Almost all the leaves on my young brug are looking a little yellow.
should I be worried?
Leaves looking alittle yellow? any worries?
How yellow? Brugs leaves get yellow when the are old (normal), when the brug has gone dry, when it is unhappy, when it needs some nitrogen or iron, and even from the lack of other nutrients depending on how and where they are yellowing. So it could be normal or it could be not. If they all are yellowing it probably is not good. If it is just from lack of water, it will refoliate with some love. Have you moved it lately or had some change of care? Anyway you could post a picture?
I think I could rule out old, because the new growth seems to be yellowing.
not dry, if anything over watered.
The hose was left on in the yard the other day and we had a little mini flood in the area. LOL
Haven't moved it its been in the same spot ( in the ground ) for about a month.
Should I fertilize this time of year? If so whats the best for brugs?
Thanks,
GG
I think i have a pic
I'll check and see.
if not I'll post tomorrow
Not sure if you can tell in this pic,
if you look closely you can see leaves on all parts of plant have a little ting of yellowing .
oh sorry bad pic,
lets try this one.
How far away are you from a frost? Are you leaving that plant outside? If you get it growing a lot now, the new growth will no doubt be very vulnerable to frost damage but I would say your whole plant may be for it looks so new. Do you have much woody growth on it under those leaves?
Too much water can be as bad as too little water and can cause yellowing too. So only water when dry. In the cooler weather they need much less water. Small plants are easier to harm than big ones which seem to be able to take lots of stress.
If you are leaving that plant out, I would definitely cover it on frosty nights. Do you have long periods of frost? I wonder if it has put down a good enough root system to survive if you have a cold winter.
Well I have about 8 or 9 brugs thisis the only one showing signs of stress.
only thing i can think of is that it got too much water.
What should I do ?
GuardianGirl, you are in zone 9b instead of 9a. You are not very far from z10a. In the 3 years I've lived in this area we've only had one freeze and that was only for 2 nights at 31degrees February of this year.
Your symptoms are drought related. As you already know our rainy season was a big nothing this year and now we are headed into the dry season. In our sandy soil it is nearly impossible to overwater a brugmansia that is planted in the ground. Give it more water and fertilize with Miracle Gro. Feed it only about once every couple of months until the full growing season starts again around March. It should start greening up real soon with just more water alone.
Around early March you will start to see abundant new growth. Every year your plant will grow stronger and more resistant to drought.
I hope this helps. :) ... V
Wow V interesting stuff. I thought i was in zone 9a. HMMM guess I was wrong. Im new to the area and still learning.
I will follow your advice on care for the brugs.
I just love this plant, its tequila sunrise and cant wait for it to bloom.
you've been a great help and I feel much better thanks = )
Don't feel bad about the zone mixup. When I joined DG, and tried to figure out my zone, I found another Palm Bay-er that used z10a. That is what I used until the yucky cold spell happened earlier this year. That made me investigate lol! Funny thing is ... I was one of the rare cases in my neighborhood where the temps actually froze anything. Other nearby streets and surrounding neighborhoods were not damaged at all. Lucky me ... ha!
Next year will really amaze you as far as your brug growth. The first couple of years of ground brugs will show you lush green growth. After that your tree(s) will turn more woody. They'll actually look kind of scraggly compared to what younger plants look like. Scraggly is normal in their natural habitats. All the lushness on more mature trees will be at the tip tops. I've learned it is better to underfeed than to overfeed year round ground brugs. Overfeeding causes all kinds of problems.
So to sum it all up ... don't worry too much over a little leaf yellowing, leaf drop or even a few insect problems. It can take the joy away from growing them. Just pretty much let nature take its course. Your brugs will have times when they make you ashamed of them and times when they will make you proud. It's just the nature of the little boogers. As they mature you will find the worries will go away. When they are true trees they become more resistant to so many things. Just be patient :)
Everything Vicki said is very true. However even though our climate in florida is pretty warm year round, brugs will also respond to the shorter days and less sunlight. I have lots of yellow leaf drop now but that is only prelude to lush new growth in a couple of months. On a brighter note, I also get lots of blooms this time of year. I'm guessing the energy put into blooms causes some of that older leaf drop as well.
Our winter climate here is so unique we need an experienced expert like Vicki to help us sort out these crazy anomalies. Thanks Vicki. The advice on the older woody trees is very good advice.
This message was edited Nov 14, 2006 11:53 AM
X : thanks for the info . I've been keeping an eye on the plant and it seems to be fine just the leaf color slightly yellow. I thing your right about the shorter days.
V : I'm sorry if I sound like a worry wart but it really is my favorite plant . Don't know why, i have other brugs , Cool blush and others but this one has stolen my heart. LOL. And has done fantastic since I planted it in the ground. As you see I have dedicated a whole plant bed for just this plant alone. I want it to shine when it blooms. I also hear that the fragrance is out of this world. I may put a bench close by.
I was wondering if I could turn this into a standard? how long would I have to wait? start now or after it grows a few years? I really like that look
Gary, I gave my Daddy cuttings back in 1998. He lived here in FL and I lived in TN. Thru the years whenever I visited my parents I was in awe and jealous over Daddy's brugs. Growing them in the ground in an environment closer to their natural habitat, rather than cold country in containers, is a whole nuther world. Fewer brug worries here and for the first time in 9 years I can actually enjoy them. I'm only near my third year of having my very own FL ground brugs. I wouldn't trade this brug growing environment for all the tea in China. But I sure do miss my bazillion different hydrangeas and lilacs and all the beautiful cooler weather plants I grew in TN.
GuardianGirl,
As far as your one brug that is giving you more problems than the others ...
Because of the zillion different parentages and the different genetic makeups there are brugs that react differently in different environments. Some handle heat better than others. And some can handle cold better than others. Some handle neglect better than others. ... etc. Sometimes there can be differences in the health of the cuttings when you receive them. So many reasons that one brug will grow and act differently than another.
If a brug continues to act ugly for you and becomes a pain in the neck then just get rid of it and move on to another kind. There's hundreds of different ones here in the USA. You'll find the ones with more suaveolens blood to be the most hardy survivors in our Summer FL environment. I love to go to garage sales. 95% of the tree brugs I see in yards during my travels are Suaveolens types. Everything else can act ugly and produce fewer flowers until cooler weather arrives.
To make a standard ...
Let your plant grow lots of ground shoots first. Then choose the tallest, fastest growing, strongest stem as the one you want to keep. Cut all others away. As your keeper stem grows keep all leaves and little side branches trimmed off except for the top 6-12 inches. Never cut off the growing tip. Once it Y's you'll keep everything below the Y trimmed off. This will give you a tree.
Hope this helps. ... v
This message was edited Nov 17, 2006 6:32 AM
Sure does help , Thanks v