Has anyone found some great tricks? I swear I spend an inordinate amount of time trying to water them - and then I repot and swear I'll be ok for awhile and within 3 week they are back to daily watering requirements. This last time I tried mixing a bunch of those water retentive crystals in the potting mix but they still dry out everyday.
I am just amazed at the growth rate on brugs. They grow faster than anything I think I've ever grown (well maybe some of those weeds but they don't count). It seems to me that managing that growth rate is the hardest thing about growing them.
I see people with them in little bitty pots and I don't know how they manage it - mine would need watering 4 times a day.
The Mystery of Keeping Brugs Watered
Cindy, i am in hot humid florida. when i have a deck plant that dries out and wilts eady i repot it into a large pot with straight peat. works great. (not recommending that for brugs in your zone). maybe buy one of the hose timers and hook it up to soak them....or put them in the ground, dig them up and repot them in the fall. also some shade helps...
Just a couple of thoughts on watering. First if they are in pots it could be that evaporation could be part of the problem. To slow this down one needs to limit the amount of soil exposed to open air. I have found that marbles work great and the reflection gives light to the bottom of the leaf as a bonus. As far as watering, I came up with a method long ago that is simple. One can use spomge or rope or anything that wicks water and put one end in water and bury the other in the soil. I used the bottom holes in the pot. Other refinements are to put small hose in the soil with one end attached to a container. You can restrict water flow from the reserve or just add water as needed to directly water the roots. Bear in mind that if one uses a large container the water could go bad and cause problems. A little bleach or hydrogen peroxide added now and then can help but it is better just to add fresh water more often.
I can draw a rough picture to send if my description is confusing.
arlene, wondering about your straight peat brugs. Do you notice a difference in how they grow when in straight peat? Is there a reason you don't start them out in straight peat? What is your usual medium? I've found they root best in straight peat, so is there a reason I shouldn't grow them in it from the start?
karma, I need to find those crystals? where did you find them??
Topdog Ken,
Please do send a drawing of your watering system.
Gloria
I don't have brugs, but with other container plants I have started putting crumpled newspaper in the bottom of the pot instead of gravel. I can see a very noticeable difference in watering needs between those pots and the ones I planted earlier in the year.
Make sure there are no coloured inks on the newspaper you use, unless you know that vegetable dyes were used.
Definitely cheaper than water retention crystals, although if you want to go that route, tearing up the innards of some cheap disposable diapers might be less expensive.
Hope this is of some help.
Hi JANETR,
I have and do use newspaper from time to time and it does work. However I should caution that newspaper can carry bacteria that can damage roots. A long time ago a plant was stolen from me that had not only an early version of my watering system that I mentioned in a previous message but also had my newspaper trick in use. I call it "spitball gardening" because I wad up wet paper into balls. Anyway this guy actually tried to market this but did not know enough to realise that in processing he should have bleached or otherwise killed the bacteria. It ruined many plants for many people. The story is much to long to go into detail but the point is to kill the bacteria before using newspaper.
Ken
Oh boy, you learn something new every day. How do you disinfect your newsprint, Ken? I mean, I'm just taking pages from a newspaper or flyer, wadding them up and putting them in the bottom of the pot before adding the potting mix. For very small pots, it's often just a partial page. I can't believe how much better the soil stays moist this way without getting waterlogged. But I had no idea there could be a problem with bacteria. Would pouring boiling water through the paper first be sufficient?
Hi JanetR
The bacteria is not a terrible probem but what I do is just dip the paper in bleach water, wad the wet paper into my "spitballs" and let them dry.
I think it was the proccessing that did in that guy. Since no thought was given to the consequences, the paper had a chance to build up the bacteria culture.
However I have never had a problem by using bleach. Your comments about the inks is right on also. I avoid colors and "slick" ads since I don't know what goes into the dyes.
down here in florida we have very sandy soil I always throw a hand full of kittie litter and mix it in the soil to help retain moisture.
