Brugmansia hybrids

[Brugmansia]

Brugmasnsia hybrids I have:

aurea pink

aurea pink "Roseabelle"

aurea pink "Butterfly"

aurea white "Culebra"

aurea white

aurea yellow

aurea yellow gold

candida pink

candida pink "Rapture"

candida white "double"

candida white "Shredded"

B. solid Gold

B. Dr. Sues

insignis pink

insignis gold

insignis pink "Isabelle"

suaveolens"Frosty Pink"

suaveolens"Jamaican" yellow

suaveolens pink

suaveolens white 8 inch by 8 inch flower

B. versicolor peach

versicolor "Ecuador pink"

versicolor "Alba"

versicolor "Cypress Gardens"

versicolor double orange "Herenhauser Gardens"

versicolor "Milk and Honey"

B. Coral Glow

B. Ollie x Charles Grimaldi x Betty Marshall

B. Charles Grimaldi x Cypress Gardens

B. Sir Robert

This is not my entire list, but I am presenting it here as I would like to know which crosses people in here would like with the above hybrids. I will keep a tally or perhaps the members here can vote on the cross they would most like me to make. I will make the cross I get the most votes for and make the seeds available to members that took the time to vote or pick a hybrid. When noting a hybrid you would like to see, simply post it like this, Double white x Double orange, or aurea pink "Roseabelle" x aurea pink "Butterfly"

Walk in Peace,

Brugmansia

Ps, I found some Illicium parviflorum bushes out here where I live that are budding. I will try and collect some seed after they are done flowering.

[This message has been edited by Brugmansia (edited 18 May 2001).]

[waterdragon]

can u do one in bright green for me and call it 'envy'? just kidding , i couldn't grow the critters here anyway. nice collection btw.

[Murple]

They grow well in containers, you could definately grow one that way, bringing it in for winter.

[waterdragon]

have no trouble growing daturas in containers or out in the open until the frosts come, my main grief is that i can't grow huge brugs like some that i've seen up north. are daturas crossable with brugs? frost resistant brugs? might be worth potting one up and moving it into a hothouse at the end of the season just for the sheer beauty of it.

[Brugmansia]

WaterDragon,

There are two green flowered sanguinea hybrids already that I know of. One is a varigated green bye the way and I am sorry to say I don't have either one of them. Growing sanguinea, arborea, vulcanicola species or hybrids is a hard thing to do here as the heat/viruses kill those particular plants in the summer here. The arborea seems to be the most hardy of those 3 species and will generally come back after it dies back in the summer to bloom around fall.

As for Brugmansia crossed with Datura, I know that has been done, but apparently it has only been done is a lab. It produced flowers that pointed upright on a much larger plant and was sterile. Perhaps treating the resulting embryo with colchicine or doubling its genes would have made a more viable crossbreed. I have heard of others grafting the pistal of a Brugmansia onto a Datura and such, don't know if that was true or not as I never saw the resulting hybrid.

Brugmansia are generally and won't generally self pollinate. There have been some to claim that their Brugmansia has self seeded. One such person only had one Brugmansia and there were no other Brugmansia to be had for miles. I have seen Bees on rare occasion go into a Brugmansia flower when one has too many growing side by side. Generally, when one only has one or two Brugmansia growing next to each other Bee's will leave them alone. B. versicolor will cross to B. aurea to form what is known as B.candida. B. aurea is hybridizable to suaveolens as well. Suaveolens species can be crossed to versicolor. So, in the Brugmansia family you can cross these 3 species in any combination. Aurea x aurea , aurea x suaveolens, versicolor x versicolor, versicolor x suaveolens x versicolor, etc.

Brugmansia arborea can cross with sanguinea to form what is known as a flava hybrid. Vulcanicola can supposedly cross to these other hybrids as well. I say supposedly as I have only recently grown sanguinea and vulcanicola and have not personally done any of these crosses. I have seen many crosses labeled sanguinea x flava or sanguinea x arborea.

As for cold hardy Brugmansia, once Brugmansia get to a fairly large size they can make it in colder weather to some extent. This winter we had 18 degree weather and I had most of my older Brugmansia trees only die back 4 or so feet. My seedlings all died back to the ground except one. I actually had one seedling that only died back 2 ft. I find that the girth needs to be at least a bit over an inch for most Brugmansia hybrids to make it in that kind of weather and there is still damage to the outer bark in some places. Placing the Brugmansia in full sun often helps prevent some of this cold damage if they can recieve the first rays of morning light. Brugmansia will generally always come back from the roots as long as the ground does not freeze.

