Brugmansia grown in a pot

Peter, thank you for sharing your pictures. I never seen a pod on B arborea......I wish I could grow those sang inside my house but I have two dogs that thinks everything has to be eaten.

Do you have good success on germination from Jungle seeds? I know one person who order from them she said none sprouted....she said most of the seeds were empty.

 

Last year was the first time that I bought seeds from Jungle Seeds. I bought 10 packets from them and only one wouldn't germinate at all - Polygala myrtilifolia. That's a failure rate of 10%, which for me is about normal. I usually sow 50 to 60 different seeds each year, and there is always a few that don't germinate at all. There was only the one Brugmansia (sanguinea) in the 10 packets, and I still have 3 full sized ones from it - so I can't say that I have had much trouble.

If something doesn't germinate its always difficult to know it its the seed or your own technique. However I am sure that sometimes seeds are already dead when the packet is bought. I never sow more than half a packet at a time to give me a second go if needs be.

A few days ago I sowed a new lot of Jungle's seeds in a light box, and of the three Brugmansias two lots have already sprouted - though only 3 sprouts so far - but its early days.

 

Hey Peter, may I ask what is a "light box"?

I will be sowing lots of brugmansia seeds and some cold group hybrid seeds that someone shared. I'm going to plant few of each.

Thanks Peter.

 

This is a picture of my lightbox. Its simply a box with lights in it, where it is warm enough and bright enough to make plants think its summer. That way you can get seeds and seedlings to grow and thrive at any time of the year. In my first year I planted some Salvia coccinea seeds in November and by the first week in January, when there was snow and ice outside, the resultant plants had started to flower. The temperature is about 75F to 80F with a light level of 10,000 lux (ie the same as a summers day).

There are many different ways to grow plants under lights. I made an enclosed box with insides of white plastic to reflect the light, as the most efficient and hence cheapest to run. Its just over three feet long which allows me to use 3 three feet long fluorescent tubes (90 watts in total) and accommodate a standard growbag tray. The lights are on a suspended ceiling so they can be raised or lowered to just above the tops of the plants. The lights are also on a time switch.

Its excellent for seedlings and cuttings, but obviously isn't big enough for large plants. Amongst other things, I am currently growing some Brugmansias from seed in the heated propagator, as well as some Brug cuttings in the space on the right. This picture was taken last year, so is showing different plants.

 

What an appropriate name for that set-up. I want several of those to accommodate the seeds i have.

Thank you very much for sharing. It is in a low 20's here and its not even winter yet.
I need something to do indoor or i will drive my husband crazy...going shopping often.

 

Note that fluorescent tubes need to be very close to the plants you are raising - the light level drops off very fast with distance.

You will get more "penetration" with a growing lamp (Metal Halide for example) instead - which may be important if you will have things of very different heights - as growing lamps have much higher light levels than fluorescent tubes.

The choice is:

Several fluorescent tubes. There is a (not insignificant) cost for the fittings for each tube, but thereafter the running costs are relatively low. Worth considering longer tubes - as you save cost from having fewer fittings per unit area - but you then potentially have a larger area that you have to light - even if you only have one plant under the lights

A single growing light of about 400W will do about 1M / 3ft square More expensive fittings than a fluorescent tube but one lamp is (possibly) cheaper than the multiple fittings required for several tubes to cover the same area. (Of course if you have some spare tube fittings lying around the comparison is moot!)

There is also the 400W running cost ... although, in my case, as I will only use it during the Winter that 400W will contribute to heat in the house.

I went the single-lamp route. Here's the thread where I was deciding which method to choose:

http://www.gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=30165

Doing a Google for Cannabis Growing will give you all the information you could possibly want about growing in an artificial environment. I'm using fertilizers for indoor raising of Cannabis and there is no doubt they are making my plants shoot up!

 

Datura metel

It's that time of the year again and my Datura metel 'Blackcurrant Swirl' is opening it's buds. This is my third year with it.



It is far ahead of my Brugmansia suavolens which only has one bud at the moment and my Brugmansia sanguinea which has never flowered and I don't think will in the heat here ... but it has nice leaves!

 

Victoria - that's a lovely picture. I am also growing some Datura - but they are still quite small and a long way from flowering. That's heat (or lack of it ) for you. Are you supposed to feed them heavily like Brugs?

I have also got about 20 Brugs growing from seed. They were started early in my light box and are quite a good size now (3 feet). But I don't expect them to flower in this their first year till much later on.

I took some cuttings over winter, for the first time, of an arborea and an unknown yellow one. Both have already flowered even though they are still very small.

 

Hiya Peter and thank you. Didn't Sis send you some seeds of a similar variety from Florida?

I have to be completely honest here .. hand on heart .. I don't feed mine anything ... They are lucky they get water ...

When you live in a hot country like this you don't 'molly coddle' things and let them get along with life .. perhaps I should be a bit more motherly to them ...

 

Yes Victoria, both Anne and Pete very kindly send me some seeds. In addition I had some seeds of my own very dark purple one. So I am growing several.

I read, somewhere - I can't exactly remember where, that you can get up to 10 times (I think) as many flowers if you feed Brugmansia very heavily. But perhaps your heat compensates for a lot of that anyway.

 

Love you photo Vicky ..I am a big Brugs fan and mine are now mostly outside with some coming into flower .I have far to many for my garden but cannot part with any .I will get some photos up this week as they open the flowers .Got 4 new ones which I am waiting to flower ..
Dave

 

Dave - where do you get your Brugs from, and do you ever have any problems?

I am new to this area myself and so far have only grown from seed. But there is a limited amount of different seed available, and as it doen't come true you are not sure what you will get. I have only once ever seen a Brug in a garden centre, which I bought - its my only non seed raised plant.

 

Just got one of my dats flowering from seed, trouble is I'm not sure if its Kedi's seed or Peter S's, I did label them but you know how it is.:o

It looked like this yesterday.


But I left it in the greenhouse today, no shading as its the hose with the Ferrocacti etc.
It now looks like this.


But I have a few more coming along outside so not badly disappointed.

 

Hi PeterS
Sorry I missed your earlier post ..
I have only bought plants ,Originally got some from Reads Nursery in Norfolk 6/7yrs ago,few off Ebay and swopped a few with a friend..I have some big old plants still.some I have cut right down to the base and a lot of young plants from autumn cuttings .Just finished repotting of the large ones ..I love them but they do take a lot of space ..
Dave