I was given a begonia last year that had 2 stems,pointing in different directions.The middle has filled out this summer but i have 2 stems a lot longer than the rest & one's growing to the right & the other to the left.
It's just starting to fill in here,but you can see the 2 long stems.


I want to balance this plant & shape it up.Can i prune it and will the cuttings root so i can put them back in the pot??

yes...you can prune it and the cuttings will root for you.

Cut the cuttings with a clean pair of scissors or knife.
Remove any lower leaves. Anything that will be under the soil.
You can easily root Begonia cuttings in a store bought medium such as ProMix. If you have potting soil you can lighten it up with perlite. Use damp, not wet, soil.
Depending upon your location you can make a tent for your cuttings, to keep in humidity, from a plastic freezer bag. Seems you are in Georgia? you probably have enough natural humidity that you won't need to tent the cuttings.
Keep the cuttings in light but no sun.
The cuttings should root in a couple of weeks.
When you notice new growth you can pot the cuttings up into their permanent pots.

That looks fantastic! I've done just what you asked about to Begonias so much this summer, there's nothing anywhere near that size, just a bunch of recovering propagations and re-growing stumps. Be careful, it's very addicting and for some reason, extra Begonias are much harder to give away than other plants. If spring rolls around and it's gotten way out-of-hand, you could decorate some spot in the ground with them. Winter will put an end to their excessiveness after that... but of course you'll take cuttings and save some pieces, to do it all over again... if the same thing happens to you that happened to me.

These are the biggest Begonias here at the moment, smaller than when I started 'the season' - LOL! The weather has been a huge factor in that though, not all 'my bad.'

ditto Tiffany.... I have been cutting them and just sticking them in the pot beside the mother plant. It has been so wet and humid they are rooting fast.

LOL! I said this last year, but next year will be the year of the big Begonias! Surely I won't feel the need to make more and will just let them get bigger...!? Can't wait to see an update pic after the surgery, Jelinda.

Thank you all very much.Can you prune them all season or like other plants you should do it in spring or fall.This is a very hardy plant.My sister-in-law has one that is HUGE.

Do they have different color blooms? her's bloomed red and i didn't think mine would since this is the 1st season i've had it but the other day i noticed blooms that looked pink?



This is the only blooms i've seen on it but they aren't red like the other i seen??

It does not matter what time of year I have cut branches in the winter and put them in the pot and they rooted.

im developing tiffanys habbit of sticking cuttings anywhere

Uhoh, just be careful - it's addicting! Mine are all snapped into little nubs this summer. Hope I can leave some of them alone to get to look like joejoe's plant before I go for another round of snapping canes! ...but there are SO MANY now!

<<<<<<Do they have different color blooms? her's bloomed red and i didn't think mine would since this is the 1st season i've had it but the other day i noticed blooms that looked pin>>>>>>>>

Jelinda
I just noticed your question. My plant blooms pink in the winter and red in the summer. In the winter it is in the house and not getting the strong sun outside. So I think shade you get a light color flower if it is the same plant you are comparing bloom colors.

I saw the question, but I thought if I said an almost exact same thing, people would think I was silly, and I've only had canes for a little over a year. I've seen several different cane Begonias doing this. Almost white blooms if some show up while inside for winter. Pink or even red outside. Still obviously proof out there in some form, but yet another failure to prove I'm crazy.

I also suspect it could have something to do with fertility. I don't fertilize anything inside for winter, and use tap water. So outside, many Begonias get to play in the ground, and even if in a pot, get rain water, occasional packaged fertilizer, and this summer, banana water (diluted, pureé banana peels, whole clearance 'nanas. If Gramma's suggestion works so well on rose bushes, why not share the love a bit more? I don't worry about measuring anything, getting it on my hands, critters, pet. So far, it seems to be just short of magic after a couple recent applications to potted plants. One never knows if a plant just happened to be ready, or if something like that is what did it, know what I mean? More research is worthy, IMO, I'll say that much. I like cheap, safe, easy, and natural. Flood killed a lot of plants in the ground, so that was unfortunately inconclusive and disappointing. Go figure, last summer it didn't rain at all. They're back to cuttings, which is kind of ironic. At least I got a chuckle and anecdote out of it. Yay, right?

The leaves also seem somewhat schizo, depending on light, but that's common with almost any kind of variegation.

Hey, I posted the pic but forgot to ask a question that was supposed to go with it. Is the Begonia that is similar to Joejoe's something that shows up in the pic? It was never happy by itself, like your beautiful plant, but tiny propagated pieces in mixed pots are finally coming into their own a bit by now. I think I've still got at least 1 rooted plant of every kind. What a long, strange trip it's been...

I haven't been able to cut off the 2 stems i wanted to because they decided to bloom and are still in bloom.I just can't cut a stem with blooms. As soon as the blooms are finished i will cut them back and try to even up the stems so the plant stops tipping over.I would guess those 2 bloomed because they are the oldest stems,the plant started out as only those 2 stems.But has filled in nicely.

