Hello all, I took the plunge and got a few fancy leaf type begonias. I've got Queen Olympus, Little Kitten, Iron Cross and one called Mini Eyelash that I can't find listed anywhere. I'm hoping you more experienced begoniaphiles can help me out.
I read through the sticky links and a bunch of posts, but can't find what I'm looking for. While I'm willing to baby these plants, I'm trying not to have to buy 42 different ingredients to make my own special potting mix. All the recipes I'm finding are very complicated and/or the amounts are for huge amounts. I only need to pot 4 little 4" pots.
Here's what I've got on hand:
Standard potting mix
Potting mix for cactus / succulents
Potting mix for African violets
Peat Moss
Perlite
Bone Meal
Blood Meal
Desert sand
Everything says that the main thing is that the mix be very free-draining - so could I use the cactus type for this, perhaps with some additions?
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Valerie
Potting mix for Begonias (newbie questions)
A quality potting soil and Perlite is bascially all you will need - nothing really special. You may need to provide some kind of humidity cover for your new babies though until they become acclimated to your environment. If they start going downhill, cover them ASAP.
Thanks hcmcdole! That's what I needed to know!
I've had 2 of them for a couple of weeks and they're still in their little plastic pots, which I just set down inside the pot they'll get potted into. Where I live is quite humid to start with plus I've been watering a dish of gravel underneath each pot and so far, they seem pretty happy.
I just got the second 2 delivered on Friday and they were in a dark bathroom in the house for a couple of days to acclimate, and I just set them outside today to start hardening them off a little. I had read somewhere to not immediately re-pot them until they settle down after travel. So after they've been here for a few days and get used to being outside (on my shady porch), I'll re-pot all of them.
Thanks for the info!
I've got Queen Olympus in a small drinking cup and then this is inside a big fish bowl with Saran wrap on the top. Sometimes it gets too humid and some leafs start rotting. I then peel the wrap back for a day or two. Other times it looks droopy and need a drink and I water thoroughly over the sink and let it drain as much as possible. Little Kitten and eyelash are probably basically the same and love high humidity. Iron Cross is one of those aspiring begonias that doesn't do well for me so I never buy it anymore. Maybe I should've given it high humidity.
I've had much better luck by leaving some small starts in the pot it comes in for months and they seem to thrive much better than moving them up as I have done in the past. Rajah has some giant leaves (4 inches across) but it is still in the small 2.5 inch pot it came in but is loving the humid atmosphere in a large fish tank. If I have any problems with a special begonia then it goes into the same large fish tank ASAP and it seems to make all the difference in the world.
Well maybe I'll do the same with these then and leave them in their little pots and just set them inside their decorative pots and wait until they seem to need something more.
The pots I have for them aren't a lot larger - I think they're 4.5" - but if they're fine in their little ones, I'm okay with leaving them in there. How do you know when it's time to repot them up?
Oh, btw - I misspoke. I have "Tiger Kitten" not little kitten. I do think that Tiger Kitten and Mini Eyelash are very similar, if not identical. I got them at two different places - I guess I really liked that look!
I thought maybe you meant Tiger Kitten or Kit Kat (but maybe there is Little Kitten out there too). You can pot up anytime you want to. The problem with a small plant in a big pot is the soil not drying out and causing rot (that is why a lot of growers want a fast draining soil and prefer clay pots).