Yeah Jeep, Where are you at? Sounded like you'd started thousands of cuttings last year. We know you're in a warm zone and I'd bet with the care you were giving them you'd have some blooms by now...Please post some pictures if you're still checking back in here!

I am in agreement Jim, I want to see pictures of all those pretty plants of yours. And the sheep too!

I will check in. I am running a plant hospital here. I start them great put them in the ground and they want to die. I am working on it and making progress. It's a combination of pests, nematodes, soil, ph jump, well water quality, temperature, humidity and heat. Then there are moles, gophers, soil dieases,salt in the air etc. I have learned a lot.

I sometimes envy the z7s and less. There are not all the perils as I have here. Cold and good soil cures a lot. When I was a kid living in Virginia I grew tomatoes as high as the 2 story house. I have never been able to duplicate that in the south.

I have some in containers 15 gallon plus. I need to change the soil due to drainage. I am custom mixing fast drainng soil. Kind of hard to change soil while a plant is activly growing. I had never had to deal with mites but had an infestation so severe it threatned all of my brugs. I now quarintine all new plants coming in. I have bought several from Lowes and elsewhere that had a eggs laid and hatched here while in quarantine. Now they remain for a couple of weeks.

There is some good news. My NB Jasmine just finished a flush. I had 7 brug plants with a small flush. I have another that is working on one. My plants are perking up. They had to fight for their life. Most had to be stripped of all of their leaves. New growth is filling in. I try something new every week and observe the test plants. I am trying to keep it at 100 brugs. I have only lost 2 and those were doomed. (creamsicle-sp?) I belive it is an Amber Rose that is blooming and I will take some pics. I have done thousands of pages of research. I will let you all know the results. What works and what does not. I have tried organic, natural and chemical solutions. Mulches, perlite, fired clay products, micronutrients, and some unconventional stuff. I am gaining ground. I almost threw in the towel and opened the gate and let the sheep in. LOL I have never liked defeat and it has been a battle but I knew it would be one. Just not on this scale.

Enough on problems I will take some pretty pictures. That is why we grow them any way. It all seems good when I walk outside and can smell the plants perfume.

Jim

Here are some pics and a few healthy plants. Nothing spectacular but I am pleased they are healthy again about a month later. In the mix is a row of brugs. Pics of plans in the row and a confederate rose. There is also a sea grape which I grew from cuttings. I still have a bunch of stuff propagating. I am better at propagating than at making them grow once they hit the ground. 21 million beneficial nematodes sure helped a bunch. There is one plant flowering right now. This is a update all young but growing. Summer is close so we will see how it goes. Summer is a killing field here. I do believe they will all make it. They seem to be aggressive and fast to recover. This time I am in the prevent mode. I am the leaf inspector. LOL

JIm

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The brugs in the lawn look really good and your bloom is beautiful. Is the plant in the 2nd photo a ficus? Where are the sheep? The baby must be big already. Are they just pets or do you raise them for a purpose?
Karyn

2nd is a sea grape and 4th is confederate rose. I do have some Burgandy rubber Trees and Banyan trees. The fence next to the row of brugs is the sheep area. ( small piece) picture 8 and 9 have leaves that the sheep nibble on. The do have a purpose in that they eat the grass I do not wish to mow. They do not like being fenced out. I may have to electrify this section also. The brug conditions change weekly it seems one week this area looks good and next week it is another. etc. I am looking for stability. I have to hit each area with a moisture meter in deciding if I need to water. Over watering looks just the same here as not enough. Still working the kinks out. I have just started shifting the PH some. It will only be temporary due to leaching of the soil. My wells water PH is 8.5+ and contains hydrogen sulfide. I am treating the water for both. It is working.

Jim

That's so funny you said you envy us zone 7'ers and less because I have zone envy the other way! Wishing I could have those year-round blooming trees you zone 9'ers and above have. Never thought about what all you must go through with the pests...

They all look great in your pics. Is the blooming one Frosty Pink?

Forgot to ask...What exactly did you do to the 'maters when you lived in VA?

Zone envy you say? Let me tell you about zone envy as a Mississippi boy transplanted Z4 Minnesota! LOL

Jim - what mix are you using to improve drainage. Our Z4 season is so short I'm trying out some of the recipes from over in the container garden section. I'm using 2 parts compost, 2 parts bark fines, and 1 part perlite. They don't advocate the compost/soil but with the height my brugs get I'm a bit leery of stability in my half barrels.
It's definitely lighter than just my regular old soil/compost mix so am hoping to get more vigorous growth both above & below ground. Most of my herd of 30 are actually in the ground so it'll be interesting to see how the 2 groups compare.......always tinkering - grin.
Keep us posted and I'm looking forward to pix as we're right at frost free date up here and mine are just going in the ground/containers and I'm quite a way from flowers.
Will

The flower is suaveolens pink. I had to check the stem. All of my tags washed off the names. I am glad I marked all stems. Now them 'maters had a fish in the hole and soil and water. I always expected things to grow good. Most of my brugs are doing good now. I hope it holds. I have a bunch of Grimaldis that are big but no Y's yet. I like those hardy guys. Now for my mix I use Bark fines, perlite, 40% of mix each. Then I add composted manuer, oil dri (baked clay) and a litte peat moss. I have to mark the pots because they require a lot more water. These are not permenant homes but temporary. I had problem before with planting potted plants into the sand and the soil holding too much water at the plant while the other soil in the yard was dry. So I had a problem with root rot. Now that summer is here this is not much of a problem but I am staying with this mix year round now. The plants really like to make roots in it. Now the zone envy only makes it to about z6. I would freeze and die up there. Below 70 and I am cold.LOL I am expecting most of my plants to flower real soon a lot of Y's and fast growth. I guess they are adapting or I finally hit the problems right on the head. I should not speak so soon as it could all change tomorrow. That is the way it is in Texas.

Jim

Update well things change fast in Texas. Those nice green brugs above grew about 30% larger and now have yellowing tinged leaves. They were doing great a then I gave them a shot of basic 20-20-20. I put in another 5 NBJ's I now have about 20. Seems I did not account for the winds effect on the fragrance. Hunting a good spot for the Plumeria. I have about 20 that need a dirt home pretty soon. Tried some Barberry and forsynthia none of them liked Texas. Well maybe June will hold something worth taking a picture of.

Jim