Questions about Repotting Brugmansia

I've never repotted my brugmansia and they really could use new soil.  My question is can I trim the roots?  Usually I would go to a bigger pot but they are already at a size that its tough for me to lug around, so will it be ok to snip the roots?  Could this cause the plant not to bloom this season?

thanks!

Oh yeah, do you feed them in the spring & with what?

Good Morning Boo! I have quite a few of those plants myself. I feed mine from day 1 of bringing them outside, and usually feed every week. As far as repotting, Its ok to trim the roots. You can also remove as much of the old soil as possible, or use a hose to wash it off. Then pot up in the original pot, or use a pot 1-2" larger than the current one. My biggest brug is in a 22 inch pot but thats a pain because its very heavy. When you repot, add some epsom salts to the mix before putting it in the container, it helps make the plant greener.

Also with fertilizing every week, when they start growing again feed it with bayer 3 in 1 rose food to control aphids and spider mites. Every 6 weeks for the entire growing season, your plants will look so much better and grow a lot better. You also want a spray for those bugs, so if you do happen to see aphids or spiders, you can kill them right then.

Something else you can use instead of bayer with your plant food is lemon dawn, but get plain dish detergent, not antibacterial, as it kills good bacteria in the soil. Mix a teaspoon of dawn, teaspoon of hydrogen peroxide, and a spoon full of what your plant food container recommends per gallon of water. You'll be amazed at what it does.

Here's photos from 2009, the rest of mine should bloom this summer. I have a double pink and peach, a new white, and orange I'm hoping will bloom.

That is stunning!  Thanks smurf.  Mine have never looked like that so you must be doing something right!
 

Thanks I'm more likely to do this since I don't like using chemicals ...I can't get over the blooms on that thing!  You can do this every week or the 6 weeks?

Do you have yours in full sun?

Mine get full sun from dusk to dawn, however during the extreme hot times in the day they need a good bit of watering. Brugs don't like hot humid days. My variegated one has buds on it, so when it blooms i'll post a photo. For the bugs, you can use that mix every time you feed. Its good for just about anything. You can also use pure lemon juice in the mix, insects don't like citric acid at all.

Ok i'm off here we're getting a bad thunderstorm talk to ya later!

Ok, stay safe smurf and thanks for the advice.  It's raining here too although no nasty storms.

Smurf-love those Brugs!

I trim the roots on mine Bigtime in the spring. I winter over in my stormhouse and generally have to cut quite a lot off the tops ofreally big ones just to get them in the door. Mine grow in full sun here in the Humid South.

Smurf those Brugs are gorgeous  I would really like to try them, but I'm not sure where I would store them in the winter. I could use the basement but our wood stove is down there so its quite warm all winter. Would that work or do they need a colder spot in the winter?

Thats fine if you have lights to put them under. You may want to use a humidifier as those stoves dry out the air, or use a misting bottle.

No, I dont have lights to put them under, we use a humidifier, but its upstairs. I guess I could leave the basement lights on all winter and put a pot of water on top of the woodstove for moisture. Not sure if my DH would like the idea of leaving the basement lights on all winter though. Maybe I could find an old lamp at a garage sale or Goodwill and use that. Hmmm, I might have to think more about this 

If you get flourescent lights you'll use less power, I went to lowe's and got the 4 ft shop lights.

Lovely lovely brugs smurf. I too am a brug grower. boo like smurf, I begin feeding mine a mild solution of miracle grow once a week from the time I take them outdoors. However I`m having alot of trouble with weather problems round here. It`s been so cold and nasty, that I put them outside when the temp gets up to 56 or above and then of course I have to bring them in at night, cause it gets really cold here at night yet. Now some of my leaves have fallen off by having to do this and when I brought them in tonight the leaves don`t look too good again! My back and arms are achy these things weigh a ton, I swear!! Only one plant is on those coaster wheels. So I have my work cut out for me.

I seen where some part of PA got snow a day or two ago, i've been watching the weather channel all night because of these horrible thunderstorms.

There was snow in PA in the mountains but that is ski area.

I took my Brugs out last week I we had light frost and it has been cool but once I take them out I do not bring them back inside.  I know they can take a freeze so I do not worry about frost.

I've been storing my brugs in a spare bedroom upstairs that is unheated.  It has one dinky window that is on the shade side of the house so I don't think you have to have lights to keep them alive.  Mine drop their leaves but as long as I water them a couple times a month they stay alive and leaf out in spring.  Maybe not ideal conditions but they live.

Thats works. I kept mine growing all winter so i'll have blooms a lot earlier. Here's a photo taken of my brugs yesterday.

I found unfortunately, that mine suffered perhaps more cold damage than I'd expected before bringing them back indoors in early November, so they had a great deal more dieback than usual perhaps.  I think I stopped repotting at about 18in. in pot diameter, since they do get so heavy to move, but of course repotting will mean bigger plants as well.  I can say , due to laziness on my part , I didn't do any root pruning on mine as I repotted them in stages, and they do get very rootbound over time , so the pruning is as usual a good idea in general !

Yep it is, and fresh soil helps to add more nutrients since brugs "eat" all of it out in usually one season. Its weird when you un-pot a brug and see roots, you wonder where all that soil went, kinda like the sock monster in the dryer.