Advice on caring for Angel Wing Begonias in the colder months

[Colm Osiris]

i currently have one mother plant, which got very leggy, but has successfully yielded two strong new plants, and two equally strong cuttings, which i'm about to pot. i cut it where i did because i didn't want to cut off any buds. so the plant is not going to grow in any "usual" Begonia shape. i'm inclined to just let it do its own thing, so long as it remains tenable. is this reasonable?

over the summer, the plants have all been quite happy on a north east facing windowsill. but its beginning to get colder, and i want to move them. i'm fairly limited as to where to put them, but in general terms, what advice would you give interms of temperature and light? thanks for reading.

 

[Anniekay]

Personally, I would have cut the stems in the water to only 3" or so, then pot them up when they get a good set of roots. The ones in the pot look odd. I would put the whole rootball into a deeper pot, add more potting soil and see if it will root up closer to the base of the leaves. When it roots you can cut the bottom root system off, put that in a pot and possibly grow another plant.
Are your windows drafty? If not you don't need to move them because they grow in shade in their native land.

 

[cpp gardener]

Above 40F and moderately bright. The cooler it is the lower the light requirement. They can also go fairly dry except for the youngest cuttings which would be best in the warmest brightest location you can give them. They don’t have any reserves to tide them through their first winter, so are more delicate and demanding.

 

[Colm Osiris]

Personally, I would have cut the stems in the water to only 3" or so, then pot them up when they get a good set of roots. The ones in the pot look odd. I would put the whole rootball into a deeper pot, add more potting soil and see if it will root up closer to the base of the leaves. When it roots you can cut the bottom root system off, put that in a pot and possibly grow another plant.
Are your windows drafty? If not you don't need to move them because they grow in shade in their native land.

thanks. on reflection, i should have done that. but i didn't want to kill any buds in case there weren't any more. but i needn't have worried, as it's doing great. so long as the stems can support themselves, i'm happy. i think it deserves a rest from being hacked about.

no, the windows aren't drafty, but they do suffer from condensation in the cold months, and it's started already. i can put cardboard up at the windows, but i don't know how effective that is in protecting the plants. i bought a special window vacuum cleaner, but it can't go right down to the bottom of the window, which is where most of the condensation is, so that wasn't much use!

the two cuttings are in a warmer room. i can't really put this one there yet, but soon there will be a lot more options, but i've taken it out of the window for now. i'm doing a lot of reorganising, and more places will be available for plants in two rooms.

 

[Colm Osiris]

Above 40F and moderately bright. The cooler it is the lower the light requirement. They can also go fairly dry except for the youngest cuttings which would be best in the warmest brightest location you can give them. They don’t have any reserves to tide them through their first winter, so are more delicate and demanding.

thanks. wow, i would hope the temperature in my flat won't go much below the mid sixties. but i'm glad they have that flexibility of temperature. i have two rooms i can put plants in, one facing north east, and the other facing south west. the latter will be warmer.