earliest Brug bloom for me...EVER!

[Johns]

Never had Brugs bloom before August before.  Took this picture yesterday.  It is the new hybrid "Inca Sun"  got it last summer from Logees and kept it over in the hoop house.

[maryvonne]

What a treat. Lovely looking too. Mine don't bloom until mid-late summer here.

Maryvonne

[Mikey]

Congratulations on the early event.  My big brug was damaged by the freeze this year and it is just now starting to flower.

[Johns]

The key to the early bloom is the cultivar "Inca Sun" from Logees,(  http://www.logees.com/ )or if you really want one for less $ email me and I will try to start you one.

[Ky Kim]

That's pretty, congrats on the early bloom.

Kim

[LeeAnne151]

Logees has so many cool plants.......

I wish Brugs had more attractive leaves to go with those fabulous flowers!

[Timgod]

Johns,
Please tell me the secret on those blasted plants.
I saw your picture with you 20' specimens with your lovely wife last year.

I tried them in pots, I tried them in the ground.

They get foliage, if I am very lucky one or two blooms and then the plant goes dormant, dies etc.

I had a red (sanguinea) that was full of foliage 3 weeks ago. Now there is none and I don't know if it is going dormant or dying.
I bought it full and happy 2 months ago.

It is 90+ here. I have high humidity 90+% most of the time.
I have a white bicolor and a pink that were decidious through the winter and now they have as much foliage as the red had 3 weeks ago.
I have tried flowering fertilizer, I have tried Osmocote, I have tried a little water, a lot of water.
The few times I would get blooms, that was a death knell as it would bloom once or twice and then quickly lose all of it's leaves like it was too tired to continue.

I can usually grow just aboout anything but these things elude my abilities and charms.

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!

Tim

[miguynmkoi]

Johns, I'm trying to start a white fragrant brug from a cutting.  what's the secret to get it established? 

[Johns]

Tim

Most brugs like hot weather and generally bloom/rest/bloom.  Also most bloom only above the "fork" in the trunk.  My experience is thus:  The pink ones are the least hardy here in zone 7-a, but all freeze back to the ground and ?I have to remove the dead trunks.  The white and yellow varieties come back in the spring from the root and usually begin blooming in middle to late August.  Just to be sure, though I always make cuttings of all colors and root them and keep them over winter in my hoophouse (plastic greenhouse-heated), but you can keep a potted plant over winter in the house.   It will likely lose all its leaves, but water sparingly and plant outside after last frost and it will quickly begin growing again.

The early blooming one (inca sun) is said to bloom constantly once it starts.  i will find out this summer id that is so.

Generally speaking, brugs like a lot of moisture and fertilizer during growing season.  Things to watch out for are white flies and spider mites, and some types of caterpillars.

Now for the bad news on your red brug.  It is native to high altitudes in the Andes and much prefers cool weather, although it does not like freezing weather.  I kept one alive and growing for 5 years and it never bloomed so I dumped it. It was just too hot here in the summer for it to do well, and I suspect it is way too hot in Tex for it also.



Myguynmykoi

Rooting brug cuttings is easy.  I use commercial potting soil and a rooting hormone powder.  Keep the cutting moist and in a partially shaded environ for about 3 weeks.  Then plant where you want it to grow.

[Timgod]

Thanks so much for the answer Johns.

Tim

[miguynmkoi]

Thank you Tim fro the great question and thanks very much for answering Tim's and my question!  I should be able to follow your instructions.  Just hope my cuttings listen 

[Jonna]

I had a brug at my old house in NoCal, it got huge but never bloomed.  I finally figured out it had some kind of bud worm/caterpillar that ate only the buds, but it ate ALL of them!  I tried all sorts of stuff to kill them and did finally get maybe 2 blooms with only a few holes in them.  Then I sold the house.  Down here in the desert there was one next door but the spider mites were so bad that it always looked awful and we finally just pulled it out.  I'm always jealous when I see people with big beautiful brugs, they are just too susceptible to damage for me.

[Johns]

Jonna,

If you can get it, Admire 2F, an imidacloprid, may protect Brugs from spidermites.  Don't give up on them, in your area they should be trees!  You should also try Poinciana.