This is my first plant! Any tips on what to expect/do bes...
3ft to light, direct
4” pot with drainage
Last watered 1 month ago
5
@GladDamsii21 Congratulations! Begonias are awesome. They prefer warm humid climates, bright indirect light and well draining soil. If you have your plant in succulent soil, I would repot it in a mix of peat moss based soil with added perlite for drainage. Additionally, I check the soil on my Begonias daily because some of them need water before Greg’s schedule. The app will eventually catch up and increase watering schedule if needed. I also rotate my plants every few days so they grow more evenly. I have most of my Begonias in my main plant room with a humidifier and grow lights but you can add a pebble tray filled with water underneath the plant pot as an alternative. This improves humidity and air flow around the plant. Be sure to keep it away from any hot or cold drafts and away from air from heat or A/C. Some of them will flower too. They aren’t big spectacular flowers but they are pretty I think I have 9 different begonias. Not all@of them have flowered. It was mostly my polka dot and clubs. However here are a few of my Rex Begonias !
Rex begonias are a kind of rhizomatous begonia, which means that instead of growing vertically on a stem, they grow horizontally, either very close to or just under the dirt. The native habitat for these guys is in the understory of tropical forests, so they like humidity, slightly cooler temperatures, and dappled sunlight. Sometime begonia leaves change color depending on what kind of light they get. I have one that was silver and brick colored in normal sunlight turn scarlet and maroon under a red&blue grow light. Flowers, if they appear, will grow beneath the foliage.
@AmberMallow thank you that makes a lot more sense on how to care for em. I appreciate the knowledge! I live in Indiana so we’ll be getting a lot of humidity real soon! If I wanted to control their climate what would be the best way to do that?
@GladDamsii21 so if you ever see brown crunchy leaf edges, that probably means it's not getting enough humidity. Like it was stated above, make sure they plant isn't near a heater or drafty window. If that's not enough, a humidifier is a good option, or you might try the pebble tray. And if it's still sad, try to stick it somewhere semi-enclosed with the humidifier, to help keep the humidity in the immediate vicinity of the plant. This could be an open terrarium, a grow tent, or just a shelf with sidewalls and a back. Anything you can do to decrease overall air flow to stop the humidity from dispursing.