Brugmansia seeds are best planted fresh as germination rates go down with old seed and germination begins to get very sporadic taking up to 9 months or longer versus 2-4 weeks for germination. I do not peel my seeds and find it to be a waste of time. Seeds are best started in seed trays that allow the water to drain out fast while still retaining some moisture. In this way one can water the seeds and the seedlings 2 times a day. Once in the evening and once in morning. Fertilizing the seedlings begins with a very light or dilute fertilizer after the first set of true leaves immerge.

Cuttings, I have heard that hardwood cuttings are best to root. I have found that this is true with some hybrids, but not all. I have used very green cuttings off of a 5 week old seedling and had them root. I have also rooted very tiny (less than 1 cm thick) off shoots of some double Brugmansia hybrids. I think the thing one has to take into consideration is to simply remember that each hybrid is different in each batch. I have some that will form roots very easily in water in less than 2 weeks, others that take months to put out roots in water. Root nodes, white bumps, generally form on most hybrids when placed in water within a few weeks at most. These cuttings are best stripped of all leaves except the top two leaves and placed in a well draining soil. I have had much luck growing cuttings in pure peat. I have heard others who have had much luck rooting in pure sand. I have even had luck rooting Brugmansia in standard soil mixes. The trick with peat for me, seems to be to strip the cutting of most of its leaves, especially if it is a green cutting. Wet the peat, stick the cutting in and water only when the peat is starting to dry out or when it appears that the Brugmansia is wilting. If the cutting is wilting, placing the pot in water up to the level of the bottom of the cutting works great if one leaves in soaking till the cutting perks up. Cuttings seem more prone to rot than seedlings from having their feet wet too long. Once the cutting has formed a callus on the bottom this is generally not a problem anymore. Another trick I have found is to fill a pot with peat to a level of 2-3 inches when dealing with large cuttings. Place a few inches of perlite on top and insert the cutting into the perlite leaving the cut tip just above the peat, fill the rest of the pot with peat. The more the roots can breath the faster the roots will form and the faster the plant will grow as a generall rule. So, I naturally use pine bark shavings, peanut husks, perlite, or whatever else I can find laying around. I also use a bit of sand, but I do use peat as well. I am always experimenting with different soil mixtures trying to get the best soil. I am one of those people who doesn't measure his different soil amendments though, I just goe by the texture and the feel of it when it comes to growing Brugmansia. A nice sustained release fertilizer is great, something like 10-10-10 for Brugmansia. Once the Brugmansia is actively growing and a bit larger you can use an incredible amount of fertilizer with Brugmansia. I typically also use a fair bit of cow manure in my soil mixes. Fertilizers I use through the year, fish emulsion, peats miracle grow, sewage sluge, etc. I have noticed that some Brugmansia appear overly sensitive to too much copper in fertilizers. I have also noticed that some Brugmansia hybrids react adversly to insecticides by putting out slower growth, deformed growth, or simply becoming more prone to disease and viruses. B. sanguinea is one that I have grown for the past 2 years that seems to react the worst with an insecticide, it seems to lose more water during the hot spells immediately after a spraying with an insecticide and continues to lay down or droop for a number of days afterwards. Placeing it in the shade seems to help. I have also noticed that some Brugmansia hybrids just put out deformed or slow growth in response to insecticides. Some of these Brugmasia hybrids will eventually stop putting out deformed or slow if you repeatedly spray them with an insecticide over a period of a few months.

I never peel Brugmasia seeds as I find it reduces my germination rates. Fresh seed is best when dealing with Brugmansia. I recently had some seed arrive which I planted as I plant others hybrids as well. The seed did not germinate within 6 weeks so I pulled the seed up and looked at it. The seed was old and had some very tiny minute hole in the bottom of each seed. I popped a few of these seeds open to find that most were hollow and all had a small white insect of some sort that had chewed the insides of the seeds. Don't let the seeds stay on the trees too long!!! Insects will bore into them and use them as food. Mice love to eat young Brugmansia stems an inch thick as long as they are green as well. Grasshoppers will also dine on young seedlings.

