HI, all!
I have 60 nice healthy brug seedlings to set out in mid-April and since I have so many, I have had to get creative. As in, kicking out other plants.
So, since roses don't do so hot here, out came the roses along my drive but still not nearly room enough. Especially with all my new (named) cuttings I received last Fall.
So, now, most of my veggie garden will be planted with my brug seedlings. They will be planted with drip irrigation, landscape cloth and mulch on top. My question is, how much room should I give these babies? Spacing between plants and spacing of rows? And I forgot the ideal pH for brugs- does anyone remember?
I was so pleased with my few seedlings last year, which all bloomed for me, I got carried away this year!
Thanks, I will check back for any comments tomorrow.
Brenda
Planting seedlings
Hi Brenda! Good question!
Last year I planted my brugs a min. 4' apart and it wasn't near enough.. it's fine at first, but then they start competing for sun or space and start to grow crooked. Now that wasn't all seedlings, which will probably make a difference cause they grow into standards and probably won't take as much room as cuttings that wanna be a shrub... so I await someone else's response to that question with you.
The ideal Ph for brugs is 7 (neutral) which I have yet to reach/maintain.. :)
Thanks, ZZ
Well, no one else has put in there 2 cents, yet!!
What I noticed last year was that my seedlings didn't do alot of spreading, mostly went staright up til they Y'd quite high!! But Now, I'm hoping I can squeeze them into my raised garden area of 20' x 30', I can plant right to the edge, cause the garden in raised. Maybe my DIL will babysit a few for me in her garden!
The pH of 7 is on the higher side of normal, tho, and actually, I was going to lower the pH of the area to around 6.5 with some ammonia sulphate, so I'm glad I asked now! The garden has alot of chalky clay in it and is around 6.8-7.0 right now.
Anyone elses experiences with their seedlings in the ground? Potting them up is not really an option for me. Or, if you pot them, what is the spacing?
Brenda
6.8-7.0 sounds great :) It is good to meet such enthisiasm towards Brugmansia. I can easily put my self in your shoes as I have been there LOL I use to space large Brugmansia a little closer, than normally recommended. Of course, how close depends on, how much the Y's grow in their width. If you have both cuttings, which are going to grow as lower bushes and seedlings, which will grow to tall standart trees, you could easily space them 3 ft. apart, if you alternate between bushes and trees.
btw. here is a picture from when I got carried away. We planted more than 350 named hybrids and seedlings on 400 squaremeters. Especially the smaller seedlings were spaced really close. That was an amazing period. Since I have cutted drastically back on the numbers. Today I have only my hybridizer stock and a few more, so there is around 60 Brugmansia left LOL
Ah, Tonny, how far you've come!!
I would be truly panicking in I had grown that many seedlings (350) this year. I would need to rent or buy some more land!!
Thanks for you help, both, and Tonny, also thanks for all the info you've been sharing about brugs for the last month. Invaluable!!
Brenda
Brenda,
Just to help you get a better feel for how quickly your Brugs will grow and get large....
Here is a picture of my two Charles Grimaldi's on June 19, 2006.
Erick
And here are the same two plants on October 3, 2006 - a bit less than four months later. I fertilzed them at least twice a week and applied Messenger a couple times.
I underestimated just how big Brugs get, and how quickly they get there. It will be a real challenge for me not only to find room for all of mine this year, but to also find large pots to move them into. But I'm still looking forward to seeing my first bloom of the season...sigh.
Good luck to you, and make sure to post pictures!
Erick
I can't wait to see your brugs flower, Brenda. I bet they are so pretty. Can you leave them in the groud where you are? I do not see a zone. If so, give them plenty of room for they will grow huge.
Tonny, is that Gwist? I remember she visited you a couple of years ago. She is such a nice person.
Erick your brugs looked so wonderful. Just think soon we will all have some flowers again, I hope.
What an awesome picture Tonny! The first thought I had was like a kid in the snow.. I wanna run and do a snow angel thing in the middle of em! LOL What a nut huh? I would love to grow 350 seedlings.. even with all the headaches, it would be more fun than my job. LOL
I'm glad you started this thread Brenda... I didn't really think about having mostly seedlings this year.. I can jam pack my "area" with seedlings! Oh yeah...
The soil here is quite acid.. I wish mine was like yours! I had a hard time getting the Ph out of the "5's"
I can't wait for those pics of all the buds.. yeahoooo... Kell can you believe how hot it was yesterday?
Erick, your brugs are beautiful... you really got good growth! I am getting 4 whiskey barrels from Lowes for my "permanent" brugs (can't call them favorites cause that is usually a death sentence) .. The Whiskey barrels were only $21.97 each.. and they are huge... Now if I can only fit them in here next to my desk.... LOL
ZZ
My named cuttings are getting the 'prime' locations in my yard. It is so hot here in zone 7b Georgia, they do fine w/ 5 hours of sunlight- they get afternoon shade. Not so in my veggie garden, thusly the drip irrigation. And the soil here is acid. Georgia clay slurps up the limestone, applied about every year. But, I have a friend who "makes" soil with the chicken litter from 4 poultry houses he runs, (300' x 30' each) every year. My brugs love it. Three years ago, he ran into chalky clay in his field, and so I got a more alkaline soil in the veggie garden.
What a beautiful sight to approach your house and see these brugs framing the entryway, Erick!! Visitors must be thrilled. And in MN!!!
Kell, yep, leave my brugs in the ground with heavy mulch. They should be coming up now under the mulch, lots of my plants are right now, but we may have a late frost in late April, so along with the excitement of Spring emerging, the nail-biting starts, too! We just had three nights of frost! More to come, no doubt. See, I'm nail-biting! lol! One of my seedlings did get over 9' before it Y'd. I'm excited to see what three seedlings from last year (Susie seed) do this year, all were colored, and one was salmon, before a falling branch or a local rooster knocked the top off below the Y last Fall.
Brenda
Thank you Kell. When I look at my potted green sticks in my basement, it's hard to believe that they produce such amazing flowers. But one look at a picture from last year convinces me once again!
Thank you ZZsBabiez. I like your idea of the whiskey barrels. I sure would like to get away from the ugly black plastic pots, but I just can't afford to invest in a whole bunch of large pots.
And thank you Brenda. It was fun to see people stop at stare at my front yard. With some minor adjustments (and a few exceptions, like large tropical plants and trees), I believe we can grow just about anything here in Minnesota.
Regards,
Erick