Sounds familiar! lol I'm in 7 and most of my plants would rather be in 10. I use an unheated greenhouse as well as the garage and the brugs go dormant in both. I make my husband move the plants for me : )
Karyn

This is my first winter I've kept brugs and I'm trying to maintain them throughout the winter in a heated greenhouse. So far the plants are doing great, although they did drop a huge amount of their leaves because I miscalculated how much water they would need over the weekend the first week I had brought them in. By the time I got in on Monday they were emaciated sticks with dead leaves dangling off them. Its been two weeks since that and I've fertilized them lightly. The buds that didn't drop from the stress have developed into new flowers and the plants are begining to throw on some new leaf growth too. I have the plants aranged so that the flowers are dangling just above one's head as you walk through the greenhouse and I've gotten nothing but awestuck compliments about them, so hopefully the keep going strong over the next couple months...
Peace,
Nate

Hi Nate,

When I put them in the basement I let all the leaves fall off and let them go dorment, also get rid of those pesty spider mites that brugs are prone to. But I am going to keep them in the Greenhouse this year and see what happens.

This will be different for me, I want to see if they keep growing and they bloom all winter. I have already put them in as our weather is suppose to go to 31 Friday with a chance for snow flurries and they are loaded with buds right now and I didn't want to lose that.

JoAnn

JoAnn, A lot of your growth rate will depend on what temps you keep the greenhouse at. I'd definatly put them in there though!

Nate, you should post some pictures here!!!

Mine are all in the ground, we don't have much in the way of winter & often reach the 80's in the dead of winter. So my brugs don't go dormant and can often be seen in bloom in January.
Good luck with them!
Tally HO!

Nate,

I would advise against fertilizing. What you want to do at this time of year, is give your plant a rest,.... in preparation for another show next year outside. It may bloom for you in the winter, and it may drop its leaves and sleep for a while. Give it enough water to keep it going, but I would advise against fertilizing, as the fertilizer promotes growth, which is probably what you don't want. I stop fertilzing in August, so as to build up the plants strength for the winter, and break its dependency on fertilizer. It works for me. Good luck with your wintering. They usually come back nicely. :)

Wildflower- pics will be coming soon hopefully....

jroot-I've only fertilzed once since the plant was moved inside and it was a dilute mix. Seeing how the plants lost so many leaves I figured it was probably best to give them a little bit of direct nutrition. Also, they will be keep at 75 during the day and 65 at night, so I expect them to be going pretty strong throughout the winter. The Brugmansia and Datura: Angel's Trumpets and Thorn Apples book says that 1/4 strength fertilizer is good for plants kept in a heated greenhouse, but I've heard your advice from other as well, so I may stop fertilizing for a few months then.
Nate

I've tried keeping my brugs going through the winter in a heated greenhouse but they didn't do well and the plants got stressed. I'll try to keep the ones that are full of buds going in the unheated GH for a week or two just so the buds have a chance but mine usually drop most of the buds when they are moved anyway. When they start going dormant I don't try to stop it anymore. I give them their last feeding in early Sept.
Karyn

Hi all,

Well I moved all the Brugs into the greenhouse yesterday just had to there are so many blooms I didn't want the cold snap to get them. So this morning around 7 am I went out there opened the door and stepped in and the fragence was intoxicating OH HOW I LOVE MY BRUGS LOL. I know they will be sticks before to long but the wait for next years crop is well worth it.
I would post pic's but I can't seem to get it to work for me.
I have Kodak easyshare program and can't transfer the pic's to photobucket to share with you. I will keep trying.

JoAnn

I have a few hundred blooms that are so close to opening and we're expecting a frost on Friday : ( I'll give the potted ones a bit of time to bloom inside but I'm going to have to forget about the brugs that are in ground. I'll be taking cuttings off of them to send out, too bad the buds won't hold on cuttings.
Karyn

JoAnn, is your greenhouse heated during the winter?

Cheryl

I have all my brugs in the ground or in huge pots outside now, but in the past I have put the brugs in a greenhouse that was heated to 47 degrees at night. The brugs did not go dormant and although they didn't grow as fast as in the summer, they did grow and actually bloomed during the winter months.

