My previous paulensis was always thirsty - maybe it was the soil it came in but I gave it generous watering when I watered everything else. It surprisingly did very well. When I moved it outside is when it went into a tailspin, eventually losing it. I don't know how fast draining your soil is (or retentive). Most begonias today I go easy on water every 2 to 3 days and they grow so much better (this is indoors for winter though). There are exceptions and it depends on the size of the plant, the pot size, the pot type, media, and of course the begonia type itself (I go very sparingly on some more succulent type begonias).

2013

I even had a new one this past year and I guess after spending the summer outside (shady) it is a mere pittance of what it was. Maybe I should just keep this begonia indoors from now on.

As a rule, begonias and I don't get along very well. They do great for periods, then they go into long decline, with occasional recoveries, then decline again.

I've never figured it out in trying intermittently for 15 years. I currently have two living begonias, one a shrub type and one a rex. I've had the former for 3 years, but tries really hard to die every early winter.

The rex, I let get too dry in early fall, and it's just now getting a good set of leaves again. It's on it's 2nd year with me.

I killed a mini rex last year over 2 years of lingering decay.

Too many others to remember have been lain in shallow graves over the years (or probably composted).

I can grow almost everything (but not begonias). Whatever plant language they speak, I apparently don't. :)

I think we all have different methods of transplanting the touchy ones. I, after watering the plant thoroughly, let it drain on paper napkins, replacing them when they get thoroughly wet. And keep doing that until the bottom of the pot has no moisture showing on the napkin, then cover it with a full plastic bag, then set it in a cool spot with no heat or direct light. In a day or two, if the plant (still) looks good, I treat it like any other transplant which is touchy and try and move it to normal conditions, but keep an eye on it. A lot of my small species do better grown full time in small terrariums, at least there is a chance of getting blooms and seeds that way for me. (I should have said 'clear plastic bag' above. Happy New Year!

@hc mcdole Wow, what a gorgeous begonia! Thanks for the advice. @Woebegonia Thanks for the tip! I think lack of humidity is a problem, so the plastic bag is a great idea.

I found that most rhizomatous and rex begonias do not like repotting with bare-rooting or even disturbing the roots. and they need to be tented.

it looks like you removed original soil and prolly cut off a lot of roots in the process - hence the wilting.

your stems were quite long - you prolly bend/damaged them while transplanting.

a trick that I use with fragile leaves is put a flower sleeve from supermarket (cone shaped) so that it covers the leaves, but not the soil - so that when I handle the plant the leaves don't flop everywhere. I do it with orchids in bloom with long flower stalks too. and I managed to repot them in bloom without damage.

as a rule I do not disturb my begonias right after the purchase for a couple of months. but when the soil is too wet and peaty what I do is uppot it in pure perlite 1 size up.

I remove the soil bundle without disturbing it out of the original pot. take new 1" larger pot (I use plastic), wet the perlite (regular. not big size), put .5 - 1 " of it in the bottom, tamp it down. insert empty original pot, fill with perlite around the sides, tamp it down with chopstick or spoon handle,

lift the inside pot, insert root ball. and you have it sitting in perlite layer - it dries faster and wicks moisture from root ball. I also put a thin perlite on top to cover the soil completely to prevent any contact with stems/leaves.

if the pot is small 3-4" I even insert a wick for self-watering in perlite, going up the side and it was ok for 2 weeks when I was gone. normally it would rot in original peaty soil if put on wick. so perlite aeration helps a lot.

I left it growing like that and it was fine, as it grew larger with more leaves small peaty soil-ball stopped being a problem.