brugmansia question

@Richard360 You can start at the end of January , keep it indoor , plus as you may know will take 2 years before you see any flowers , I use perlite to germinate

 

Hi Richard - with a bit of warmth you can germinate (nearly all) seeds as early as you like. The problem then is what do you do with them after they start to grow because you can't put them outside for several months - ie after the frost. So it really depends on how much window sill space you have.

If you are lucky you may get some to flower in the first year. About 4 years ago I grew some 30 plants from seed and I think that half or more flowered in the first year - but at the far end of course.

 

Thanks guys
Peter I have a nice window ready and some supplemental lighting and a green house with heater on so hopefully I will be ok I hope mate i only have ten seeds so hope to get most to germinate I will try to start them off on top of my fish tank as it's nice and warm up there with all the lights on
Thanks again for the help guys

 

Having got my 3 out of the outhouse yesterday the ends have gone brown on 2 of them.
Do you just cut back to firm stem?

 

I would only cut off the excess dead material at the moment Mowgley - leaving a bit of the brown stem. I would wait until its warmer and they are growing strongly before doing anything more drastic. My worry would be that if you cut back to live material now, you might allow disease to enter the plant, when its still dormant, and encourage further die back.

 

That's what I'll do then. When do you usually start them off again?
Also I have 6 cuttings in water since November and they seems happy.
Loads of new roots encircling the jars. When would the best time to pot up?

 

I think you can pot up cuttings any time you like if they have a fair bit of root. The problem, of course, is what you do with them between now and when its warm enough to put them outside. You need a lot of windowsill space - but my windowsill are already full of other things.

You can use surprisingly large pieces as cutting material. A couple of years ago I used a 4 foot length - it did very well. Only the bottom 2 or three inches was in the soil.

You really need to wait till after the last frost - Aprilish before you can put Brugs out, unless you have a frost free porch or similar.

 

Well my purple brugs are only about 7 inch high and are starting to flower already can not believe it

 

The leaf shape, flower colour and the growth habit suggests to me that this is Datura stramonium. Definitely Datura and not a Brug.

 

I think its a Datura that I've grown in the past, its called La fleur lilac, I believe.
It does flower when small, but in a good summer can make a bush about 2ft plus tall and probably 3ft wide.

 

Thanks for that Peter maybe I mixed up my labels :-)

 

This is not about a Brug but its cousin Datura instead.

I pulled this Datura wrightii out of the ground earlier assuming that it is dead after spending the winter unprotected in the bed. Not so...............

 

Nice one Longk...I think we've had a pretty 'mild' winter all things considered.Speaking for Yorkshire it's also been a lot dryer than the last few years

 

I'm waiting on one of mine on the alotment.
Digging around the area it has lots of fangy roots going out in all directions, but no signs of growth above ground as yet.
I did have one of these overwinter outside some years ago.