What do you do with a cutting that is rooting upside down?

yep... sure did it... recieved a cutting recently and it was so perfectly wraped with wet paper towel and press and seal.. I have just kept it warm and wet and the root nubbies have formed. Did not pay close enough attention until I realized the top half is drying out and looking bad.. unwraped the bottom and has leaves trying to grow... downward! The cutting is upside down.. looked more closely and sure enough , the nodes are upside down. I have about 3" of area with white root nubs and a node sprouting beginnings of leaves... the rest is dry and no rooting... it is a thick woody cutting several inches long.. still fairly fresh... Maya... I would hate to try just rurning it over and starting over .. let the new root nubs die.. any other suggestions... a very DUH! moment...

..I am thinking of putting the wet paper towel a bit lower and trying to get more nubbies to start a little lower and include some of the ones already starting.. just let the ones near the "now" top die?

I received a cutting that way once, but don't remember what I did with it. LOL. But I do unwrap the cuttings I receive and place them in containers filled with water and a bit of hydrogen peroxide to root.

You have two options. The nubs are just beginning on that cutting so turning it around to start the "nubbing" process over again is no big deal. How many is several inches on that cutting? You could cut the section and include the node that is sprouting and plant the cut portion, burying it completely. The new shoot will grow out of the soil. Root the rest of the cutting the right way up.

Lhasa,

It is also possible that the sender wrapped the wrong end of the cutting-- upside down.

If it is just a section of stem--I can imagine how someone might have wrapped the moist towels around the wrong end. Are there any small leaves still attached? That would, definitely, tell you which end is up.

I say---wait a while and see if the shoot continues to grow in that direction--and then maybe stick the other end in soil to root....all the way up to the new shoot.

Gita

I would just give it a new cut where the bottom should be, hydrate it until you have nubbies and then plant. Since you don't have actual roots yet, it shouldn't make a difference. JMO

I am not a brug specialist, but Ido know that if you planted it sideways in the soild it will sprout the way it should ....leaves up and roots down..

joeswife! You're so clever. I'd forgotten all about the "horizontal" option!

great suggestion! I did not think of that either!

BRUGIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OH, MY GOD! YOU ARE STILL AMONG US!!!!!!!!

I thought you had fallen off the edge of the DG World! So great to hear from you!!!!!

You were my mentor in the first years of my Brug growing--and i will never forget your patience and kindness......

So much time has passed since I had any contact with you! We need to catch up!
Send me a D-mail----an e-mail---or just mail......

Gita

Yes, I would do the horizontal, also. Good suggestion joeswife :-)
They way cuttings root makes me laugh sometimes.
But all in all no matter how and where they root, it seems to always work out and they get it right in the end ..lol

I am calmer today... had time to think on it.. that cutting is plenty big and thick.. has plenty energy in it to straighten itself out and figure out how it wants to grow... as long as I give it a place to grow.. it will.

Thanks everyone.. I was just a mess yesterday.. lost my job and and have been an emotional mess the past two days.

Ahh Tammie, I am sorry about your job, girl.. Times are so scary right now.. not fun.. they let 5 people go from where I work at, I fear for my position myself.. sheese what is going on! Hugs to you Tammie, chin up..

Hugs all round ...(((group hug))) for everyone everywhere.

I'm joining the ((((group hug))))

Tammie, I'm sorry about you losing your job. My DH has been looking for a job since early August. No one seems to want an old over qualified electrical engineer whose former job went to India. So I'm also joining in the group hug.

sending a hug also. these are tough times.

you can plant it on its side. you can also plant it deep with all the nubbies and the sprout in soil - in its correct orientation. the shoots will continue to grow and soon come out above the soil. and - surprisingly - you can plant it upside down. the new shoots will turn 180 degrees. (duh - how do I know this?)

brugs are amazing!

Okay, you brug lovers... I'll confess... It WAS me... I'm sure I wrapped the wrong end... Tammie, I'm so sorry I was so busy yesterday, I didn't think long enough before I offered you a fix.. . talk about DUH? I probably boxed up 4 or 5 boxes when I did your's.. so sorry, but I hope that was the only one I flubbed on. I try to be so careful about that. AND especially with Maya, cause she's one of my all time favs... Thanks GreenThumbs... glad you "know" about it, too! ;) ((Tammie)) -Bonnie

GROUP HUG ADD ON {{{{{{{{{{{{{{Tammie, gitagal, brug, greenthumb, bettydee, Bonnie, chrissy, theresa, abutilon, debra}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}} Okay, deep breath... We will be okay!

Aunt B,

I have a Brug (4 years now) that is variagated and the blooms go through a beautiful color "parade".....I bought it in a 4" pot because I liked the leaves. The Nursery that grew it called it "Peach Parfait".

Of course--I posted pictures on DG and, eventually, it was ID'd as "Maya"....Then when it grew bigger--the following year--and bloomed, I posted pictures again and the consensus seemed to be that it is "Peaches and Cream". So--I have been calling it that for all this time.

Can you tell me the difference? I would like to know for sure.
Here are some pictures of the blooms.

First they are yellowish--while still in a bud...

Still a bit yellow as they start opening.....soon fading to milk-white

Now white.....

Starting to turn light peach....

