Hi Folks,
I have a variety of brugmansias. I am in northern Massachusetts, USA, zone 5. I bring them in every winter and let them go dormant. They are potted in sizable pots (15inch) plastic. They do fairly well come spring/summer, but never quite seem to thrive at their best. I get some flowers, some yellowing and some leaf drop. I've seen photos of breathtaking plants that make me question my care. So.......any feedback on brugmansia care/culture/helpful hints to get a healthier, happier plant would be greatly appreciated.
Thank You
Glenn in Massachusetts

Hi,
I've grown a few Brugs for a number of years and similar winter, so mine cannot live thru either. (a Dr Seuss, and a Maya/Peaches and Cream or similar variegated one).

My routine is I take cuttings in fall and pot them right in soil, and regrow from there. This year I could not resist digging up a couple stragglers, potting them, and bringing them into my cool basement to try a semi dormant situation- (as if I know what I will do with more than the one Brug, much less ten.)

I have a friend who grows them beautifully in a pot about that size. I am pretty sure she also takes fall cuttings and starts with those every spring for her big pots. I try but don't keep mine watered and fertilized enough.

My primary plant goes in the ground in a warm sunny spot, shade end of day, next to a deck which shades the ground and probably helps it stay moist. Does very well there. This plant would be a cutting potted up in the previous fall and grown over winter under lights. I can add pix later. Loaded with flowers by end of summer until frost kills it.
I have some mixed results with them in ground, other sites in my yard, not sure why, but that's not your question.

Thanks Sally,
I winter my plants over in the basement. very little light/water so they go dormant. I don't have the heart to let the frost get them.......:( so out they go come spring.
I'm looking for tips for growing in pots.
Thanks for your help.
Glenn

Someone else may be more helpful then. All I might suggest is in spring, unpot, root prune, fresh soil, plenty of water and fert all summer. @tapla ?

They do fairly well come spring/summer, but never quite seem to thrive at their best. I get some flowers, some yellowing and some leaf drop. I've seen photos of breathtaking plants that make me question my care. So.......any feedback on brugmansia care/culture/helpful hints to get a healthier, happier plant would be greatly appreciated. Brugs are capable of living for decades. The key to good long term vitality (health) is usually in how you care for the root system. Many plants have aggressive root systems and need a full repot annually to be at their best. Brugs, datura, hibiscus, and many more need a full repot each spring. Potting up should be considered a half measure that only somewhat relieves a portion of the stress of tight roots. A full repot, with bare-rooting, root pruning, and a change of grow medium, relieves the stress of root congestion entirely. Root congestion begins to take a conspicuous toll on vitality, growth rate, and the plant's ability to defend itself against insect herbivory and disease pathogens at the approximate point in time when the root/soil mass can be lifted from the pot intact.


Let me know if you'd like to be walked through what a repot entails, or discuss any aspect of the process. I have about 200 woody plants and perennials in pots, 2/3 of which I've done full repots on annually for the last 40 years, which is over 5,000 repots. I can say with certainty there is a huge difference in health, growth, and appearance between plants repotted and those only potted up, and an even greater difference compared to plants left to languish in the same pot for year after year.

Many growers believe there is good reason to use "bloom-booster" types of fertilizer for plants grown under conventional container culture, when actually, there is no good reason to ever use those products for plants in containers, and very seldom for plants in the ground (if a soil test reveals a severe phosphorous deficiency, which seldom occurs). Plants use about 6x as much nitrogen as phosphorous, yet some popular "bloom-booster" type fertilizers provided as much as 13.4x more P than the plant can/ will use, based on N usage. The excess has no potential to benefit the plant, only the potential to be limiting. The excess P also causes a plant's inability to take up enough calcium, potassium, iron, copper, zinc, (and especially) iron.

