Hello friends.
I'm no stranger to the bubbling buckets and keeping/starting brugs in them BUT... I've never plucked them out of the ground and put them in bubbler's before. Do I merely wack them off at the ground and treat them like a cutting or rinse off the roots and then put them in the bucket? How far should I go with the pruning? I feel like such an idiot fot not having all of this figured out by now. I may need a few buckets to hold these babies too. Putting shorter stems in to root is 1 thing but when I plopped those 2 TREES in the bucket...Well Itsa whole different deal than rooting little stems.
BTW, We can have a frost with temps above freezing if I recall correctly, can't we? I can't believe how forgetful I am today and feel pretty ignorant for not being able to remember all of this myself.
LOLOL I've been telling my wife how we were going to do this then this morning the weatherfool told us about 30 degree weather COMING NOW, well we began to pannick. So my lovely wife asked how we were going to go about this. With out expecting her to take any action that SECOND, I turned around to see her grab 2 brug stalks and just rip them out of the garden like some giant! LOLOL I kid you not, my jaw is still hanging close to the floor. I was incredibly shocked to see how easy she made it look and the roots were very thick, just weren't spread out too far. I have several more to pull up and I thought I'd ask here so you folks would put my mind at ease. I know I'm over-thinking this way too much;) I think I'm in shock due to this cruddy and entirely too early cold spell.
Tis the life of a gardener I reckon;)
JD
This message was edited Oct 5, 2005 5:18 PM
HELP me w/ storing in bubblers 4 winter please
well I had to start getting mine ready for cold weather also. I am digging up most of them and planting in pots, the ones I am taking cuttings from go into the Bubbler untill they get large nubbies, or roots, then pot them
I've got some seedlings that are 8-10 ft and have just started to Y. I plan to cut them about 5-6 ft from top and have a tall cutting for next year. I'll probably take another cutting or 2 of the lower part of the stalk in cast the tall cutting doesn't make it. I remove all but the top leaves and stick a wooden toothpick in the bottom of the cutting to keep it from resting on the bottom of the container. This is the method I used last year and it worked well for me.
The ones that are not too tall for the gh, I will dig and pot up. I think they can take a light frost but not a hard freeze. I think some people let the frost get the leaves and then remove them before putting in the gh so that they don't fall all over the floor.
I can't decide if there is anything to gain or loose by leaving or removing the roots on the plants in the buckets. I pruned the roots way back and I kept the smaller branches for back up cuts too.
I guess I'll watch the roots and see what they look like over the next couple weeks. Time will tell I'm sure.
Thanks for your input!
JD
I have kept brug cuttings in water for the winter and they have done fine without potting them up...this helps with space I dont have for potting them up ...I have even had a few left in the glass of water for over 6 months and they still do fine when I pot them up...Judy
JD, I've never heard of bubbling a plant ('-'?) only cuttings.
I would think since the plant grows with its soil roots , that plunking it into water it would drown/rot and suffocate from the lack of air it is used to.
I do not use bubblers now. I tried it last winter but it's not for me.
I have no problem with changing water to keep it fresh and this way I get to see what is going on every time I do so.
With a bubbler , rot could sneak up on you and the bacteria will infect everything in the container including the air stone.
I much rather use the tried & true hands on methods , getting better results after all.
I was asking as I know there are quite a few people in this forum that store brugs this way. I have done it with cuttings for months on end with no problem. I was just hoping to do it with my bigger plants as I haven't the room for all of them potted.
I have a bunch of interesting observations of what you can do with an airstone in a bucket of water or a mild maxicrop/superthrive mixture. Last winter I was sent a bunch of brug cuts so I had the bucket set up and I never took it apart. I moved it out onto the deck during summer until just last night. Having this bucket sitting at the ready enabled me to store pieces of all kinds of plants until I got around to cutting them and putting them in cubes and the like.
I was lazy with a few branches and never got around to removing them from the buckets. I've had a Charles Grimaldi branch I pruned off in there since June and it has been blooming and thriving oddly enough.
I thought for sure with summer heat and the like that disease or rot might create a problem but it never did happen.
From being lazy and/or unorganized, I ended up leaving branches of hardy and tropical hibiscus, passifloras, coleus, moonflowers and others in there thinking I'd plant them or cut them up into smaller cuts eventually. Much to my suprise, they're still in there today. All have rooted like you wouldn't believe and I don't know what I'm going to do with them all. I may end up killing off many but this ended up being an excellent accidental experiment.
