Propagate beefsteak begonia is by keeping their cuttings inside the water until the roots grow out. This is the most common way and also the one that creates the least mess. Begonia erythrophylla has become very famous among gardeners because of various reasons and in the last few years, the number of this plant in the USA has gone considerably up.
In this article, we bring you a very easy-to-follow procedure on how you can propagate the infamous beefsteak begonia plant with the guarantee that your hard work will be rewarded with beautiful foliage.
Contents
How To Propagate Beefsteak Begonia Easily?
You can propagate a beefsteak begonia plant easily by collecting the cuttings and leaving them in water until the roots grow. Replant them into a good pot of soil for further development, and provide the necessary requirements for its development.
1. Pick The Right Timing
The best time to grow a beefsteak begonia plant is in the spring or early summer, and this is because they would be active and not dormant or stressed because of the weather conditions passing through. These two times offer the best begonia growth and ensure successful propagation.
Alternatively, you can propagate in winter as well, but with extra precautions, because the plant may be weak to develop if the conditions aren’t as precise; hence, spring or summer is more applicable. You can judge your weather individually and make an informed decision on whether you should plant your begonias or not.
Other than the weather, soil, water, and nutrition conditions also matter a lot and contribute to the plant’s growth during the springtime as the seasons would be a catalyst for the process. So if the plant is not growing, it may be the wrong weather or other wrong conditions.
2. Collect the Cuttings
An important step in the process is to collect the cuttings of the plant, as it is a hybrid plant, come together from two tropical species of begonia: manicata and hydrocotylifolia. A cutting is a small portion of the mother plant that you will use to grow other smaller plants.
Before you get to the actual cutting bit, you need to select a viable mother plant. This plant should be free of all infections and infestations and should be healthy and thriving, and this will also help it to develop properly as nothing comes in the way.
Such mother plants will surely be a good base for new and upcoming little-growing plants. After selecting a plant of your choice, you will collect your cuttings. The best time to do this is around springtime because, in this weather, the plant is fully bloomed.
Take a sharp blade that has been properly sterilized and cut a stalk of around one to three inches; remember that you must make sure this stalk has a fully-grown leave. Immediately after cutting the stalk, store it in a damp cloth to minimize the moisture lost and make sure that it is not left in the air for a long time.
Keep it in the damp cloth until it is ready to be planted or transferred to a medium for further growth and development. At one time, you can get multiple cuttings from a plant, but make sure that you do not leave the mother plant barren or destroyed.
3. Grow Them in Water
The next step after getting the cuttings is to grow them in a suitable medium. For beefsteak begonia, water is a great medium for initial root growth.
For this, take water in a not-so-deep pot which may be made of stone or, for best practices, made of glass, and a glass pot will make it easier for you to see the growth of the roots, so you will not need to take the cutting out every time you need to see some progress.
To make your cutting stand in water, use take on the rim of the bowl and adjust the cutting accordingly. Keep the bowl in direct sunlight, which will help the cutting grow roots better. Ensure that the tip of the cutting is not bent at the bottom but floating freely in the water.
After a week or two, you will start to see tiny root hairs emerging from the bottom of the stalk. Let these root hairs grow into a little longer roots, and then you can transfer them to an appropriate setting of your choice that will act as the final growing medium for these beefsteak begonias.
4. Choose a Suitable Pot
The third step includes the selection of a suitable pot for your beefsteak begonia, and for this, you must remember that these plants are not messy plants. So they can grow well in their dedicated space. However, it is important here to notice that the stalks of these plants contain a milky liquid that may sting when on human skin.
This is why it is significant to choose a pot that will hold the stalks in and only let the leaves be seen outside. So you will need a long pot that has no or fewer drainage holes in the bottom. It can be made of concrete, stone, or plastic. The material depends on your own aesthetic and how you see your garden to be or look like.
The pot should also be large enough to let the roots of the begonia grow well and span the space. A smaller pot will most definitely suffocate the growth of the begonias, and you will ultimately have to change the smaller pot to a bigger one, when you see them growing further.
5. Plant the Cutting
The following step here is to plant the cutting into the pot of your choice. You will need the basic gardening tools for this step, including a shovel, good-grade soil, some name tags, fertilizer if your soil’s quality is low, and a watering can. Start by filling the pot with soil and placing the cutting in the center. Cover the rest of the pot, cut with soil, and gently press it down.
Water the plant and keep it in direct sunlight. Form a schedule for watering the plant and stick to it. Increase the water intake in summer and decrease it in winter. If you are keeping it indoors, ensure it has enough space around it. You can keep it outdoors near the other plants and the wind will do its job, and for this, you must be detailed that no issues would hit it.
A source of fertilizer will be important if you know that your potting soil and its nutrients will not be enough to sustain the begonia. You can sprinkle the fertilizer as you wish or do it according to the common practice rules. Make sure that you remember the indoor insects and bugs that can destroy your begonia from the inside out.
You must also keep in mind that this plant can only grow with soil and water. These two mediums are of utmost necessity for the plant, its growth rate, and its development. As the begonia does not require much care, the plant can be watered scarcely, but it still needs soil.
The soil allows the plant to grow and form, especially when the plant is newly propagated. The cutting needs all the support and nutrition it can get from the soil. As a result, you will see how this matter works out best in your favor, as the plant will grow to the best of its abilities with moist soil and regular water intake.
6. Provide The Right Plant Care
The last step in the process is to take care of the newly potted plant of beefsteak begonia. The first thing you need to do to ensure the plant will grow to the best of its abilities is to give it ample sunlight. Whether it is kept indoors or outdoors, make sure it is not deprived of direct sunlight. Lastly, keep watering it regularly and keep a bug net or bug repellent nearby so that you can save your plant from them.
It takes around three to six weeks for a propagated beefsteak begonia to show any new leaves and stalks, as they begin to shoot. This time tends to change depending upon the climate the plants are kept in. In summers, the growth increases, and in the winters, it decreases, so keep in mind how the climate has an input.
This happens because, in the summer, the plant gets good sunlight and is well nourished. Whereas in the winter, the sun is scarcely out, and the temperatures fall. The growth will also depend on how well the plant is planted and the soil quality. So if the growth is hindered or is unnoticeable, try to notice the conditions at which the plant is being maintained.
Conclusion
Now, we talked about how you can propagate beefsteak begonia in your home garden, indoors and outdoors, but in case something was unclear, here is a short review for you:
- You can propagate a beefsteak begonia plant by collecting the cuttings and leaving them in water until the roots grow.
- The size of the pot matters a lot because a smaller sized-pot will suffocate the growth of the begonias, whereas a larger pot will just keep all the stuff moving here and there.
- The beefsteak begonia is a hybrid plant formed in Germany by mixing the breeds of Begonia manicata and Begonia hydrocotylifolia.
- Ensure you let the root hairs grow a little inside the water before replanting the begonia in the soil.
- The plant offers beautiful foliage that is mesmerizing to look at and very easy to care for, and as you give them the right care needs, such as rooting hormone, or sunlight and water, you will increase their growth.
Here we come to the end of the article about propagating beefsteak begonia via water and then soil, and the propagation of a beefsteak begonia is also a simple task if you are sure of what you need to do and how you need to do it, and you will have multiples growing.
- 25 Kalanchoe Types and Colorful Varieties for Your Garden - October 3, 2023
- 17 Hawaiian Flowers That Grow and Thrive in the Hot Summer - October 2, 2023
- Watering a Poinsettia and How is it Done Correctly? - September 30, 2023
