What potting mix do you use on your house plant begonias .
Comments (42)
Related Discussions
What potting mix do you use for your amaryllis?
Comments (6)Barb, try mixing a bit of vermiculite into Al's Mix for added help in retaining water... I can't tell you how flattering it is to find one of my threads used as a link for informational purposes! I certainly hope someone is able to draw some good conclusions and useful information from it! My medium of choice is, of course, mainly inorganic... it's comprised of pine bark particles, turface or granite chips, perlite, a bit of vermiculite, and occasionally a handful of quality bagged potting mix. I water from the top, leaching occasionally to remove any salt and mineral build-up, and the majority of my bulbs remain indoors all year long, with an eastern exposure and supplemental lighting. Since I grow indoors, my bulbs are exposed to heat from the furnace in winter and cool air from the AC unit in summer... in other words, the temperature is rather consistent all year long. The only thing that really changes is the sun coming in the east facing window... in spring, the days lengthen... and in winter, they shorten. One very important thing to remember is that a container environment is VERY different from a garden environment... In the garden, there is a constantly working and self-balancing palate of worms, insects, nematodes, micro-organisms, bacterias and fungi... they are constantly breaking down the soil components, helping to keep it aerated, and digesting any organic materials which makes it available to the plants for food. That's one of the reasons organic fertilizers work so well in the garden... they have help! All this decomp and action keeps a balance of "good and bad". In a container, we don't have those things... so it's important that the decomp be very slow, that the medium provides for excellent aeration and drainage, and that we carefully water and feed a fertilizer that is readily available to our plants for use. I'm lazy indoors, and quite busy working outside for as much of the year as I possibly can... so I might re-pot my bulbs once every 3 years, or sooner or later depending on how they're growing. For fertilizer, I use a regular store bought liquid for houseplants and I supplement with a micro-nutrient. Right now, I'm using Miracle-Gro liquid. It's better to keep a plant on a constant feeding schedule with a low dose of food than to risk burning the plant with higher doses less often... and so, I use a diluted mix of liquid food and water about every other time I water. I use the food at about half-strength or less. When choosing a decent medium for your bulbs, it's important to think about where you'll be growing them, what the climate and environment is like, and how much time you'll be able to devote to growing. Proper watering is going to play a key role in growing anything in a container. More plants are killed by over-watering than any other one thing! Bulbs are very forgiving, and it's actually better to err on the dry side with Hippeastrums... if you're not sure you can feel moisture when checking the soil, it's better to wait until you're certain they're dry than to overdo the moisture... while the soil surface my feel dry, the actual area around the root ball may be plenty moist. And since Hippeastrum bulbs are prone to rotting in a poor environment, it would be better to make certain the bulb needs a drink. My pot of choice is an unglazed clay one... the material is porous and allows for "breathing"... the porosity also allows excess salts and minerals to exit, collecting around the outside of the pot. It can be wiped away and the plant leached with plenty of clear water. I will use plastic pots if I have no other choice, but I try to re-pot into clay as soon as I am able. I find that plastic holds too much moisture for too long in my particular environment. I think I've answered all the questions asked in the original post... but if I missed anything, please ask again! I'd be happy to share my growing methods, and perhaps something I share will be usable information for someone! We all have to take into consideration our climate, the environment we can provide for our bulbs, and what materials will be available to us. Hippeastrum bulbs are very resilient, but the better we care for them, the more rewarding they will be! Happy Gardening!...See MoreSoil mixes for potted plumeria....what do you use?
Comments (19)I use 2/3 perlite, 1/3 or less peat moss. I dampen it and use plastic water bottles, drill or punch big round holes in the bottom and a few on the sides 1-2" from the bottom. I don't cut much off of the top of the water bottles because I don't want too much water to get in if it rains. Then I wedge styrofoam in the top to secure them and to further block water from entering. I sit them in the hottest place I can find, usually the driveway or on top of Pinebark in a bed by the driveway, in full sun most of the day. I think the clear containers help them root faster. I've tried using eggs in them, honestly didn't notice any difference. I did 2 Singapores, one with the egg, one without, they rooted at the same time and roots were the same size. Both cuttings from the same tree. If we get lots of rain and I think they are too wet, I bring them inside in the air conditioning and let them go bone dry before I put them back in the sun and heat. If you don't want to worry about them getting too wet, just use perlite alone. That works fine too. Also course builders sand but if you use the sand be careful when you cut the bottle and take them out, the sand is heavy and can break the roots. Rinse the sand away, then lift them out. That's what has worked best for me here in zone 11....See MoreWhat kind of 'mixes' and 'pots' do you use and why?