When the outside temps were up in the upper 90's, i thought many of the plants would suffer from some kind or root rot or other problems. Everything continued doing great. I can't figure out why mosquito's never bred in there or why the water never got even slightly bad. I never changed it out, just topped it off every few days and occasionally added some superthrive.
What's my point? Well I don't have 1. This was just an observation of what happened after my brugs rooted well enough to hit the yard.I was very suprised to see what all kinds of plants were able to not only root in those conditions but actually grow and bloom with practically no nutrients. I won't bank on this method for rooting my passiflora's etc. as rapid rooters are still my favorite for most every cutting.
I was just hoping to find some of the "Bruggies" in here that use this method for storing brugs and see what they recomended I do. I guess I'll just plop them in there and hope for the best.
Thanks for all the input guys;)
JD
Here is a pic of my experiment. Im taking Judy and some others advice and using the airstone/water method to overwinter my brugs. Im really new at this, so wish me luck! I have 4 brugs outdoors still blooming or about to bloom at any moment. After it starts getting too low of temps outdoors I will hack them up and into the bucket they go.
JD, I love bubblers, work like a charm for me, or have since I started using them last year, I've been bubbling all summer in glass, see through, containers and i really love seeing them root, seeing if the water is really clean, how they are doing and growing, etc. I've never changed the water in a bubbler, just add to and I do get evaporation and add water more often in the summer than winter. Changing the water is a problem for me - when I have the cuttings in the GH, I forget to check them and I don't like working with and emptying the water in the freezing winter. I use different bubbler lines for smaller containers, rather than three or four large containers, and this way, I can separate cuttings. I use H202, 35%, and a small amount of SuperThrive. I use H202 on my bubbler stones and adding the H202 to the water helps too. The bubbler has made me look like a pro - before the bubbler, nothing I rooted ever worked...and, I LOVE trying new stuff, and watching the bubbler, without emptying the water was a brug saver for me when I was unable to walk after I broke my ankle and could not take care of changing the water by myself. Good luck, JD - I KNOW you will figure out some bubbler stuff I've likely missed, so PLEASE keep us updated!!!
BTW, I have four pumps and bubbler tubes every place, looks like a mad horticulturist lives here and when my non gardening pals see my setup they think it's difficult and amazing, like I know what I'm doing, lol, and I'm enjoying every minute...except for the swarming Western Flower Thrips, the chemical over dose, the ant granule defoliation, the wind and hail damage, ugh, all in one season, whew!
Teresa and Sherry ,
You missed JD's point .
JD was asking about pulling up an established plant , rinsing the roots and keeping it in a bubbler.
Everyone has done cuttings ;-P
I have reread the posts here and my thoughts on taking a plant and putting it in water for the winter makes me think of rotting roots too..its different when you are taking a cutting and starting with so called water roots...Im not anyways close to being an expert so its just my thoughts...and Theresa you will not be dissapointed with using the bubbler with your cuttings..I would even say you dont need a bubbler but it will help if by chance you ahev green cuttings...Judy
Yes JD, the bubblers really work good. The cuttings root so fast I can not believe it. I have never had them do that before. But I do use the peroxide also. And a little Superthrive.
Sounds like I'm baking a cake doesn't it? Lol. Hope I like it as well in the spring when it is time to think about potting them up.
Jeanette
Well The bigger brugs I put in the bubbler look dreadful and limp. I forgot to bring the bucket indoors overnight which totally defeated the whole purpose of this all. The brugs that are still in the ground or in pots all look just fine despite having patchy frost last night.
I guess I knew the foliage on the big brugs in the bubbler would die off soon and be replaced by new. I'm just going to treat these like new giant cuttings. The favorites I have in the ground will be potted up today and I'll put a few others in the buckets.
I'm so sad about the years weather from spring to date. It had a major negative effect on everything. We suffered 2 incredibly late freezes in early spring and now having such early frosts. It's almost unheard of to my recolection. The entire month of August is usually brutally hot and dry. This year we had more rain than ever and so many cloudy days that made mold/mildew conditions so prime and they took over like nothing I've ever seen. It was an exceptional year for butterflies but that resulted in record numbers of very hungry catapillars. I have to chock this whole summer up to a sad loss and big learning experience. Now I'll just begin to prepare for next spring and keep on keeping on;) It's so hard when I look out back to see mere skeletons of what should be beautifully full flower beds and bushes. LOL Tis life I spose.
Thanks everyone. I'll keep my bucket experiments going and keep you all informed of progress.
Jeff
Hi JD, What I did was cut the tree brugs off at the soil, or just above a little, and put the brugs in the bubblers then put the potted roots in the basement and will water once in a while. I have never tried bubbling rooted plants. I have a 3 to 4 foot Harrinhauser-Garten that is in the ground and I am going to dig that and put it in a 3 gallon pot. and bring it in.