Brugs do wonderfully when supplemented with Foliage-Pro 9-3-6. It contains all nutrients (taken up by the root pathway) essential to normal growth, derives none of its nitrogen from urea, and 2/3 of it's nitrogen is from nitrate sources, which is easier on the plant, limits the potential for ammonium toxicity, and helps keep plants fuller and more compact. Also important is, the ratio at which the fertilizer supplies nutrients closely matches the ratio at which the average plant absorbs them - a significant advantage.

I over-winter Brugs and some other plants like you mentioned. I DO let brugs dry down quite a bit before letting them get knocked back by frost, then they go in a cool dark basement and are left quite but not completely dry (water to keep soil barely moist) for the winter. Around our predicted 'last frost' date is when I repot and start to water more. I move them outdoors when nights are reliably above 55*; or for those in small easy-to-manage pots, I'll move them in and out of shelter as temperatures allow.

This variegated brug (middle, forefront) is actually in a pot in the ground (for the summer grow season) and mulched. In case you are interested, the tall plants (14' in the image) are Ricinis communis (commonly: castor bean). It's a perennial plant but in MI it will not tolerate our winters and must be grown (outdoors) from seed each year. The leaves are 4' across. It gets a lot of attention whenever I grow it.


Any other questions/ concerns/ input?

Al

And here is a cutting rooted fall 2021, under lights for winter, planted out spring 2022, by October. I'm sure I don't care for it as well as Al does his. Mine had bigger leaves at times but then put all its energy onto blooms as you can see.

Cuttings, can you see the awesome roots they've already got

Thank You both Al and Sally.
Great and useful information. Root pruning and re-potting sound like the solution. I'll usually "refresh" a pot before it goes outside, but not to the extent that Al has shown.
Guilty confession....I've used a bloom booster. It's so seductive to think a bit of fertilizer will give me incredible blooms, knowing in the back of my head it's it's probably just hyped up advertizing. I'll try the Foliage - Pro and dump the bloom booster. .......how often do you fertilize your pots? In my gardens, I rarely use fertilizer. Good soil and compost have always done the trick. One more question; pot size? Does "bigger is better" apply?
The castor bean is beautiful. I grow them from seed as annuals for a bit of the exotic in the garden, but never thought of overwintering them. Do they go dormant like the brugs?
Sally, I'm amazed you get a plant that size with that number of blooms from a cutting. It's too late for me this year, but next year I'll give it a go.
Once again (even after 40 years of gardening) I find folks have some wonderful information to share, so Thank You for sharing.
Spring will be here soon, but in the meantime we have our basements and grow lights to keep us busy!
Take care

Glenn

I'll usually "refresh" a pot before it goes outside, but not to the extent that Al has shown. What you see in the image above is only the first step of a full repot. I provided the images only to illustrate the point at which you can be sure root congestion is taking a toll on the plant's vitality/ growth rate/ defenses.

I'll show a repotting sequence so you can see the steps:

Dormant rough bark maple:


After pruning & wiring for shape:


Bottom 2/3 of the root mass removed with a pruning saw:


Now, I'll tease the rest of the soil away from the roots:


Root work finished:


View from the bottom:


Settled in it's new pot, which happens to be the old pot.


Because an attractive appearance of the roots and trunk flare are a key element of realistic and old-looking bonsai.

The way I treat roots is much more severe than necessary for plants not grown as bonsai.

The stress/ limitations imposed by root congestion is the same for all plants in a container, whether it's a bonsai, tree grown as a houseplant, or trees which live outdoors in containers. They all need relief from increasing root congestion to realize as much of their genetic potential as possible.

I'm not sure how deep you want to dive into information re repotting (as opposed to potting up) at this time, but at some point before you dive into it, ask about how to ensure the process goes smoothly. The first repot on a tree that is severely rootbound is always the hardest. From that point forward, they get easier.