Comments (41)Jeff, I should think you'd be able to find countless success stories w/ GM in the gardening forum - houseplants, C&S, container gardening, to start! The hardest (or most daunting) part is that first step of bringing together the components, so I'm not surprised that videos focus on this. Afterwards, it's pretty smooth sailing, if you've read up about it enough to have a general understanding of what follows. I love gritty mix, and not just as soil. I love it as a learning experience. It was just fascinating to try at first, but it ended up really teaching me about gardening and plants in general (in addition to Al's posts themselves, and his feedback, of course). I tried both 5-1-1 and GM, and while both are undoubtedly useful for their own purposes, I gravitated toward changing virtually everything into GM except edibles like tomatoes, lettuce, etc. Peppers were good, actually, but the upkeep required was significant. I think tomatoes in GM would be fascinating, but I shudder at the amount of mix I'd need to create to fill 15 gallon pots. Yikes. No. Of the house plants I have now, almost all have been grown in "real" GM or my variation of it. (Oh, except the Ficus lyrata, which never had the opportunity because I was out of GM when I got the plant.) I don't think I have a single succulent outside that hasn't lived for years in GM. And the best part is - when the gardening bug hits me and I'm fawning over everything in the spring, should I choose to water every single day -- it's fine. Everything from Clivia, Adenium, Hoya, Draceana, lemon and kumquat trees, etc. -- have performed amazingly in GM. While I am not a "GM or bust" person, it becomes pretty clear pretty quickly that when used properly, it's a far superior potting medium. Like I said, it makes you a better gardener overall. While I have switched much of my plants to potting mix in recent weeks, that's only because of the ridiculously low humidity here and the fact that I am not home enough, watering enough, or diligent enough these days to provide the care that they need, and potting mix buys me a little more time than GM the way I made it. (With Turface, the moisture should definitely last longer.) The only dings I can think of when it comes to GM is that (1) it is heavy...oh, so heavy....especially w/ my pea gravel; and (2) YOU need to provide all it needs in terms of nutrition--there is no "set it and forget it" mentality. I think many of us prefer the latter as I tend to fuss over my plants, but with my larger plants, how heavy GM can be is a deal-killer. Oh, and another deterrent for me here in LV is that my house has a pool outside, and sifting out perlite dust (a spectacle in and of itself) means I'll invariably get some in the pool. My back also feels broken enough to not want to lug around lava rocks and pea gravel. If someone would make it the way I want and off my property, and then water when I asked them to, I'd use it for virtually everything, still. :)...See MoreWhat mix/media do you use to start sansevieria (snake plant) cuttings?
