oh Daniella let me give you a hug. I know what you mean. This will be my first winter too. And every one of them I want it to make it through the winter.
All I have learned that seems very important if the frost would suprise me and I had to bring them in before reading up on the proper way..once again. Is that you should and can not small or little plants go dormant.

I will follow this thread and I know you will get a answer as soon as the pros read it.

Hang in there. It will not happen that quickly for them to get sick. Just do not water them anymore.

You need a DH like JOHN rofl. At least he knows how much we love our brugs .

Poor Daniella, I know it will be ok. I spent 2 hours on the phone with Kylie yesterday doing the same thing. Can I put some stuff here and what about doing this or that. I informed hubby when he got home I was putting a swimming pool in Morgans room to let the plumies go dormant in there. He was not a happy camper. I said well nobody uses that room during the winter since she is going to disney for Christmas with her Grandma she will only be here Thanksgiving or maybe not til Easter. Not sure yet. She has the most floor space in her room. She can walk around the plants if she comes, lol. The guest room gets used a lot and there is only a narrow strip between the bed and window I can use and he said putting a grow light over the guest bath tub ain't gonna happen, lol. I think when we start putting things in the garage he will let me use her room. Those plumies take up half the garage. I wish I had a basement. Many people use that to let them go dormant. I am scared too since I have never done the dormant thing with the brugs and last year was the first time for the plumies so I am going to be worried sick if I try it too. If you get a lot of natural light down there why don't you put up one shop light with grow light bulbs in there and only leave it on during the day. Thats what I did in the garage last year and what I'll do this year. They still grew some but slowly and I only watered them when they felt dry but it was more like once a week or if I saw the ones in little pots wilting I did it more often. I would like to figure out a way to water from the bottom. Those dang fungus gnats have shown up in the kitchen already from my little sucullent cutting in the windowsill. I am going to watch this thread and maybe I'll get more ideas. Good luck girl. Take a deep breath.

They might look dead next spring but rest assured they are almost certainly still alive. Even if all the above the soil growth is dead you'll get new growth from below the soil. Deep breath, calm down and if that doesn't work use drugs! lol

Thank you Lucy ((hug))
Kristy, grow lights over the bathtub..not a bad idea! I may have to do that for my younger babies. I have less space this year than last. Spray the soil for the fungus gnats, and then put a layer of sand on top of the soil..worked great for me last year. Every one you see smush..cuz the guys that didnt get killed from the spray, will access the soil from the holes in the bottoms of the pots.
I'm glad you have the extra rooms to use..I wish I did!

Karyn, thank you. drugs, hmmmm..maybe I'll brew some dat tea. NO I'M JUST KIDDING!!! LMAO! Thank you again :)

Is it OK of the brugs' pots are touching a cement wall? I know that the bottoms of the pots can't touch the floor, and they arent, but a couple pots are against the wall..maybe I should move them so they arent touching.

Lucy, Kristy, good luck to you both! I'm more confident in you two than I am in myself, lol.

Yikes!!! You'll do just fine.. !!!!!!
If you just can't stand it you can always just bearly nick the stalk surface to check for green tissue.. Overwatering is the biggest threat to a dormant plant.. If you think you need to water wait a week then water...I keep plants in the tub and shower during the Winter unless the kids are here... Space is space...LOL
Kylie

Calm Down!!!!!! They'd probably be ok even if the pots were on the cement. It's just better to elevate them if possible. You need a tranquilizer! lol

Thanks for answering that karyn, cause mine are all on a cement floor..

Thank you:)

Karyn, I thought if they were directly on the cement floor, it could make the roots too cold, they could freeze, and die. Another reason I need mine elevated is because when we get alot of precip, my basement floods, only about a 1/4" and runs straight to the sump pump hole..but, I dont want the brugs getting wet from that.

Kylie, great lil tid bit of info there! Thank you...someone had better hide all sharp instruments all winter long, lol. Come spring the trunks might be all scarred up. No, I won't be that bad..I will only do that if I absolutely have to.
All winter my mantra will be "If you think you need to water wait a week then water".

O wait..so should I bottom water or water from the top? Does it matter? I prefer to bottom water, esp with all the brugs having sand on top of the soil..The sand will soak up alot of the water, before it gets down to the roots.

Now..if only I had some Xanax...lol
It would prob knock me right out, since I never take anything except Tylenol & Excedrin.

I'd water from the top. They take up too much water from the bottom and you don't want to saturate the soil, just enough to keep the roots from dehydrating. Cold and dry isn't too bad but cold and wet is lethal to brug roots. You don't want them in a room that's below freezing. If the room is just a little above freezing I'd certainly consider using a barrier between the cement and the bottom of the pot. It can be as simple as a stack of newspapers.

