Brugmansia grown in a pot

I have a friend who has obtained a Brugmansia growing in a pot. She does not know a great deal about growing it succesfully, and would like to know when to feed frequency and general care of the plant. I have had a look at it and it is about 18 inches in height and has some holes in its leaves. It is currently in the east facing porch of her bungalow with a pelargonium,

 

Hi flowerpotty

We have several threads here that may contain useful information for your friend as Brugmansia is a much-loved plant on this forum.

This one contains the most information ...

http://www.gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/brugmansia-2-t19048.html?t=19048&highlight=Brugmansia

 

This one I grow from seed

 

LTG - welcome to the forum.

What superb pictures of Brugmansias. They look huge, but I assume they are in pots as I notice you are in zone 7b. We don't really do zones in the UK, as most of us are in the same zone 8. However there is no question some parts are warmer than others.

How do you overwinter them? at what sort of light level and temperature?

 

Hello lovetogarden, welcome to the forum ... and I just love your Brugmansias. Although they can be grown in the ground here, I have mine in pots too. How old are your Brugs and it would be interesting to know as Peter asked, if you move them to a sheltered location in the winter.

Where exactly are you in the States? Although I am British, I lived on Long Island NY and Connecticut for six years and in Alabama for 14 years where I met my husband who is from Ohio.

Enjoy the forum and it's good to have another Brugmansia fan here ... do you also do Daturas?

PS You may wish to go onto the Brugmansia link I gave above to flowerpotty which is one of our longer links.

 

Thanks PeterS for the welcome and nice comment on my picture. Yes, they are in pots and every fall I drag all of them in my basement for storage since I don not have a real greenhouse.

I am hoping I will convince my hubby to build or buy me a real greenhouse when I graduate in college (Environmental Horticulture degree in spring).

 

I' m in Georgia, actually. And yes, I do some Daturas, the double purple ones. In fact I have some seeds ripening from one of the plant I have.

 

Yes, I do those as well as does my sister Kedi-Gato from Germany and Florida .. she is currently in Florida till January.

 

LTG - when you say in the basement - what exactly does this mean? 50F and no light at all. Or just frost free? I understand that are are two ways to overwinter Brugs.

a) Just frost free, with very little light and very few leaves. I did that last winter with a couple of B. arborea grown from seed, and am doing it again this winter. I believe that you can also do this in the complete dark if you strip all the leaves off.

or B) growing slowly with reasonable light levels and higher temperatures. I am currently doing that as an experiment with two B sanguinea and a yellow no ID. They, and several other plants, are under two 5 feet fluorescent tubes at a temperatre of 7C to 14C, 45F to 58F. So far they are growing slowly and still flowering, so I am watering them well and still feeding.

 

PererS- my basement is around 50F and little light coming from small window in the morning. There is lighting but i don't use it for them though....i am afraid the electric bill would go sky high as if it is already high enough. I have tried growing B.arborea and B. sang for awhile, I have no luck with those kinds yet but will keep trying.

I did send sang seeds to UK, someone that I talk through forum and he had luck with send me a picture of the sang blooming. How many brugmansia do you currently grow? I grow little bit of odds& ends and whatever i can grow from seeds.

 

PeterS, my basement is probably around 45-50F. More likely i am bringing them in for dormancy and whatever would continue to grow and bloom is just a bonus for me. No lighting except little that come through from small window. I like to see a picture of your arborea and sang since i don't have any luck with them but i will keep trying until I will succeed:lollol:. How many brugmansia do you grow or you only grow the cold group.

lovetogarden

 

LTG - I am a complete novice with Brugs. I only started last year with B. arborea from seed. But was impressed enough to overwinter two plants and then grow some B. sanguinea from seed this year as I wanted some colour. I then bought in July this year, a small yellow unknown type, in a garden centre, which I really pampered with water and feed and it repaid me with a magnificent flush of 50 buds, of which about 35 bloomed together. So I have now got the bug, and have taken cuttings of all my three types and have also just sown, in a light box, three lots of hybrid seed (candida, suaveolens, and a mixture) from Jungle Seeds http://www.jungleseeds.co.uk/SeedOr...nsia&fl=7916&gclid=CM2WyN6vyaUCFc0e4QodFUE9iQ


The B. arborea above grew well in this its 2nd year with some flowers and even some fruit. This is currently overwintering in a frost free summerhouse - where it essentially goes dormant. The picture was taken several weeks ago.


But as an experiment I recently brought some plants into my hall under 120 watts of fluorescent light for the winter. This includes two sanguineas, my yellow Brug and some others such as Fuchsia arborescens, Geranium maderense, and some Echiums etc. As I said before the temperature is between 45F and 55F. The lights were only meant to keep the plant ticking over. But they seem to be happy and you can see 2 sanguinea flowers and a yellow flower with several more buds forming, all of which have come about since moving indoors

 

That's really interesting.:gnthb: Thanks for that. I've always been convinced that they need light as well as heat whatever the ABAD site says. If you keep them in a heated g/house they always look unhappy 'till the light levels improve in the Spring.

 

Thanks Cajary for the comment. I have a feeling that there is a sort of fundamental rule with most plants that you need to keep the light level in line with the temperature.

I understand that if the temperature is very low - just frost free, Brugs can survive in the dark over winter, although I get the feeling that it is a bit of a gamble. But I suspect that as soon as you raise the temperature you need to raise the light level. My light level is not very high and I think it would be unwise to keep them in a room at 70F, with that light level.

I am still learning about Brugs, and one thing that has amazed me is how well some Brugs will thrive at cool temperatures. You only have to look at them and hear that they come from South America to instantly think that they will only survive in a steamy jungle. But my book says that B.sanguinea suffers when temperatures rise above 22C (71F), but could flower all winter at temperatures of 10C - 16C (50F - 60F). However it may need a bit more light than I am providing.

 

I agree with you Peter. I have no problem growing the cold group from seeds but when my temp goes up here (above 75F) they start to melt down.

For now I will stay on brugmansia until I can have a control environment greenhouse for them. I just enjoy you all's picture from far away.