Some begonias will always stay in the same terrarium but the ones I put in there just to root will come out once the weather is nice enough to move them outdoors.
Here is variegata (used to be called masoniana maculata) in an ice bucket and a big cake lid. It has been in this for about 3 years and gets water every couple of months or longer. I only add a "trickle". It is cramped in this but I don't want to take a chance with mildew at this point.
I checked my leaves today-- 3 more pots have babies ^_^
Good deal Hillbilly! Have you ever rooted a leaf (it won't budge) and it sits there for months and just when you give up hope, it finally pups? It's the most perplexing thing the first time it happens. It gets easier thereafter..
My rooted leaves are in a terrarium and no pups yet though some of the leaves' edge are browning....
I bet you'll see some before too long!! I have not had that experience with Begonias, yet. I have had it with AV leaves tho. I had some that took so long to root I was tired of AVs and had moved on to something else.
Tru, as long as the core of the leaf is okay you won't have a problem.
I never got into AV's - down to 3 now and that's plenty. My grandmother had them everywhere - ruined her dining table due to water damage (yes she used her dining table as a propagation area).
B. 'Texas Red Star' pups.
What are AV's?
I don't know what it is about little things,(perhaps my maternal instinct kicking in) but I find little plant pups irresistible!
I just read on a Begonia book by the Royal Horticultural Society that one can separate the pups if there are more than one.
They also showed an interesting way of doing leaf rooting whereby they put little slit along the main vein of a leaf, lay the entire leaf on a rooting medium and a bunch of pups appear where the slits were made. The leaf almost looks like a B. hispada or magic carpet. I've got to try that too!
AV=African Violets I got fairly infatuated along with other gesneriads a couple years ago-- my Gh was too small for me to even get in it during the winter so I compensated with something I could have in the house. I found out quickly that they are too demanding for my lifestyle. I am sending most of those I haven't managed to kill to a friend in Omaha in the next couple of weeks. Then I can concentrate on my Begonias and succulents. ^_^
Tru, that is correct you can remove the major vein on some leaves such as streptocarpus and get many babies along each minor vein. Begonias have some of that ability on larger leaves where you can lay the entire leaf down, cut slits across the major veins and get babies there. It worked well for me on Bashful Bandit, Art Hodes, Big Mac, and Challenger for example. I really haven't tried the smaller leaves so I would imagine it should work for them as well.
One thing I noticed is the extra large leaves seem to rot fast if you try to prop from the petiole junction (Lotusland for example). I finally got a couple of Lotusland wedges to root by using smaller wedge cuttings.
Here is C. King with many pups from slits across major veins.
Oh, thank you for that picture! I was trying to imagine what cutting along a major vein would look like.
I'm so chicken, I still haven't tried rooting a leaf. I think I'll try it as soon as I can take everything else outside and have a little space inside for experiments.
Butch,
The cuts I daw on the illustration of the RHS goes along the vein, not perpendicular to it as you show. Obviously both ways work! I am impressed the parent leaves of your C.King look as good as they do. Got to try this technique next...
Tru, post the link to the RHS illustration. I've seen it with leaves like streptocarpus but not begonias where you remove the major vein then place both halves vertically in potting mix and get oodles of babies along each minor vein.
I took the trimmed outer edge of the leaves from Art Hodes as an experiment which did produce some babies along the veins but the babies were very small in comparison to the major portion of the leaf and all babies did not make it either. Anyway this is the same same thing as cutting across the vein.
Here is a picture of that experiment - the outer edges just placed atop perlite. (nov 18, 2008)
In comparison to the whole leaf and stem cuttings. The one leaf with some variegation is valida - it rooted but never produced pups - lesson learned on valida - never try a leaf, just use stem cuttings on shrubs. Maybe Art Hodes has some rhizomatous parent in its lineage.
The leaf edges took longer to root (in fact most rotted or dried up) but 3 leaves did in fact root and make babies. Here is one leaf that did (I placed all the survivors vertically in perlite). This is dec 24, 2008 - a little over a month.
Feb 4, 2009
The major leaf is actually slower growing (my bad, I thought it was growing faster). Same date Feb 4, 2009 of one of the major leaves.
One of the babies all grown up last summer (Sep 27)
I came back from vacation to find that one of my leaf cuttings made plantlets. I don't think this is a named begonia. It is a rex for sure.
Here's another post vacation surprise. Last fall I ordered several plants from Kartuz. I think I overcooked them in my terrarium and all their leaves dropped. I kept the rhizomes and just when I thought they would never come back, here it is:
You can see from the label it's Stormy Night.
Congrats, Tru. As long as the leaf has some green or the rhizome is firm, there is always a chance for new growth.
Never throw out a begonia until you are sure it is dead without any hope of coming back. I now give it several months to make an appearance. Usually they are dead but I've been surprised before. Last summer a tiny leaf fell off Fireflush. I put that leaf in a plastic container with a bit of perlite and potting mix next to a compost heap. I tried to water it when I remembered it. I brought it in for winter with that one little tiny leaf still intact. I moved it to a small drinking cup with new soil and it now has 3 leaves - I'm amazed at how it stayed semi-dormant all summer and fall putting down roots. Patience paid off in this case.
Wow! That's an amazing story. I don't always call my pratice "patience" as much as "negligence".
Butch in the picture before the Antoon picture. Your post #7632237 what is the begonia leaf name in the lower right hand corner?
