Friend of mine told me about these and said i should get them,does anyone have them,i have several streps i can trade for or lots of cutttig of gesneriad,im just starting out in begonias so im a newbie and dont have trade material of begonias
thanks
JIM
silver jewel,brown jewel and emerald jewel
JIM,
They are a bit fussy to grow at times and harder than most begonias to propagate. Maybe someone can trade with you.
Try the following sites:
http://www.mountainorchids.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=197&cPath=15
eBay
https://www.violetbarn.com/store/index.php?searchStr=jewel&_a=viewCat
http://www.taylorgreenhouses.com/begonia-green-jewel.html
If you ever get a chance to go to PHOE then you will see how to grow them like weeds.
Butch-
I'm throwing away silver and emerald after looking at that picture. Mine have a few snotty leaves after 1 year of being treated like royalty. What is PHOE doing? Besides being in Florida...
That's the key db. It is deep south Florida and they have a lot of their greenhouses carpeted with Jewels under the benches. Don't throw away your Jewels, pick off the worst leaves, keep watered, and they should be okay. My imperialis has no cover this year and is doing pretty good (a few older leaves are dried at the edges which makes it ratty looking) but I do have Green, Brown, and Silver Jewels all under some kind of cover. My Brown Jewel hasn't grown much at all in two years though.
Here is Silver Jewel that I grow under a large cake dome (the large cakes I get at Sam's Club always have the prize after the cake is gone - a perfect terrarium for smaller plants or at least a cover for an ice bucket) 3 days ago.
Same plant in the cake container under lights.
Green Jewel was looking terrible so I put it in a terrarium. Still has a couple of bad looking leaves.
Imperialis outdoors. Lens cap is almost 3 inches across.
I plan on growing a few in a greenhouse,those free standing ones that you put indoors
maybe i wont go after these,they were suggestions, i really like the old fashioned kinds like the beefsteak and now i hear its called e something (im not up on names yet but i will be
i know i wanna get madame queen and bunchii ive got a friend with those and ill still with some of the easier rexes and some of the rhizomes ones,
thanks all i cant wait to learn all about these begonias,just tossing this out but i grow a lot of gessies and mostly streps and if anyone wants to do a trade i be up for it
JIM
Madame Queen is not an easy one to grow (I've tried it many times and now on the 4th one) but Muddy Waters which looks very similar is a lot easier in my opinion and I haven't lost it yet (3rd winter). Stick with the beefsteaks (Erythorphylla) and Bunchii (can be picky at times) to begin with.
Here is Muddy Waters.
i like it,ill try to get that one when it warms up
JIM
The question is how to replicate the conditions of south Florida in my greenhouse. But, given that it is going to be 5 to 10 below zero for the next 3 nights, I think my replication experiment will have to be on hold. The heating system in the greenhouse is a major drawback - forced hot air. Dries up the air and leaves me with cold and hot spots. I'm going to go with under the bench heating as soon as I figure out how to do it economically.
The aquariums in the basement, with an ambient temperature of about 50, are perfect for the rexes. I would have thought that they like a warmer temp. I certainly do.
I second the warmer temps....below zero here this weekend too! Thinking about the day when I can put my begonias outside seems soooo far away!
So Shifty, were you able to get the Milstop?
Butch, your pics are always so beautiful. Here is my pic of Emerald Jewel. I put it in the orchidarium for the pic. It always stays under lights and regular room conditions (45% humidity for now). It does have a few leaves with brown edges though.
db, I just need to call and I can order it and pick it up. I told the guy from Bioworks that if I order, it will be closer to spring. Right now I do not have any PM. The only reason I am hesitating is that I have to buy the $79, 5 gallon bucket. I am sure I can put some of it to use in the garden this summer too. The active ingredient in Milstop is potassium bicarbonate and I did notice that some of the organic products from Pharm have this as well. Not sure what I am going to do. He was discussing Cease (sp) with me as well which I think you use. If I had a greenhouse it would be a different story. Still going to try some canes this spring, whatever I decide.
I don't think you can spray Cease in your house, but I could be wrong. I tank mix Cease and Milstop when I spray in the greenhouse. I spray weekly from October to May when the plants go back outside. I should spray some of the begonias (mallets especially) during the summer, but I get lazy. Most of the canes won't need to be sprayed, unless we get one of the cold, wet, sunless summers.
Cracklin Rosie
I think you are right about the Cease. Great Pic. I started a new thread about begonia favorites. I was looking at the Lauray of Salisbury web site and without photos there are many I don't know...so I thought I would ask the forum for their favorites. It may help to narrow the field!