Close up of the bloom

Here's the whole plant. It grew wayyyyy too big and full this year--as I might have overdone the Dynamite time release pellets in the potting mix. It had too many gigantic leaves--and hardly any blooms.
Now--when I went to cut it all back so i could drag it downstairs for the winter--it was covered with small buds! Had to do it! it was time as the weather was getting cold.

Here the "monster".....

OOPs....That was the picture of the "carnage"......

Here's the whole plant....

Any guesses????? "Maya"???? "Peaches and Cream"?????

Gita

Thank you everyone for the hugs.. they are very welcome!

I don't think you could have paid me $100 to cut that brug back for any reason! I would have set up a grow center in the middle of my living room to keep that growing and have it bloom! That must have killed you to cut it! I am so very sorry! What a beautiful brug! What size pot do you have it growing in? It is difficult to tell in pictures.

I can't advise you on which type it is because I have not grown either type but I bet you get an answer.

Me too Tammie, I love hugs.. Gita, I don't know how to tell the difference, I think the leaves look like there is more green in them than my maya... (all my pics aren't on this computer).. I just cut my Pink Beauty to soil level with the sawsall and after I stripped Maya of most of her leaves I found 12 seed pods hiding in the foliage.. keeping them on for a while, but I have 2 other kinds of brug seed and one I crossed myself to grow out so I'll probably remove all but a couple, soon.. Your variegated brug IS.... gorgeous... I can tell the difference between Maya and Snowbank... Snowbank doesn't bloom. lol Tammie, we have to trim back harshly sometimes... winter storage space/conditions is sometimes a big factor.. I was able to keep all of Maya's tops as she was right at 8ft to fit in the basement.. My Peach Versi had to have a couple tips cut back.. I trim almost all but some of the tip leaves off and they will leaf out again while they are vacationing in the basement. It just makes it easier to spray for bugs and most of the big leaves may drop anyway. Less tiding up later.. so I guess I do it cause I'm lazy! lol

AuntyB,

The pot is pretty big----maybe 20" or so.

I think what I did that I need to do less of next year is to put too many "Dynamite" slow release granules in the soil when I re-potted it this Spring. They feed for 9 months! But--as you see--no matter how gorgeous it is--it simply had too many leaves at the cost of no blooms to speak of.

It really grew gung-ho. I had a hard time digging the pot up and out of the bed--as long roots had grown through the drain holes...
I cut them all off and pit the pot in a plastic bag to keep any exposed roots from totally drying up. I will have to go to a Brug ID place to maybe find out.
OR--I can post it on the brug Forum. They are good over there.....

Here's a close-up of the pot and the roots that grew out the holes.

Gita

Gita, Maya and Peaches and Cream look very much alike. Things are complicated by the hybridizers not releasing more information about their crosses (sport?). Maya is listed as belonging to the candida, an aurea X versicolor hybrid, breeding set. This photo is supposed to represent a typical Maya plant/bloom:
http://www.abads.net/Gallery/M/Maya.htm
Peaches and Cream is listed as belonging to the versicolor breeding set. This a photo of P and C:
http://www.brugmansia.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=7387

A trait of the versicolor species is a very visible long corolla neck. You can plainly see that in that photo of Peaches and Cream from one of the two unmentionable galleries.

Note that on Maya the corolla neck is barely visible on the side that the calx splits and not on the side that has the calx lobe.

The photos don't show the leaves with any great detail. They appear to be very similar in both cultivars as would be expected. Unfortunately, DG's PlantFiles may add to the confusion. If the photos from the two Brugmansia societies are taken as being the true representatives of their cultivars, then the photos of Peaches and Cream in the PlantFiles are really of Maya. Begoniacrazi shows 2 photos of P & C's leaves, but no flowers. Those leaves show a bit of serration on the leaves.

Going by the societies' photos, you have Maya. Somewhere I've read that Peach Parfait is really Maya. Since the nursery identified it as PP, unless you find out differently, I would stick to that or to Maya.

But then I am only going by photos of the blooms only and that is not really the way to correctly ID a Brug.

Whatever it is, you must have had some really good flushes. Congrats!!!

Betty,

Thank you so much! I knew someone expert would pop in soon.

Do you know Shirley ("brugie") from Iowa? She does nor post a whole lot any more but she was my "guiding light" in my first years of trying to learn to grow Brugs. I just saw her post in another post--and we re-connected.

Well--she always believed that this Brug of mine was a "Maya". You have just reinforced that.
From the pictures on the hyperlinks--the P&C looks too pink. Mine never got to that color.
The Maya blooms have an odd shape...mine are more "fluent" in transitioning from the calyx to the petals/tendrils (the bottom of the bloom) . More bell-shaped.....

Here's a picture of the few blooms I did get this Summer. Does this help?

I'll see if I have any more from 2005 and 2006....

Gita

Gita, I agree with Shirley. Yours is a Maya. You've had some gorgeous blooms. :-)

OK!!!!! So it is! I will retire the "Peaches and Cream" name............hmmm--GONE!!!!

It will now be known as a "MAYA"! Makes me think of the Incas in Peru.......hmmmmmm...

Doing an Inca dance---whatever that is......NO sacrifices of live sheep or first sons...!!!

THANKS ALL---Gita

Gita.. what ever she is I think she is Gorgeous! How hard it must have been to cut her up like that! I know she will be even more beautiful next spring! ;)