I'm almost ready to give up! I put all my little cuttings and plants into 5 gallon pots in Mirclegrow potting soil and have been feeding and watering them. They hate the dry heat and my pots were getting even hotter,so I stuck most of them into the ground. Our soil is decomposed granite. At night the temp goes down to 70 and is 105 in the day time ,it's hot and dry,
The brugs don't look like they are growing they look ratty. Any ideas or is this hopeless to even try and grow them here?
Mickey
Cave Creek,Arizona
Help, please
How many do you have? Could you take them inside when it's really hot out? Are they in shade? Misting a couple times a day might help. Also anti stress spray might hold in some extra moisture.
Linda
Mickey,
i am by no means an expert, i will share with u some of my experience in planting. and a lessons i learned from experts from this forum.
any plant or cutting like their roots to get snug to the pots they grow in. it is my practice to start with small pots in proportion to the size of cutting to make the plants happy. then gradually changed to bigger pots as the plant grows. ur signal to change pots is if and when the plant is constantly wilting or thirsty. or the roots will be growing outside the pot.
if u will take note, i too lives in the desert, where temperature in the summers are far higher than what u have. some years we are down to 102, others up to 115 ++ deg F. in the winter, temperature is down to 10 degs F. there are years we have heavy snow on the ground. plants i believe can grow anywhere, provided the right conditions are met.
fertilizers are of no use to a cutting when there are no roots or leaves. u have to wait until u see some leaves of any signs of growth to feed or fertilize a cutting or a plant.
pls. see this link http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/863618/#top , it maybe a long reading, but i promise u, u will pick up a pointer or two.
info provided are my humble opinion, hth ..... ma vie
edited to add a link http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/445791/
This message was edited Jun 20, 2008 4:24 AM
Mickey, I have a few questions:
1) Were all you "little cuttings" just rooted? If they were just rooted cuttings, 5 gallon containers are too large and can lead to overwatering and root rot.
2) Were the containers black or a dark color? If they were, they absorbed more heat than light colored or white pots transferring the heat to the rootball and damaging it and stunting growth. It helps to shade the pots or placing them behind a short wall — anything to keep the rootballs cool. Mulch will help keep the soil cooler.
3) How much sunlight are they getting? Morning sun and mid-day and afternoon shade would be ideal. In Arizona, maybe filtered sunlight might be better.
4) Have you checked the granite soil's pH? Too high or too low and the Brugs have difficulty utilizing micronutrients.
5) Did you amend the soil with steer manure and compost? Brugs like rich soil.
Find a way to raise the humidity levels. The plants may be losing more water than their roots are able take up. Stressed plants eventually look ratty and fall prey to pest and diseases. Have you tried any of the Brugs listed in this thread?
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/797671/
You started the thread.
I have a way of growing cuttings during the summer months that has worked so well .I am not saying it is perfect for everyone,
I keep small winow boxes on the ground under my plants. I sometimes will keep the cutting in water for a few days if they are some that came by mail, if the cutting was just taken from one of my plants I just push them into a a mix of damp soil and any good potting mix. They are well shadeded by the big plants. I leave them alone until I see them growing well and putting on leaves. I have lost very few using this meathod during the summer. Do make sure you have good holes in the bottom of the window box planter and do not over water. I wish it wasn't raining, i would go get a picture for you. i have two of these in my garden right now and both are filled with cuttings that need to be given their own potsThey are growing well.
We work so hard with cuttings, but last week during a wond storm a very small piece of a plant got broken off. I didn't notice it till I found it all rooted from just laying on the ground under the plant.