When do I cut back the brugs and mulch them?

User

9 years ago

Today? They are still green right now.

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Comments (7)

PKponder TX Z7B
9 years ago
Mine are always mulched, so anytime is good. Do you want to root the cuttings or just compost them? If you plan to root them, get them cut before we have a freeze or they will be mush. I cut mine back when I can no longer stand looking at them :-)
User
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks Pam. No I don't want to root the cuttings.

So I should mulch them today and after the freeze in the morning, they'll be mush and easier to cut back?
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I'll start by saying I don't know the answer to your question, and now I'll just babble for a bit. In general, many plants will go 'vegetative' again if you cut them back before they flower. Right now I have 3 types of kale that are 1 year+ The first is a tree collard - so that's expected to live 5 years. The others are lacinato & standard curly green kale. All three are now enjoying their second winter with lush growth. The tree collard has been flowering and now the lacinato is about to flower. I was told to take cuttings when the tree collard goes to flower, so I snipped them and have a bunch in a rooting mix (peat, fine woody compost & potting soil). I don't see any roots yet, but none of the small leaves have wilted, so I think they will do fine. There are also another bunch of florets coming up, so I guess I'll take more cuttings. I could eat them like broccoli, but I'd rather make more plants. I could't resist to let at least few flowers go to seed, even though these are generally propagated vegetatively. What I really want to do is hybridize the tree collards with the lacinato, to improve the taste of the tree collards. Now it looks like they will both be flowering at the same time, so I might just have a chance at it...
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Growth buds on rhododendrons form in the leaf axils (where leaf joins stem). If you make a cut just above a rosette of leaves, new growth will emerge from the dormant eyes there. If cutting into a branch below any leaf rosettes, look for faint rings on the bark which mark the ends of previous growth periods where there once were leaves. Careful inspection should reveal small bumps which are growth buds under the bark. Make your cuts just about the rings and dormant buds below them should be stimulated into growth. If you can't find any rings or dormant buds on bare branches, make your cuts where you must, after, when new growth starts, remove stubs down to new growth. Azaleas however, have dormant growth buds all along the stems just under the bark...
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You won't lose them. You're in a zone where you may be able to grow them all year, depending on your winter. Cannas continually produce new stalks which will bloom even tho old stalks may be exhausted. Here, we cut the cannas down when a frost kills the foliage, which was just in the last week or two. Do you get frost? I wouldn't cut the foliage until the last possible minute. It will continue to absorb energy for the rhizomes. Throughout the season, as old stalks finish blooming (each stalk may have two or three flushes of blooms), you can trim down the old stalks so new stalks can take in nutrients and sunlight. You can cut the stalks to about an inch tall. Don't worry, you're not going to hurt the cannas. In fact, in your zone, they may be "weeds" for you someday. Believe me, if I haven't killed them here in zone 7, with my neglect, they're safe with you. LOL
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When to cut back brugs
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Comments (1)
You can root them anytime. As a rule, they root easily. There are many comments in this forum for different ways to do so. If you are rooting in the fall, you would not want to let them go dormant for the first year, so keep them growing. I don't think that I would feed them any fertilizer though, until the spring. Good luck with your plant sale.
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PKponder TX Z7B
9 years ago
I think it takes a few weeks for the woody parts to go mushy, but I bet the green parts will look like steamed spinach tomorrow.

Mulching today is a great idea.
TexasGardenLover
9 years ago
Do Brugs survive in the ground in DFW? I had mine in pots and pulled them in the garage. They were blooming and had lots of buds that have now bloomed and the garage smells amazing. This is the first year I have grown them and I am still figuring out what to do with them over winter. Lots of smaller potted plants have come indoors but I don't have room for these in the house.
sylviatexas1
9 years ago
How'd ya get the flowers to point up like that?

lol!

I don't have brugs, but a number of people in the DFW area cut their brugs back & mulch them, often turning a peach basket or some such upside down over them, & they make it through the winters just fine.
PKponder TX Z7B
9 years ago
Mine overwinter in the ground with only mulch but after last winter's cold, some of them did not appear until July. This year they are in the garage! The less hardy ones anyway. They all freeze back to roots and restart in the spring.
User
Original Author
9 years ago
Last year I had them in the garage and it was a total pain. This year they are on their own, and in containers too. If they don't survive, they just aren't meant to live with me.

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When do I cut back the brugs and mulch them?

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PKponder TX Z7B

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When do I cut back the brugs and mulch them?

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PKponder TX Z7B

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