Is it better to grow Begonia Rajah in a covered container vs an open one? Does anyone have a picture of it? Also, do you spritz the soil or just pour water on it in a covered container?
Begonia Rajah
Mary,
I don't know if anyone grows this out of a terrarium but I've had mine in a big terrarium for 2 years or longer. It is still in the original container (2 inch square) so I water it every few weeks and let the soil around it alone. I have at times not watered it for a couple of months and the leaves get pretty droopy but have always recovered after a good watering. It has bloomed many times, leaves eventually yellow and dry up but there are always some good size leaves on it. I should move it to a bigger container but for now I'm happy with its growth.
Butch
OMG. I want them all, (except I have erythrophylla helix)
I tried it for a year outside the terrarium and almost lost it-- it is coming back now that I have had it covered for a few months-- someone just sent me some seeds so hopefully i can grow another.
What about 'George Fewkes' or 'Mumtaz' ? They both look the same to me but an expert says they are different. I wonder if rajah is a parent. Anyway both seem to do okay outside a terrarium in the basement but do grow larger with high humidity.
Here is 'George Fewkes'.
Very nice! I have not seen either of those.
Are there other begonia's that "need" a terrarium to do best?
For me: tarialbae(sp?) and prismatocarpa need to be covered indoors-- but thrive outside in our humid summer.
I have a couple, well mostly Little Brother Montgomery and a couple other rhizomatous, showing signs of stress, and wondered if that was the problem or something else. With the wood heat, sometimes it is rather dry, but I mist to help raise humidity.
Little Brother Montgomery and Benitochiba both decline (to almost nothing)for me during the winter as do several other rhizomatous--but not all. I think this is normal for them, they always seem to come back when the weather warms up and the days get longer.
Ok, I'll just try to help them survive til then :). Thank you.
B. turrialbae did great under a plastic dome (actually two domes) for me in winter but outdoors it didn't thrive as well but did get by. Crazy plants!!!
I almost lost my Benitochiba and I had it for 3 to 4 years. I was putting it in the garage for winter where it would totally defoliate and I watered it sparingly about once a month. Then when I moved it out in spring it would sprout new stems and leaves. Little Brother Montgomery (and Connee Boswell) can be temperamental - dropping leaves when it isn't happy and growing like a weed when it is. Last winter I kept it (3 pots of it) watered well in a fast draining mix and it looked glorious. When I missed watering it for a few days it dropped leaves faster than the stock market last year.
Oh!! That Rajah is beautiful. Mine is down to one leaf. I will try and give it more water. The leaf still looks good just isn't producing anything.
The other imput was great too. Thanks to the good people in this forum. Butch every time I have seen your plants in person they have always looked like show case plants. Sooooooooooo beautiful.
I am always begging. You know how I am about texture plants. Please start me a leaf of 'George Fewkes'. I will have to figure out something you don't have which is a challenge. I'll find something to bring at the next meeting.
Good to know about the water-- I will increase the amounts those two get--I have them in a warmer place in my new Gh this winter and they are looking better than last year --so far.
That was funny about dropping leaves faster'n the stock market, lol. Maybe that was it. Exotica likes to stay more dry (in my very limited experience), so I probably applied that to Little Bro. Your plant is very full and nice looking. My LBM is stubs now, and I probably let it dry off too much. I am paranoid about overwatering.... Ya know, one day I may even get good at this :). I am working on getting rid of fungus gnats. Letting things dry off, fly paper, mosquito dunks, peroxide water, neem, and carnivorous plants (okay, so I just wanted to grow them). And I still have one fly in my face about every day....
Now that's funny. It seems like you have tried everything. The thought of the one fly. I can just imagine it. To much water is scary. I had to experiment to see how long they can stretch without it.
I have had some that are even ok after 10 days. Then there are the ones you need to give just a little water to keep them perked up. I have loss some, but I just check EBay or other resources to replace them.
I just keep the name tags in a little box that either came with past plants or name tags I have made. This helps me to keep track of what I am searching for at the time. I also keep a running list of what I can remember. I am on the search for Martin's Mystery again. I had one growing really good but lost it in a no climate control storage last year. The temps nose dive to 17 degrees. In that tragic experience there was over 100 plants lost and maybe 8 or 10 actually gradually came back.
My collection is back up and over the past count thanks to the begonia club I belong to now and other outside resources.
That was a terrible loss. Begonia's aren't all that easy (or cheap) to come by. I have had similar losses during power outages in winter here.
It was a terrible loss but have enjoyed receiving new ones in the mail or at our meetings. Some I have never had in my collection. Also getting old time favorites. You are right not all of them are cheap.
The LBM mentioned above suffers more than most begonias when it dries out. I understand the fear of overwatering, but this is one specimen that (for me) just can't handle even a day of total dryness. Just a thought. It's a beautiful specimen, with shrub-like tendencies, althought it air-layers just like rexes do. But it's a bit fragile. Mine has never gone dormant, but I keep it in a south-facing window all winter, with plenty of sunlight.
I also have a true shrub-type called Thurstonii that does great. Here are those two, plus a new 'Looking Glass.' Thanks for sharing...
LBM and CB will both defoliate if they aren't happy but bounce back fairly well. I agree on watering these two if the soil is quick draining. If the soil is peat moss, then they can rot if kept too wet.
Here is LBM's kin - Connee Boswell.
Another UJR - Janet Brown was a star at the LA convention. I lost it but bought two more at this year's convention. Here is one of them.
I think I like Connee Boswell even BETTER. It looks like it has more leaf serration...and brighter colors...
