I am getting ready to take cuttings from my brugs which have a lot of buds. I have never taken cuttings before and I am presuming I have to remove the buds but........I hate to get rid of the last blooms of the year. **SOB** Do I REALLY have to cut all those buds off or can I root the cuttings with blooms on them?
Buds on Cuttings?
NoH20 the way I see it you are not losing anything by leaving them on, that is what I am doing, my first year of Brugs, and when they get flowers, buds and seed pods and you have to cut them down because of weather it breakes your heart, pot them up and send up a Brug prayer *LOL*
Doris
I like your enthusiasm, Doris. But just to be on the safe side I hope some of the experienced brug growers will respond. LOL
I'm in the same boat as you. All of my brugs are covered in buds too, including the ones I'm going to take many cuttings off of.
I have lots of buds too, and I'm going to move all my potted ones into the garage when frost threatens, and hope they will still bloom for me. As for those in the ground, it's near Halloween. Why not cover them with sheets when frost threatens and enjoy them for a while. Generally we get about three frosty nights here in Iowa and then about three weeks of good weather. Frost won't kill them, but what they call a hard freeze (28 degrees for a few hours) will kill the tops. You could go ahead and take a couple of cuttings, strip them and pot them up. The rest of the plant outside, might just bring you a lot of enjoyment yet.
Thanks, Brugie. I have a number of people who I have promised cuttings to and I would like to send them cuttings now. Most of them have never grown brugs before and if it wouldn't hurt the cuttings I would love to send them with buds on so they could see (and smell!) a bloom in person now instead of waiting until next summer. That would be an excellent incentive to get them to take good care of their babies through the winter. LOL
This will be my second winter with brugs and instead of moving the pots into my garage I have decided to just winter over some cuttings. I really don't have enough room for the brugs AND the tree rose AND the plumbagos....and I think the brugs would be a lot happier in the ground instead of pots, even though the pots are large. I do intend to let the existing pots sit outside and bloom away until a hard freeze does them in.
Last year when I brought them in around mid-October I put them in a dim spot in the garage and didn't water them. 'Charles Grimaldi' proceeded to put out over 100 blooms in the next 30 days. I know because every evening I had to pick each one and compost it - the scent wafting through the house was too strong for my mother. LOL