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
