Tropicals & Tender Perennials: Non-stops in planter, 0 by alexh

alexh wrote:
Here's a pic of my non-stops in a planter. It gets about 3-4 hours of sun per day which was a bit much in the summer (got some leaf burn) but now that it's cooled off they have really shown their stuff. I will definitely save the bulbs but I'm not sure if I will re-plant in this location due to burn.

I saw on the begonias.org forum that thay have an article on how to improve direct sun performance of non-stops but the thread author would not tell - had to buy their magazine. Anyone know what this might be? I know they have a supplement to help prevent Japanese Maple burn but I always figured even that was hocus pocus.

Funny thing is, I did not lose one of these plants all year long whereas I lost 3 out of 6 hanging basket begonias and 2 out 3 standards due to stem rot. The baskets and standards(in pots) are in ideal conditions under shadecloth. My guess is it's due to my watering methods. The non-stops in the planter have a drip line run around each plant so the fine bark mulch on top rarely gets wet. I never got around to installing drip on my baskets/standards so I used a extension type hose wand which I had to stick under the leaves (it's kind of frustrating to water begonias from above - most of the water is deflected by the leaves!). This caused wet potting soil to be pushed against the stems which probably contributed to the rot. I'll try again next year with dripline.

I have a couple of begonia books and in one them (forget which one) the author states that the stem rot is not really initiated by a pathogen as much as it caused by mechanical damage to the stem which gives the pathogen a foothold. In my case it was probably a combination of soil contacting the stems combined with abrasion/movement caused my agitation during watering.



This message was edited Oct 15, 2006 6:35 PM

This message was edited Oct 15, 2006 6:47 PM