Begonia leaves are turning brown on the edges and dying

14 years ago

I've recently become interested in rex begonias and I've acquired a few different plants over several months.

However, most of them have crispy brown leaf edges. The leaves will germinate and grow just fine but as they approach their final size they get brown edges and die. Some of the leaves have little brown dry spots on them too. A few of my plants only have about 5 leaves, whereas some really healthy ones I just bought (a red planet variety and different one with red and black leaves) have at least 15-20 leaves. It's sad to see the leaves die off before they even reach their full size.

They are sitting in an east-facing window and only get maybe 2 hours of morning sun tops. After that it's just lots of indirect lighting. I make sure to keep the soil damp (not sopping) and I water them when they dry out.

What is killing the leaves off?

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Comments (3)

benitochiba
14 years ago
Crispy brown leaf edges could be from over watering. Or it could be from a lack of atmospheric humidity. The brown spots on the leaves could be a fungus or bacterial infection.

Rexes are quite fussy. They needs lots of light and humidity above 50% to thrive. If your air is too dry, a humidifier close to the plants can help.
meyermike_1micha
14 years ago
What about Temps?

The same thing happened to mine, until I set mine on a heat matt and warmed the soil a bit, considering the room they are in gets into the low 60's, and they were set by a window sill which can get pretty cold..

Do you think a drink of water combined with cool root temps could be the culprit? Mine is doing well now and new healthy leaves are emerging....

I hear many begonia can be very sensitive to room temps...

Mike
donaldb
14 years ago
The humidity is too low.