garage with long periods of about 35 degrees. My versi's always go into the shop where it is warmer. Just remember not to overwater them where they are very cool or cold. Little to no water is better than too much.
This message was edited Sep 19, 2005 9:37 AM
Okay. Dumb question here. I have at least 3 verisolor or versicolor hybrids. Low temps have been in the 50's since they've been outside and they've been doing find, but next Saturday low temp is 45. Is that too low of a temp to expose them to? High temp for that day is supposed to be 70f.
Shirley, so sorry to hear about the SB. Hope you're soon feeling better. Maybe it's a good thing that these brugs like to rest during the winter. It'll give you a chance to do the same.
Mary
I'm thinking our first frost is ususally around mid to late Oct. I am going to try moving a couple of the brugs into my kitchen in front of a very sunny southwest facing sliding glass double door. It would be nice if they would continue to bloom inside. I may take another one or two to the basement and put them in a cool room. Not sure if I can lug them down there. I planted them in 18 gal totes and added about 3 inches of gravel to the bottoms of the totes so they would not blow over. They are extremely heavy, so I may end up just taking cuttings. The other option would be to move my table out of the dining area and just turn that room into a jungle for the winter. It ends of being very full as it is with coleus and other things I bring in like Hibuscus.
Susan
Emily, they should be fine. Where I live the night time temp all summe is in the 50s. Now it can dip to the 40s even if the days are in the 70s. In the winter it often gets into the 30s at night. I have no trouble with any of my brugs usually until it gets to 32. Even to 28 degrees it just does leaf damage for it only lasts a couple of hours. On such cold nights I run out and tip my brugs over that are in pots and even throw sheets on them. But I have some tall trees in the ground that go up at least 15 feet and they are fully exposed.
I think I only have one versi, EP. Last year I left it out all winter and it was fine. Though I would prefer to keep it at the lowest 38 degrees or so. Though now that I think about it, I did have versi peach and orange for several years and never brought them into the hoophouse. They never even died back.
Im glad you said that Kell...Ive got big pots this year that have to go in and I was starting to get abit worried...the one I especially wanted to save was my versi peach...it sure did great this year....hopefully we have alot of time yet but the temps are abit weird this year and who knows whats goign to happen...Judy
Kell, that means I'll get to enjoy more wonderful blooms :) I'm just a newbie, but my brugs seem to like me. I think I have 6 or 7 blooming right now and most everyone else has buds.
Shirley, it breaks my heart when I read about outbreaks of SB. To see your beloved brugs come down with this dreaded virus is beyond sad. I've had most of my brugs for only 6 months or less and I would cry my eyes out if I found signs of SB on any of them.