There used to be a very nice website by the late Brad Thompson that had lots of tips on begonias and pruning was one of the topics. He recommended pruning canes in fall for your climate and spring for colder regions (or I may have those mixed up as I prune when I feel like it). You can buy his book at the ABS book store (begonias.org) which is basically what the web site had.

Hi Dimi.... right or wrong, today I pruned my dragon wing (in the ground) down by about half. Removed dead, general tidy up. Some leaves left of course. It did have flowers on it. I gave it a weak feeding, may be early for that however. I don’t know how it will fare in the spring and summer, but I hope it will do OK. I don’t want tall rangy overgrown stalks, I like a fuller plant.

What did you decide?

I never prune them and pruning for more blooms does not work. What works is more water and using a high mid number fertilizer to encourage blooms.

Well,prune out dead or dying canes..otherwise they are evergreen subtropicals.

When you trim look for secondary buds as that is where new branches will form. Where the flowers were there will be no secondary bud and so no new branches. This is also important when propagating so you can get new branches from a cutting. Pinching selectively throughout the year is also a good way to generate new growth and branching. When the plant has plenty of branches and secondary buds it is OK to trim up to 1/3 to control height and shape.

I think pruning, at least in my climate, was a mistake. They still don't look as good as they did before I pruned them. I won't ever do that again.

Dimitrig,

When did you prune and where do you live? How hard did you prune as well? They might look naked for a while but they usually make up for it if you don't water heavily and have some patience.

Never mind I see you started this thread and have So. Cal in your heading.

I pruned a few down this winter and put the tops in water to begin with and then to pots. The mother plants are doing well too but I am thinking about pruning all the older stems to the ground so the new shoots can outperform the previous years of growth.

I pruned 1/3 off and it took forever for them to leaf out again. If you want to make cuttings that's a different story, but I think a hard pruning otherwise is not warranted. A light pruning would probably be okay.

Always look for the secondary bud to cut back to. Many cane begonias will flower at nearly every bud and there will not be a secondary bud at those nodes. Cutting back to a node without a secondary bud will result in mainly stem growth and fewer branches, leaves and flowers.

This is Begonia Kent Brandon. The stem left of center shows where it was cut back to just above a node with a second bud. That node has a new leaf and the third node below that has the flower panacle. The flower also came from a secondary bud but will not leave a new one.A secondary bud can become a new leaf or a new branch or a flower.

I'm not sure what you mean by "secondary bud." Where it's branching?

Look at where the leaf attaches to the stem. There is a bump just above and touching the leaf petiole.

Further when planting cuttings if you put one or two nodes under the soil they will become lateral roots or another stem growing out of the soil. This trick makes bigger, stronger, faster plants.

Pinching is a good thing to do as pinching out the terminal bud will redirect the growth hormones to the buds below and force new branching and flowers.

Very helpful thanks! I did not cut back my angel wings and one looks like a palm tree. I think I will wait and prune it back this fall.