Planting in the country in the open ground of brugmansia and the rules of care for its amazing flowering
Already at first glance, a plant with large foliage and drooping, bizarrely shaped fragrant bell flowers will fall in love and amaze the imagination. This is brugmansia, planting and care in the open field for which require attention and time, but all the work will certainly pay off.
Perennial exotic culture, called "angel pipes" for the shape of flowers, in nature looks like a large evergreen shrub or tree. In Russia, due to frosty winters, which are destructive for the plant, the cultivation of brugmansia in the open field is possible only in the warm season. Leaves begin to fall off even at 5–7 ° C. When the temperature approaches zero and below, the ground part is seriously affected and often dies off. Therefore, from autumn to spring, the ornamental plant is forced to be indoors.
How to grow a brugmansia tree and care for this beautiful South American rainforest inhabitant?
Planting and caring for brugmansia
With the arrival of heat in the decorative perennial, vegetation processes are activated. This means that the brugmansia tree can be prepared for planting in the garden:
- If the plant was in a heated room in winter, it needs hardening. To do this, brugmansia is gradually taught to fresh air, extending the "procedure" day after day.
- When the wintering of brugmansia is organized in a cool basement or other room at a temperature of about +8 ° C, the plant must be taken out into the light, where its development will quickly resume.
Brugmansia is a fast-growing one, therefore, already from April, while the tree is in the tub, they begin to feed it with a mixture with a predominance of nitrogen. This stimulates the growth of new shoots and foliage.
And when to plant brugmansia in open ground? This can be done only when the danger of recurrent cold weather has completely passed. In central Russia, this time comes no earlier than mid-May or June.
There are two options for planting brugmansia to choose from a summer resident:
- into open ground, in order to remove the plant again in the fall and mark it in a tub together with an earthen clod;
- in a large container so that the tree grows like a tub culture.
Both methods have their advantages and weaknesses. It is difficult to extract a large plant from the soil without damaging the root system and drooping shoots with flowers. And in a tub, brugmansia needs more frequent watering and frequent feeding. In addition, the roots of a flowering tree are growing, and it will soon need to be transplanted into a container even more.
The choice of the shortest varieties will help to save energy and maintain the decorative effect of brugmansia longer. They are as beautiful as trees up to 3 meters high, but are more compact and need less pruning.
To care for brugmansia after planting in open ground was easy and effective, a sunny area with good protection from the wind is looked for for the plant. This will help create the most suitable microclimate for a tropical guest and provide her with conditions for constant flowering.
The selection of a suitable soil is equally important.For the growth and formation of many large flowers, the plant requires a nutritious substrate that includes:
- 1 part loam;
- 2 parts of lowland peat;
- 1 part well-rotted and cleaned of coarse inclusions of humus.
Before planting in a pot, the soil mixture should be disinfected by calcining in the oven or spilling with a thick pink solution of potassium permanganate. It should be borne in mind that for brugmansia you will need a voluminous pot of 10-30 liters, depending on the size of the root system.
If you have to take care of brugmansia in the open field, before planting, as in the photo, the soil selected from the pit is also enriched with humus and peat is added as a baking powder, and if necessary, then sand.
Care for brugmansia after planting in open ground
The main conditions for the beauty and long flowering of brugmansia are:
- availability of food for a powerful fast-growing plant;
- abundance of water;
- warm weather, in which temperatures prevail above +23 ° C;
- no gusty cold wind;
- protection against diseases and pests.
If nothing interferes with the cultivation of brugmansia, caring for it consists in regular abundant watering and feeding.
The rainforest plant reacts sharply to the dryness of the soil and air, so in hot weather, brugmansia can be to water several times a day. But the tree should be sprayed carefully, otherwise the water will damage the appearance of the magnificent flowers.
In cloudy and rainy weather, the irrigation schedule is adjusted so as not to cause foliage and flower rudiments to fall. Brugmansia in a pot brought out to the garden may suffer from overheating of the soil. To prevent this from happening, it is better to dig in the container or use tubs of porous clay of non-dark colors.
When the plant has grown a crown, it should be pushed to bloom. Top dressing with a high content of phosphorus and potassium will help to do this. However, do not forget about nitrogen and trace elements. They will support growth and provide vibrant greenery and bell flowers. Top dressing is carried out regularly, from the moment of planting in open ground and until September, alternating between mineral mixtures and organic matter.
The signal by which the grower will determine the need for fertilizers in the brugmansia tree will be:
- reduction in the size of sheet plates;
- yellowness or pallor of the leaves;
- fewer buds than before.
Like all plants of the Solanaceae family, oblong fruits are formed in place of the wilting flowers of Brugmansia. If they are not removed, the ovaries will take a lot of strength, the tree will sharply slow down the rate of bud formation.
Wintering brugmansia
Low temperatures are dangerous for thermophilic brugmansia, therefore, without waiting for frost, it is removed from the ground and transferred to the room. Wintering brugmansia takes place:
- at an air temperature of 5–8 ° C in a dark, even basement room;
- in a room with air warmed up to 10 ° C, but with lighting and watering.
In the first case, the plant must be prepared for a change in habitat conditions, gradually reducing the intensity of watering.
Until the second decade of March, that is, before planting and caring for brugmansia in the open field, the plant is cut off. Such an operation will make the crown more compact, and will provide splendor and duration for the flowering taking place on young shoots.
Brugmansiya inherited the "habits" of the garden nightshade well-known to summer residents: peppers and eggplant... It does not bud until branches appear on the stem.
Therefore, during pruning, such "forks", as well as small side shoots in the upper part of the crown must be left. Damaged or excessively elongated branches must be removed or shortened. If brugmansia on the site is grown from a stem cutting without an upper point of growth, such a plant can be cut off a year after the first flowering, that is, at the age of 2–4 years.
Reproduction of brugmansia and care of young plants
Brugmansia propagates by seeds and vegetative methods, more often by cuttings.Self-obtaining seeds does not guarantee the preservation of the characteristics of the parent plant.
But this seed is easy to hatch and sprout within 7-10 days after planting. The older the seeds, the longer it will take to germinate.
Sowing in light nutrient soil is carried out from January. Until shoots appear above the soil, the container is kept in a greenhouse at a temperature of 20-25 ° C. At the time of mass germination, plants are provided backlight and high humidity. The soil is regularly moistened, preventing it from drying out.
Brugmansia seedlings can be dived at the stage of 4 true leaves. Plants are not afraid of deepening and form adventitious roots well, quickly braiding the volume of soil "entrusted" to them. When this happens, the seedling is transferred to a larger pot. First nitrogen and then complex fertilizing help to stimulate and maintain growth.
Cutting is the easiest and most common way to propagate brugmansia when caring for it in the house and in the open field. Suitable for rooting are fully or semi-lignified shoots with 2-3 internodes 15 to 20 cm long. You can get suitable planting material from spring, when pruning is carried out, and until autumn.
For the early appearance of roots, cuttings with removed leaf plates are treated with a stimulating composition, and then dripped into a light sand-peat mixture or dipped into water. In a greenhouse, rooting can take up to three months, then the cuttings are transplanted into separate pots. The seedlings can be transferred to a permanent place when the dormant buds in the sinuses wake up and grow. When caring for brugmansia after planting in open ground, it is necessary to take into account that young specimens react sharper than adults to changes in temperature and humidity, and are also more often attacked by pests.