Congrats to both of you. As you've found there are some leaves that are a lot more difficult than others. Keep experimenting until you find out works for those as well. Some leaves will not come true of the parent plant so beware of that trap. One of those is Cathedral; if you want a clone of the parent you must do it by rhizome cuttings because the leaf will revert to the normal beefsteak.
Leaf rooting experiment
I noticed that last night my Venitian Red leaf now has roots. I guess it is time to pot it up, The others still look good but no roots.
Dude, picx?
For Butch,
That good to know about cathedral. I have a Snoopy plant and on the rhizome, new leaves are forming which completely look different from the parent leaves. Is this the case of young versus old leaves? I will send pics tomorrow.
For Hillbilly_gran, the Red Robin looks amazing. Is there something with red leaves that makes them root faster? Red Robin, Venetian red, one of my unnamed rex has fine red hair...
Below is a not so good picture of my winterizing B. masoniana " Iron Cross and B. fireflush. They live in a 15 or 20 ga tank next to a glass block window. It's fun to see the sun shine through the leaves but this picture does not do them justice...
Interesting question. Do you suppose that the red coloration and the resulting lack of chlorophyll in the leaves causes them to root faster since they can't synthesize energy from sunlight and root to find nutrients to live?
Rexes generally root faster than other rhizomatous leaves.
hi everyone,i'm new on this site.i'm here to learn and get new ideas on begonias.first i want to wish granny good luck on her experiment.my first begonia was a cane my neighbor gave be last fall and i can't believe how much it has grown.i tried to grow it years ago and no luck.(maybe i was working to much and not enough attention to it)lol.since then i hace acquired three more,but they are fibrous and i have on rex.one rex passed on to glory land.i'm want to learn how to propigate them.wish me luck.here are there pics.i hope they come out ok.
Lilispirit-- get a B. erythrophylla-- they are almost impossible to kill!! I got mine about 16 years ago and it has survived being neglected & ignored and keeps on keepin on!
I have some good news. Two more of my leaves have roots. When do I pot these up?
Very interesting info.
thanks,
Elaine
Dude,
I potted mine right away for fear that they might be forgotten or overwatered if I didn't. I used a seed starting mix that has canadian sphagnum moss and vermiculite. My roots were not much of anything. The shortest were maybe one millimeter and the longest maybe 5 mm.
Congrats! I guess we have figured different ways of rooting leaves.
Here is a pic of the roots on my Rex leaf. I have to go to OKC for the next two days but when I get back I will pot it up.
hello hillbilly_gran,and of course everyone else in this wonderful world of begonias.ok gran is this a beefsteak begonia you are suggesting?
i put the roots of my miami storm in a plastic bag and under lite.do you think it might come back from the roots? i have about six more begonias coming.should be here on the10th or the 11 of march 2010.
Dude, that is so awesome-- i am gonna have to try water rooting next time!!! Lilspirit--That's right-- its a beefsteak. Gotta love it 'cos you can't hardly kill it ^_^
Dude,
Unless your picture is super magnified you've beat both me and Gran! I will try these test tube things next time too.
I have a small begonia that has started to root in water very well. I was interested in planting it in potting soil but was wondering if there would be a problem since its use to extreem moisture and the amount of moisture in soil.
I have never rooted Begonias in water-- but have rooted Hoyas and others. I keep them extremely wet for the first week, actually standing the pot in water. as that water evaporates I gradually dry them out over a period of a couple weeks until they are treated like the rest.
I would water them thoroughly to start with and then let the surface dry some between future waterings. You might use a baggie or plastic lid if it wilts significantly until it perks up. It shouldn't have much of a problem adjusting though.
I potted up three of my leaves today. Wish me luck on this next step.
Good Luck Dude!!!! When I checked my leaves today U538 has roots growing straight up out of the soil-- that is a new one on me!!
Hillbilly, if your roots are growing out of the soil then it is probably too wet and they may be searching for air. They will air-prune themselves when it dries out some.
I notice a lot of aerial roots on begonias in terrariums if the soil is wet. Once the soil and air dries out some they usually disappear (unless the plant rots - not good).
I root canes by stem cuttings and rhizos by rhizome cuttings. Is leaf the preferred method for rexes?