Thanks Karyn, I havent ever checked the temp down there, but it is unheated. Water jugs have been left down there in the dead of winter and havent frozen, so hopefully this year will NOT be an exception. I had thought about the newspapers, or cardboard, but since we get the occasional water in the basement, that would just be a major PITA. They are on metal racks about 1-1.5" off the floor.

Now your making me nervous! My one brug that went dormant last year was fine though. Like Karyn said, water from the top and only like a cup a month. Mine survived fine but I am scared because I have so many now. What I am doing is taking a back up cutting of the ones that are my favorites or ones that are hard to find. This way if I lost the mother plant I still have one. Plus in the spring if the mama survives I have 2, one I can pot and one that can be left in the ground to die. Or I can trade the extras in spring. The thing that worries me is that my basement isn't really that cool, only a few degrees cooler that the upstairs usually, so I hope that doesn't negatively effect the brugs. But they will be in complete darkness. Plus last year the one survived fine, so I am hoping everything works out. Good luck and you are not the only one who is scared so take comfort in that.
Shawn

Shawn the only thing that you might need to do is water a bit more frequently (not much) because they might continue growing. My brugs that were in about 60 F never went completely dormant. They were in a dark area and the new growth was lacking chlorophyll but greened up almost immediately after being exposed to light.

Air circulation and Humidity.. especially if the temps are marginal..

I'll keep that in mind Karyn. Now that you mention it, my brug last year had very pale tiny growth, I don't think it went completely dormant. And those tiny pale leaves were covered in aphids every time I checked the plant! They better not find their way in this year. I didn't strip the leaves last year I think thats why. But this year the brugs are naked.
Shawn

LOLYes, it is nice to know I'm not the only one worried, thank you :)

Best NOT to freak, Daniella...LOL. You'll just make a
mess of things. Your plants will be fine. You know we all
get nervous at some point of wintering these babies over.

Thanks Pearlgirl..I think I'm calming down about the whole thing now..at least for tonight, lol.

I'll be right there freaking out with you in a while longer, lol.

LOL Danielle, I am concerned now also.

And, btw, the Brugs from LAST year still in the pots? Pathetic.

The brugs I put in the ground (as per the suggestions here)- 9 feet tall. Ruth wasn't kidding. The ones at mom and dads in the ground?

RIDICULOUSLY large. They are watered with lake water. Trying to get the pics off my phone.

I'm gonna try what others have, whack 'em, put the roots in a pot, once in a while water, and put them into dormancy. Meanwhile, nurse some cuttings along. (Sun Sport especially)

What a PRETTY plant that Sun sport is. Just a delight. Except the part where the trunks are almost the size of my wrist. need a sawzall to cut those down. (What the heck am I gonna do to cut those?)

I'm finishing coffee, and going down to mom and dads to cut, and then I am cutting MINE later today or tomorrow. I will have cuttings to trade this year. (Maybe too many now.)

dweeb

Hey
for 4 years i would leave my brugs covered by a tarp outside during C.T winter....hahahah crazy i know, and every year they would come up from the bottom, so if mine lived your def. will, since then ive grown a liking towrds them and my collection has gotten quite obsessive, i have 10 pink brugs, 5 yellow, 6 darker yellow, a few white and 1 triple flowering just stareting to root, i dont know what happened but its nuts, but now i drag em in the garage over winter and they do fine, i water 2wice from nov-feb, .......atleast 15 of my plants are in 30 gallon pots and are over 10 feet ,......yup i dragged em in one by one....and i have to prune tomorrow, talk about a perc and a hot bath!!! :)

OMG you all are hilarious. I almost wish I would not have stumbled across this forum. I should be outside working and all I can do is read.

Daniell, hang in there. I completely understand your panic. It is scarey when you spend so much money on plants and want so badly to have them survive. You should be fine. I worry too off and on all winter long about all my plants. In fact, I used to love winter but now with all the tropicals I've acquired the past several years I don't want to see it get cold anymore. ha ha.

Try to forget about them until Spring. :)

OK...enough I have to get outside and get something done around here.

~Tj~

Daniella:

Seriously, I was first to Brugs last year like you.

I put some in "storage" like you are thinking last year. Not total darknessm but dark. I have a little place next to Mom and dads. 50 at the highest during the winter, but never freezing.

Put a Breezy Christine and 2 incas in there. 1 cup a month.

Everything was dormant. A few token pathetic leaves at first. But otherwise, just small shriveling at the very green ends. They didn't die. Just held back and didn't put on new leaves.

Then, this past year, BLOOMS galore. They were FINE. So was the breezey/christine. Although, I will say, they ALL need to be repotted.

All was fine though. Don't sweat it. I am nervous about the ones in plastic bags.

