I must say up front that I'm not a novice at plant care and maintenance but every Brugmansia I have tried over the years ends up looking like a concentration camp victim after a year or so, still alive but VERY sad................I've gone through the entire watering spectrum ,lots to little and sun spectrum ,east , west and shade with all the combinations............I see beautiful ones in town so I know it can be done. I even have had success with starting healthy Brug cuttings. I fertilize everything once a year(8,000 sq.ft) , have never really had a bug problem that I can see, my soil is well drained , I use pine straw and oak leaves for mulch.........maybe they just don't like me. If any one can offer a suggestion or two I'll give them another shot .
thanks ya'll.
(9b)
none of my formulas for a healthy Brug are working..
If you read the brug forums, we all fertilize at least once a week, if not 2 times...
In florida they should be pretty hardy, but they do not like full sun. Most of us have a spot where they get morning sun, but not afternoon sun. They like to be watered, but they do not like to stand in water.
Hope this helps. And if you have some that are not doing well, take a cutting, and try again, so you don't loose the whole plant.
I place my cuttings on the side in soil to root, and they do really well.
Linda Kay
Brugmansia need a lot of fertilizer, more than average plants. Yours could be starving to death. Try feeding them a little more and see what happens. I gave mine milorganite recently and they really love it-grew about a foot in three weeks!
You could also try miracle grow or some of the other things people use here (search for 'the recipe' thread).
Thanks, I bet this is the problem . Maybe I'll stick to lower maintenance plants for now. We have a very strict County fertilizer ordinance here because of the health of our water bodies. Rain run off and such. I use 100 lbs of osmacote a year for the garden and everything seems to do fine. Maybe this is one species I need to check off my list.......but they sure are spectacular when their healthy!
queenemma, have you tried putting your brugs in the ground and top-dressing with compost in early summer?
I have found that this makes the plants happy and complies with any fertilizer restrictions.
greenthumbsTN , thanks for the vote of confidence . The 2 that have been in the ground for 5 or so years now could be a good study for this . thank you
If you need to hold to the County Ordinance, try Composted Chicken Manure, that works wonders in our sandy Soil, also i noticed you mulch with Pine Straw which is beautiful, but will be to much Acid for the Brugs.