Notes on hybridizing:

Make sure the pollen is dried and frozen as soon as it ripens. Pollen is only good on Brugmansia for 6 days after it ripens if it is not dried and frozen. Second, if you are going to use pollen, you can use in on a newly opened flower during the early morning or late at night hours. I find my best results with putting the pollen on the pistal before sunrise or after the sunsets. I also find better results when I tear open the calyx of the flower itself to pollinate the flower a week or so before the flower actually emerges from the calyx. One can wait until the flower is just barely poking through the calyx if one wants to though. Be careful not to bend or jerk on the flower, a razor blade used to slit throught the flower is best. As you are going to be using that flower to set seed on it is best to simply remove the corolla, but leave the calyx intact. Seed pods take anywhere from 4-8 months to mature on Brugmansia so overwintering them in a green house is a must if they are going to experience a freeze so you don't lose your seed pods or so you can get a jump on it the following year. Last year, I had all of my seed bearers in the ground so I lost thousands of seedpods that I intended to gift away or plant. 18 degree weather is not conducive to seeds forming. This year, I am leaving my Double orange Brugmansia in the green house just to be on the safe side as I intend to use it as a seed bearer and a pollen donor to most of my Brugmansia. I will of course be trying to form seedpods on my other seed bearers outside in a race against time and the cold should it come. The very next cross I am going to do is a simple one, a double white x pink suaveolens. This cross will result in mostly whites and is most valuable as a cross to another pink or my Double orange or one of its seedlings. I do expect the seeds from the double white x pink suaveolens to be primarily very fast growers and very large flowered. Nothing trully spectacular though. Sometimes one breeds for color, growth, branching, etc. The object is to get all the traits you want on one plant. I deeply love aurea hybrids for the reason that many of the seedlings resulting from a different species being crossed to an aurea give very long tendrils that tend to wisp up and back, often spiraling a bit as they turn back. Versicolor x suaveolens x versicolor will also do the same thing, but that means making an additional cross. Of course, aurea x versicolor x suaveolens hybrids are also nice. I love trading for others hybrids as it enables me to speed things up a bit in my own hybridizing. If you can find someone with a cross you want that looks good, that saves you the trouble of doing it yourself.

If you are shipping pollen, it is best to dry it out for a few hours, send it in a film canister wrapped or packaged in some way as to keep it frozen or cool and send it overnight delivery. The person who is recieving the pollen should have a flower ready that is at about ready to come out of the calyx and the pollen should be administered to the pistil before the flower opens or comes out of the calyx. Technically, if the pollen is being shipped from close by, as long as the pollen is gathered as soon as it ripens one can get by with simply putting it in a film canister and sending it 3 day delivery, but I would not want to take my chances on it as if the pollen gets too warm then it is no good. Any airtight container that can hold pollen seperately from other types of pollen will work though. If you are only sending one type of pollen then you can fit a large amount of pollen that has been dried in a muffin tin for a few hours and then packaged in a nice film canister faily easy.

I would of couse like to send cuttings to someone as cuttings are the only sure fire way of knowing that you have something that you want. A single seed can be trully fantastic in its fragrance or color, but rarely does one find both in a flower. I consider fantastic fragrance being any single Brugmansia flower that I can smell from 35 ft away while smoking a cigarette.

Walk in Peace,

Inyan

Ahh, update, currently have B. candida pink, pink suaveolens, frosty pink suaveolens, double white, pink versicolor, Isabelle pink, jamaican suaveolens ready to bloom in about 3 weeks so I can make crosses involving those plants very soon.

[This message has been edited by Brugmansia (edited 19 May 2001).]

[This message has been edited by Brugmansia (edited 19 May 2001).]

[waterdragon]

hell - next time i have a brug question i'll know who to ask. i would be thrilled if u could cross two of your best scented varieties (pretty flowers would be a bonus). i would make space available in my hothouse for such a creature gladly.

[Brugmansia]

Waterdragon,

My best scented varieties are in order of greatest or most fragrant to least:

White suaveolens hybrid sp1, 8 by 8 inch flowers, excellent seed setter and my fastest grower.

Dr. Sues

Jamaican suaveolens

Most desireable for Branching hybrid:

Isabelle

Most desireable for long duration of flower blooms, aurea hybrids.

Most desireable for early flowers:

Pink suaveolens

Isabelle pink

Double white

Pink candida

Frosty pink

Insignis pink

Least fragrant:

Frosty pink, but it is the most salt tolerant and a fast grower.

Best for rooting in water or pure peat:

Hybrids of Dr. Sues, most any seedling with Dr. Sues as a parent.

Most likely to get a virus and develop yellow mottled leaves if underfed:

Aurea hybrids.

Walk in Peace,

Inyan

www.lebonjardinier.com has many pictures if you are unfamiliar with Brugmansia.

[This message has been edited by Brugmansia (edited 21 May 2001).]

