I have a Bergman’s Gold leaf (fem) planting outdoor in Mediterranean climate. It grows really fast, the main trunk is wider than an inch. However, when it’s about 5’ tall, the bottom branch started to break off. I cut them and dry them. This afternoon, a big, long branch collapsed to the ground again!!!
I have drip irrigation watering 5 mins/day, 3 days/week. The weather this year has been cooler than usual. We’ve got a couple of days last week that it was 102F, but mostly it stays in high 70’s or low to mid 80’s.
What should I do to the rest of them to prevent more breakage? Stake and tie them up is what I’m going to do right now. However, should I trim the long branches to take the weight off before it break? This is my first growing experience so I was scared to trim them early on not k owing what I’m doing, I was afraid I’d damage the plant.
You could always get some twine , kinda lasso her branches all together to the point she looks like a prepackaged Christmas tree…then go and get the biggest tomato cages they have at lowes or home depot (get 2 the same size) put the first 1 over her and make sure the feet are securely in the soil …then take the second 1 turn it upside down and slide it over her so that the tops of both the cages are together in the middle of the plant . Take some more twine and tie those tomato cages together where they meet at and then take the twine off the plant and you should have every branch supported ! Hope this helps ?
Thanks, but she is way too big for tomatoe cage now, with girth 4’-5’. I’m afraid I’ll break more branch if I try to put them through the cage. I definitely do that next time when they are small enough though.
I didn’t think about that. From the grow bible and some other post, I saw the cloning branch are really small compare to the ones that broke off mine. They are woodsy inside already. I cut them up to dry for making salve & oil and couldn’t cut it with chef knife. Had to use pruning shear and the skin around the branch is very fibrous.
Went to get stakes and twine to cluge together the support system and found another branch on the ground when I got back, geez! I got wire support the kind the prop tulips with for lower branches and fence-like support with stakes and twine. These are metal with plastic coated stakes. I pounded about 15”-18” down and tied twine surrounding her. Also lowly tie the low branches and strung it to main stalk which is 1 1/2” fat at the crown now. Hope it works. Thanks folks, for advice. I had no idea it could break off so easily like this.
That should help. Careful not to pinch or choke them off. A lot of growers add silica to their feeding to help strengthen the stems and branches. I don’t remember if that’s been mentioned or not.
Ive used old fencing we used in cow’s Corrales, i try and up cycle with old material aroung the farm, plys we got a massive bamboo patch growing that’s worked for me in the past also,
Thanks,. Silica? In what form? In sands they probably won’t do much for the plant. I’d never seen silica in garden supply store before. I put bone meal in the soil before transplanting (together with bloodmeal, worm asti g, and soil acidifier). I do that with vegetables and it strengthen the stem with phosphorus.
The shorter one is White Widow. She probably won’t get much taller than that but I made another ‘cage’ for her just in case. Hate to see them snap off like that.
Haha, thanks. That was my camouflage. I got pretty active neighbor I. The back and we are on slope with their property higher. So they can easily see my plants. I also have huge artichoke bush that hid my plants before the Gold Leaf took off.
What should I do with the buds? One Gold Leaf I planted too early flowered for two months the slowly start to reveg after she was loaded with flowers. There are some flower branches that haven’t reveg yet. Should I leave them to wilt away and wait for final flowers or pick them immature?