But if they are in pots, don't SWEAT it. Really. I did it with 2 incas and they were fine. KNow what really damaged them? The 5 foot tall breezy that kept FALLING on the incas throughout the summer because it has filled the pot with roots. Goliath keeps falling on the two incas. (grin)

Next year, everyone down there gets repotted.

Don't panic. They will be fine. Really. If I can do it, anyone can!

Daniella, I don't have any advice being that we don't have your winters, but wanted to just say that I am so glad the experts have now eased your mind!

thanks everyone :)

Dweeb, ya know whats funny..well, not really funny, just weird. It was the complete opposite for me with pots vs inground for the brugs. All the ones inground sucked. The ones in pots, did alot more growing. When I transplanted from inground to pots, those ones finally statred doing something. I dont get it. I had a crappy year, barely any blooms. I hope next year is better.

Crazy4, by CT do you mean Conneticut? You covered them with a tarp and they came back?!? Outside?!?

Thanks Tj, same here..I used to like playing in the snow, hot cocoa when ya come in...screw it..I hate it now, just hibernate, and pray for spring, lol.

El, thanks yes everyone did help..at least for now, lol. I know as soon as I see some shriveling or something I'm gonna be freakin out again, lmao!

Kristy, and yu have alot more this year than last right? You did it last year, I know you can do it again!

Yes connecticut un fortunitly, but ya they were in pots outside and we just threw them under an over hang and threw a tarp over them...........most of them came back buit this was 4 years ago...we've been having mild winters.....but i haven't really taken that chance again.......and now they are blooming in my garage and my house, it smells like a french **** here hahahaha

lol Crazy!
Were the pots above ground or sunk? I can't believe they came back!

You were darn lucky or have some super hardy brugs Crazy! I'm in 7a and can't keep them outside over the winter no matter how protected they are. Being able to leave them outside would make life soooooo much easier!

well no they weren't sunk.......but i dont leave them outside anymore......maybe because i live on beachfront and our temps are higher than inland?? and our snow only last a day........ct's hasnt had long lasting cold snaps....lets hope it continues:)

I'm jealous. I want to live on a beach!!!!

me too!! But then I'd need my own helicopter...ya know just in case a tsunami is coming, LMAO!

Well Tsunami's are unlikely due too the milder water temps here but id be the first on my roof with my arms open wide...hahahahah......im waiting for delivery of another triple flowering trumpet......too bad its fall i wont see it flower until summer

I sure am glad Danielle asked this question.. I have a studio that I used to paint Prim signs and sell them on Ebay.. but now we are pretty much burned out on all that, and I am thinking of converting it into a Brug winter retreat. It is half of a two car garage. It has never frozen inside there at all, as it is under our house.. but my concern is this...

When I open the garage door, cold wintery air comes in for the duration that it takes to get my car out and close the door quickly.. Should I perhaps put up some sort of tarp to seperate the two sides, so drafts from the opening of the door wont't mess with the brugs?

Oh and I have some XANAX on hand just in case I begin to panic.. lol..

Carolyn

Hey its me once again .......what else would i do at home but watch my 1 year old and 2 1/2 year old and answer questions...........i would just put a tarp up and lift the pots on some newspapersand keep them near an inner wall or cluster them close....

Relax - Brugs are tough plants native to the Andes. Keep them healthy, fertlized and watered well, so the plants will overwinter dormant.

All of mine are planted directly into outdoor beds from early spring until frost. In the fall, I dig and pot the rootballs. Plants are pruned just enough to fit through the basement doorway - where they are stored on a cool cement floor with good air circulation. I water them lightly once a month, to keep the stems alive but not enough to promote new growth. By early spring, they start producing leaves.

Keep in mind, that even if all the above ground stems wither, the rootball will rapidly produce new growth. As a backup, I save cuttings taken from woody growth in the fall. Kept in a container of water placed in a basement window, they are absolutely fine until spring.

Currently, my Brugs are still in the ground - loaded with buds and a second flush of blooms. I even noticed a few seed pods. Good luck!

thank you.
Wow, mesemb, you STILL have some in the ground in your zone? Have you had to keep them covered them at night?
And good luck with your seed pods! Did you pollinate them yourself or was it natural?

my lazy old woman's way ACUTALLY WORKED!!!All I did was cut the stems, some and side branches, stripped all leaves except the top 2 inches, separated the talls from the small, put the talls in a kitchen garbage container, the smaller in a plastic pail, 2 inches of water in each, shuved them in my spare room, southeast facing, and over the winter checked and added water to keep at a few inches. the roots looked like a POT OF SPAGHETTI. .only a couple rotted.all the others are still growing outside, some in containers, some in the ground. And, i am still looking at the beautiful blooming yellow angels as we speak.oh yeah, the secret ingredient in the water??,,,a drop of Holy Water from Fatima and a Hail Mary prayer. Now, stop panicking and go out and enjoy another plant, your grass, and chill. Peace