Thanks-- that is good to know I will make sure there is no water in the bottom of the tray. Dbsmith-- I don't know if leaf cuttings are prefered method, but you can propagate smaller plants more frequently. (At least I will be able to once I figure it out;)
Db,if it's of any help, the rexes I got from Florida were all propagated from leaves ( I could actually still see the parent leaf in the pot).
Good work Dude. Our next step is to figure out how long it takes to make a little plant from the leaf rootings. I calculated 4 wks for rooting on paper or perlite.
DB, either method that works for you is the preferred method. Leaf cuttings is just a way to make more plants than stem cuttings. Leaf cuttings make the same mature plant as a stem cutting but it just takes longer. Canes cannot be propagated by leaves but there are exceptions such as exotica (I observed this at the Houston convention) and amphioxus (I had a couple make new plants). Art Hodes can be prop'ed by leaf but valida can't (at least I could not make a plant out of valida leaves even after they rooted) and the two look similar in a lot of respects.
hi again,i forgot i had a small terrarium and i put my plants in it.they have been there for almost 24 hrs and are showing improvement.curly fireflush is getting a new leaf.i'm so glad.i took out northern lights and set it on the shelf as it really improved.but i also have it sitting on a bed of moist rocks inder the light.
hillbilly-gran are your leaves doing ok?any roots yet?
All my leaves are rooted ^_^-- but only Harmony's Red Robin has babies.
oh you are so lucky.;)i'm happy as well today as i took the soil off miami storm and found new growth,so i repotted it up and put it back in the terrarium.all is not lost.i'm going to try and root some leaves in a paper towel,i never heard of that.
Water rooting after several weeks - no water changes. Not all leaves will root with this method or at least some seem to have problems (maybe it is the time of year that it is attempted).
Three of four bottles rooted (syrup bottles from CB) but the fourth bottle that contained B. hernandioides did not root (they all rotted). Leaves attempted - Texas Red Star (has some baby leaves on one leaf), Deco Daddy, Flamboyant.
well i learned something new,i did not know leaves rooted in h20.:)
Butch,
Did you neem or do some other fungicidal treatment of the leaves before putting them in the rooting chamber?
No, I don't do anything special. Try to cut off the oversized leaf edges, trim the petiole to an inch or two, and pick a halfway decent leaf.
Here is a fairly easy way to prop - a large tank for humidity, 16 oz cups full of perlite and watered well (drain holes are cut on the bottom edge), and place the cuttings in the cups and nestled among the weedy episcia. I've had to throw a few leaves out from rotting but most look pretty good.
Do you cover the tank?
Yes, it has a glass hinged lid. Ten gallon tanks can use the plastic lids off the Jiffy seed starting trays (a bit lopsided) or plastic wrap.
Here is an un-named rex hybrid from Antoon.
That rex looks like Merry Christmas. Did you water your leaves in perlite more times than the initial soaking?
New rex out of Holland but it may look similar to Merry Xmas.
I only watered initially. Once it goes into a terrairum there is no need to water again (for weeks or months).
B. 'Bertha'
I got Bertha at PHOE too. You sure take beautiful pictures!
Thanks Tru. Here is the other side of the big tank. Rajah is starting to creep after being in there for a couple of years. Pink Diamonds I started from the mother plant as soon as I bought it (I got tired of buying and losing it - good thing I did because the mother is DOA). Panasoffkee is creeping nicely too which is another problem plant for me in winter.
Lesson learned - humidity, humidity, and some lights.
Your Rajah is gorgeous!! All your other photos too!! My Rajah gave up the ghost--sighhhh--it was always failure to thrive for me--but someone sent me some seeds so i will go that route. Ironically-- Panasoffkee isn't a problem for me--I just gave it a hard pruning since it was about 4' long. will spring ever come? If it would just get here there may be fewer begonia funerals.
hi everyone,boy you all have some very pretty begonias.curly fireflush is getting a new leaf.i'm happy about that.you all have really helped me,i'm so glad to be part of this thread.also i'm trying to root a leaf in water.(nothern lights)will let you all know one way or the other. well i'm saying good nite. ;)
Butch,
Do you take your terrarium plants out of the the container in the warmer months?