Maurice Amey needing a hair cut back in the summer. I don't have a back up
for this one. I think it's so special but mine not well grown. Then I read in
the Begonian that they use these as summer bedding plants in Texas..
LOL, so much for being special. A cross by Naron "Stew" Stewart of U062 and Torch. Nevertheless, the color is beautiful. One of my favorites
Very well grown Jackie! I've always liked this one. Its mate is 'Don Miller'. Do you have problems with mildew this time of year? I know it and other mallets are very prone to mildew. How do you keep it in winter? I've lost a few over the years.
Thanks Butch. No mildew, thank goodness. I hand water in the g house so no water on the lvs. This one has been in the g house since late Sept when the 1st cold front came thru.
They will come out in May, so 9 long months in the ghouse. As ugly as they
(all my plants) get by May, the 1st warm rain makes the lvs beautiful again.
Keep your lvs completely dry if you can. I notice the summer rain doesn't cause
mildew but a cold rain will.
Jackie
Jackie,
You are right about cool weather causing mildew. I should bring mine in sooner but it is usually late Oct and some of the mildew problems are already showing by then (actually Sep it is already showing). I never water leaves indoors but I have to cut a bunch off to keep the spread of mildew down. 'Sinbad' is one of the worst for mildew but it always makes such a nice showing in late summer that I just have to keep it.
Butch, This coming fall just place Sinbad and any other's that attract mildew in your
grow room early. You will reap the rewards, no extra work due to mildew cause you
won't have that problem anymore. I would bet on it.
You have such great lighting in your converted space, doesn't look like your canes would even balk at coming inside.
Jackie
Jackie,
Here is what I'd like to do but it does seem daunting. Start new plants from all the mother plants and keep them indoors for the next year so that they are as sterile as possible and become the new mother plants. Move all the old plants outdoors and sacrifice them at the end of the growing season - I would give them away or compost them. The biggest problem is watering both indoors and outdoors. I did set up some automatic sprinklers on my outdoor plants this year and that helped me a lot but I still had to move hoses once in a while due to drought (I thought I should water my annuals and cactus and succulents every couple of weeks). Watering indoors is very time-consuming which is fine in winter since I don't do much outdoors at this time, but in summer I tend to neglect anything indoors.
Then running lights seems counterproductive in summer when you have all the free and best light possible outdoors.
Butch, Watering inside and outside is a hassle. I could not do what you're thinking about doing, growing new mother plants inside. Mine would be so ugly if they didn't get out in the fresh air and warm rain during the warm months. They always look half dead or more by May. Are you sure you couldn't grow your new plants outside and just take them in before the cooler rains start in Sept?
I've seen a lot of nice ones (grown to perfection) indoors. They probably aren't as hardy or as big if grown outdoors but they don't have tattered leaves, no introduced pests or disease, and aren't subject to the vagaries of the prevailing weather. The biggest benefit other than a sterile (well, cleaner) environment is the twice a year exodus. I still prefer growing them outdoors - faster growing, all the light and warmth is provided, fresh air as you mentioned, and they really make a splash on the landscape.
I will always grow them outdoors but the ideal situation is having a clone indoors that is free of pests and disease. The most ideal situation would be to live in a frost free zone, but that ain't going to happen anytime soon since I'm not planning on pulling up stakes and moving and global warming isn't happening fast enough to help out either despite what the doomsday prophets are preaching.
Butch, I've seen some beauties grown inside too, so it can be done.
All your begonia's look great to me. Do you even get mildew on your
rhizomatous? Or is that just a cane issue?
Maybe you could just start this project on a small scale, wouldn't be so daunting.
Your mildew magnets first to see what kind of results you get. That way you
wouldn't have dived in head first.
I can see the advantages of inside growing. I get so tired of the dead wood
falling out of the trees, destroying anything below. I've learned to look up
when placing my begonias and other plants under the trees.
Jackie
Jackie,
I get mildew on some rhizomatous but nothing like the thin leaf canes and rexes. U357 and U002 are two examples. It is definitely a seasonal thing which is an annoyance. I guess it comes with the territory unless you destroy the mildew magnets but I'm not ready to do that.
As for growing a clone of everything indoors, that is idle talk right now. I'm sure there would be trade-offs. No more moving things back indoors would be good, but all the extra work of watering indoors is not so good. No more pests and hopefully no mildew would be a good thing, but no fresh air and sunshine is not so good. Hmmm?
I've had more damage from falling pine needles to the leaves than falling pine cones and branches. Isn't that weird? I'm surprised the deer haven't bothered begonias. Then I had a pair of box turtles playing around among my pots. Thank goodness most of the pots were higher than the turtles could reach.
Here is one of my begonias - 'Shamus' that has never been outdoors. I have a handful that are in the same boat - 'Guy Savard', 'Martin's Mystery', 'Erythrophylla Helix', 'Lalomie', and 4 terrariums. Whenever I get new begonias and they are on the small side, I try to get them to a bigger size before moving them out as well.
Butch, We can't tell Shamus has never been outside, looks great. Your Guy Savard too.
Maybe you could rig some kind of protection outside for late summer/early fall.
