Hi,
Has anyone experience with it?

I have purchased seed from Begonia luxurians send from Brazil.
I have been searching on the web on how to get the best chances for germination but found contradicting info, some say to put the seeds in the dark or shade till germination has started, then others say to put them in the light at all times?
So I'm pretty confused! I have no experience with starting Begonias from seed..

Thank you!
Myriam

I found one blurb here
http://cgi.ebay.com.sg/LUXURIA...

Another
http://webcache.googleusercont...

Karen

Thanks for the links Karen!
I'm still insecure though whether to give them light or keep them in the dark until they germinate, I'll try it both ways and see what comes..

What I have usually found to hold true in seed starting (maybe not always, but usually...)
a tomato is a tomato is a tomato- what works for one type holds true for other tomatoes, too
a petunia is a petunia is a petunia
a begonia is a begonia is a begonia, etc.

Other begonias want light and good heat to germinate, so my guess would be that these do too. Assuming it is tiny like most begonia seeds, that would indicate surface sowing to me. And plenty of humidity (dome) and bottom heat.

Karen

Thanks Karen, I guess you must be right... And yes, the seeds are extremely tiny, more like dust!

I like your advice Karen.

would love to know how the seeds turned out

Hi Allison!

I succeeded!
I had sown them together with Begonia maculata another gorgeous Begonia I also had ordered at the time.

On 22nd February I sowed the first load B.luxurians. I had put them in a heated propagator keeping the temperature around 20-22 C..under an attic window for the light, I have no growing lights.
these came up 9th March = 15 days
The second load sown on 25th February came up the same day as the first load also on the 9th march=only 12 days!!
The third and last load was sown on 1st March and came up 15 March= 14 days

The next days more came up and I had around 60 very tiny hardly visible pin point seedlings! From these 12 survived from which 10 look strong and I think they will make it.
The biggest has leafs of about 4 cm long..

I have taken pictures and when I find them back in my folders will post a few if you like..

wow sounds like a lot of love & work.. would love to see pics!!!

Some photos from today, I still have to find back photos from different stages in my many folders..

They all vary in shape and size so far..


And Begonia maculata, some have strong spots, others less or smaller, the shape of leafs also vary..

huh.. leaf shapes are interesting... thanks for posting them!!.. they look great!!

Hello Bonitin,

The images of your begonias look beautiful! I also want to grow begonia wightii from the seeds myself, i am looking in the internet where to finds seeds and i cannot find any place... please, i would appreciate very much if you can tell me where you found your seeds.. Many thanks!!

Hi Macernart, welcome!

I found that Begonia wightii is a synonym of Begonia maculata:
Polka Dot Begonia (Begonia maculata)
I bought the seeds from Mauro Peixoto, a Brazilian botanist. He sells seeds he has available at the time from the many species plants represented on his most interesting website:
http://www.brazilplants.com/me...

The photo presenting Begonia maculata on his site doesn't show the white dots, but don't let you be taken back by that, he explains that the plain green leaves appear in older plants. The flowers can be white, pink or red.
This is it in its natural habitat, the Atlantic Forest where I photographed them, you can see the dotted and the plain leaves in the same plant which was growing on a steep rock.

Hello Bonitin!
Thank you so much! for some unknown reason I didn't saw your reply before! Its very useful! i will definitely order the seeds from Mauro! thanks so much again for your consideration! have a wonderful weekend,
Macarena

Hi Bonitin,
Found you by searching for Luxurians Begonia Seeds. Happy to hear you've been successful at growing them from seeds which is what I'm looking for because I cannot find the plant here in Ottawa, Canada where I'm from. I've checked the link you posted where you've purchased them from but there is no more. Would you know where else to purchase Luxurians Begonia seeds from? Were you able to collect seeds from your plants and if yes do you sell seeds? Really love the plant. Thank You.

Hi MTLL, a pitty Mauro Peixoto has no more seeds available , I suppose you mailed him about that. And no I didn't collect any seeds from my plant.. so cannot help you with that either. I have been searching too and found that you might have a chance with the American Begonia Society, the only drawback is that you have to be member in order to purchase seed.
https://www.begonias.org/produ...