I've used a bloom booster. It's so seductive to think a bit of fertilizer will give me incredible blooms, knowing in the back of my head it's it's probably just hyped up advertising. Here is part of a conversation I had with Dave Neal from Dyna-Gro:

You are correct. We market a high P (Liquid Bloom) "believe" they need this. As you have noted, our Foliage-Pro does a great job start to finish. However, it is simpler to give the market what they think they need than to try to reeducate it. There is some evidence to believe that low N helps to convince a plant to stop its vegetative growth and move into its reproductive phase (flowering), but environmental factors are probably more important. P is typically 5th or 6th in order of importance of the six macronutrients. There is little scientific justification for higher P formulas, but marketing does come into play for the vast majority of users who lack any real understanding of plant nutritional requirements. Therefore, the market is flooded with a plethora of snake oil products that provide little benefit and can actually do harm. For example, one exhibitor at a hydroponic trade show had a calcium supplement with 2% calcium derived from calcium chloride. Can you guess what continued application of 2% chloride would do to plants?'
I hope this answers your question and am sorry for Zina's inaccurate response.
Cordially,
Dave Neal, CEO
Dyna-Gro Nutrition Solutions
2775 Giant Rd.
Richmond, CA 94806

.... how often do you fertilize your pots? In summer, I try to fertilize weekly when temperatures allow. In winter while plants are indoors under lights, I fertilize at a low dose every time I water. The reason is, I have over 100 plants growing on 2-32 sq ft tables ant they all have collection saucers, so I cannot flush the soil thoroughly enough to allow weekly (or every other week) at higher rates. If you're confused about how this works, just ask.

In my gardens, I rarely use fertilizer. Same here, except in my raised beds with a high % of OM, which gives me trouble with N immobilization, so I supplement with 27-0-3

Good soil and compost have always done the trick. Amen

One more question; pot size? Does "bigger is better" apply? You must pay attention to what your grow medium allows, or pay the over-watering tax. Bigger is much better IF you can water correctly (to beyond the point of complete saturation, so at least 20% of the total volume of water applied exits the drain hole) without your grow medium holding too much water for long periods, thereby limiting root function or jeopardizing root health via fungal infections/ root rot. I use media I make myself, and they don't impose any limitations on what size pot I can grow in. Still, I don't use unnecessarily large pots because I repot usually every year or every other.

The castor bean is beautiful. Thank you. .... never thought of overwintering them. Do they go dormant like the brugs? They should be able to be treated exactly the same, but if you can grow a plant as large as the ones in the image in a single summer, why bother? :-)

@sallyg Strong work - getting such a bloom profusion!

Al

tapla, Is your variegated Brugmansia Snowbank? I've read your post and find it very interesting.
When I first started out with Brugmansia I posted my cutting brugmansia roots and boy did I get screamed at by the pros. I used to have them in huge pot but as I have gotten older I have learned the easiest way to keep them is in 5 gallon pots sunk into Pickle buckets. Especially after planting them in the ground and having to dig them out of the ground yearly to put them away for the winter months. After years of growing, I have learned Brugs love to be root bound to produce blooms. I will admit I use the Bloom Booster early in the year. As a majority of ours are well over 10 years old, some are 20. Yes, they can live a long time if given the right conditions and yes you can over fertilize them! It really depends on the variety and care give to the Brugmansia if one can get it to bloom but most will not bloom until fall. This is why I suggest a bloom booster to kick in the blooming process earlier in the season. It only takes a couple feeds of the bloom booster to get them to bloom. Just don't over use it!

One thing I've found is growers who learn how to root prune and practice it consistently as part of their care regimen, have all had opportunity to actually compare the rejuvenational effect it has on plants suffering from root congestion, so almost never would they revert to potting up except when something occurs to prevent them from doing full repots. The only growers I've come across that disparage the practice, have habitually been potting up or simply leaving the plant in the pot it was purchased in and letting nature take it's course. IOW, they have never tried it and hold tight to the idea that any 'massing' with the roots is bound to lead to a high probability of the plant giving up it's viability. If the plant is healthy, it will tolerate severe root pruning. I regularly remove up to 90% of a plant's root mass and have no concerns that the plant will succumb to the treatment. That isn't to say I'm advocating for plants not grown as bonsai to be that severely pruned; I'm only using it as an example of how well plants tolerate it.