The plants that were in the ground and 6 or 7 foot tall I cut off at the soil and bubbled. I will put some straw over the roots but I am in zone 5 and don't hold out much hope for them. They are too tall to dig and pot up and keep that way.
What you want to do is experiment just like what I and a lot of others are doing. I do not see anything wrong with what you want to do. That is no different than cutting them off and rooting them. Do use a bubbler, some peroxide, and a drop or 2 of Superthrive.
Whatever you do, keep notes for next year. LOL
Jeanette
Jeanette, Ive been asking around about chopping mine in pots to about 2 feet and somebody said that I would have troubles getting it to bloom next year..any thoughts?....Im zone 5 and always brought mine in , never had them in the ground ...I chopped my huge madeira and there are tons of cuttings...its got about 8 stems coming out of the pot..Judy
Judy, I'm not Jnette, but I bubbled up lots of cuttings last year, broke my ankle and did not get them potted up until very late - a few flushed, but the majority were slow to bloom, as are the majority of my brugs wintered in the ground, all of which made it through the winter. So, this year, soon as I get roots in the bubbler, I will pot them up in 1 or two gallon pots and the minute it's permissible, weather wise, I'll get them out and hopefully have earlier flushes. Like Jnette said, play around with it to find out what works best for you. I don't think there is a right or wrong. Good luck and, please tell us what you learn and how your bubbling goes...
Judy what is a Madiera? You have at least a year ahead of me Judy, so the only thing I can say about your wanting to cut them at 2 feet is that you will probably get green trunk instead of woody and I have a real problem rooting greenies. The woodies seem to root real fast.
I don't know about not blooming next year 'cause this is my first winter with plants. All of mine were cuttings last year.
Jeanette
Sherry, what are you going to do with your plants that you pot up as soon as they get roots? Do you have a well lit place to put them? I was reading Monika's thread a couple of days ago and she said the regular lights (can't think what they are called) were useless so to just leave them in the dark for the winter. Or will you be putting them in your greenhouse for the winter? 'course you don't take yours in until December do you?
That is still a lot of heating for the winter. Jeanette
Heres a Madeira Jeanette.....and Ive chopped before but not this much....im sure it will fill out and be alright and yes it is experimenting time....Judy
Yep, I winter all my brugs in the ground, I've never lost one, but they could all go this year, it's a crap shoot. If I cut my cuttings Dec 15, like I did last year, they didn't start rooting as quickly as they do in the summer because of the cold. They were in my GH and ready to be potted up when I broke my ankle Feb 11, and I didn't get around to potting up for several months, causing the late flushes, AND I stupidly potted them up in HUGE pots. Will not make the huge pot mistake again, because, it's written in the wind that I cannot grow brugs except in the ground. So, I did all that giant pot potting for nothing. This year, maybe in Feb, assume my bubbler cuttings are ready, I'll pot them up in the 1 or two gallon pots. I believe it is suggested that the get two months down time, but I'm not positive about that. I do know that some of the zone CA and zone FL guys keep them growing all year round. Just to make sure I don't try the giant, 20 gallon, pots this year, I gave them to my neighbor, whew!!
She is pretty, Judy!!! You are in the magic zone, you will be able to grow all of the truly beautiful brugs and it looks like you are well on your way, congrats!!
Sherry, You live in zone 8a and you leave your brugs outside until Dec.? Hhhhmmmm. I'm in 8, not sure if it's a or b and I'm watching the thermomator like a hawk waiting to see how long I can hold out. I've still got quite a few still blooming and I'd love to think they will still be outside the first week of Dec. One thing that might make a difference only 2 of mine are in the ground and everything else is in pots. So I may have to watch the smaller pots a little carefully.
Should be interesting
Robin
Robin, I winter all of mine in the ground. I take cuttings of special brugs for the bubbler, to root as backups for myself, and others for my pals, at the midnight hour, watching the weather like a hawk, and last year our first HARD freeze was Dec 15. We generally have cool nights, warm to hot days, from now until at least Dec, tho we have had snow in Nov. So, it's a crap shoot and I won't make a move until I'm forced to do so by the weatherman. I'm really interested in zones Robin and I find it close to impossible to believe that you, in WA state, share my zone 8a - just knocks me over. When do you generally get your first hard freeze?? I might not be able to read your reply tonight, but I am very interested...I love the zone thing...