A structure open on one end to let some sun to your plants but still keep the rain
off the lvs. I dond't know if that would be feasible for you. I make do with placing mine under the eaves. That works until we have
three or four rainy days in a row, then back in the g house they go.
I hope you don't get rid of the mildew prone begonia's becaue they're some of
the loveliest.
I had a Martin's Mystery for two yrs. That's how long it took me to kill it. It was
a beautiful begonia. Send a pic of your M.M. when you can.
Jackie
I ended up buying 3 Martin's Mystery plants last year - all from Logees. The first one kicked the bucket early. Then I ordered two for a bit of insurance. Then they started going but I cut two of the biggest leaves before they started going. I had tried prop'ing MM before with no luck but this time I water rooted these two leaves and the rest is history.
Here is a current picture of them in a cookie jar.
Sweet! Nice work!!!
Top view.
They're looking good Butch. What do you use, a leaf with stem attached?
if not, please explain. I want to try to root one of these lvs. Found this at Lowes
mid summer.
Yes, a stem is attached. Here is a picture of it back in April.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/587786/
That is a great find there and the leaves should propagate easily. I don't think I've done one of those in water but willing to give it a try. It looks like 'Cowardly Lion' but then there are several that look similar.
Cowardly Lion is a stinker though - it will be looking great and then it goes into sudden decline. I found it really likes to be on the drier side. 'Northern Lights' must be its kissing cousin and acts the same way.
Here is a picture of mine earlier this summer. It dropped all its leaves (too wet?) and now has little ones coming back. I grabbed 3 leaves and stuck each in its own plastic food container with a damp paper towel. One dried up to nothing. The other two are just as perfect as the day I grabbed them and that has probably been 7 weeks or more. The two survivors are showing just a bit of root now and I should put them in soil but there are just too many other things to do.
Butch, You should see my plant now. I moved it to a 5 inch pot before the photo. It
looked good for a while and some lvs still look good but it is all dried out. When I
water it just runs straight thru, it's not holding any
water. I know better than to repot it so I might plunge the pot under water for a few
seconds or maybe would be smarter to give it a saucer of water to sit in.
Thanks for the link.
When I'm ready to try, I might just use a small med vial and the tin foil method,
like for violets. If I get brave, may try your damp paper towel method.
This is the only rhizomatous I have since I kill these. Yours are lovely so I thought
I would try one more time. I would love to be able to grow these like you and Lali and
Joolz
Alright Jackie, what exactly are you doing to kill rhizos? If your soil is fast draining, then you really shouldn't have too many problems with them. I think for the most part they do resent standing in water but other than that, they are fairly easy.
Here is one of my other CL (not sure since it has no name) that has always stayed inside the basement since I got it last winter.
Your CL in the basement is as nice as the one that summers outside
Butch, I suspect that what I did was pot the rhiz up a size in late fall.
Newly repotted translates to too much water in the root area.
So I haven't grown the rhiz for many yrs knowing I don't have a good track record.
That all happened before Greg Sytch told me to pot them down for winter, not up.
The last time I lost one, it was a cute little Fiji from GHW. I had it in a pot that might
have been a 2 incher. Anyway, as soon as I potted it in a square 3 and 1/2, I lost it.
If I ever decide to try a small rhiz like Fiji Islands again, I will use a plastic drinking cup with holes punched in bottom, and just give it an inch or so of fresh potting mix at a time. The only safe
way for me.
Sounds like some sage advice there. I've usually got too much going on in the fall and too lazy in the winter to do any repotting so maybe I escaped the bullet by repotting in spring and summer.
I never potted down until this year. It's too early for a verdict on that strategy but it hasn't hurt anything either.
Butch, I have to repot some in the winter. When it's so bad that just walking
by a plant blows it over, then it's time.
Anxious to see how your down-sized begonia's are faring come spring.
Off to do some Christmas shopping. If my g kids weren't so young, I would give them cash.
At 8, 5 and 3, they want to see toys and lots of them. LOL
You and I are in the same boat, Jackie. My grand kids are 7, 5, and 3 but we are going to get them clothes instead of toys since they have no shortage of those.
Butch, I help buy them clothes off and on all yr and I enjoy that. The two oldest
want a trampoline but I'm afraid the youngest will get hurt. Would be hard to keep
her off of it. I'll probably have to wait a yr or two.
We do the same thing Jackie but I doubt we would be buying them a trampoline any time soon. They already drive be crazy/nervous on the treadmill and mini-tramp we have downstairs. I just put them to work by raking leaves and moving stones (they think that is fun and I won't argue that point). We may put a playset in the backyard this spring though. Just what I need.
Butch, they are so cute!! Buy those kiddies some child size rakes, etc. I need to do
the same thing. We have
6 acres, purchased so DH could have a horse and room for a garden if we want.
As soon as they come over, they hit the door and grab DH's rakes to attack the
lvs. An hour later, the lvs have won. LOL
Before the frost hit, they helped me pick up pecans. Everything they do out here is different
from anything they do at home, so they think it's a grand adventure.
I was thinking about a swing set too. Maybe the trampoline next yr. We are going
to hang a tire swing for the oldest. Remember how much fun those were?
