Brugmansia Info

[The Codfather]

Hi, the more I see these plants in flower the more I like them......especially the red one's. I notice alot of you lot have them but I know very little about them.......I see they tend to grow very large and as they are not witer hardy I can imagine they will be a nightmare to dig up and store. Anyway, any info on these will be greatfully recieved and may help me decide if its worth giving one a go !.

[musabasjoos]

Coddy, I've grown these on and off for the last 20 years. For the winter what i tend to do is take cuttings in August, they're really easy and root in water. I find it easier to overwinter young plants as I don't really have room for the adult plant.

[The Codfather]

do you grow them in pots or the ground.....if ther later I tale it you just gisgreguad it.......also, does a cutting grow big in one year....i.e enough to flower ?

[musabasjoos]

Coddy, mine flower every year from the previous years cutting. They tend to grow about 5-6ft tall each year.

I tend to have more luck planting them in the ground as Ive had a few sudden deaths in pots.

[pdid]

I picked up a rooted cutting in the middle of August from ebay which was approx 6" tall. It has tripled in size so yeah they grow pretty quickly. Mine is in a pot and will be brought in for Winter.

[pdid]

Oh and the slugs adore these so make sure you protect them.

[The Codfather]

Coddy, mine flower every year from the previous years cutting. They tend to grow about 5-6ft tall each year.

I tend to have more luck planting them in the ground as Ive had a few sudden deaths in pots.

and the off load them in spring. What growing conditions do they like......? i,e as cuttings etc...and when planted. In the meantime I may have a look on ebay for a cutting or too.

[Yorkshire Kris]

I love these but keeping clear off them for a few years as they are really poisonous plus are hallucinogenic. If the sap gets in your eye you have crazy dreams and dilated pupils.

[Mo]

I grew a couple from seed this year and they've been flowering for the past few weeks. One is about 5ft tall and the other about 4ft. I've tried different ones over the past few years and they always flower by late summer. Love em!

[Kristen]

I've grown a handful of Brugs from seed this year. They grew to about 10' in the conservatory and half have then "forked" and flowered.

Brugs have a juvenile stage, from seed, and then an adult stage (which flowers). Taking cuttings from the adult (flowering) bits will create a plant that is ready to flower - so dispenses with the 10' walking stick stage!

Mine may be as tall as they are because they got a bit pot bound - I hadn't realised that was important to avoid. They are now in pots ranging from 18" to 24" diameter.

I plan to take cuttings shortly from the adult-stages of the ones that have flowered and then chuck the mother plants (I have read that chopping the parents down will still give me juvenile growth when it grows back next year ...)

When I naively sowed these in the Spring I had read that they don't flower until they "fork" naturally. So I didn't pinch them out. I'm not sure that was a good idea as I wound up with a 10' walking stick ... and then the top flowered, but only with a couple of shoots. My advice would be to pinch them out enough to make them bush-shaped, and then when they fork there will be more top-crown (although pinching out may delay the natural forking process of course).

Once they start Brugs produce a flower at each leaf node, so if you let them fork naturally you get 2 flowers at a time until they fork again, then 3 or 4 at a time. My thinking is that by pinching them out early so that I have, say, 8 branches, then when they start forking I'll be on 16 flowers at a time. I've seen photographs of plants with hundreds of concurrent flowers.

Apart from wanting adult, rather than juvenile growth, I think you can just chuck them in the garage (i.e. frost free) for the Winter, and then revive them in the Spring.

But I'm new to this, so don't act on just my say-so.

I got some seed from Moles (where I get my veg seed, larger packets, cheaper prices, but less choice then the well known brand names) and also some seeds from Jungle Seeds.

The ones from Moles are bland varieties (not that that matters that much unless you want to spend more ££ for more fancy flowers etc.)

Moles = 50sds £3.85, 100sds £7.30 (plus VAT and carriage)
Germination was very good and I've got several seeds left (and not sure I want to grow any more 10' walking sticks!) [note that Moles have the Brugs under Daturas, which are related]
Jungle Seeds arborea 12 seeds £2.95 - £3.43 (but "reduced" in the sale at present).

Only one of my seeds from Jungle germinated, but to be fair I did the Jungle Seed ones before getting my seeds from Moles and I probably didn't know what I was doing.

The Moles seed I soaked and then removed the "cork" outer coating to reveal the inner little seed, which I then sowed. Most of them germinated.

[derrick]

I have mine in the ground in the summer in pots they need alot of water or they droop .They grows fast and can handle some cold i store them in a unheated consevatory i remove all the leaf and cut them to size .I have had the sap in my eye and in a cut i washed out quickly I did not notice nothing but im insane anyway.lots of garden centre have them but do not note how poisonous the plant is or put them out the way of children.