begonia luxurians

parkeey
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begonia luxurians

Post by parkeey »

im looking to buy a begonia luxurians, pref 10 litre pot size, any websites u can recommend me? i can only find a 4 litre size .. :D
Blairs

Re: begonia luxurians

Post by Blairs »

You will struggle to get tall specimens for the simple reason that they have weak stems so are difficult to courier, even if strengthened with bamboo sticks.
GREVILLE

Re: begonia luxurians

Post by GREVILLE »

A four litre size will be good to overwinter on the dry side and just frost-free. Next year pot on to a ten litre and you will have a good sized plant (will need staking) towards the end of next season.
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redsquirrel
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Re: begonia luxurians

Post by redsquirrel »

buy a small one and get it going early next year,they grow pretty quick,no point spending shed loads on a plant this easy to grow.
my biggest headache is overwintering them,slightly too cold and they seem to just switch off for good here
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parkeey
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Re: begonia luxurians

Post by parkeey »

kool good idea.. :D
sanatic1234

Re: begonia luxurians

Post by sanatic1234 »

Think that happened to mine red last year. I was gutted i liked that plant as well. But a lot of plants i lost last year i liked a lot. :roll: :(
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redsquirrel
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Re: begonia luxurians

Post by redsquirrel »

sanatic1234 wrote:Think that happened to mine red last year. I was gutted i liked that plant as well. But a lot of plants i lost last year i liked a lot. :roll: :(
i will be chopping mine up soon San,if i get lucky with the cuttings (cant see why not,quite easy) i will send you one.i dont think a bare cutting would survive the post too well but a rooted plant will as ive done it before icon_thumright
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Dave Brown
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Re: begonia luxurians

Post by Dave Brown »

I haven't bothered staking this year, I've allowed the stems to arch over and it sprout and grows upwards from each leaf axil :wink:
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Dave
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GREVILLE

Re: begonia luxurians

Post by GREVILLE »

Growing it au naturel sounds good to me, Dave, Have you got a pic of this luxuriating in this manner? icon_thumright
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JoelR
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Re: begonia luxurians

Post by JoelR »

Useful to know they are easy from cuttings. My plant will be going in the greenhouse soon and will need cutting back a bit so I will have a go at rooting some:)
Kristen

Re: begonia luxurians

Post by Kristen »

JoelR wrote:Useful to know they are easy from cuttings. My plant will be going in the greenhouse soon and will need cutting back a bit so I will have a go at rooting some:)
Not sure I would have described them as easy - either that or I went to far too much Faff to root mine!
Eddy

Re: begonia luxurians

Post by Eddy »

I have taken two cuttings from my luxurian this year and both have taken root fairly quickly. I followed advice from the internet to use urine sample philes (little bottles) because they only hold a small amount of water.This works better because the less water used, the more likely the cutting will strike. I also sealed around the top of the phile with cling film to stop the water evaperating.
Bobs your uncle, in a couple of weeks roots appeared. icon_cheers One positive thing I noticed was how quick the young cutting grew into a small plant. I wonder if I use the same water to take more cuttings of luxurian's, would they root any quicker, seeing that there is already the plant's homones in the water? icon_scratch
Delboy

Re: begonia luxurians

Post by Delboy »

I've found them really easy, quick dip in rooting powder, then into multipurpose and away they go.
I've taken about 8 and only had the one not take.

Here they are root hardy but very slow to come back from ground level, so i rotate 2 plants which means i always get a good sized plant in the garden and a smaller one for overwintering indoors.

I bought one plant in 2011 and it grew to about 5' , i took a cutting and overwintered it in the kitchen window.
The 5' plant was overwintered in the greenhouse and died right back.

Come spring the indoor plant (cutting) is a good 2-3' tall, and once planted out after the last frost it gets to about 5-6' in a season.

The one that died back in the greenhouse only grows to about a foot, so this is forgot about all summer and then will be the one i overwinter indoors. I find they go floppy, so tall plants are a pain indoors, so rotating works well for me and if the one in the greenhouse ever fails to grow back from the roots i will simply take a new cutting from the indoor plant.

Its great that they are root hardy, but they are so slow to recover.
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JoelR
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Re: begonia luxurians

Post by JoelR »

Didn't know they were root hardy as well. May have to root some cuttings to try :D
Delboy

Re: begonia luxurians

Post by Delboy »

JoelR wrote:Didn't know they were root hardy as well. May have to root some cuttings to try :D
There was a thread earlier in the year and a few of us posted that ours had come back from the roots, they are very slow to grow back mine grew to about a foot, the previous season it was 5'
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