This is a lesson for me and I'm glad I read it. I too have been worrying too much about the darn things and I'm done with that. I have discovered that sometimes what is supposed to be enjoyment becomes a chore and that wasn't the purpose of getting brugs in the first place. I do have some money tied up in them but sometimes with plants you can kill them with kindness. I have an orchid in the house that gets minimal care and it blooms every year.
The last straw
My brugs are lucky if they get fed every 3 months and if I feed them I use anything I have on hand. Lawn fert, citrus fert, Miracle Gro, Peters, or Cactus ferts.
The most noticeable improvements happen during our rainy season that starts in June. Good old rain water and lots of it makes them grow like monsters :)
If I have a bout of broad or cyclamen mites I just strip off the infested leaves. I don't have alot of this kind of mite problems nor do I have alot of spidermite problems. Practically 0 with my ground brugs.
My Dad's x candida pink tree is about 8 years old. It is 12-14 feet tall. Totally neglected, fed maybe 6 times in all those years. It's a grand specimen of a brug. I attribute this to the lack of lotions and potions and good ol' neglect lol! :)
Too bad the name of this thread isn't ...
"What I've Learned About Growing Brugs"
then we would be able to refer back to the information, especially those great pictures Vee8ch posted of bug, worm and cat damage.
Thanks to everyone who has posted.
Judy
Maybe it should be "What we Haven't learned about grrowing brugs" Judy. Or, "What we tend to forget about growing Brugs". I think we have all heard a million things and we just can't remember all of it.
I think what we all tend to forget is that the whole things with any plants is the different area of the country you are living in and trying to grow them in. Weather has got to be the deciding factor.
When someone finds the magic solution for their brugs we all run out and try to emulate that. BUT, we can't do that because they might be in Florida and that won't work for Washington State.
Jeanette
The thing is no one has found the perfect solution. There's been so many post on this site thru the years of people posting everything you can think of from boron to magnesium to neem oil to the perfect ferts etc etc ... this list is huge and the threads went on forever. And in the end they all come to the conclusion that it just isn't worth all the fuss. It took some of us 2 years to learn this no fuss lesson and for some it took several years to finally admit it ...lol!
In the end the results are the same no matter the part of this country you live in. Warm temps, feed occasionally, lots of water and of course sunshine. Add a pinch of patience, and ya got it made :)