The bark feels like it lifted from trunk but there are new leaves above it .
Should I cut and try to root or is it OK ?
shrivel bark
I had a start of a brug that did this exactely like yours green below and green above but not good in the middle and I just cut the middle stuff off and let it regrow.
Delisa, what causes the bark to separate from the stem? What would you suggest I do with large branching trunks that have large sections of bark missing. Last year the grasshoppers did a lot of damage to my Brugs. The plants in question look healthy and are in bloom, but about 50% of the bark is missing from the trunks.
Veronica
Veronica I hope someone who know better will come along! I have used pruning spray to keep out bugs but it is really an eye sore.
Mine sort of did that after I brought it in for the winter and didn't cut it down. It's my first brug and truthfully I was afraid to cut it back:LOL: I still need to. Mine looks like that probably due to little light and reduced water. I was also afraid I'd drown it. I was very lucky with my first brug cutting purchase since it already had a Y and got to be 6 ft and flowered 4 times during the summer and early fall. I'm going to try not to be so precious with her this year.
I think the cold did it to mine . it's at the area where no other leaves were protecting it .
I bet you're right. She just probably got a bit of "frostbite". If you go with cutting back, it probably wouldn't hurt to try to root the piece just to see if it will take.
Tons of mine did that this winter, Tony. All from the freeze in January. Some did put out some green above the damaged trunks. I just cut them back to healthy wood and you can root the good piece that is above the bad trunk. Most of mine died all the way to the ground. I have had no regrowth on most. I am wondering if you need nodes underground to get some sucker growth.
You must have been a bit warmer than I was in winter. Mine really got fried. I even had them all wrapped!
Kell,
I'm so sorry that you lost so many Brugs. Would planting the plant deeper, like a tomato plant, insure having extra nodes underground or do nodes have to be close to the surface?
All three of mine did that this winter. I am sure the frost caused it. I cut them to the base and they are coming back well. You might take the tops with new growth and root them.
Kell
Don't give up on your babies yet- ours always die back to the ground- the new growth starts near the base of the old stem but it seems like it is coming from the roots. The only one I may have lost is Cypress Gardens and I'm still hoping I see some green.
Perhaps all you've shared out over the years will make their way home to you!
Brenda
It does look like frost bite,
I did a stupid thing a while back, We had 27 degree weather and I left all my newer brugs in the ground, and thenext night we had l7 and before it got cold I pulled them all from the ground and stored them in the garage for 2 days.
I stuck them back int the ground, and you should see the damage. All the way down the trunk, but from the ground, immerges new life, and I'm thrilled cause all the brugs in the ground were newer varieties, I was going to cry LOL.
One thing you dont' want to do, if they get frost damage. leave them alone, (my opinion,) I cut on mine to get the bad damage off, and water went down inside and rotted them half way down, I learned not to do that, the ones I left alone are doing ok, coming back from the roots, but all the trunk is gone.
Makes me wonder just how many are really hardy . But I guess it's constant 17 to 25 degree weather that does them in , and not just one night.
Well, I'm rambling here.
Kathy Ann ~ did you mulch the roots well while they were in ground? If so, what did you use for mulch?
There was mulch on the ground but these brugs were at least 2 to 3 foot tall when the frost came, Their all still there, but no life except for very close to the ground, I couldn't mulch over them because they were sticking out of the gorund so far. I use regular mulch from the city, wood chips that they grind up from pallets and trees etc... It's free so I don't complain LOL
I'm sorry, I did mean just the roots. We are warmer than you but many here cut theirs off at ground level and mulch the roots heavily. I have noticed the hollow stems and wondered if they would rot like the lantana does if cut back in fall or winter. You answered that one for me. Thx
Mine definitely rot when I cut them back, I've heard from gardeners who aren't brug experts, they never cut their s back it looks horrid in winter, but in the spring when new growth comes out then they cut it back. Water does rot it . I've also heard of folks covering the cut area with plastic and rubberband to keep moisture out.
I take mine out of the ground before winter and store them in the greenhouse. It takes them way too long to immerge in the spring time . so I just dig them and pot them up for their long winter stay in the greenhouse
Wow, if you have many, that is a lot of work. What we won't do for our Brugs!
I only have three and keep mine in large pots. That way, I can move them (barely) into shade, sun or shelter if needed. Didn't do the shelter this year and I had the sliding bark syndrome too. Lots of fresh new growth now though.
I do have many, but only the very new varieties went into the ground this spring, only about l5 of them, the rest are in pots. The don't grow as fast and aren't quite as luscious as the ones inthe ground.
I had two last year and cut them to the ground and mulched heavily with pine bark mulch. I am in 8a. One came back and one didn't the one that didn't was an unknown so I didn't know the hardiness level for it. The one that did was hardy to 8b. I now have 70. I plan to plant most of thm in the ground. I will taake cuttings for back up
What time of year do you take the cuttings? I would want to know for sure that they will root before I chance it...
I sell them, and I take cuttings ALL year long, other will probably tell you differently, but I root them when the greenhouse is 115 and when the greenhouse is 60 doesn't seem to matter to them. they do require alot more water when it's hotter. but I still root them all year.
I took the cuttungs before first frost, but I only had 2 brugs then. All the rest I have now are from others who sent me unrooted cuttings taken in the fall. I hear that they root better in the spring or summer...Most of mine rooted just fine and I used a bubbler. I had a few to rot but they say some are just harder to root than others anyway.
O.K. Yardqueen answered her part of my question with the bubbler.
Kathy_Ann do you root in water? Using a bubbler? Or in soil?
Never had much luck rooting in water, they seem to rot easier, ALWAYS have used potting soil to root in. Why change a good thing LOL haven't had good success with a bubbler either.
I guess that is something I need to try. I've never been practiced at rooting anything but hopefully not to old to learn. Thx. pod
no one is ever too old to learn anything LOL
Thank you... at least not too old to care. I have never been a rose person but today I discovered an old heirloom rose at an abandoned home place. It is pretty and I am going to hop over to the rose forum for tips on cuttings on that one. Also promised a friend cuttings of my rosemary today so I've lots of learning ahead. Need to experiment with Brug cuttings to ensure not losing these guys either. Thanks pod
Thanks Brenda and Veronica. To be honest so many needed to go but I was too soft to toss them. It is hard to do when you grow them from seed esp when they are pretty brugs just no cigar.
A few weeks ago I felt I had hardly any brugs and actually felt free but suddenly as my hoophouse came down and I potted my seedlings up and ones left over from other years that never got moved up past a 1 gallon, I now have too many again. LOL. Brugs really do multiply. There are only 3 that I want to came back out of all the ones lost but still no sign. Well actually only 2. 1 was my huge Ruthie standard and I am just starting new on that one. I do not want bushes so it kills me that I lost such nice standards.
I am being so lazy this year, I am not even digging them in, in their pots. But just letting them root down themselves through the drainage holes. Then I will just cut those roots off in the fall when I move them to the hoophouse.