Angel Wing Begonia losing leaves

[Colm Osiris]

i have a Begonia which is the mother plant to several plants taken from cuttings. it is an awkward shape, but i figure it's been chopped about quite enough now, and it needs to rest. one of the new leaves has a hole in it, and also it's lost two leaves, one quite mature, one medium size. but it is also growing new leaves

what might be the cause of this, please? it is behind a door, so there's a bit of a draft, but i always open and shut the door as slowly as i can. could it be lack of water? in the Spring, Summer and Autumn, i've found the best way is to put them in a bucket of water for a few hours every week or so. now i've reduced the water, but maybe by too much? the moisture meter is reading very low. i suppose i was afraid of overwatering rather than underwatering.

 

[Mazurro3]

 

[Colm Osiris]

thank you. but i would rather have an actual answer to my specific question.

 

[cpp gardener]

Give it as much light as you can. Keep it as constantly moist as possible and never allow it to dry out completely.

 

[oneeye]

i have a Begonia which is the mother plant to several plants taken from cuttings. it is an awkward shape, but i figure it's been chopped about quite enough now, and it needs to rest. one of the new leaves has a hole in it, and also it's lost two leaves, one quite mature, one medium size. but it is also growing new leaves

what might be the cause of this, please? it is behind a door, so there's a bit of a draft, but i always open and shut the door as slowly as i can. could it be lack of water? in the Spring, Summer and Autumn, i've found the best way is to put them in a bucket of water for a few hours every week or so. now i've reduced the water, but maybe by too much? the moisture meter is reading very low. i suppose i was afraid of overwatering rather than underwatering.

The hole in the leaf is from mechanical damage of some kind. If you bottom water your containers for an extended time you will run into root rot problems. That is the case with your Begonia. To fix it I would gently tip the plant out of the container and see what the roots look like. If they are rotten from excess watering I would just throw them away and start over.

 

[Colm Osiris]

Give it as much light as you can. Keep it as constantly moist as possible and never allow it to dry out completely.

thanks. i've moved it into the back room, with its offspring. there's more light, more warmth, and less condensation. and no drafts. they all seem to be doing well so far.

 

[Colm Osiris]

The hole in the leaf is from mechanical damage of some kind. If you bottom water your containers for an extended time you will run into root rot problems. That is the case with your Begonia. To fix it I would gently tip the plant out of the container and see what the roots look like. If they are rotten from excess watering I would just throw them away and start over.

thanks. it seems to be much better since i moved it into the back room (see message #6 above).

i've generally always watered all my plants from the bottom, unless there's a specific reason otherwise. i don't know why, but i suspect it's because that's what my mother always did. but i'm always happy to learn. all my plant pots are covered with gravel, as they were getting overrun by compost flies.

i've never watered any other plants by immersing them in water, but someone said i should do that with these Begonias, so i have been.

how much reliance should i place on a moisture meter to tell me how moist soil is? i find they can be different in different places in the same pot, becuase water doesn't spread evenly throught the pot, or perhaps the front of the pot might be warmer than the back, from the sun. so i often take two readings.

 

[oneeye]

Moisture meters can be misleading because the point of the meter can read different readings in different areas of the pot. I use the lift method and water according to weight and double-check by sticking my finger in the top inch or two of potting mix. The problem with bottom watering is that the bottom of the pot has limited inner airflow and can take a long time to dry between waterings where as the top of the pot can evaporate quickly.

 

[cpp gardener]

It also prevents leaching of salts that accumulate over time unless you use distilled or rain water only.