We have had so much rain,which i have notice it likes a lot,so not much sun.Maybe thats why the blooms are pink.I will try to get a picture of the blooms.

Awesome! There's a lot to be said for knowing when to let the inner propagator loose, and when to rein him/her back in for a while. Well done!

Look forward to your pic(s)!

im my experience, most plants can be simply cut and put in dirt, and they will grow!

I noticed theblooms on the porch last night, so pruning time it is.BUT I have to show yall a picture of this plant now!! It's grown so much.I am going to go out when it gets a little lighter out and take some pictures.I was surprised when i seen it.I've been on bed rest and haven't been out in a little while & WOW it's been busy.I sure am ready to take a good look at it.It may even need to be put in a bigger pot??

Your pic is shy, try again?

I posted 3 pictures from different angles so you can see how the new growth is all growing straight up.The 2 i want to prune are the 2 growing side ways, it kind of makes it hard to find a place for it inside for the winter.When i received the plant those 2 long stems growing to the sides where the only 2 stems in the pot along with stumps.I guess the lady that gave it to me had gotten carried away pruning leaving 2 stems & the stumps from other stems.

Now if i could get some advice from the more experience with this plant,is my plan below correct? Should it be repotted,how pot bound does it like or not like to be?

Is it ok if cut them back a good ways,should i cut any limbs growing from the 2 stems i want to remove or leave them alone and just root the 2 cuttings,this is where i thought it may need a bigger pot with the cuttings being added back to the original plant? I would like to get a large plant in 1 pot and not many small plants in different pots.I seem to have collected more plants that need to come inside for the winter than i have room for.

I have already combined succulents into 1 large pot instead of a pot for each plant.I want to try to combine some small epi's & 2 philo's to save room as well. I have also managed to propagate so many broken limbs etc... that i have more than 1 of a few plants.I wish we had a thread where we could just tell everyone about plants we simply want to get rid of or announce when we are going to prune something.I would be willing to even start a cutting if someone wanted it once it was established good enough to travel.I have a fire sticks,2 jade plants,cc's that are extra's.Then there's plants i need to prune but i know i won't be able to toss good cuttings & they will go into soil,then by next spring i will have even more and probably Angel Wing begonia will be on the list by then to!!

Thanks for any help!!

The trading forum is where to announce available cuttings. I usually trade those without roots yet. As long as they are packed well, the temp is within acceptable range, healthy Begonia trimmings, and those of many other plants, travel well. Some of those you mentioned (firesticks, jade, CC) are prone to rot if they don't heal/dry/callous for a few days before attempting to propagate, so might as well spend that time in a box.

I like a crowded look, so would probably stick the trimmings in the existing pot, then repot in spring. I often use a screwdriver to make a hole for cuttings, so they can go in deeply without snapping from pushing too hard.

You're in good company with plants multiplying while inside, and out! It keeps me amused, and lends lots of material to decorate outside again in the spring. Sounds like you're succumbing to the same addiction. Due to space constraints, I've combined a lot of plants this summer, and moved many to hanging baskets. So there will be many more actual plants inside, but fewer pots to deal with. I hope it goes well for both of us, and anybody else who needs to squeeze stuff into a small amount of space.

The misnomer about any plant preferring to be root/pot bound is technically true, but what's really going on is that in most 'potting soil,' the particles are tiny, consisting mostly of peat. They lodge completely against each other, eradicating all of the tiny air pockets, and hold too much moisture against roots, causing roots to rot. When finally dry, it's hydrophobic, unable to easily accept moisture. Once the roots have penetrated this kind of stuff, it's almost impossible for even the most dedicated 'overwaterer' to keep the root ball moist enough for roots to rot, so the plants seem more healthy because the roots are not in a constant state of rot. But if the roots have a porous, chunky mix that holds some moisture, but also has air pockets, roots do not rot, and can have room to grow. That would yield the healthiest possible specimen, assuming other factors are acceptable (temp, light, PH, absence of disease/pests.)

I need some advice,i want to do this right.
Here's stems i cut from the plant
You can't see the end unless you click on it & blow it up.How long should i let this sit out to callous? I am use to propagating succulents and i'm assuming i should let this callous over before putting it into soil??
Is the end long enough or should the bottom stem be removed?

Here's the 2nd:
This one has an odd limb growing back toward the plant??
I am guessing the stem with the 3 leaves on the bottom should be removed?
What about the next limb up?
Here's a picture of the whole stems:

thanks for any help!!!

Not that my opinion isn't the only one, but I'd not take anything off of the first one except that funky looking leaf on the 2nd branch from the cut.

The 2nd, I'd take off the lowest 3 branches. The lowest because I think there needs to be more nodes buried, the next because it's going in the wrong direction and looks big enough to propagate, and the 3rd because it's just puny and still really low. IME, the more buried stem, the better, and the bigger the better. I don't usually let them callous, but unless there's wilting, probably no harm. I rarely have any fails, but also rarely the patience to have enough growth to yield such a big cutting.