Thank you for sharing your experience. It sounds almost unbelievable that a brug will go for a week without being watered anew.

Of course I know enough and this year I did reduce the watering from 4 times a DAY...rofl...to just once. Most of the times. I finally lost the fear they would die on me when they turned all limb when the sun came out.

KNOWING that less watering, but more , will make the roots grow DOWN and stronger. So I am doing this this year.

Then I thought, well the Hibiscus' might get yellow leaves because of overwatering....needless to say when I saw my fav. Hibiscus looking like it was in it's grave with all but one stem...I watered again.

Now I read that Plumeria's really do not need to be watered everyday and again I am fearful that they might die on me :-(

As for the Brugs, while on vacation I started to test them out in having the pot sit in a bigger saucerplate filled with water after it ran out of the pot.

Was ok while DH watered and like 2 weeks before. So all in all about 1 month. But I did notice that the brugs are doing very sad and the edges of the leaves turn *yellow/brown burned* looking. Besides I believe that it also attracted BUGS I did not have to fight so much last year.

Everyplace it always says about brugs, plumeria's, hibiscus' and lots of other plants that they love lots of water...or not to let them dry out, but they hate having wet feet. Which in my mind is when they are STANDING in water for to long.

You must have trained your plants so well and they are sitting in just the right spot, that they do well for you.
No rocks throwing. Are you kidding...I read a lot of ideas and experiences gardeners have. Either I try it out or choose for myself if it would work better or at all for me.

This is why this place is great...we share our experiences!

Without it...where o where would my garden be or look like!!

Lucy

Thank you Lucy for not sending the plant police. LOL

With my travel schedule I have developed some very unconventional ways to keep my plants watered and surviving.

I agree that the Plumeria instructions have said less water is better than more. Yet it has been raining for 5 days here I mean real down pour soak everything rain.

As I said I forgo drainage so my pots are filled to the top with water. Because I am home this week I will turn the pots on their side and let the water drain out but I noticed the leaves that were just sitting and not growing have grown double in size with all the rain we have gotten. The plant is standing up and looking happy. Does it need more water than is suggested? Could the instructions I have gotten been good for California but not good for PA? I will see. They will get more water I have nothing to lose at this point.

I have a travel schedule of someone going on vacation every week so to keep the plants watered and alive I use the pond, I buy the cheap pampers at Big lots I can get 24 pampers for 3.00. I line all the pots with them they hold a week of watering. LOL If it raines fine if it does not my pampers water and my plants are always moist when I return home.

The only thing I have grown that can go without being moist for a week in the summer is my cactus.

You brought up such a excellent point Marquest...I water my plummies everyday in the gh. (shade cloth) They love it! they have gotten huge but have water marks on their leaves lol (well water).... I love your ideas..I am gonna try it especially with the cannas...

This is exactly why I come to GW to learn...No rocks, only mud every now and than lol :) family always disagrees...hahah

Cannas can live in water as long as the top of the tuber/bulb is above water. I like cannas in my pond, the ones in pots are sunk into big ceramic planters with no drainage holes. Cannas grow much better this way IMO.

Lucy, some Hibs can be grown in the water as well. I have 2 in my pond. In my experience all the hibs I have grown need lots and lots of water.

Def no rocks Marquest, lol. I did that last year with a few plants, Clero Ugandense seedling was one of them, not submerged totally, but the top of the pot was out of water about 4"? I totally forgot it was in the pond, It did awesome! Grew bigger than any of my other CU's, bigger, healthier looking..all around better.

Your brug, was a cutting you say? Did it have roots before you put it in the pond? Maybe it just has water roots?, but I assume it is potted in soil as well? I think there are alot of plants that will do well potted in water as long as they are started in water. If we were to take a bigger brug and do that, all the leaves would yellow, fall off and that would be the end of that. lol. But being that was a cutting, I can see how that worked for you.

I have been tempted to do this myself since my experience last year with the CU and others..I wrote down which ones they were, now I cant remember, lol. Gotta find where I wrote that down.

Thank you for sharing your experience with us :)

I grow my variegated canna in a pot of mud and have a red one directly in the pond. I heard that someone else sat their HHG brug on a brick so the just the bottom edge of the pot holes were in the water and the roots can suck up water as needed without actually having wet feet. I wanted to try that but don't have room in my small ponds. One thing you might want to do is add some time release fertilizer to the bottom of your pots if you have no holes. If you have holes you can remove them from the pond when you are at home and sit in a bucket of miracle grow for a while then take it back out. The nutrients can leach out quickly in a pond but you don't want loose fertilizer floating around in the pond or it will stay green.

daniellalell, the Brug had rooted and was growing in the pot over the winter. It had been outside for 2 months growing in the soil in a pot with drainage holes. Now all my brugs are in pots without drainage. When I went away and they dried out the leaves fell off and I did not get any growth.

I was looking for a once a week water system. If they can suck up all the water if it runs out of the pot two or three times a day I figured sitting in a moist pot for a week would not kill them but has made them grow faster for me.

I know that as long as you have leaves on cannas I agree from my experience do much better grown as a bog plant. I do not know how they perform in the ground but in pots I use half soil and half water and a pamper to up the constant moisture.

As to fertilizer, I use time release ferts because I would never be able to remember when the last time I fertilized anything. The job has ate my brain. LOL

I do not know the statistics of plants drowning I can only report my expereince. I just do not have a choice if I want to grow tropicals.

I'm definitely going to try that with at least one of my brugs. Given the gawd awful heat they have to deal with, maybe being in pots without drain holes won't hurt them too badly. The regular pots just don't hold water long enough.

Lucy, I water my plumeria (which are in full sun) about once a week here in Phoenix. I almost lost a few to rot this winter, so I've been holding back the water so they recover from the rot, and they've been doing just fine with so little water. Although they do get shade after about 3pm. Just my experience, no rock throwing if it doesn't work for you ;-)

Ryan no rock throwing either! I will try less watering :-) and I always say that if God wants me to grow something in the garden, then I shall have it.

Obviously variegated Brugs are not meant to be here right now lol

Lucy

A container of water crystals would be cheaper than diapers. I use them all the time. I have a couple containers without drainage holes (one is a recycled canner bottom). I keep an eye on them & they do fine. You do have to tip them & dump the water if it rains too much. I would have never believed you could be gone that much & still have live Brugs. You learn something new every day.

Linda

napdognewfie, I brought a container of water crystals when I first started trying to keep the pots moist with my schedule. I paid 5.00 and it was not enough for all the pots of tropicals I grow. Now you would be right about cost if I was buying name brand pampers. But Big Lots sell a off brand for 3.00 and I get 24 diapers. Did I say I am cheap. LOL.

Dollar for Dollar one pack of the cheap diapers covers all my tropicals and I have left overs for the next year.

I said no rocks because I posted about the pond incident somewhere I do not remember where and as I remember by the end of the day I think I was stoned and buried for punishing the poor Brug. I was only trying to share what happened. LOL

I did not understand the comments because being a gardener I have learned so many things from people that I would never thought to do. I have learned that because something is invasive in one state could be just a dead plant in my state. Zone numbers are meaningless in some instances etc, etc. The most important thing I have learned is there are no absolutes when you garden. JMHO.