A couple of years ago a neighbor gave me a small brugmansia. I've managed to keep it alive (i.e., it lived inspite of my ignorance) and even "unexpectedly" got one bloom late last year. It's probably almost 4 feet tall. I'd like to see if I can do better by it this year. It desperately needs a bigger pot and I'm prepared to move it. I think it's currently in a 12" pot. I purchased a 16" pot to transplant it into but am now wondering whether that's too big of a move. What do you experts think? I'd appreciate any advice you can offer. Thanks for your help. Betty
My one and only brugmansia - advice please
I'm no expert, but if my Brugs are growing vigorously, their roots quickly fill the pot I put them in. So a 16" pot should be OK.
I am no expert either but I can tell you how I pot them up. And spring you can really pot them up faster. I go from a 16 oz red cup to a 1 gallon can to a 5 gallon can to a 15 gallon can to a 25 or 30 gallon can. From that point on, every spring I pull them out of the 25 gallon pot and cut off half the root ball. I fill the pot with new soil. I also will trim the canopy back some to compensate for the all the roots I took off. In spring, they hardly miss a beat. I also boil my saw for over 5 minutes before I go on to the next brug.
I mind my watering for a while till the roots grow out some. But you will find they the roots will fill their new pot quickly. The larger the pot, the bigger the brug. You can keep them in a smaller pot but you have to water and fertilize much more to keep up the good growth and flowers. .
Kell, that's great information - thanks. Would you say that you typically re-pot your plants once / year or more often than that? This will be my first year for brug's. They are currently in 1 gal. pots, so I'm trying to make sure that I have enough big containers for all of my obsessions. I was originally estimating that they'd be fine transplanted to 5 gal. pots, but I wonder if that will be big enough for this season...
It really depends how good you are about watering and feeding your plant and bumping it up. If you move it up as soon as it can be and fertilize religiously, I bet you can get to a 15 gallon in one long season. I find I always get lax and let them stay in their smaller pot way too long.
kell how the heck do you pull yours out of a 25 gallon pot. I have one that I shold do that with but man is it heavy.....
I have some great looking 30" fiberglass pots, but bas relief is also found on the inside and I have no idea how I could remove the rootball if I planted a Brug in the pots. I would need a sword to cut the rootball out next year to repot. Anyone have a sword for sale?
Betty,
Like Kell, I do not consider myself an "expert" but I have been growing them for many years now. And we all take a little different approach to how we grow them.
This is another way on how to handle potting your brug up.
You being located in zone 7a I would assume that you might be getting some more cold weather. But if you already have your brug outside and it is already accustomed to the outdoor weather, then you can go ahead and re-pot at anytime now; as long as you are not expecting any more frosts.
This is a method I use to grow them in the biggest pot that I can. I can go from a cutting that is apx. a foot or so in height at the beginning of the season to a 6 - 8 foot plant in the fall. And get several blooms on the plant too. Like Kell said, the bigger the pot the bigger the brug.
I use a hole saw (you can also use what is called a paddle bit) to drill a series of rows of holes around a 5 (five) gallon bucket, no holes in the bottom though. I make my holes 2 (two) inches in diameter. Then I put the 5 gallon pot into the biggest pot that I can get my hands on, I even use those utility tubs with the rope handles with very good results.
Put some soil in the bottom of the big pot before putting in the bucket, then fill both pot and bucket up with a well draining mix. Put you plant in the bucket before you get it filled all the way.
The key(s) to skipping the series of potting up to slightly bigger pots is; make sure that the weather is warm enough for the brug to start growing rapidly, that it has a well developed root system, which yours does since it is in a 12 inch pot and having a well draining mix.
A lot of people use the drilled bucket/pot method to plant them directly into the ground, with very good results. But I use pots since my yard space is so limited.
If I can I will come back and post some pics of what I am talking about.
David
David, do you pull the 5 gallon bucket out of the larger pot and overwinter the Brug in the smaller pot? Why? If so, do you also prune some off the top? My greenhouse was pretty crowded this winter. Smaller pots would make things easier. Mine don't go dormant. They just grow very slowly. Would that cause any problems with Brug roots sticking out everywhere?
When you take them into the greenhouse for the winter can you prune them back a lot or does that set them back?
MollyD