Those look great Barry. It will be nice when we can finally get them outside.
Karyn

They look great. I can't keep leaves on my inside plants.

Linda

napdognewfie, I think it is carful watering and keeping up the humidity. It was muggy in my home all winter, and some walls suffered because of this (condensation) :)

I only lost leaves where the light couldn't get at them, as usual.

Barry- You are a master and an inspiration to us who are begginers.Plants are looking great!

Rigo

Everything is looking great..I know you want instant trees but if you grow them out as bushes you can cut back the longer stalks root them and TaDa!!!! Tree...LOL

Barry: How wonderfully green those leaves are. My Brugs are outdoors:they get epsom Salts as well as Iron and Fertilizer and I still get yellowing leaves as well as some light green leaves. Yours are downright Lush!! Watch that humidity next year. At our age we are easily prone to mildew!!! lol. Gloria

Wow! They look great. I'm too ashamed to post pictures of my rooted cuttings. LOL.... Mine look like pitiful little sticks with tiny little leaves... i mean t-i-n-y!

Barry your plants are looking awesome. Really. My opinion on the "trees" you're wanting- You're going to get trees out of these once you plant them out and they get going. Starting out with plants that look this good already, there's no telling how tall they might actually get... You'll probably have Y's on top of Y's on top of Y's. So they might look like very bushy trees but you won't be waiting forever on blooms either.

Hey, when you were talking about putting cuttings in the fridge, do you know of anybody that's ever done that? Never heard of it. Wonder how long they'd last there...

I think I saw someone over at ABADS or BGI that was thinking of trying that I will look around and see if I can find that thread..

Hey Oxmyx they all look great!

Personally, from what I've read, there's no reason to believe you've bonsai'd your plants, especially having a greenhouse type of environment that you've provided for them. And I know you would not have 'continually' used any of those bonsai technics, nor have you had them in a stifling environment. Those big leaves on yours don't speak of dwarfism at all. They speak of big healthy branches that can support a flower the size that a brug puts out.

You should see this severely bonsai'd frosty brug cuttings of mine... there is nothing on it itself except for itty bitty branches and leaves, but below it's soil level it allowed another shoot to grow. So, I have a normal healthy growing 16" plant growing next to a 5"high, 1/2" thick stub that's going to be cut off and thrown out, (as soon as I get a good picture of it) that's how hardened it's become. I took it off the brug plant last summer when it showed stunting then. I have hope for it's off-spring which I didn't think I'd even get.

You did excellently with yours Barry. I'm truly impressed and I appreciate your efforts in communicating what you'be been doing with your brugs.

I may still end up removing all my winter grown branches if I see proof that the new spring growth is growing way faster and/or thicker then the winter grown branches. But until then all branches and leaves stay on.

Have you considered the spacing you'll need for the canopy of each brug? I'm estimating here, but for an example, if on average, 60 trees x minimum 4 square foot canopy on each first year tree and likely bigger from how well yours are growing and depending on the kind of brug maybe bigger and some smaller. It would help you to find out how tall and wide each one grows as a maximum so you can arrange them in an appropriate pattern. Unless of coarse, you've got lots of space which will save you lots of thinking. Yours are going to do really well they're first year. I'm excited for you.

Happy Gardening - Sandy

Thanks Sandy, I might have to usurp the neighbors land :)

Barry

I just spent some time yesterday potting my brug seedlings into 5 gallon pots. Only 24 so far. I took them out of their 5" pots and just added a little dirt at the bottom of the large pot and set them in and filled in around the rootball. The pots are only half full of dirt/ planting mix. When the brug seedling fills in the rest of the soil with roots, I will lift it out of the pot, fill the pot halfway w/ more soil, and plop the seedling back into the pot. I hope I don't have to move these up to even larger pots but some of my more mature brugs are in 10-20 gallon pots that get dragged, not carried, to where I place them for the summer.
I have a little brug forest of potted seedlings going on in my new garden bed from last summer that was just bare dirt - not anymore!!!! I'll snap a photo, if I think of it!

Your babies are so healthy, they are going to leap for the sky once you get them outside for good! Great going!!!

Great idea!!! now that is cleaver! I would sometimes fill it the way you say, but do it backwards, add more soil on the top! Works, but that has to be harder for the plants!

Great ideas for those who want to jump up to a larger size, quicker!!

Gotta see before and after picts of your forest, please Brenda!!