My Brug has come out of dormancy a lot early. There is no way it has room to grow. There isn't enough growth above the "y" to cut to make a difference. Can we cut it below the "y" to get a new shorter plant without giving up the blooms? If we can, will the stalk left grow a new "y"?

You can cut the blooming branch and make a new standard. The blooms should open and you'll have a new plant. You need to place the cutting in a few inches of water and watch for the lenticels (nubbies) to appear around the bottom of the cutting stalk. When you see little white protrusions, you can pot it up. J.T. has some great articles on growing cuttings.

You really should bump up the pot size for your main brug.

Had to find the article for you!

http://garden.org/ideas/view/g...

Just a side-note..it doesn't look like it does in the picture...it lost all of it's leaves when it went dormant...they're just starting to grow back now.

So, just to clarify, I can cut it BELOW the "y"?

Will the remaining stalk make another "y"?

Thanks for the article.

ps. yea, I know, we need to get them all into their own pots...a Spring project

@gone2seed needs to answer your question. I'm no expert. My "opinion" is that the stalk will eventually "Y" again. I don't have a definitive answer as to "when" it will.

I didn't realize there were more than one brug in the pot!

There's 5 of them in there.

Warning: Do not sleep in that room until you repot them! They just might decide to "keel" you one night, wrapping you up in leaves and roots to smother you!

I think we're ok...been sleeping with it since September and no smothering yet!

At least, sleep with one eye open.

threegardeners said:

So, just to clarify, I can cut it BELOW the "y"?

Yes - you can cut it above or below a Y. If you cut above a Y, that cutting will bloom sooner than a cutting taken below a Y since this cutting will have to make a Y to bloom.

threegardeners said:
Will the remaining stalk make another "y"?

Eventually yes - I assume the question is based on cutting below a Y.

Eventually all healthy Brugs will make a Y or something akin to a Y. I say that cause I have an Arborea blooming in my basement. If you look very closely, you will be hard pressed to tell me where the Y is.

Sorry to be coming in late on this one but I see that all your questions have been answered.The cut brug will "Y" again but that will take a few months. The "Short Standard " article is here. http://99-40.com/brugs/shtstan...

My attempt at some short standards





Cutting this plant back was a tearjerker.

Yep. I have 2 that I will chop sometime this winter. And an Oleander as well.

Update on my Short Standard

Ummmm..................why or how did you end up with *5* plants in that small pot???

@papa
Your short standard is looking good!

I bought 5 seeds on e-bay and planted them all in 1 pot thinking I'd be lucky f one of them sprouted. They all sprouted and we've just been potting them up together as one plant. Didn't occur to me they grew so fast!

I cut 3 cuttings of the top of the main plant. Hubby put 2 in one pot and 1 by itself in another. They've taken over the kitchen counter.

Thanks to everybody for the advice and hand-holding!

Thank you Rainbow and Azgarden I'm really proud of it doing well for just a trial.

@papa hope mine does that well!