You are very informative. I am sure I didn't fertilize enough. I only did it two or three times. However, I did put coffee grounds on the top of the soil because I read that coffee grounds add nitrogen. I was interested in what you said about the nubs. I thought those were new leaves trying to grow! Sounds like I did a couple of things wrong. Not a big enough pot and not enough food. Now I have the dilemma of deciding whether to let them go dormant or keep them in the house. I am afraid if I put them in the garage they will freeze, but I have always put my elephant ears and canna bulbs in brown garbage bags and stored them in the garage. I have never had a problem with them freezing. Oh. I forgot. I also have a very small pot that I germinated some brugs in. They are supposed to be pink cherub. They are about 5 or 6 inches tall now. Three of them germinated. I have them in my bedroom window, east sun. I have been concerned that the window will be too cold this winter. Do you think they will go dormant and come back next year if I put them in the garage with the others? All of them would probably do best if I let them go dormant, don't you think?
WINTERING BRUGMANSIA
bubba1...I found mine does best in half day sun and dappled shade. If you want to move or store a brug inside, a 15 gallon Easi-lift white grow bag (they are made to last a few seasons unlike the black grow bags nurseries usually use) has worked great. Last year, the first year, I had the grow bag sitting on the ground. This year I hid the bag in a hole but didn't pack it in tight so it will be a snap to lift out.
Below is what the brug above looked like in a grow bag on top of the ground in the summer of 2007:
This message was edited Oct 15, 2008 9:37 PM
bubba1, Brugs are not overwintered in the same manner as elephant ears and canna bulbs which are stored without soil or a minimum amount of dry soil. Brugs need to be stored with slightly moist soil. Moist soil confined in a garbage can lead to trouble.
I believe the seedlings need to be kept growing. They are not large or strong enough to go into dormancy and make it back.
bettydee...thanks. I'll try to get it downstairs intact. Been really impressed with the growth in late summer and fall. Thought of not keeping it because Jerad's Joy is not a fragrant brug (just my luck to pick, as my first brug, one with almost no fragrance) but now I'm attached to it. Have had no problem with spider mites, other insects or disease. Daconil OK as a fungicide if I do prune?
O.k. David Paul, I notice you live in a zone similar to mine. Are you saying you leave the plant outside in the winter? How do you winter your plant? And what is a grow bag. I kinda agree with you about the part shade. I moved my plants to three different spots in my yard. One of them was full sun all day long. They didn't seem to prosper there. Where they seemed to like best was under a tree. They got morning sun until about 11:00 or 12:00, then shade in the afternoon. So I guess I am finding they would like the same light conditions as my elephant ears and my persian palm. I just need to put them in the ground so the roots can grow, right?
If you already have it, use it, but if you don't, you don't need a large amount. You just need to spray the actual cut.
Bubba1, if you have spidermites indoors in an enclosed area, try using Need Oil. It's safe around humans, pets and kills the pests by smothering them. So pests don't develop resistance to it.
Neem oil can be found at HD and Lowes sometimes...although I've heard that Dyna-Gro is the neem oil of choice - but not found at the big box stores.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Dyna-Gro+Neem+Oil&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq=
This message was edited Oct 15, 2008 10:25 PM
I didn't buy my Neem Oil from Walmart, but it may carry it.
bubba1....I never put a brug in the ground. Both photos above are of a brug in a grow bag (you just can't see it in the first one as I plunked the grow bag in a hole).
Peaceful Valley, among others, have grow bags. The black ones are good for a year (maybe two) are cheaper but don't have handles. Here are the white Easi-lift grow bags I bought at PV:
http://www.groworganic.com/item_GP265_EasiLift_Grow_Bags_15_Gal.html
They are about 22 inches high and 15 wide. Smaller bags are, of course, cheaper. I would think 10 gallon would work fine as I don't fill mine all the way up.
I store my brug in the basement. Way too cold to leave outside here. I have, at most, two weeks until it has to come inside. Have an old house with a deep cellar and an area that used to be used for coal. A little warmer than recomended (the basement is in the low to mid 50s) because of the heating pipes down there but it worked last year OK.
This message was edited Oct 15, 2008 10:54 PM
Do you use the grow bag in place of a pot? This concept is new to me. The only place I have to winter anything is the garage. It gets cold out there in January and February. My elephant ears make it through it, but I am not sure if the brugs would. I could keep them in the house. You think they would survive in my house? If I put them in my bedroom, it stays kinda dark in there. Would that make them go dormant? If I don't water them very often they would make it wouldn't they?
bubba1...yes, grow bags are used in place of a pot. They're a lot cheaper and very durable (the white ones more so). Commerical growers use them extensively. Only downside is the appearance. They look like...well...grow bags look like a trash bag (the black ones are pretty much heavy plastic trash bags with holes in the bottom). That is why I dug a hole in the ground--it looks as if it is growing in the ground. I'm on a main road and I often wonder what brug lovers think when they drive by and see a 5 foot tall brug which appears to be growing in the dirt in Connecticut.
Far as how to over-winter them, all I know is what I did and related above. Not a brug expert. Just have one of them and this is only my second year with that one.
bubba1, Brugs need cold to go dormant. Back in San Jose, CA I left my potted Brugs outside. There the temperatures got down to the 40s and upper 30s and stayed there. My Brugs went dormant. Here, my Brugs don't go dormant because it doesn't stay cold. The temperature fluctuates too much. If they don't go dormant, the plants will need sunlight or will need artificial light for at least 16 hours for the growth to remain sturdy.
This message was edited Oct 15, 2008 10:35 PM
I guess what I am really wanting to do is put them in the garage out of the way. I am just afraid of losing them. I get emotionally attached to each and every plant. I think if I leave them in the house it will be emotionally draining to watch them drop leaves all winter and wonder if I am doing something wrong. I guess I will try the garage. After all, I have over wintered plants in pots out there before. But most of them were mini roses which are perennial. What surprised me was they stayed green. I had to remember to water them once in a while. I have a closet out there that has my washer in it. It's north facing with no doors, but my pipes never freeze. I will set them in there and hope for the best. Thanks for being so patient with me guys. I am just afraid no matter what I do it's going to be the wrong thing.
Brugs are tougher than you think. Mine get stripped & go in the garage, where it dips to 40 degrees occassionally. I water very sparingly over the first few months, then increase in March or so to whenever the soil looks dry. They wake up on their own in the spring.
I should add that I don't keep my car in there, so I'm not opening the door often. If you're opening the door, you may want to protect from drafts.
I tried the black plastic bag trick with some gartenmeister fuchsias one winter. Kept them in a closet in the basement. They became much too soggy, and got ghostly white growth. (Which makes me think that they were too warm.) So I unbagged them & moved them to the bulkhead basement stairs (Where I kept the brug that winter!) and they were ok.
I am not sure how cold my garage gets. I don't keep my car in it right now (too many Christmas decorations!) so the door won't be lifted. But the garage is north faceing and the garage door my granmother bought for it years ago is made out of fiberglass. No insulation. I may try it though.
Well, throw a thermometer in there and see what happens. Last winter I checked mine everyday! I drove myself nuts until I accepted that it wasn't going to freeze in there.