Plants age differently than people, ontogenetically as compared to chronologically. This means most youngest and most vigorous tissues are found in the root to shoot transition zone, and the oldest at the tips of the stem and longest branches. This is why propagules taken from sexually mature plants are ready to bloom soon after they root. While the tips of sexually mature branches are youngest chronologically, they are the oldest ontogenetically. I said that so I can mention cutting the tops of plants back hard, is often called rejuvenation pruning because it is pruning back to juvenile tissues which are more vigorous and as such produce vigorous growth. The same thing happens in the root system.

I won't try to talk you out of using the bloom-booster fertilizers, but I will mention that Liebig's Law of Limiting Factors states there are 6 factors that affect plant growth and yield; they are: air, water, light, temperature, soil/media, nutrients; and, the most deficient factor is the one that limits plant growth. Additionally, increasing the supply of non-limiting factors will not increase plant growth. Only by increasing the most deficient factor will the plant growth increase. There is also an optimum combination of the factors and increasing them, individually or in various combinations, can lead to toxicity for the plant. In essence, too much phosphorous (more than the plant can use) in the soil solution is as limiting as too little phosphorous. It raises the level of TDS (total dissolved solids) with no positive return, and can limit uptake any/all of 5 nutrients essential to normal growth (calcium, potassium, zinc, copper, and especially iron).

The barrel below represents a growing plant with a deficiency of nitrogen limiting the plant's growth. You can see by the barrel below, that increasing any cultural influence other than nitrogen will not improve growth or blooming or yields or the plant's ability to defend itself.


When greenhouse ops are finishing a crop of bedding plants to bring to market, they are aware that blooms on plants in cell packs and small pots sells! They do use artificial growth regulators to fool the plant into blooming, but they also change fertilizers. Most plants start being fed with a 3:1:2 ratio fertilizer like 24-8-16, 18-6-12, 9-3-6, etc. To finish, ops often change to a 2:1:2 ratio like 20-10-20. The reduction in nitrogen limits vegetative growth and forces the plant to spend more energy on it's reproductive parts, which means more blooms.

Take care. I hope your enjoy the holidays.

Al

tapla,
Thanks for the additional information! Interesting and when I stopped trimming the roots I was shocked how they skyrocketed in growth. I had one that shot up over 15 feet in one season. Needless to say, it wouldn't fit come fall in the Brug house, so I had to cut it in half. She still it our tallest Brug. I'm finding his year I will be pulling them out of their pots to trim their roots. Do you use a root feeder when you fertilize, or do you just pour it on top of the soil?

Thank you again for the added information. Happy Holidays to you also.

B. Snowbank??

There is a pervasive idea that nitrogen is for top growth, phosphorous is for root growth, and potassium is for the general well being of the plant. This leads us to believe that a little more of the right nutrient can cause roots or blooms or ..... to grow larger or with more profusion. Someone even invented a little rhyme to help us remember what NPK are supposed to be for, "up - down - all around". Don't be taken in, it's a myth. Each nutrient is equally important to growth of plants' above ground parts, roots, and its well being, and for best growth/ vitality there is an ideal ratio of nutrients. I'll provide a couple of links below for you to consider how best to go about your nutritional supplementation.

For conventional container culture, fertilizers with an NPK ratio of 3:1:2 will almost always be the best choice, and you'll find that repeated over and over in texts and other scientific literature. 3:1:2 ratio fertilizers provide nutrients in a ratio that closely matches that at which plants actually absorb/ use the nutrients. Examples of 3:1:2 ratio fertilizers: 24-8-16, 12-4-8, 9-3-6 (I use 9-3-6 for averything I grow, occasionally supplementing that ratio with a small amount of 0-0-3 when more potassium is required (as in hibiscus).

Understanding Nutrition

Fertilizer – Selecting The Right NPK Ratio

Al