Connee Boswell is on my wish list. I located it in 2 places that I can afford. I'm going to move LBM to more sun and water a little more freely. Janet Brown is pretty, I'll have to see where to find it. Does anyone have B. brevimirosa Edinburgh aka Exotica? What kind of care does it need to be happy? I was told that it doesn't tolerate wet feet, so I let it dry off and water little. What about sun? Lots or little?
I have my umpteenth brevirimosa under lights and water thoroughly at least once a week. It seems to be doing very good. In the past when I had a greenhouse I had two of them but the much colder temps did not sit well with them (being fairly tropical I suppose). This is one of those exceptions where you can actually root a new plant from a leaf wedge from a cane/shrub.
Here is one at the Huntington.
I got one in early November. It had one leaf when it got here and it promptly fell off. That didn't alarm me, but when each leaf segment came off day after day to the last part, I was worried. It has put up a point, with a tiny leaf, but doesn't seem happy yet. I need to just set up a light stand and quit thinking about it. Between begonias and gessies, I'm sure I'll use it.
You could put it in a terrarium until it starts to put out again. Once it starts to grow it will easily outgrow a terrarium but you could always pinch the tops out and start new ones.
Here is a mother plant at a wholesale nursery in FL.
Lighted or not? I have an aquarium that I put some of my plants into that has the aquarium lights on for 12 to 14 hrs a day.
Lighted of course. Just be aware of too much light can build up heat in an aquarium/terrarium. Also things grow so fast in an aquarium that you will have to move a lot of plants out and that could spell doom too - I found that out a few years ago.
I leave the lids open for some air, heat release. Nice marmaduke. What doom?
I was just surfing around has anyone ever seen or had this begonia in this web link? It is the one in the lower right corner. Hopefully the link will open up.
http://begonias.org/SOS/SOS_12_photos.pdf
No, but how lovely. You meant the serratipetala?
I bought one last summer-- but it didn't survive shipping stress.
Mary, that is serratipetala. I got one from J&J years ago and still have it in one of my aquariums. I rarely water this aquarium (every 3 to 6 months?) since it is sealed pretty good with the light fixture (48 inches long) while the aquarium is maybe 30 inches long. This is the same aquarium that I had the rexes in pictured above. I had four bulbs in the light fixture at one time and it was yellowing some begonias and scorching others as they approached the light. I took two of the bulbs out and now things are a lot better.
Leaving lids open kind of defeats the purpose of terrariums doesn't it? Letting the moisture out means a lot more work but sometimes it is necessary. It might help release heat too (good or bad?)
The doom to the rexes above was that they were crowding everything out so I decided to move them out. What a mistake. They went into a tailspin so quick that the recent recession looked mild. Anyway I lost them all. The keyword should be "acclimate" which I failed to even think about. Oh well, on to the next Marmaduke and Purple Snow. I still have the Deco Deviltry (barely). One note - I had Kit Kat and Tiger Kitten in there as well - they grew twice as big as they would in "plain" air but you have to be careful of over watering in a terrarium because it can quickly lead to rot.
Here was a picture of my serratipetala 4 years ago. Now I open the lid, pour in a very small amount of water and walk away. Maybe I will get around to cleaning it out this winter.
Neat. Your picture shows that is has almost Exotica type coloration and that beautiful edge. I started my tank with rexes in it and then they were crowding things out. I moved them out into those plastic wrappers so only the top of the leaf was exposed. One of them is still in the plastic sleeve since without it, it dries out too fast. Now I have a couple begonia cuttings/gessie cuttings and cissus discolor plus some maranta in the tank, lol. I didn't even plant it pretty, but I like it, it has some really neat plants hanging out in it.
I opened the top because the rexes that went in there first started to show some leaf spots (kind of sunken circles) that I didn't like. The temp thing shows it between 72 and 78. I mist in there but let it evaporate. It takes more work, but I like to poke around at it anyway. I don't know if the lights are too much, but the leaves grow smaller in there than out, but the color looks good overall.
The spots on your rexes are some kind of fungal disease. It usually happens in cooler temps. It looks ugly but usually not fatal. Remove the worst leaves and try to keep the leaves dry while indoors. Spray if need be. Milstop is supposed to be great stuff (I just ordered some).
Cissus discolor usually defoliates when I move them in for winter. If you can keep the humidity up they will sprout new leaves but it seems to be a battle between too dry and keeping them happy. I tolerate the bare stems in winter knowing when I move them out they will quickly produce new growth.
Serratipetala and brevirimosa do have that exotic look and probably come from the same region of the world.
Here is a picture of both when I was in Thailand. The brevirimosa looks like it has been moth eaten though.
Opening the lid helped and getting the rexes out helped even more.
Side by side in your picture, they are quite different, but how beautiful they both are.
Here is a pic of my "nursery". That's what I call my tank. Can you see the small foliage on the cissus discolor? I think it would be happier in less light, but humidity wise, it is better off. I am happy that it is growing at all, so no complaints.
I think Cissus discolor would be happy with full sun to fairly dense shade but it needs lots of water and humidity. I've had mine for 7 years now and it always drops all its leaves when I move it indoors. I have split it up in three pots so far and am trying to grow another pot from vines that rooted in the ground when I brought them in this fall.
Here is one of the vines from last summer in fairly dense shade.
That is so pretty and that's all I can think of to say about that. The colocasia nancyana? and stromanthe/ctenanthe tricolor? look pretty good, too, :). Actually, I wish I could walk through there to see it all... Thank you for a bit of summer :).
Yep, that is colocasia nancyana (Nancy's Revenge) that I left out last winter where it died a cold death. The stromanthe I picked up at one of the big box stores and have divided it to 3 pots so far. Here is a closer peek of them from this summer.
Beautiful. I have a small start. I would have bought it if I'd seen it in the store, but never have. Did your A. lauterbachiana get frozen, too? I have a small start of that, too, and hoping to have a beautiful summer :).