Mary, that is Deco Daddy (the sport) and is the big green one and the other one in the same cup is Plum Gorgeous. I hope that is the one you are asking about.
Thanks Butch. I see Plum Gorgeous in the cup too. That is the right one.
I have two mystery leaves coming up in my terrarium. They are light green and perfectly round. I have used that same seedling soil for other failures in the same terrarium. Maybe one of them finally took in two places in the terrarium. It has been months ago. What I have currently in there is this Gesneriad plant called "Dark Shadows" from Johnnie.
I didn't think anything was wrong with the fluffy soil. So I reused it. Just the plants would die from to much moisture. This Gesneriad is my first and seems to like it moist. Unless someone can tell me something different it hasn't died yet. Plants in the terrarium must grow awfully slow. I have had no luck with the terrarium projects yet.
I have had Rajah, the rare begonia with the red dots on the leaf, and I really think this mystery leaf will turn out to be one of the past failures of something else. It has caught my interest since I can see the root system by the glass. It doesn't even look like a mushroom spore either.
I seen another listing for the Gesneriad plant: Kohleria 'Dark Shadows' To look on-line this is the plant I have in the terrarium. Since I don't know alot about it. I am not sure if Gesneriad is the plant itself and Kohleria is something else.
I wish my begonias would have worked out. This other plant reminds me of a African Violet. Can I just say I am a begoniac first. My passion lies there.
Gesneriad is a plant family. African violets and Kohlerias are just two of the members of this wide family. Streptocarpus, Episcias, Gloxinias, Nematanthus, Aeschynanthus, Achimenes are some other members.
Here is a web site to get an idea on how vast this family is.
http://www.gesneriadsociety.org/
Butch that Red Fred I have acquired recently. Should I keep it on the dry side and mist it often?
No, I water mine thoroughly and never let it dry out to the point of wilt if I can help it (it has wilted in the past and bounces back after watering). I never mist either. Treat it like any other typical begonia. Did you place it outdoors?
Yes, in a shady spot. First it was receiving morning sun once I got it. I remembered what Charles Jaros said at the meeting a couple Saturdays back about begonias that have the red backing to them don't need nearly as much sunlight as the others.
Maybe mine was in too much sun last year. Only the newest leaves were red which was kind of disappointing. I think if you leave it in a shadier locale it will have larger leaves too (trying to get as much light as possible).
Here was mine from last late September.
Please forgive me, but is that in a pot or planted in the ground? If it is in a pot what size?
I think it is in a six inch pot maybe eight. It needs to be potted up but it has done very well in the small pot.
Here is Freddie last night - I believe it is in a ten inch pot.
Absolutely beautiful. If that's what I have to look forward to I will be changing that pot. Since Charles brought that in a hanging 6" pot should I wait awhile to change it or do it now? It's so full but still has alot of new ones coming up. Just don't know if it is root bound or not.
It depends on what you want to do. I got Freddie from Taylor GH and Red Fred from the convention last year. Both of those were in small pots (maybe 4 inches at the most) so they grow fast in one season.
Here was Red Fred from the convention (early May).
Well mine as you seen is three times that size and you can hardly see the soil in the pot. It is good to know it is a fast grower. I will see where Red Fred stands for mid-summer. Thanx!!
Do you guys fertilize regularly in the growing season. If so, what do you use and how often do you apply it? I have all of mine moved outside now and in the shade. I did one round with maxicrop ( a fish base fertilizer).
Last year I repotted all the new ones and maybe half of the old ones with regular Miracle Gro potting mix (with fertlilizer already added). I might've sprayed a few times (3 to 6?) with water soluble fertilizer with a hose end sprayer. Started with a weak solution (1 TSP per gallon rate) and by the last couple of sprayings upped the ante to 1 TBSP or more.
I hand watered all pots once or twice with water soluble fertilizer as well so the roots get the feeding instead of the foliage.
Any old pots that did not get repotted I added some slow release fertilizer to the top of the soil - some got heavy doses due to spillage so good thing it was slow release because I have killed several young plants with regular fertilizer (big plants love it but young small ones are often victims to regular garden fertilizer).
All I know is for the folks who repot every plant each and every year - KUDOS to them! It is a lot of work and many bags of soil. I went through 9 or 10 of the largest bags of potting mix last year (the ones that are about 4 feet long).
I fertilize every time I water with a dilute solution of hydrolized fish or Peter's fertilizer. But I have a dosatron that hooks into my hose, so that makes it easy. My plants are still in the greenhouse - it was in the low 30's last weekend. Maybe it's safe now.
Butch-
I had no luck rooting canes in the greenhouse - I think you're right about the heat mat promoting rot. What do you do in the summer? I promised plants to the local chapter for their September sale. And do you bring large plants to your chapter's sale? I have some 2 year old canes that I'm going to give to the chapter if tru doesn't take them when she visits.
db,
I just water root or place all the cane cuttings in a tray of potting mix or perlite. Most root in a week or two. I never tried bottom heat for canes - just rhizomatous leafs which was a disaster.
If I bring anything of mine to the club's meetings it is usually cuttings or small rooted plants. I don't sell these. Our annual sale usually consists of getting nursery grown plants at wholesale prices. The last two years I've driven to Orlando to buy the plants for the sale.
I know this was further up in the thread, but each time I water my begonias its with a Miracle Grow weak fertilizer solution. All kind of new growth going on right now with them.