But as I said above, all my brugs now live outside as they're too big to move anywhere anymore. I'm in zone 7b and although the stalks die every year (I whack them down to the ground in December) the plants always come back more vigorous and some grow to over 10 feet tall in one season.

Cheryl, right now the greenhouse is not heated, I usually don't start heating it until January when I start some of my seeds and I usually keep it around 55 to start. But think that might have to be re-thought if I am over wintering the brugs in it. Do you think I should put the heat on now say about 45 or so just so they don't freeze.

Airren, I am so used to over wintering in the dark basement this greenhouse situation is totally new to me, I just quess I will have to try it and see the out come.

I would love to put them in the ground and just cut them back for the winter but I think in zone 6 it would probably kill them I would imagine that they grow huge in the ground verus containers. I can only imagine.

JoAnn

I break out the hand truck & move the pots into the basement& have had great luck overwintering them in a dormant state. They have gotten so huge this year that I am going to have to do some serious pruning to fit them down the stairs. How much can I prune without harming the bloom potential next year?

help:
My brugs got hit by frost..does that mean I can't get cutting from them to save them..
carolyn

cmh35, how back did they get hit? Cut back the mushy stuff and keep the roots warm to see how far they die back. Wishing you the best of luck.

interest : brugs will not flower until they branch (Y) if you cut-back to overwinter be sure to cut above the "Y".....the male bracts have regular shaped leaves...the female have only slightly irregular shaped leaves (can't remember where I read this ...SORRY ) but it's true............mine were amazons with no blossoms, then they branched and I have them in the basement (BECAUSE OF AN EARLY OCTOBER FROST ....IN CHICAGO ) in the laundry tubs with a flourescent light overhead blooming their heads off...............on the female bracts !

I also keep my Brugs in one of my greenhouses,with temps kept at 40 to 45 degrees.They are all potted and cut back.But with mine I found that if I leave a shade cloth on this greenhouse they do go somewhat dormant and enjoy their winters rest.:)***Suzanne

Great stuff here folks!...lots of good suggestions...since I do not have a greenhouse and will be using my basement I'm not as concerned about it blooming during the winter as I am in just suggessfully rooting the cuttings to be ready to go back out in the Spring as well as keeping the rooted plant (which I need to dig up) alive and healthy... any thoughts on what's best here? lighting? water? when to bring back outside? (I'm guessing after the last frost)

Laura, I have always over wintered in my dark basement without extra lighting, just enough water to keep the roots alive, I let all the leaves fall off while still outside to prevent an all winter problems with spider mites. They do very well, I take my cuttings in January or so, then after they make roots I pot them up while still in the house and then start moving them outside when temps permit. I still had to drag them all back in once or twice because of the weather LOL. If it gets below 50, it becomes an in and out game for awhile.

Suzanne, I am going to try to keep at 40 to 45 at least thru January, my concern is the shade level, not quite sure how to create a shade cover in one corner, otherwise I think they might re-bud from to much sun.

JoAnn

JoAnn, just snip off any new shoots that start on them over the winter. I do that here, they push new shoots on me even though they are fairly dark, dormant and cool.
They will push new growth again later when you want them to by exposing to warmer temps, better light and watering more.

Thanks Ruth ann, I will do that for sure.

JoAnn

Yes but....LOL, several of my brugs in buckets destined for my cellar don't 'Y' til 6 + feet and my cellar has a low ceiling (at 6/1" I have to stoop just a bit). This will also present a problem in early spring when I move them under lights (@7' ceilings). If I cut them below the Y but still high on the main trunk will they tend to sprout at the end for me? I just personally prefer a 'standard' to a bushier form. Thoughts?
KHT. In an earlier post related to weight of pots you mentioned going to smaller pots for the winter months. I'm currently going to 2-3 gal. nursery pots. How small do you find you can go in carrying over dormant rootballs?
Thanks everyone for all the excellent info you share here.

mantorvillain, the smallest was the bonsai, in a bonsai dish that we kept for 6 years. Currently ours range from 6" to a few 20 gallon. I love the 1 gallon pots, they are easy to cut away once they get really root bound and cheap to replace.