Comments (23)I am far from an expert on this topic, but I did succeed on my first try. I found a flattened piece of sans on the driveway at a nursery. I stuck it into Walmart potting soil, staked it up, and watered it when the soil felt warm about one knuckle down. After about a year the leaf became turgid mostly with one bend in the middle. I kept it staked and, months later, a pup sprouted followed by many other sprouts. I left it in the same 6-inch pot longer than I needed to as the sprouts matured. Soon enough I removed the stake I used to prop the limp original leaf and simply leaned it against one of the newer leaves. About a year ago I repotted into a 10-inch pot and placed it in the living room. Today the original leaf stands completely on its own. Since it is in the larger pot and more shady location, the new leaves grow to about 24 inches tall. At this point it is surviving mostly on neglect. We water it when we think about it....See More
rosaline88
8 years agorosaline88
8 years agolast modified: 8 years ago
Jack Western Oregon 8b/6
8 years agorosaline88
8 years agohc mcdole
8 years agorosaline88
8 years agoWoebegonia
8 years agorosaline88
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoWOebegonia I purchased the looking glass Begonia a few weeks ago and I received it I didn't transplant itright away .I left it a little dry because I had read it they don't like a lot of moisture and I think it got to dry .anyway when I watered it the leaves dropped . So I watered it with Eleanor's vf11.. I also sprayed the leaves that were coming on the stems where they were falling off . I put a 2 L bottle,that I cut the bottom amount off of ,over top of it . The plant has taken off like crazy . Its showing new leaves and they're getting
Good-sized beautiful silver shiny like a silver dollar ! I had to upsize my bottle because of the growth I used the water jug this time it seems to be working well in my makeshift terrainium.rosaline88
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agohc mcdole
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoRosaline,
Great looking terrarium but it looks like it will soon be full. Most plants do love the extra humidity, don't they? Also keeps the mildew at bay (at least my mentor grows all her begonias and gesneriads in terrariums and no mildew). I am presently growing several small begonias in ten gallon tanks from Walmart ($10 when I bought them a few years ago). Just wished I had a proper lid for them - using a Jiffy mini-greenhouse lid which fits fairly well but leaves a lot to be desired too. At Halloween and Xmas they sell those large clear plastic jars full of pretzels, cheese puffs, etc. that would make an excellent big container. Ice buckets (acrylic) and large plastic salad bowls at Party City are some other ideas.
Russ,
Thanks for the kind comments - we can't grow them like FL and CA but we do try...
The cane in the 6th photo is aconitifolia and often interchanged with sceptrum - there is a article about the two on the ABS web site.
aconitifolia - super easy to propagate, fast growing, blooms well, and has wonderful caudexes. What is the plural of caudex?
The dark rhizo beneath the 18 inch pot of Sinbad is 'Selph's Mahogany' (at least sold as it but it came from GHW which has a terrible reputation for selling the wrong plant).
Selph's Mahogany in a lasagna pan with deliciosa in 2014.
I like your idea of cutting the bottle leaving a little material for a hinge. I find that stacking drinking cups on top of each other presents a problem when the plant wants to push the upper cup off and I don't want to use tape. I have used Saran wrap in the past but it has its own issues.
Anybody do the baggie method of propagation? Read about it in a really old issue of The Begonian and finally put it to use this winter. When space is all used up this is a way to experiment without using a lot of space.
Lettuce (Kale/Spinach) containers make excellent propagation chambers too!
some small plants in a ten gallon tank. I used lettuce containers to prop up the plants to be closer to the lights.
Some seedlings I started back around Xmas. The plants are starting to push the upper cup off though (6 ounce solo cups).
with the lid off
another propagation container - the leaves have since pushed this lid off (this photo was earlier this month).
rosaline88 thanked hc mcdolerosaline88
8 years agohc mcdole
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoHere are a couple more examples using a lettuce container (the larger ones you get at Sam's Club). I put these cuttings down with several plants in the same containers. I will show the top with lid off and the bottom with roots. These were put down mid-March after our last begonia club meeting where we passed cuttings around the room. I did not sterilize the soil (normal Miracle-Gro) and haven't lost any of the plants put in these containers. I added a few small plants in recent weeks when it looked like they may crash or broke off from the mother plant (again everything looks pretty good).
First container has Daisy as a rhizome cutting with leaves from Red Face, Gigi, and Black Raspberry. This is the container where I threw extra little pieces in there from Black Fang, thelmae, and maybe Ginny (forget all I did put in).
the bottom showing roots
and the other container with the rhizome Sphinx, leaf Essie Hunt, and the other leaf I don't recall (will have to look at the tag).
Bottom showing roots
edited to say I did add an extra leaf to the second container - Red Fred.
rosaline88 thanked hc mcdolerosaline88
8 years agoRuss1023 (central Fla)
8 years agohc mcdole
8 years agoRuss1023 (central Fla)
8 years agohc mcdole
8 years agorosaline88
8 years agohc mcdole
8 years agoHi
Rosaline,I started down this path many moons ago. Went with veggies, then flowers, then into houseplants (had them for years but not to this extent). Still do a lot of outdoor planting as well. I have very few plants on the main floor and none (zero) upstairs (trying to keep the peace).