Sherry, Robin is my daughter. She lives in, just south, of Seattle so she is close to the water. Hence the zone 8. Whereas, I am inland across the mountain range, hence the zone 5. That is why you are confused.
Robin and I have been kicking this zone thing around forever. Still haven't got it figured out. LOL
Jeanette
Judy your Madiera is beautiful. Whatever you did worked.. I don't know where Sherry gets that "Magic Zone" for us zone 5ers. I would trade it in a minute for a zone 8 or even a 9. LOL
If you cut your plants back to 2 feet, bubbeling the top 2 feet, is that what you mean? Well then you should have enough left to get a cutting from maybe a woody part? As you can tell I really do not like green.
But that would be your backup cutting Sherry was talking about.
Jeanette
Sherry, I haven't ever really paid all that much attention to when we get our first hard freeze as I've never grown anything before that I had to watch so close. Surley there is someone reading this thread from the Seattle/Tacoma area that can give you a time on this. I can tell you this. Before last winter I put 2 brugs in the ground just for the heck of it. I wanted to see if they would come back the next year, which they did. I do remember though at one point thinking that maybe they wouldn't die back at all because it took them so long to die back. I didn't remember that till just now. The more I think about it the more I realize that the worst of our winter is usually late Dec/Jan and early Feb. At least that's the way it seems to me. So Dec. 15th might not be so unrealistic as I first thought. Well, I have a good outdoor thermometer and a lot more than the two brugs I went through last winter with so you can bet I'll be watching close this year. So far we've had some 37 degree nights but then last night and the night before it was 47 and 51 over night. I'd love for it to stay in that range for a couple more months. :)
Robin
In fact Sherry, I haven't looked at Karrie's zone but she should be either the same as mine, zone 5, or zone 6. I think they might be a little bit warmer down there. She is about 85 or 90 miles South of me.
Robin, there are a few people I can think of right off the top of my head that are in Oregon and close to your zone. Should be the same. Look at the thread Culebra and Cypress Garden. Those guys on there are in Oregon I think. Also Rikerbear is in Seattle.
I dig my brugs up, cut them back to 5-6 nodes, trim off the smal roots, rinse the roots, pour diluted hydrogen peroxide over the roots, then place them in one of my bathtubs with a bubbler in it. Here is a link to the post last year that talks about it.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/467990/
It worked very well and I did not lose any of my plants. When it warmed up I potted them up and watered sparingly. New roots developed quickly and many of them bloomed every six weeks starting in the late spring. One plant I have is 5 years old and has a trunk 5" wide. It was overwintered by laying on it's side in the greenhouse, covering the roots with soil and watered every once in a while. Another was in a bucket of water in the greenhouse, which stays around 40F. No bubblers and the water was changed by sticking the hose in it and letting it overflow. They did just fine but probably would not do my named brugs like that. This works well for me because I can store lots of plants in a small space and don't have to schlep around big heavy pots. Good luck! The picture is how the brug laid on it's side looked in the summer of 2004, it is bigger this year.
Loretta
This message was edited Oct 8, 2005 8:49 AM
Loretta that is very interesting and makes me wonder why, if I'm going to put things in bubblers anyway, I'm going to whack them off. May as well just do roots and all. I'll have to think on that one.....
Robin
Robin cuttings will last all winter where with rooted brugs you have to fight the bugs..cuttings rooting in water will not get bugs...Ive done it for a couple years now and the water roots do fine potted up....Judy
Loretta, thanks! That is some more info I really wanted and at the right time to boot!
Update on the bugs I pulled up with roots and placed in buckets. They look awesome today! Yesterday, they had gone totally limp and I almost wrote them off. I brought the buckets indoors overnight due to frost and woke up to all kinds of perky plants;) On the other hand, I brought in countless spiders and 2 wickedly noisey crickets that chirped all night long beside my bed! LOL Luckily the unusual cold spell has passed and I can move everything back outside for another month. This will allow me to get more organized etc.
Thanks for all the great info guys!
Jeff
I take all the leaves off mine and cut back to 5-6 nodes above the second tier of Y's as long as they are at least semi-hard. The leaves will not make it anyway as I am not using any grow lights. Make sure you prune off all the fine, hair roots. I can smell the rooted end of my plants and tell when they need to have some H2O2 (the miracle liquid) added to the water. By the end of the winter you will not have a big mass of roots. Last year I did not have problems with bugs in the greenhouse. It was pretty cold and there was not much to eat. lol The ones in my bathtub inside had no leaves so bugs were no problem. Best of all is I get a whole season of blooms.
This picture of L'amour was taken in mid June 2005.
Loretta
This message was edited Oct 8, 2005 5:49 PM