OMGosh KHT Bonsai?Do I want to know more it? Sure I do how big do they get?Tell me the scoop on them.I can see this is going to be a interesting winter reading about Brugs.Do they have BA meetings? Like they have for AA and NA? Cause if so I know where my family will be trying to sent me LOL. Thanks Mary Lynn

ione, we kept this one at around 9 inches and we saw one bud on it in 6 years. We lost it when we put it up on the cactus shelf and forgot it was up there, death due to a lack of watering. It's extremely hard to keep one that small and health. One should at least try one for fun. One will know when one needs help with one's addiction when the 'D' word is spoken due to so many plants inside! The good news is the boys are moving out so I can now add more! ; )

KHT - A word to the wise from 'now' empty nesters. Don't fill up their rooms. They tend to come back...LOL & grinning. My 3 girls now seemingly well established and 'gone' all came back for periods of time between career changes, returns to school, etc. The good news is they're really fun now after being out on their own...changes their perspective summat on what passes for the wisdom of their parents. One has even purchased a 'century' home down the block with a huge yard. Yes, more room to plant! Thanks for sharing all your Brug knowledge here.
Will

I have a question about keeping the brugs in the basement. I brought all my brugs indoors into a very brite room before the last frost, they now have lost all their leaves. I am in the process of moving them into the basement. We do use our basement periodically. Will the lights being turned on and off "hurt" the dormant brugs? Heidi

Heidi,

No the lights being turned on and off won't hurt them at all, it never has mine, be sure to only water about once a month just to keep the roots happy and you should not any problems at all.

JoAnn

Hi, I am not trying to repeat the question, but I have no basement and no garage to overwinter my brugs in. Too many cars in the garage. I have two unheated greenhouses. I stored one brug in the smaller enclosed greenhouse and it came back but only got 3ft tall but had 25 blooms.(last year) This year it did not come back. but, i have about 25 brugs in pots in my 36ft open ended greenhouse that I really want to save. Only one bloomed 2 blooms. I took them from cuttings this last spring. only 4 got over two feet tall. the rest are in gallon pots. I really want to save them. should I put them all in the smaller greenhouse? I don't have any shade cloth at this time either. Please help me!!!

flowerchild5----My cars stay outside. The garage is for my gardening stuff.
Duane

our day to day cars are outside. the garage houses a 70 mach 1 and a 67 camaro and a 70 camaro.the 73 javelin has to sit outside. next year we are building a second garage. I have a garden shed for all the gardening essentials just not enough room for plants. used to be a 2 story playhouse. my brugs survived the night with only a few minor frost bites. I was going to ask my boss if i could store them in one of the greenhouses but forgot. He has 6 massive greenhouses. But, we already have 8 huge brugs wintering in one and the people ( a hotel/garden) pay to store them there. Thats were I got my cuttings. hee hee.

Flowerchild, I know your problem well, one year I took the spare bed room and stored all my brugs, I put a 4 x8 sheet of ply wood on top of the bed and put plastic all over the floor. I kept everything in there for the winter. It is amazing what we will do for our plants. LOL. Also My hubby and I do street rods and I think he would kill me if I suggested that the precious cars stay outside for the winter, that would be grounds for devorce.

but anyway my brugs and Jasimines did really well in the bedroom that year.

JoAnn

I cut some Brugs to root in water in September and they already have a good network of rooting. Can I leave them in water (protected) all winter or should I plant and bring in?

my cuttings that were in water too long rotted. I let them root and then put them in soil in 4 inch pots and left them in the house. they were fine. I also started some in rooting soil with a rootone in plug trays and they also did well. i had forgot about my first batch in the water. I kept an eye on the second batch which is what I planted in the pots. I do cuttings for a living and its a blast!

Okay, another newbie brug tryer outer here. I got 8 cuttings sitting in water. The roots are about 1" now and they are putting out nice pretty leaves. I pot these and then don't water them but once a month? Will that not bother them right now as they are trying to establish roots? Also, I have a plant light in my basement above a table. Should I put the potted brugs under the table so as not to receive the light? And last, how old does a brug usually have to be before it does start blooming? I was lucky enough to get two each of pink, white, yellow and orange. I'd like to get my hands on some doubles though, I bet they are lucious. I'd just like to make sure I don't kill these first! Thanks for any info, that way if I mess it up I can always blame you guys!!

Joyceann