will brugs branch below the Y if the Y is cut off?

Post Reply
otorongo
Posts: 1434
Joined: Tue Jan 10, 2012 5:12 pm
Location: sub-subtropical London

will brugs branch below the Y if the Y is cut off?

Post by otorongo »

My in-ground brug has its Y point at around 4ft above the ground level. I was thinking of wrapping, say, the lowest 2ft of the trunk to keep it alive over winter.

But the question is: if the trunk above the wrapping gets mushed by freezes and the wrapped part survives, will my brug sprout from the Y-less trunk come spring, or will it only sprout from the roots? Because i it's not going to sprout from the trunk there is no point in keeping it alive unless I wrap it all the way up to the Y.
User avatar
Dave Brown
Site Admin
Posts: 19742
Joined: Sun Jul 09, 2006 10:17 am
Location: Chalk, (Thames Estuary) Kent, England 51.5N 0.3E
Contact:

Re: will brugs branch below the Y if the Y is cut off?

Post by Dave Brown »

Above the 'Y' is flowering wood, and below is vegetative wood. If you cut the 'Y' off, any side shoots will grow as normal vegetative growth, eventually forming a 'Y' and flowering. If you limit to only one sideshoot at the top of the trunk you can gain height before flowering. I remove all sideshoots except one on vegetative wood, but allow all sideshoots on flowering wood as that is where most of the buds form. :wink:
Best regards
Dave
icon_thumright
_________________________________________________
Roll on summer.....
http://www.hardytropicals.co.uk
Kristen

Re: will brugs branch below the Y if the Y is cut off?

Post by Kristen »

You could take cuttings "above the Y". Brugs will root from long cuttings - 2' or 3' should be fine - which will gain you some height for the plant next season, and cuttings from above the Y are from "flowering wood" so won't need to grow to a Y before flowering (but they will, next season, take a little while to get to the point of flowering - I don't know if that is stored energy, day length, night temperature or what - but it takes a while, although not as long as a plant that has to grow and form a Y in the first place.
otorongo
Posts: 1434
Joined: Tue Jan 10, 2012 5:12 pm
Location: sub-subtropical London

Re: will brugs branch below the Y if the Y is cut off?

Post by otorongo »

Thanks, I had a closer look at my plant while wrapping it and noticed tiny side-shoots, which answered my question :)

I guess the benefit of cuttings from vegetative wood is that they reach a certain height before they start branching out. My other brug must have been from a flowering wood cutting because it's very low in height and grows sideways rather than upwards, next year maybe I'll remove the side braches and train it to gain some height.
Post Reply