Is a Y when the plant splits and stops growing up and grows sideways or when it gets a side shoot from a leaf node ?
Is a Y when that side shoot splits 2 or more directions ?
" Y 's " ?
Yes to the first part of your first question. Side shoots don't count, but you might find many of them will Y and bloom too. So, when that side shoot splits and makes that directional thing happen (Y), and the leaves become uneven, one side longer than the other, buds will soon follow.
I created this page for a friend. You might find it useful.
http://www.xeramtheum.com/mysteriousy.htm
Xeramtheum
Edited to update the link
This message was edited Aug 17, 2006 6:54 AM
Nice page zeramtheum.
Sub-leafs , as they are called , can take on different shapes so check for any uneven leaf with a short stem side.
I have had some with the short stem side and the rest of the leaf was round ;-o
Sub leafs indicte the blooming hormone has become present and could appear before a Y or just before a bud appears.
Thank you , that's what I wanted to know .
Next question -- will dead heading make it " Y " ?
Thanks, X, for that page! Good info for a newcomer like me. I keep looking (4-5 times a day???) for signs of a bud, now I know what to look for.
I call them sub-equal, Scoot, but I didn't want to confuse anyone, so I left the terminology out. As for dead heading helping them Y, I don't think so. They have already Y'd if they have blooms to dead head. If you are talking about pinching them back...you don't want to do that. It will just take longer for them to Y if you pinch.
WOW Xeramtheum, too cool. And perfect too. Pictures are so much better than words. I love it. So Word lets you do all that colored overlay? I have decided I want a garden website of my own. Do you know anyone who does great websites? My son has promised but I fear he will never have the time or inclination. It was to be payback for sending him 4 years to Stanford for his computer degree. I think I was cheated. LOL
I was talking about pinching them back - sorry bout that - I was thinking they were the same .
Xeramtheum - MUCHAS GRACIAS for that link!!! I'm new to Brugs too and had read about "the Y" but was clueless. Now I know what to look for. I'm running out to the patio to check my new Brug now!
Betsy
Thanks everyone .. I hope you dont mind Brugie and scooterbug that I amended the page with your information about leaves. If you do, let me know and I'll remove it.
Kell, If you have Word, just go to New under File and pick the Web Page Wizard. If you are good at tables in Word then you are miles ahead .. it makes it simple to put text and picture where you want them using a table. If you use a lot of pictures, just make sure you reduce your pictures to no more than meg in size or your web host will get surly.
X
That is helpful! Thankyou X!
X if you would like for your wording to be botanically correct you would use:
Asymmetric - Lacking symmetry, e.g., the two halves of a leaf blade not alike.
Symmetric - The two halves of a leaf blade are alike
Tony, unfortunately pinching them back does not promote flowers sooner. The plant grows until a trigger within it tells it that it is time to begin lateral growth (Y) and flower. If you pinch the stem back before the lateral growth begins the plant will then have to make new upward growth in order for that trigger to kick in again. You might have to wait even longer to see flowers than if you had not pinched it.
Thank you - Vee8ch - Since I found this site , I generally ask before trying something .
Now to try to figure out how to convince plant it's time .
Unfortunately I don't have enough of same plant to try different things .
I was given 3 Rosemont to make standards from and I think I'll leave one alone and " play " with other 2 .
Any suggestions ?
I think I'll try the rolled up newspaper thing - [ Before someone asks - you roll up a newspaper and hit the trunk of plant , I do this on my Apple [ golden deli ] , plum [ newbrina ] , and yellow peach [ it died this year - too much water/rain ] .It makes the tree think it's being attacked and produces more flowers / fruit . BUT - BUT - BUT - it makes lemons , oranges , plomelows [ sp ] and white peach taste terrible .
The plant produces more flowers and chemicals to ward off the attack . The thing is too know which plants think it is storm damage and which ones think bugs / cows / deer are eatting it .
Sorry , I don't remember where or even when I read it , but it was at least 15 years ago - I destroy / killed a cherry tree with it .
Tony, Messanger would be kinder! No need to beat it into submission or risk loosing it in the process. LOL Sounds like an 'old wives tale', not always a good thing.
I just got messenger 2 weeks ago . I sprayed with GA-3 the day before it came so last monday I sprayed with messenger .
Friday I hit them with mighty plant - I made up a gallon of mighty plant for roses and had a half a gallon left after doing roses and citrus , so I just kept going till I ran out .
Where I live I can't really set up a schuel [sp]. I have to do it when there's little or no wind .
Funny about beating the trees Tony lol! I don't know anything about that. My husbands cousin Billy in Colorado Springs has the biggest nursery that I know of in East Colorado (Colorado Springs). He grows acres and acres of gorgeous trees and perennials. Every spring he would first transplant his seedlings and cuttings by banging the flats many times on a hard surface. He said he was waking them up. ??????? Maybe it had alot to do with breaking up the root balls that were probably pot bound? Anyway that is something my husband always did in our own nursery even though he didn't really completely understand why! :) His trees and stuff were gorgeous too but I kinda doubt banging them around was the reason .... but who knows? Maybe there is something too it.
I think it would be a fun experiment to take 2 brugs, pinch one and don't pinch the other. Or beat one and don't beat the other rofl! Hope you get a chance to try it and you'll let us know what happens.
I wonder if there is a law against Brug beating? LOLOL!
If there was a law against brug abuse they would have arrested me a long time ago. Neglect, no food, no water, cutting off appendages, stripping them naked, calling them names, letting the bugs eat them, ripping them out of the ground by their little heads ... you name it ... I'm guilty ... hee!
I've been looking in my books , made it thru 4 so far but keep getting side tracked . Last one was about beating plants and catching the bugs in trays to count and ID them .
Yea I know .
The organic gardener's handbook of natural insect and disease control
Ellis and Bradley -- -- Rondale gardening -- 1992
I'm calling the brug police and the aspcb
x
I'm safe , to get to my house they have to drive by a Krispy Creams donut shop .
LOL!!
We had a thread here last year about pinching.. I actually tried it and did not find that it sped up the process at all. You get an artificial "Y" but no buds. I did one of my pinches on a plant that had two main stems and the other on a seedling that I had two of..
Results. you have to wait for the "Y".. good news is that once it "y"s it usually takes off gangbusters!
I remember that thread Laura.
LOL Tony, I know where that Krispy Creme is!
About the beating with newspaper...Jerry Baker does this to trees. I dont know if he recommends it for other plants. I don't think you are supposed to do it hard... he also says it is to wake them up.