Begonia cuttings

I am rooting some Angelwing Begonias in water and wanted to know if I should add anything to the water to help them root. What kind of lighting should they be in during rooting?

When I root my dragon wings, I just stick them in potting soil. No heat or anything! They root like crazy! I don't use much water on them or they rot. I don't even use any rooting powder. I have around 3-400 starts that I saved over the winter.

No you don't need anything extra in the water. They will root fine - a humidity cover will speed things up.

And what sort of lighting should I keep them in? Low or bright light? I'm assuming sunlight would be a no no...

Under lights or filtered sunlight would do fine. Roots should appear in a week or two. When they are half an inch or more, pot them up. You can also stick them in some good potting soil and tent them as well. They should root easily this way too.

Thank you so much, hcmcdole. You're always such a help.......

Speaking of begonias --

I have 10 Angel Wings Begonias I started from seed. They are maybe 6" tall now with 8 or 9 leaves. How many plants would fit into a 14" x 14" urn?

I didn't think all 10 seeds would germinate and live, or else I would have only started half of them.

Suzy

Suzy,

A lot of that depends on what kind of cane begonias (aka angel wing) you have. Some are so big, that one plant is more than plenty while others are small or can be kept small so you could have multiple plants in one container. The one thing you don't want to do is mix large and small in the same container (if you want to keep the small plants).

Here is an example of 5 canes in an 18 inch pot. Sinbad has dwarfed all its neighbors. The other canes are Torch (red blooms), Richmondensis (pinkish white blooms), Chocolate (white blooms and cascading), and Maribel Pink Shades in the back.

Oh, Well you are eons and eons ahead of me. I have "Angel Wings Red". LOL! They are all the same, from the same pack of seed. I figured they would get fairly large, just not sure it would be the first year.

I'm not sure my giving you that information will help, but I think I can count on 3 plants, or canes, based on your picture.

Thanks for the reply,
Suzy

Here is a bowl of cane begonias. I bought them from eBay as cuttings. There are at least ten different ones in it. I have a feeling it will be too small after this summer's growth.

Those are really pretty! Very unusual. I didn't actually know there were so many kinds with so many leaf patterns. Thanks for posting the picture.

Suzy

I think you may have 'Dragon Wings' which is a great bloomer. They are so cheap now that I treat them as annuals. Here is an example of one of mine from last year. They are in 18 inch pots and that is King Kong coleus with an abutilon next to it.

Oh, yes, that's exactly right -- I got the name confused. Well, the leaves sure are dull and plain compared to those you have, but I *did* start them from dust-like seeds, and am inordinately proud of them :))

I would never have the guts to order cuttings from Ebay!

Suzy

I have gotten many cuttings from eBay (and some trading). I haven't had too many bad experiences on eBay (maybe two). Most sellers send healthy plants and if you take care of them right away, they usually do very well.

Congrats on growing them from seed. I'm trying to grow some begonias from seed now but normally I don't have patience for it. I bought the previous Dragon Wings from Lowe's last summer for about $2.50 in a quart pot. They grow so quick and are so available and cheap any more that I decided not to keep them through winter.

Here are some more canes.

.......they're cheap? LOL! I had no idea. I thought they were expensive because I saw a giant one in an urn at a friend's and she normally only has rare, unusual and expensive plants.

I don't get to Lowe's too much except late fall and early spring; I'm too busy in the garden to go shopping.

I don't think I can grow those begonias in your picture. I had one once and it didn't *do* anything. It didn't grow, didn't bloom, didn't get new leaves, it just sat there. I had it for about 2 years and it might as well have been made from plastic. That was before I joined DG when I could have asked for advice, but it still makes me leery of them. And you know if I can grow them from seed that I am patient. Every day those seedlings got infinitesimally bigger -- I could see some change, but the one I had never changed!

Suzy

Hmmm, sounds like you didn't have it in the right conditions. Give it lots of light (except for direct sun in the afternoon). I have some of mine in full sun up to about 1 or 2 PM. Others are in filtered light (high limbed trees are excellent). Feed every week with half strength water soluble fertilizer (I don't follow this advice since I feed every month or two weeks). The soil should be fairly fast draining. I amend my pots now with about a 70/30 to 50/50 mix of good potting soil (I have been using Miracle Gro the last few years since I can get the extra large bags at Sams) and Perlite. During summer, I water 3 times a week due to our water restrictions.

This is the majority of my canes from last summer.

I love my begonias too much to ever to treat them like annuals....I actually treasure them...we certainly cannot find cane begonias in our local nurseries in south Texas....that is why i take cuttings all year around or overwinter them...... use the new cuttings....3 nodes to a cutting and about 5 cuttings to a jar on the kitchen shelf somewhere....doesn't take long.....I like a big variety kind of like African violets or rex begonias....
Our southeast winds are too strong to grow 'Richmondensis' or others under the trees, etc.
I just keep all mine on the screened in front porch..either in hanging baskets or in pots...they get so big....

Well I'm gonna segue right into this thread (Hi Everyone).

I posted on the begonia forum the other day asking for advice on propagating rieters. I didn't get any response so I searched the web for tips and about the best I could find was propagation by leaf cuttings. This is a totally foreign animal to me and I just know I'm going to screw it up. LOL! I'm betting some of you have done leaf cuttings? Or do you know of any other way that reiters can be propagated? I surely would appreciate any advice on this.

Thanks,
La