Hello,

I've had a Begonia Partita tree for now about 10 months.
My Begonia Partita started loosing its foliage on October. I have brought it inside (it was on the balcony) but it continued loosing branching through November and December. I came on this site to get advice and through a previous post I have been directed to http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/houseplt/msg101400289284.html?50

After reading the full article I feed my plant might have some issues related to roots and soil as so I want to repot it. Because I'm totally new to this, I need some advice. I have a set of questions I'll ask.

Size of pot: Currently the plant height is 12 inches (from base to top branch) and the pot is 8 inch wide (full width of circle) and 4.5 inch deep from soil to bottom. Is that not enough ?

Soil: My plant is from originally from South Africa according to this site: http://www.bihrmann.com/CAUDICIFORMS/subs/beg-par-sub.asp

Is there a specific soil I should get ? Can I modify a soil by adding little stones etc (I now understand, that the more the soil has air in it the best). The soil its currently in is (see picture).

When I repot, should I apply a fertilizer directly ? Am I ok to use an all purpose synthetic fertilizer (according to the "Good Growing Practises - An Overview for Beginners" is fine.

When I repot I need to cut roots that are: dead, growing back towards centre or root mass, encircling, J-hooked roots and damage roots. Should I cut those the closest to the root mass ?

My plant now has a sprout that came out from the side base as seen here https://imageshack.com/i/npon3yj

Should I cut that off ?

Is there anything else I should take into consideration ?

Thank you !

Here is a link that might be useful: Image of Begonia Partita