Thanks Ken.
How come bleach will not hurt the plants - I've always heard that the clorinated faucet water was bad for them and to always let it set a few hours before using or just use rain water if available. I am forced to use the hose tho like everone else.
Azalea: I think the tap water has a lot of other minerals and salts that accumulate in the soils and on the roots which prevents the roots from absorbing nutrients. I have noticed white scale on the clay pots I have, which I believe is a calcium build up. The clorine evaporates. If anyone else has other ideas, let us know.
You can get the crystals at Lowes or H. Depot. They are expensive tho, $12lb. There are several brands but one is called Agrisoke. They do come in different size crystals, small (in stores) for pots & baskets and larger for farmers. I mean larger size crystals. The small ones look like large grains of sand and the large look more like rock salt. They hold from 50 - to 200x their size in water. I went to a large nursery supply Co. and bought a 55lb. bag. Much cheaper, now I have a lifetime supply. They do go a long way, only a 1/2 teasp. will swell and fill a cup of water. I knew I wanted to put them all over and a little jar would not go far enough. Everytime I plant something in the ground, I put a few in the hole. I just know that my hydrangeas, hostas and other thirsty plants would be dead without them beause of the water rationing here. If you don't put them deep enough and if there is a lot of rain, they will come to the surface and look like "ice" and not do the roots any good. If you use too many, and there is a lot of rain, things will rot so you hae to experiment. But all in all I tink they are a great aid. The first time I saw them was at a show. They were using them in vases of cut flowers as a frog, holding up cut flowers. I was facinated and bought an oz. for $4. You'd think I worked for them as much as I am rambling on but just like to share info on a good thing.
Water crystals, those are my favorite next to peat. Use it by the lb on my inground plants and it does help enough to warrant buying more. Just use it on my aurea hybrids so far though to be honest and mix it in thoroughly with peat etc.
Here is a link that you can order the polomer crystal for water retension I have ordered from them got my order real fast. Really like this stuff. You can also add your favorite fragrant oils in the water soaked crystal, put them in a pretty clear container then you have smellie jellie be sure you label not good to eat.
http://www.watersorb.com/
Lindag
My brugs are potted in Fafard Complete that has the Terra-sorb crystals in the mix. I've got some with mulch on top and that seems to help. I moved them to morning sun only this year, but I'm not getting as many flowers as I did last year when they were in full sun. I've got a dozen or more planted in the ground and they don't need watering (of course we've had rain everyday for the last two weeks).
I've found that the newspaper in the bottom of the pot draws rolly-pollies and centipedes. I don't think they harm the plants, but I don't want to take any chances.
One of the brugs I planted in the ground last year is over 10 feet tall now and blooming. It is under the edge of the roof over-hang and gets watered very good when it rains.
I pulled a lot of the lower leaves off the potted brugs and that seemed to also reduce the anount of water they needed. I've also underplanted them with coleus and achimenes as a type of living mulch.
Cala
I have two brugs that have been in the same pots for about three years now---not sure what you call this size pot, but it's smaller than a five-gallon bucket, but it may be what they call a five-gallon pot, since nursery gallons and US gallons aren't the same--anyway, both of these plants are around four and a half feet tall, and I bring them inside every winter, and last winter they bloomed inside (Yipee!) for the first time ever. Although they ARE potted, I set them outside ON the ground for the summer months, and they always grow roots out the drainholes and into the ground. This REALLY cuts down on the amount of watering I have to do! I hadn't realized just HOW much, until I decided to move one of them during the middle of the summer this year, and of course had to cut off the drainhole roots. This obviously won't be of any help to those of you who have them on decks or patios, but I thought I'd pass it on anyway.
Lindag, thanks for that link...save me a ton of money as I pay much much more for that much without the shipping costs....and for much less. Thanks so much Lindag. That stuff really works and I should know as I live in florida where we have had a drought these last few years. Thanks again.