Leaf drop on Brugs

[Jonboy]

I’m fairly new to Brugs, having received a few cuttings a year or so ago from AlanK in return for a T-rex.

The problem I have is I’m constantly losing the older, bigger leaves, so I’m left with very spindly, twig like growth, with small leaves at the top, (I’m at work at the mo otherwise I’d post a pic). I noticed last year that when I repotted into fresh compost it held onto its leaves for longer so maybe it’s a feed issue. I try to keep the compost moist at all times not letting it dry out completely.

Any advice on this? I’ll try to post a pic later.

Thanks
Jon

[Wayne]

Could be two things Jon, either it need more feed, ie, seaweed/kelp or it needs potting on , and is showing signs of stress??

They should get better, as summertime come??when it arrives fully?? :roll:
Wayne

[Chrisg]

It could be just me, but I found that when they drop leaves and I was watering, that it was early sings of a bug problem.

[David Matzdorf]

There's also a degree to which this is normal and unavoidable. You'll never have a mature, woody Brugmansia stem clad in leaves all the way along its length. Most of the species eventually adopt a small-tree habit.

The most common trigger for loss of lower leaves is lack of water. If you let one wilt even once, it will drop a few leaves.

Finally, the larger leaves are basically juvenile growth. It's normal for the leaves to become smaller on the upper parts of the plant, especially after the stem forks and starts to produce flowers.

I just became accustomed to thinking of them as small trees and I often plant them to rise above other, shorter plants.

[Wayne]

Good points made by David.

In the summer you can more or less treat them like a bog plant :lol: in a saucer of water, or heavily watered but with good drainage a must.

A friend of mine had a Arborea , it was always in water, yet had leaves from bottom to top and looked great. Whereas mine was a spindly looking thing, I will be watering more come the summer....oh the summer! the summer! :roll:

Wayne