looking for Brug Cuttings

[Smitty]

When I joined the Brug Forum, Linda was the first person to greet me, and it felt good to have a "familiar" person welcome me on board.
I have nothing to gain from saying this (and am not an a** kisser), but your warmth, generosity and graciousness is an asset to all who interact with you not only on the Brug site, but also on this one as well. You are a much admired poster Mme Lulu.
I realize this is again travelling "off topic", but.......who cares

couldn't have said it better myself Dan!!! she's a darling

my 15 cuttings are doing fabulous too!!!

[mike in Ottawa]

Well Lulu time for a update, all 12 doing well, the shoots are about 6" long and all look very healthy, the 2 that were slow now have shoots about 3" long.

When do you normally transplant them into their summer pots and what size do you use?

[Smitty]

you are doing better than me Mike..I've lost two!!! but the other 13 are looking very good.

[Lulu]

Glad to hear the babies are mostly all doing well!

Mike,,what size pot/container did you start then in? Most of my cuttings downstairs are growing in the 600 ml yogurt containers, and that is fine for them, for the entire winter. I lost a pile of cuttings last week that were in 10 oz styrofoam or plastic drink cups. They've been fine, since October, then just bit the dust!

If your pots are smaller, you can safely go up to the next size, but give them at least a month in their new pots, to adjust, and set root again, before you start them on a really weak solution of fertilizer. Any kind of fertilizer you have on hand will be fine,,just try to read the label, to insure it's not something that will encourage blooming; (high middle #); they're too young, and have to focus on root & plant strength for now. The fertilizer can be increased gradually as it gets near time for them to go outside. Keep in mind, you've got at least three full months before they can go outside, and then, only guardedly in April,, then another month,,till at least May 24 weekend,,so,,pace them somewhat.

Smitty,,if you want, l can send you two replacements in the spring.

Pictures would be great!

[mike in Ottawa]

They are all in 946ml Presidents Choice Giganto containers., i have been checking the bottoms to see if any roots were coming out, but nothing yet so think they have lots of room to expand. They are all in a south facing windows so get lots of sun. I water them on a regular basis, no fetilizer yet.
Once we get to April i will move them to the sun room. My biggest worry is i'm going away for 2 weeks in March and i cant trust my 2 boys to water them, probably best to remove them from the window and give them a good drink before i go away.

[Lulu]

Same worries here, Mike,, going away for 2 weeks in March, with my daughter, who usually waters my plants when I am gone. Can't rely on my sis; she's just not into plants!

Thinking I will water them really well, just before I leave, and allow them to sit in some water, in the trays, keep the basement darker and cooler than normally, and cross my fingers!

[mike in Ottawa]

Another up date, the good news the 2 that were so slow to get started are now the 2 largest probably about a foot tall. all of the others are still going but i have a bug problem one of the plants started getting a cobweb with little bugs in the web is this spider mites?
and slowly the leaves were falling off, i have sprayed them and that seemed to stop them for a while, but they seem to be spreading. The 2 that had the bugs first have lost all of their leaves but there are new shoots on them.

[mike in Ottawa]

Well i'm back and my brugs barely survived, i forgot to water them before i went away and the boys never watered any of my plants while we were away, also the brugs were hit by spider mites, so there were not many leaves left on them, 10 of them are in my office window and only 3 have significant leaves on them, but all of the other 7 once i cleaned them up and watered them have new shoots, so they are all alive, the 2 that are in my bathroom were ok.

I also have one Brug that i had last year and is now over 2 feet tall and looks very healthy.
I cant wait to get them outside, i guess another month at least for that to happen.

Again thankyou Lulu

[Lulu]

Mike,,glad to hear they mostly survived; I lost a few even though I'd watered really well, before I left. Got bugs here too! Mostly aphids, although I've seen the tell tale spider webbing on some downstairs. I think some just give up the ghost, cuz it's too hard to survive in such unnatural conditions. Time for them to go outside!

Sprayed with Safers Rose & flower insecticide; picked it up @ Lowes; says it's good for Aphids, Spider Mites and Earwigs; seems to be working!

The good news is,,I got a "basement bloom" (posted on garden gallery) on a tiny twig of a thing; the bloom is bigger than the twig or the cup it's in. Nice surprise!

[mike in Ottawa]

Lulu i am happy to report i now have 2 of your Brugs in bloom, one i planted in the ground and is about 5 feet high and has at least 6 blooms, the other is in a pot and has about 5 pods on it which are just about to bloom.
The others are all healthy, some in the ground and some in pots but no sign of any pods or blooms.

Question, the ones in the ground can i dig them up and put them in a pot for the winter, or should i cut them down and cut them up into 6" pieces like what you sent me and start all over again.