Hi,
I have a Cane Begonia, 'Good 'n Plenty' that lost some of the lower leaves and became leggy and I decided to turn it into a standard. I actually like it that way but the top is a little sparse. The growth is all horizontal, which is okay, but there are only three main branches with one growing tip at the end of each. It is looking healthy and is putting out new leaves and starting to bloom right now, but I wondered if there was a way to prune it that would allow it to develop branches and more growing tips and become fuller? It took me quite awhile to get it as good as it is now and I would hate to cut off all the growing tips unless I was sure it would quickly fill in. I can get a photo later today. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks :-)
lisabeth
Any Begonia experts that can answer pruning question?
Here is a photo of it...any ideas on how to fill in the top?
There is no way to prune it to fill the top out. You will have to be patient and let it grow. To encourage it to grow I would feed it if you aren't already doing that and give it as much light as possible. When it does start growing you should get new shoots from the roots and pruning the tops to your satisfaction should force it to branch more. It looks like you have a good start for forming a standard.
Thanks hcmcdole...
I have started fertilizing and it is in my sunniest West window, which in the winter is not all that strong. It will spend the summer outdoors. It has pushed out new leaves and blossoms on the tips of two side branches. There is a third branch facing front and there has been the beginning of a new leaf for a long time and it is just much slower than the other two branches. I looked closely and noticed that the two side branches are fresh bright green almost all the way back to the 'trunk', but the slow to grow branch, has some darkening along it's stem, like the 'trunk'. Obviously, if I am trying to make a standard, if I get new shoots from the soil, I would want to cut them off. The only other thing I can think of to do, would be to 'tip prune' them. But wondering what result that would give, if I just take cuttings off the tips of the three branches? Then where would the new growth come from? There are no branches going straight up, which would have been nice. The other option I have is to just leave it alone and fertilize and let it do it's own thing. What would you do to it? :-)
The ones coming from the soil or even the ones you might prune from the tips can be rooted but you should have 2 to 3 nodes to do this. You could prune one of your branches back to the lowest node if it has a bud. This bud should sprout and you can go from there - train it up on a stake or let it do its thing.
If you pinch the tips, then branching might go to the next node or it might have branches at several of the nodes.
Personally I would let it grow as much as possible so you can get several cuttings (for a bit of insurance) and then worry about training.
I agree a summer's worth of growing outdoors will do wonders.
Ok...problem solved...lol. Thank you, hcmcdole, that's just what I'll do. :-)