Mystery structure on brugmansia --- bloom?

I have been moving mine in at night and back outside during the sunshine. But I left it outside by mistake tonight, and I hope it's ok. It's chilly out there. Maybe not that bad though, the weather website says it's 12C outside right now. It should be ok. But I wonder what happens if they aren't exposed to freezing temperatures, and you keep watering them --- do they just constantly bloom? This is actually the first tropical plant I've really paid much attention to, all the others I've started from seeds and were annuals. Oh well, we'll see I guess. I'm looking forward to the scent!

 

11.1 cm. A guy couldn't ask for better weather, eh? wow. If the days weren't so short you'd think it was still August.

 

You're right about the weather, although August is cetainly warmer. Today we max'd out at 21C (70f) here in Lantzville.
Looks like I'm loosing the race with my variegated Brugmansia measuring in at only 2 and a half inches (7 CMs). All the others in the garden are in great form, blooming profusely.

Cheers, LPN.

 

Re: Question about removing smaller, sub bloom-pods.

What happened with my original 9 inch long cutting with a single leaf, is that it got longer and longer untill at roughly 24, 25 inches it split into a "Y" and then right after the "Y" bloom pods first started appearing. So, now I have several bloom-pods and not just the big one that I've showed pictures of. It seems to be making new bloom-pods at every branch-junction but most of them, of course, are a lot smaller than the large one.
So my question is --- if I surgically remove the new, smaller bloom-pods, will the plant invest all of it's vitality into growing the largest, first bloom-pod? Would removing the new, little ones make the first, larger one grow significantly faster?

 

sounds like that would make sense but if we continue to have this great weather you could have blooms till Christmas

 

Yeah, I'll just leave them. If they bloom, they bloom. I've done all I can for them, they either make it or they don't.
:)
I started some more cactus seeds in another pot of cactus growth medium that I nuked for 10 minutes on high power setting --- the first one's haven't even sprouted yet so if they're going to take months I might as well get a head start.

 

have you tried bottom heat? and a plastic bag?

 

I don't really have a way of bottom-heating, but I have sealed them inside transparent enclosures. I noticed that when i did a test run without seeds, with a thoroughly wettened pot full of cactus growth medium, that if you put it in a sealed plastic bag, all the moisture seems to come out of the top layer of sand (which actually then becomes too dry) and collects on the underside of the plastic, partially blocking the sunlamp. So I put small flat pieces of glass on top of the pots, and every now and then I'll lift the glass, re-moisten the top layer of sand with a mister and wipe off the opaque condensate on the inside of the glass to allow the artificial sunlamp's light in but without any net loss of moisture. The water in the mister was let sit overnight to lose any chlorine. And last weekend I bought a cow and sacrificed it to the cactus god --- just to cover ALL the bases.

:)

Oh, and I re-potted my brug but I think I might have made a mistake because the new pot, although nice and large, has like a false bottom and there is an opening to the outside, but the water has to be an inch or 2 deep in the bottom of the pot for it to pour out, so there will always be a small, stagnent pool of water in the bottom part and no easy way to get rid of the water except siphoning it out. So I guess now I'll have to look for a way to prevent all kinds of nastiness from growing in the stagnent little pool. Bleach works well for stuff like that but I suppose it'd kill the brug as well as the molds and bacteria.

 

12 cm for my bud today...but some rain on the way for Sat/Sun. :-(

 

Mine is 11 cm and change, and is actually starting to open up right at the tip but there's no flower petals or anything inside it, it feels totally empty, so opening at this point is really premature.

 

patience grasshopper.

 

Patience never was a virtue of mine.

 

I see that.

 

Without going out and measuring, I'd say not much change with my variegated Brug. Either way I'm happy since it did flower earlier in the season.
Cheers, LPN.

 

Yes, patience isn't a virtue of mine --- so I'm germinating some echinopsis cactus seeds! :) hahaha ... I must have masochistic tendencies.
If anyone who lacks patience can start a cactus from seed without ending up throwing the whole works out the window, then his patience level should be increased by the experience. God these things are slow. grrrr. Frustratingly slow. Plants are just a chemical reaction, why haven't they evolved faster occurring reaction rates? You know, you throw a seed into water and pow! It deploys like an air-bag, bang! And you have a full grown plant. Oh well, a guy can dream, can't he?

 

I've done well with several species of Opuntia cacti. They respond well and grow rather quickly. Maybe give some of these a try and put your "masochistic tendencies" aside.

Cheers, LPN.

 

That's an interesting suggestion --- opuntia, eh? I just looked them up and they sure look pretty cool, in fact, I have just kind of 'discovered' the entire cactacea category --- it includes some truly fabulous examples. I love the spirals and even the spines give them a unique character. I wish I was set up better for this, but I might try to make room for some new additions, perhaps including opuntia. Did you start your opuntias from seed, LPN? And they're relatively fast growing? Good for grafting, too, according to this one webpage I read.

But the strangest-looking, most eye-catching, and almost hallucinogenic-in-appearance award, I think, should go to the 'hat plant'. I don't know what it's properly called but wow, does it ever look cool.

 

I'm surprised that your cacti seeds are slow, I have grades one and two growing a large variety from seeds, as they grow fairly quickly.

 

You mean they grow quickly after they sprout though, right? What's taking the time is waiting for them to sprout to begin with --- weeks to months.
This particular species has evolved on the upwind (wet) side of the Ecuadorean and Peruvian Andes at elevations between 1500 and 3500 meters where, much the west coast, it rains and drizzles a lot as the wet ocean air sheds it's moisture as it rises over the mountains. It's more like a regular plant in terms of the amount of watering it likes. I've heard they can grow to 6 inches in the first year and then roughly double in size every year until they're 5 meters tall and weighing tens of kilos.

 

Well ... the wind blew over my variegated Brug today, breaking some leaves and a few stems. Now I know why I hate container designs that are wide at the top, and narrower at the bottom. There inherently prone to this type of problem.

Cheers, LPN.

 

Sorry to hear about the misfortune suffered by the variegated brug --- hope it recovers quickly.
I realized I was measuring the stem of my bloom-pod in addition to just the length of the pod proper. Without the stem it's 11 or 12cm only. Also, the rate of growth has slowed markedly since the sun went away, although I have re-potted into a larger container. It's getting larger but on the other hand the weather is deteriorating --- I don't know if it's going to make it before the frost arrives.

 

Thomas Anonymous ...

Judging by the pod shown in your picture ... yes! You'll have Brugmansia blooms in the next 2 weeks or less. Sun and mild temps are forecast for at least Friday thru Sunday, maybe more.
Cheers, LPN.

 

No picture update for me as I didn't want to get wet. Some days I'm a tougher gardener than others...today is not one of those days! But, our pods look identical and I am betting we will have some nice blooms soon. The long term forcast shows sun 'til Nov. Lets hope...

 

-More sunshine --- good. However, I notice that my bloom pod is mostly empty! This is a backlit shot and the dark region is something inside the pod, not a shadow from a leaf. Are they supposed to be half-empty like this?

-Size is roughly 13 cm (just the bloom-pod, not including stem).

-How's your's doing, Palmera?

 

TA,
Here's a shot of mine, also backlit. 14 cm and growing. I wouldn't worry about the pod looking empty, it isn't. The outer pod grows larger and the dark area you see is the petals inside which will catch up. Just let it do it's thing.