I have about a dozen brug plants. I did not remove any leaves on them. My daughter says that when she had some brugs she removed all the leaves on the lower part of the plants. I've not heard of this being done.
Should I or should I not? If I should, do I cut them off or snap them off?
Karen
Do you remove the lower leaves on your brug plants?
I believe it personal preference! Either way it is not hurting your brug. It's wether you want to make it a Standard (tree form) or a bushy brugmansia. Also pruning the tree influences the way it is going to grow. If you take leaves and branches off bottom it will promote it to grow on the top... and if you pinch the new growth on the top of it will branch out from the bottom! It just depends on how you want to train your babies to look like. Remember to always to sterilize your pruners inbetween each brug. I hope this helps!
Sincerely,
Vanessa
This message was edited Jun 9, 2008 3:39 PM
Hi Vanessa,
Yes, that does help. Thank you very much. Most of them are now about four feet tall and most are blooming. Is it too late to do the trimming for this year? They die down and and regrow in the spring.
Karen
The only time you remove all the lower leaves is if you want to make it like a tree, if you like it bushy then you must leave the leaves on.
Remember that removing leaves reduces the photosynthetic process and slows down the plant's growth. If aiming for a standard, waiting until the shoot has "Y"ed before removing the bottom leaves, gives you the fastest growth. You get a straighter standard, if you allow a soil level shoot grow and turn that shoot into a standard. Trimming can take place any time during active growth.
If the plants are in the ground and die down every year, removing leaves may slow grow down to the point where you may not get a "Y" before the year is out. You might be better off keeping standards in pots and overwintering them indoors, greenhouse or garage and letting those in the ground grow as shrubs.
Thanks for the advice. everyone. I really appreciate it.
As far as I can tell, they have all formed a "Y" so far this year. Nearly all are either blooming or have buds on them. Some of them did form more than one shoot, but I left all the shoots on there. Those extra shoots, I think, are also forming a "Y". I'd have to go back and look to be sure, though.
I have plants under them as I did not realize how tall they were going to get, but being in the shade of the brugs does not appear to be bothering those plants either. So maybe I'll just leave well enough alone for this year. If they would send out more blooms by being trimmed I would do it, but otherwise there doesn't seem to be a really good reason for it. Maybe the extra leaves and growth will make them stronger for next winter.
Karen
Karen great question and great answers. I was wondering myself about that just yesterday. Thanks to all! Clemen
I remove the lower leaves (as we do with tomato plants) to keep any splash problems away from lower leaves ...we have high humiditity here and if you leave lower leaves on tomatoes ...chillies etc they get fungal problems from the rain splash.It hasn't interferred with good growth. I see you all grow under cooler conditions so this is not something you need worry about ...for anyone in more tropical or very warm humid places this is a good idea.
I remove lower leaves as to not provide another hiding place for bugs, or a ladder for slugs. LOL
I also like to underplant.. another reason I remove lower leaves... on most of my brugs.
I don't seem to have any slugs here. There are resident toads, apparently, in most of my beds. I know there is one in the brug bed as I saw him the other day when I was weeding in there.
Karen
why do we sterilize our pruners inbetween each brug?
Sterilizing your pruning shears between helps prevent the spread of diseases.