I am getting ready to transplant my Waxleaf Begonia seedlings into a larger pot and wondering if anyone knows if these separate well? There are some cells that have a couple in them. I have had so much trouble getting them going I have not wanted to mess with them too much. But, they do appear to be outgrowing their current home and thought I would put them in something a little bigger. These are Bada Boom Mix from swallowtailgardenseeds.com.
Thanks for any advise.
These look healthy enough little plants and Yes, some are ready to be potted up into ( Slightly larger pots) But only one or two sizes bigger.
If you put them into any larger than mentioned, you run the risk of killing the plantlet's because they will be trying to make more roots, when watering, they will have their SMALL fine roots sitting in too wet soil and at this stage little plants dont take kindly to be FORCED to compete with the choise of ROOT formation and top foliage / flower growth, too much energy is required for both of these stages, Yes they need to grow on BUT try NOT do it too fast,
I would not give any feeding either until the first little flower buds are beginning to plump out and only use half strength feed for the first time, The plants are at a stage where they can be killed with kindness, most gardeners have done that in their time believe me.
The soil you use should be well draining so maybe add a little fine grit and some horticulture sand, (NOT BUILDING SAND) that has way to much stuff added to it, the Horicultural sand can be purchased from garden store in small bags, ans stores well if not all used up.
Only water the plants when needed, and never leave them sitting in trays of water, for all these types of plants, I like to water the pots from below by sitting them in a tray of water, Half hour should do it and you will know when the pot is wet enough when the soil turnd a darker colour, remove the pot from tray and alow to drsin well before setting them back into the correct light,
When puting these outside, it should take about a week to acclimatise the little plants to outdoors by putting them outside in warm sheltered area all day and bring back inside at night, after a couple of weeks, they should be able to stay out in there final growing place for the rest of summer, make sure you remove any dead, rotted or damaged foliage as this rot can spread.
Yes you can seperate these delicate little plants, dont tug apart using the leaves as they are quite lush and easy damaged, remove the plant from pot, lay on it's side, look for the root area JUST below the green stems, gently ease them apart, you could use a pencil to help but, I much prefere to use the sensitivity of my fingers as you will know right away IF your tugging too hard, A few broken roots wont harm the plants BUT too many will make it difficult for such young plants recover, you could loose a couple of plants at this stage of separation, BUT thats normal.
Hope this helps you out and you have much enjoyment for your hard work.
Kind regards.
WeeNel.
WeeNel - Thank you for all the great info. I will try that!
WeeNel - Again, thanks so much for the info! I transplanted and separated most of the begonias and have to say they are doing great. I have a few more to go, I did not know I had so many in that tray, ran out of little pots. I put them in a 3" pot.
I mixed up some seedling starter soil-less mix, potting soil ( it does have feed in it but thought it would be ok since I had already been giving them .25 strength now and then ), the horticulture sand ( took me a few stores here in Or to find it), some more perlite because the soil still seemed a bit heavy and they are doing fantastic. I have been doing the bottom watering and will be hardening off soon. I wanted to give them some time to adjust to being transplanted. Will add pix soon.
Thanks again
Karen
Well Done Karen, your doing everything properly, giving your little plants the best start possible.
It's also good that you are prepared to take your time and NOT rush the germination and start to life as nature just wont be rushed.
So many new gardeners are so Gung HO that they want germination almost within a week, then they want to feed the little plants to hurry them on, then drown them in water, it's called killing the plants with kindness.
So please Karen, do it slowly but surely, just take it easy now you have reached this stage, there are lots of outside elements that can cause the loss of a few plants, like unexpected weather, over watering, Bug's, disease etc, you may not experience ANY of those things Karen, BUT at the stage your lovely healthy plants have reached, I'm suggesting you dont forget to check them every day, dont change the regime you have as it's working for you and your plants.
In a few weeks we will be wondering what all the fuss is about LOL, as the plants will definitely be almost adult maturity and more able to do without your daily regime.
Continue to slow each process down when potting on or setting outside, as you have learned, plants when moved, over watered, over fed, attacked by insects / disease do go into shock for a little and then adapt after a week or so.
If by any chance your little plants begin to send up flower buds, I always snip them off as you want the energy to go into further growth of roots and foliage rather than flowers, you will know yourself
when they are ready to burst with flowers.
Very proud of you, and for giving such demanding time to see the task through, seed growing is demanding and a lot of people don't realise this. BUT as you are finding, it's also very pleasurable too.
Well done and give a couple of pictures when you have the plants out growing in their final growing spot.
Dont forget to keep in touch with Dave's IF you need any further help, I'm sure everyone following this thread will be holding their breath for you too.
Kindest Regards.
WeeNel.
Hi all,
Thought I would come back and post a few pics of how my begonias are doing now. What a big change a few months make.
Thanks for the help. I love these plants and will do it again next year!
Karen
WOW, these are beautiful and very healthy plants, you should be very proud of your new found gardening skills of germination and after care. I would go as far as to say lilmiss44, IF you can succeed with begonias from seeds, you are well on the way to being capable of doing much more germination of plants and this is way more cost affective than buying plants from the stores.
It also allows you to search for the colours, you want rather the common old run of the mill stuff the garden centre THINKS you want, so well done and have many more years of enjoyment from your new found hobby.
Take good care a, get ordering those seed catalogues you will need, great to read and plan while indoors all winter, LOL,.and keep having fun.
Kindest Regards.
WeeNel.
Thank you very much WeeNel. Couldn't have done it without your suggestions!
Regards,
karen
