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angel wing begonia
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Posted by mdhw 5b (My Page) on Wed, Apr 13, 05 at 15:18
Help. I have an Angel Wing Begonia whose
parent plant belonged to my great grand mother. It is very special to me. It has very tall cane like stems. It looks naked with leaves at top and on branches. How do I get it to fill in on the tall naked stems? I have had wonderful results from cuttings to create new plants but I would like my now parent plant to be full. Help |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: angel wing begonia
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| This is a regular question here, so if you want more information just do a search and you'll find lots. Basically, prune it back like you do when you're making cuttings; you might want to do just a few branches at a time to stimulate it to start new shoots at the base. It'll look best if you cut them off close to the ground, otherwise it's easy to get branches going off in odd directions. Have you re-potted it recently? That usually gets it going. How big is the pot it's in? Have you fertilized it? How much light does it get? How often and how thoroughly do you water? I find my canes (angel wings) are more likely to lose leaves when I don't water them often enough, and feeding helps too. |
RE: angel wing begonia
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| You need to feed begonia and then take a cutting from the tip. Use only Osmocote fertilizer as any other fertilizer would kill the plant. |
RE: angel wing begonia
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| Well, now, I wouldn't say any other fertilizer would kill begonias. I grew begonias before I'd ever heard of Osmocote, and fed them, and they did fine. In fact, we are told NOT to use Osmocote down here (it's fine other places) because the coating dissolves in the heat and releases all the fertilizer at once, which can burn plants if you use a 'heavy hand.' I use a variety of fertilizers and don't recall ever having had a bad reaction, tho' I'm very careful to use it sparingly. The ones in the house I water with a weak fertilizer solution at every watering. Outside they often don't get anything but lots of organic mulch. |
RE: angel wing begonia
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| I have recently started a new job and an Angel Wing Begonia was given to me. Since I have had it, it has bloomed at top and looks to be doing quite well overall; however, I would like to know exactly how much water and what type of fertilizer is needed so I do not kill the plant with too much of one thing. I know next to nothing about planting and watering, so taking care of a plant is very new to me -- I did not think it was this much responsibility. |
RE: angel wing begonia
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| I would say it's impossible to tell you how much and how often to water. It's different for different potting mixes, and your climate makes a difference--if it's hot and dry, or hot and steamy like here, or cool, or--and if it's been repotted recently or it's been growing in the same mix for some time. On the other hand, it's fairly easy to check by feeling the soil in the pot, and sometimes by lifting the pot to see if it's heavy or light; if it feels like it's getting dry, water it, and water it thoroughly not just a little sip. Then don't water it again until it's beginning to feel close to, but not all the way, dry. Don't know how much help that is! |
RE: angel wing begonia
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| You need to feed begonia and then take a cutting from the tip. Use only Osmocote fertilizer as any other fertilizer would kill the plant. Who would think that a begonia would be a brand snob?! :) |
RE: angel wing begonia
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| Good one love_the_yard. As for watering, soil and pot type (plastic, clay, other) also adds to the confusion factor. Begonias seem to appreciate fast draining soil vs. heavy peat based soils. Clay will dry faster than plastic. Some begonias are heavy drinkers compared to others, etc. |
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