I do other things as well but gardening is my main obsession. What's yours? My second obsession is photography - guess it goes hand in hand with gardening?
Here's a happy toad in my basement in one of my hydrangea pots (guess the hydrangea is dead so the toad is using it for his winter home. He goes out this week when I get to this room.
and a skink the other day when I moved a wood pile I started earlier in the week (cutting small trees down to allow more sun to hit my hostas and hydrangeas.
My azaleas did wonderful this year.
Camellias did well too but bloomed in Jan/Feb this year.
rosaline88
8 years agohc mcdole
8 years agorosaline88
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agohc mcdole
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoAll that sounds very good. We gave up on roses - too much trouble keeping them looking great. I just shear our roses in the front twice a year and that is about it. Here is the general color and shape of the roses up front.
Cecile Brunner before I cut it back so hard I killed the mother plant but had at least 2 to 3 daughters that rooted in. Small blooms but covered and wonderful scent. As good as my elderberries when they are in bloom.
rosaline88
8 years agoRuss1023 (central Fla)
7 years agohc mcdole
7 years agoThanks Russ. That would be our oldest dog Max. Probably sniffing out squirrels.
You have more acreage than me Russ. I only have 5/8 of an acre. Try to make the most of it but with dogs it is hard to do. We have a five foot steel fence around the back yard but bought those 3 foot high by 4 foot wide steel fences (maybe 300 feet of them) from Home Depot to protect the younger plants, perennials from the dogs because while squirrels can dig in the pots, a dog chasing a squirrel is going to do a lot more damage. Our youngest dog easily jumps 3 feet but he knows he isn't supposed to be there. I guess the lure of a squirrel or chipmunk is too much temptation though.
Here is our Meth Lab - Duke being somewhat peaceful in this setting.
Russ1023 (central Fla)
7 years agohc mcdole
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoHi Russ,
Duke is supposedly a Weimaraner mother (hence the Meth reference) and a chocolate lab father. Our vet put him down as German short hair pointer or something like that. He is just overzealous for the chase - rabbit, squirrel, or even other dogs. I thought he would calm down after a few years but he is 8 now with no sign of slowing down.
That's great that you got your interest in plants from your grandfather. It seems like it is usually the women in the family - grandmother, mother, etc. My grandmother loved her flowers but my dad was a veggie grower primarily. I did get him interested in hostas later in his life though.
I've heard the same thing about property values. One of the painters we had in to do our living room said he recently moved from FL (and he moved down there from GA) back home said he was able to get a much bigger house here than the one he had in FL. He was a talker though.
Where in FL do you live? I am headed to Orlando the week of the 16th to buy begonias for our annual sale. I am thinking about adding an extra day and drive to Miami to go to PHOE once more and would love to go to Fairchild again but that is too much for one day (Orlando - Miami round-trip plus two visits).
The biggest nelumbiifolia I ever saw was at Fairchild at the Miami Convention 2006 This was in the conservatory.
But this huge begonia in the landscape was no slouch either. I think it was at the Hidden Grotto. (Back when my hands were thinner too).
Another nelumbiifolia growing either on the wall, or creeping up or down (never could find where it started at.
This was at the beginning of March too. Had been there the year before in May and was it ever HOT!
Here is the plant I had my hand up to in the second photo.
Here is another blooming begonia in the landscape - thinking Caribbean King?
Chihuly was there that year (in Atlanta the year before and in Atlanta again this year).
Russ1023 (central Fla)
7 years agohc mcdole
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agohc mcdole
7 years agoHere are a few photos of my old C. Queen and King. Bought those in one gallon pots at PHOE in May 2005 and in just one growing season this is what they became. Wished I could duplicate those today. Maybe I just need to move them to lots of sun like I did before with good soil and fertilizer.
Here is the Queen so you may be correct on the begonia at Fairchild or maybe the one at Fairchild is neither queen nor king?
And my King
My other dog when he was a young lad (maybe 4 months old) in front of the Queen and a pot of flapjack kalanchoe.
And the King once more next to an American agave. Note that both begonias are in 18 inch pots - a blessing for growing but not for keeping in over winter (that was a bad mistake).
hc mcdole