Pin Up and Show Angels from seed

20 years ago

Hello there everyone, I have never posted on this forum before. I am happy to see some well trusted names here, I hope to get some info from those who have time.

I have grown wax begonias for the past couple of years, with tremendous success from seed, this year I experimented with tuberous seed, and they have grown very well. I sowed them in November/December and the Pin Up Rose has its first bloom fully opened, no buds yet on the Flame, and no buds yet on Show Angels. I have about 50 to 100 of each of these three kinds, all grown indoors, under lights.

As I said, I grew these this year because I was totally mesmerized by their photos in my Park Seed catalog. I really do not know much about tuberous begonias, I have never grown them from tubers before, because I generally stick to seed grow plants for my garden. I have briefly read over some searched topics in this forum and I am finding that there are things I need to know.

Such as, I wasnt aware that my seed grown plants will take a year or so to really "bush out". Can someone elaborate more on this, or direct me to a good post with more information? Should I not include these begonias in my showiest beds, and instead plant them in a bed that isnt the showiest, and allow the tubers to grow more? What do I expect from this first years growth? Will it be necessary for me to stake in this first year, if they are not expected to grow much? Should I expect spindly growth, but to allow this to occur for the necessary number of seasons?

I absolutely love the foliage of my plants, which are in 3 inch pots at this time. Will the leaves continue to grow larger, or will they stay about the same size and just grow more leaves?

And finally, light conditions--about the same as wax begonias or do they need less/more light? I usually give my waxs about 4 hours of direct or indirect sun max, with the rest of the day being shade/part shade/dappled shade. I have grown waxes before in hot late day sun, but they had shade for majority of the day and have always done just fine.

If I get a chance, I will post a photo of my Pin Up Rose.

I really appreciate the time that anyone takes for me, and I will continue to search this forum as well. Its hard to get time to sit here and read post by post at this time of year, as all you gardeners already know. :)

Happy Spring!

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Comments (3)

greenelbows1
20 years ago
I read after it's too dark to garden anymore!
It's been more years since I even want to think about, much less admit to, since I grew tuberous begonias, and then I just grew them from tubers since I had limited space and many other interests, but the folks who were really, really, serious about them to the exclusion of other plants all grew them from seed or bought seedlings. It was their contention that the best bloom came from first-year plants. Now, I don't know that from my own experience, but a number of people whose expertise I respected said that. I always felt like a bit of a piker, but needed my seed-growing space and the planting spaces for my primulas and alpines. Ah--to have cool nights and long springs! Nah--I love heat and humidity, or at least the plants that do!
chickenladyj
15 years ago
Do you still have any Pin-Up Rose begonias?

Had seen one last summer...gorgeous!

Can not locate plants ANYWHERE. Had no luck with seeds from eBay.

Thanks.
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Woebegonia
15 years ago
I found PInUp Flame somewhere, so impressed, I managed to find a source of seeds in Newfoundland. If anyoone wants the address I will locate it and list it here. I had excellent germ. and also bought more on Ebay, and had good germination.I always grow a few from seed, same as you, starting in Nov.-Dec. (still have old seeds from Antonelli which are still good). They go to my gh in April.

Don't make this harder than it needs to be, just grow and see what happens. I give a lot of naturallight in the gh at first, the PinUps' blooms started about two weeks ago, the fastest I ever have. Treat them like any other blooming plant, I grow them right alongside my semps from seeds.They grow just fine the first year, if the weather weren't so unseasonably cold they would all be outside by now. The ony trick I can think of is getting the small tubers to survive storage.

I;ve traded a lot of information with British friends where tuberhybrida are a very big deal. One suggestion is to use more potassium; that is, I put a bit in the bottom of the pot at the first transplanting. Supposedly this helps make the tuber or bulb more firm. I'll try anything once . . .