I have several cuttings that are well rooted and have good leaves. I rooted them in small soda bottles.. 2 liter and now need to put them in pots. What size is suggested and also, what size do they need to be in to be large enough to bloom well? I am going to try to get some to grow as standards. I have seen so many of everyones beautiful photos of standards but can't figure out the pot sizes... photos are so difficult to gage size in.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.. also photos of standards with pot size would be helpful.
Tammie
What size pots do you use?
I've bought plants in 1, 2, 5 and 15 gallon containers so I'm familiar with them. My rooted cuttings go into 1 gallon containers. The plants are usually in a protected area and the pots are shaded by plants in the ground. I don't use the other sized pots because the pots are usually black and the rootballs in black pots get too hot. I have 12", 16", 20" and 24" standard sized pots. The local Home Depot and Wally World sell pots by diameters not gallon sizes and that's all I can get. When I pot up the plant goes into the next size. Twenty-four inch pots are the largest I plan on using. I will have to remove part of the rootball and repot into the same container once the plant gets put into the 24" pot.
Some Brug growers use a hole cutter to make holes in the sidewall of 5 gallon containers and bury the pots in the ground. The holes allow the roots to grow through and into the ground. Late fall, they cut the roots down to just outside the container, pull up the pot and plant and place the pot in plastic to keep the exposed roots from drying and overwinter them that way. You can also use a double pot system. It is supposed to be easier to remove the liner pot.
I did let a few of the potted Brugs, I'd placed on the ground, grow through the drain holes and into the ground. I lost them all this winter. I think it's because my Brugs don't go completely dormant and I didn't remove any of the top to compensate for the root loss.
The best standard are supposed to come from stem suckers or from seedlings. I say supposed because I've only done it once. I like my Brugs bushy.
Thank you, can I go from a small starter it was rooted in to a 3 gallon pot? I am having trouble finding 1 gallon pots but have quite a few 3's. I found them at a nursery going out of business... I got about 15 3's and 5's for about .10 cents each. These are the heavy black pots.
Tammie
I'm glad this thread has started, because I have the same questions. I've got nine brugs ready to move up to larger pots. Should I repot them into gradually larger pots or can I put an 8" pot plant right into a 14" or 16" pot, or even jump to a 20"?
I'll be using crystals in my soil mix when they get here, Tammie!
The largest jump I've made is 8" larger — 4" larger all around, but the plants were growing vigorously and had fairly large roots systems. The conventional recommendation is 2" all around. I wouldn't try it with small plant just rooted especially if I have only one of that variety or a valuable one.
Tammie, try asking you local nursery for their old 1 gallon pots. The local nursery has been very generous. You would have to sterilize them in a bleach solution.
Veronica
I'm no expert by far, but this is what I have been doing.
I also put the rooted cuttings into 1 gallon pots & move them up to say a 3 gal, if I have them, if not, I go to a 5gal. I have some brugs that are 3 years old still in 5 gal but most older larger ones are in 20 gallon. That is the largest one I can move by myself. I have 3 large ones I put into 1/2 wine barrels every spring & pull them up in the fall. (No easy feat!) But they love it in there & do so well. I trim the roots & stuff them back into the 20 gal. pot fpr winter. They are so tall that I have to tip them in my GH. You can see in this pic how far leaned they are & still the tops are touching the ceiling. Hopefully we can move them out soon!
Bj
BJ - you know it - its no easy task to pull those suckers up out of a half wine barrel. I thought I would never get my maya up last fall but I finally won !
charlotte
BJ, do you do the pot in a pot routine with the wine barrel?
No, I didn't last year but I might this year, it was such a fight to get them out, they must weigh 200 lbs with the soil & all those roots. I do have a tractor/backhoe & used that to yard them out. It was still a big job! I was thinking if I was to plant them again I might figure out some harness to put underneath so it will be easier to lift them out. I used a wide strap & lots of padding wrapped around the lower part of the trunk, they still got a bit skinned up tho. Haven't thought much more about it, but better figure it out soon as the time to move outside is getting closer. They just seemed to do so good planted right into the barrel.
All this reminds me that these really are trees! It's not going to feasible for me to overwinter them when they get to a mature size. I don't even have a greenhouse! This year, mine were all 1-year seedlings and I had room in my basement and could carry them, but come this fall I think they'll be too big. Time for some creative thinking.
Time to build a greenhouse Andy. Check the greenhouse forum for some good info. I built mine out of cattlepanels. Works great and I'm in zone 4b too. I insulated it well, lined the inside with a clear solar pool cover. I use a 20 K propane heater and I can keep it at 80 in there easily if I want to. This is my first try at brugs so I didn't need to run the heat that high. When the sun is out though the greenhouse heats that much and higher easily.
MollyD