Glad to hear you had success. I started B&L seeds about four weeks ago, I was surprised at the wonderful germination. I only wanted about 40 but like you I see that there is many more than that. Let me know how the tuber growth goes, I hope to harvest some next fall from my seedlings.

I gave up on them. I had them in pots but Im not sure if its the weather in Boston or not but they didnt do so well so I threw them all out, although they all had a good sized tuber on them, they just didnt theive like they did in San Francisco. They all seemed to melt during the first heat wave sometime in July.

did you save the tubers?

how did you order your B&L seeds? I can't find them on their US website.

The ship from the UK world wide, so you can order from there. The germination was impressive and the little seedlings are growing fine.

which varieties did you get? was the shipping cost a fortune? what zone are you in? you started these in Sept so will you have small plants to put outside in the spring? Sorry about all the questions but was thinking it would be nice to start some scented tuberous begonias from seed. We don't have scented begonia seeds here.

I got the 6 pack for about 50 usd. It was about 60 usd with shipping. I started them in early february under lights and they were blooming by july. There are probably a total on 200 or more seeds per packet. Unfortunately, by the time they started flowering for me in the Boston area, they started dying. I let them dry out too much, gave them too much sun, planted them in miracle grow potting mix with too many nutes etc that I have given up on them. The tuber growth for the ones that made it to dormancy were huge for sedlings, probably tbe size of the babys fist but I also started them pretty early.

this is them at about 6 weeks from sowing.

I am amazed that you started the seeds in Feb and got flowers by July! I'm sorry they started dying. I had to spray my begonia plants with a fungicide. I had stressed them when growing from tubers by letting them dry out too much and lost some. But I am learning. I have never grown these from seed - only tubers. So how many tubers did you end up with from these seeds. And am I understanding you correctly in that you bought 6 packs of 200 seeds apiece? I can't believe the size of those tubers you ended up with- baby's fist!!!! Wow! Were these the scented variety? I took cuttings last fall and grew them under lights during the winter and then outside in the ground during the summer and they developed only small tubers, but I was pretty to get something!

shoot - I'm not seeing that picture you tried to send. could you retry- I really would love to see them!

Yup, each pack has 200 seeds, I didn't buy the scented but they do offer them. My cost was about the same as Solomon's.

I started some now, and because there were so many seeds, I may start a few later. I had hoped the early start will give a nice large plant. The greenhouse plants on offer in April are big, I assume they don't get that size in a few months but maybe I am wrong.

This is the first time for me doing begonia from seed.

are you growing in a greenhouse or under lights in your house? You will probably have nice big plants like Solomon got. What climate do you live in? In Iowa I have to watch for the fungus and rot, so this past year I sprayed. I just grew from tubers but growing from seed would be fun and challenging. I just wish you didn't have to buy so many seeds all of one kind! I know they are so small it would probably be impossible for 2 people to share (kind of like dust?- or are B&Ls pelleted?)

the seeds are absolutely dust :) but easy to germinate, and not complicated to grow. I grow them under a set of lights in my basemen, I am in zone 2 so they will spend the winter there, but our summers are hot and usually dry ( although the weather lately has been upside down).

are you in alaska or the artic- wow zone 2! How long are your summers? So cool you can grow begonias- they are probably happier in your climate than my hot humid zone 5 Iowa!

Nope, I am in Northern Saskatchewan Canada. Our summers are short, last spring frost is about May 31, and first fall frost can be expected around first week in Sept. But to balance that out our summer days up here are extremely long and sunny. The daylight hours are from about 13 hours up to as long as 16 hours per day. It does get hot here in the summer, it can reach as high as 100F but not for long periods of time, but as I said, we get lots of clear sunny days even in winter.

So we do have low humidity for begonias but we do get high temps. Begonias still have to be grown here in the shade or they dry out quickly.

My seedlings are coming on slowly, I am glad I started them early, buy typically I planted too many, thinking more would die. Now I have to find pots for them all.

Do they grow well for you in Iowa? or is it too hot?

I am always learning. Its a challenge to water enough but not too much. Protect from too much rain and watch and spray for fungus and stem rot (first year for my using this). I also found a fertilizer (Romeo 18-18-18) that I liked. I did have some nice plants towards Sept/Oct that were blooming beautifully, especially the plants I grew from tubers from Cal-Begonia (my first year buying these). I'm hoping with better care next summer that more plants will make it to that stage and earlier! Its a challenge for sure but the effort will be worth whatever comes to fruition!! I love them!

Our last frost can be as late as May 31st, but our first frost isn't as early as yours- more like end of October. That low humidity sounds nice and I bet that keeps yours from getting fungus and stem rot. I know what you mean about not expecting so many to live- last winter I grew coleus cuttings that were so hardy and so many lived that I had coleus ALL over my yard! Although they were very nice, they're not as spectacular as tuberous begonias! I'm thinking your abundance will be much appreciated come this summer!