[waterdragon]

'lo again brugman

you're obviously fanatical about this plant, do you just do brugs or do you specialise in other plants as well? if you would be kind enough to do a cross for me could you mate the dr seus with the white sauveolens? i can pay for these or swap something of interest if possible - email me if there's something that u may need. ta

[Brugmansia]

Waterdragon,

Fanatical, moi? First to answer the Dr.Sues x White Suaveolens hybrid question. What you seem to be saying here is you want an extremely fast growing large mouthed flower that is extremely fragrant and hardy as that is what that cross would produce for the most part. Since most that have contacted me seem interested in doubles or extremely fragrant hybrids that hybrid is in the running. In order of importance from everyone that has contacted me, so far, pink, fragrant, and doubles seems to be the most sought after qualities. In response to that, I have set some seed on a pink candida to a double white and vice versa. That will result in a cross that is best used by a hybridizer who wants to cross the seedlings from that cross to themselves to get a few light pinks and a few doubles. I also crossed one of my pink candida hybrids to the Jamaican suaveolens to form some peaches and large mouthed flowers as the jamaican and the frosty pink are known for throwing out extremly large mouthed flowers(8 inches or wider). I of course will be making a few crosses to my double white using my double orange to make sure that I have plenty of seed that will be guaranteed doubles to triple in flower. Of course, this cross is best used toward the double white x pink candida to create double pinks and double peaches. Dr. Sues x my large mouthed white suaveolens I can also do as both are extremely good seed setters so I can make that cross both ways. I am going to be primarily working with pink hybrids though and will be crossing pink aurea types to other aurea types for myself. I love the aurea hybrids the best needless to say. Most of the pink aurea hybrids look identical to the versicolor only they have a toothed calyx instead of a moon shaped calyx. I intend to try to get the pink aurea type hybrids down to the same size and shape in the corolla as the true wild aurea so of course I will be hybridizing many of my pink aurea and candida to the yellow and yellow gold aurea hybrids as well as the wild white aurea. I don't like calling anything an aurea unless it resembles an aurea in flower size and fruit structure so that is one of my goals. Creating a pink aurea that has the same round fruiting structure, about 5 inches wide by 4 inches long and is extremely fragrant. Fragrance is one of my top priorities in most any hybrid I do and if the resulting hybrid is not extremly fragrant it is not good enough to keep by my standards other than to use for hybridizing for a specific trait like branching or doubles. Isabella is one of my Brugmansia in pinks that is very bushy in nature and is loaded to the hilt with flowers. I use it only to hybridize with other fragrant flowers in hopes of getting an extremely fragrant Brugmansia that has hundreds of flowers at only a few feet tall.

Hmm, lets see, I have also grown hundreds of Psychotria plants from leaft cuttings, collected seed from my Psychotria...collected wild Florida poppy seed, grown argyria nervosa from seed and collected seed, grown cappi from cuttings and made severall more from trench layering or airlayering in pots....I have grafted cacti with success, grafted Brugmansia with success, you could say I do a bit of everything. I do like the Brugmansia best of all as their is nothing like the fragrance of a good Brugmansia hybrid. Albeit, many of the Brugmansia hybrids have been breed for color and not fragrance. Or growth habits and not fragrance, I prefer to have an extremely fragrant showy flower to light up my days and nights. I have found no other flower that is as showy or as fragrant as a good Brugmansia and so easy to take care of. As they say, setting is half. I have flowers ranging from a few inches wide to over 8 inches wide. A few inches long to 16 inches long. I much prefer the flowers that when one opens up, the sweetly intoxicating smell can be detected from over 35 ft away be a smoker, then you know it has a good fragrance. As for making individual crosses for everyone, I am not going to do that. I am simply going to take down what everyone votes on through this forum or e-mail and make the one cross available to everyone I can. Making something available does not always mean making available for free, but I would like it if I can do a few hundred this way as Brugmansia seed germination becomes very sporadic as the seed ages and I would like all seed to germinate within 3-4 weeks of planting. Otherwise, with old seed, some will sprout in 3 weeks, but you get sporadic germination over a period of several months to a year. Unless you know what you are doing, this can be a very easy way to kill the seeds as one gets impatient and waters them too much.

Walk in Peace,

Inyan

[This message has been edited by Brugmansia (edited 28 May 2001).]

[apothecary]

Sorry to drag up old topics, but this is easily one of the most informative posters I have ever had the pleasure of reading.

What happened to this guy/girl?

I'll put as much of the noncontextual stuff as I can on the wiki.