Begonia Dead?

My 'Color Vision' Begonia, I received one unrooted leaf in a trade in May 06, has been sitting on the southeast facing kitchen window-sill since last summer. This morning I noticed the whole plant was drooping. I pulled it out of the window and could tell it was from the cold. We had subzero temps last night for the first time in years. That is unusually cold for this area. Will it recover if I cut it back? It was looking so beautiful, I was getting ready to pull a leaf off to see if I could get it rooted to trade for another begonia cultivar. Wish I'd already gotten it done :~(

Lana

Here's a pic of it a couple weeks ago.

Lana

Lana, yep those cold windowsills will do a number on our plants ... even down here in Florida. We've had some low temp's a couple of nights and I forgot and left a couple of plants in the windowsill. They were pretty pitiful looking when I remembered and saw them the next morning! I wouldn't say your Begonia is a goner yet ... give it a chance to warm up. I don't think one night in a cold window has totally killed it. I don't know about cutting it back just yet, but hopefully some of the expert Begonia folks will see this and chime in with some good advice.

Thanks, Lin. I'll wait and see. There are a lot of experts on this forum I've seen by lurking and learning :~)

Lana

Just cut the most obvious damaged leaves off and give it time to come out. As long as the rhizomes are firm then it will be okay

Here's what it looks like today. The rhizome feels a little squishy. Not as much as the leaf stems though, we'll see.

Lana

It doesn't look too good but you never know. Trim away all the leaves (any leaves that are still fleshy - you might try propagating but even that is iffy) and put a clear cup over the rhizomes. See if they perk up in a few days.

Lana,
I have one that lost all it's leaves a couple of months ago, but since it was close to some others in the greenhouse I just kept on watering, and there's new growth coming out, so maybe yours will recover.

Thanks for all the help everone. Hope it comes back. I really love that plant, it's gorgeous.

Lana

I had gotten 3 leaves off the plant, the rhizome was a goner. The leaves had small roots so I potted them up in tiny clay pots and have them in the terrarium jars I got at the fleamarket. A couple of the leaves have fuzzy mildew on them so don't know if they'll make it. I've been taking the lid off their terrarium to keep it from staying too moist. The ones that got mildewed were inside a ziploc baggie. One leaf is doing great, it was in a cookie jar. See pic below. I just potted a few days ago and it's already sending up new growth from the roots.

Lana

Lana, your begonia is looking good!

With real humid conditions, a chance for quick mold growth is a real possibility. Keep debris cleaned up to prevent problems plus watch for signs of fungal growth on leaves and stems. Vent if it is too humid or keep cover off for a day or two.

Here are some of my starts from leaves. I started these by water rooting first back in the early fall.

Good save, Lana!!!

Thanks, two other leaves that I thought were goners are now starting to put up tiny starts :~) So I'll have some to trade if all goes well! I'll have to get a new pic of the leaf above, the new leaf has gotten bigger.

Lana

I love the leaf color. Hope it does well.