i think its done the best it can.. in less that perfect circumstances indoors ... [you did great.. but its not a natural biosphere] ... and it needs to get outside... soon .. and i would not fert it.. until 2 weeks after transplant outdoors.. taking into full account.. all the spring weather variables ... and putting it inot mother earth.. or proper potting media ... it needs a lot more light.. as the internodal growth looks extended ... it that is the right term ... even shade outdoors.. normal for this plant.. is much more intense.. than lights indoors ... that little leaf loss is irrelevant.. IMHO .. the rest looks great .. ALL PLANTS.. shed older and damaged leaves .. i think you are worrying over nothing.. and i fear that you will try to love it to death.. trying to fix.. that which is not broken ... try to avoid that ken ps: fert can not.. and will not .. overcome a light issue ...

Thanks so much for your postings, everyone! I would like to try propagating from leaves that I saved from the stem cuttings...for insurance. Yesterday, a friend gave me a stem broken from a begonia I have admired since I first saw it in bloom a few years ago. He said I could probably get about 3 stem cuttings from it, which we did. We cut all the leaves off, leaving a small triangle of leaf on each petiole. We dipped the stem cuttings in rooting hormone, tapped off the excess, and stuck them in a pot of dampened perlite. We placed the pot in indirect light with a ziploc bag over the top. The pot had too little perlite for my liking (approximately 1", but it was very late at night...too late to get some from the shed...so my husband said it will have to do ("the roots will grow laterally", he says.) Today, we added some fresh perlite to the pot to bring the level up. I'm skeptical about the success of these stem cuttings. I'm not sure of the name of this plant...my friend only refers to it as "Ann's mother's plant". He propagated it from that plant many years ago. I haven't been able to figure out which subgroup it belongs to. Maybe it's cane-stemmed...but its leaves aren't assymetrical or deeply toothed to lobed, as cane-stemmed begonias usually are. Its leaves are green angel wings with white speckling, are smooth as silk but not shiny, and can be as large as 10" in length! My friend grows the plant tall and upright with supports, but the large clusters of deep red flowers are pendulous. So maybe it's a rex-cultorum and my friend just keeps it tall? His plants are probably 7 to 8 feet tall! If anyone can identify this plant, I would be interested to know what you think it might be. Thanks again for your help on leaf cuttings. Since I no longer have the stems attached to the leaves, I will try some leaf cuttings in water and some with scoring on underside of leaf at mid-vein/mid-rib pinned flat to vermiculite. (I kept the leaves in a platic bag.) Hoping for success!

I belive all those little "eyes" can grow new branches if left after the top breaks, so you might get 3 or four branches coming out below the break. Just be carefully not to touch any fragile new buds. ( also, I'm not a pro, my plants are now 4 days in my care, but with no suicides yet.)

This plant was getting "out of hand" at my work so I cut back a section of it. Any ideas what it is? I have it in s small glass of water. Do you think it will grow roots in water? I'm also considering just starting it in soMe well draining soil. Thank you *I also posted this on the begonia page