DIVIDING FOLIAGE BEGONIAS

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1022, 12 July 1930, Page 28

DIVIDING FOLIAGE BEGONIAS

Begonia Rex is a handsome foliage plant. At all times of the year its beautifully marked leaves are bright and attractive. It makes an ideal house plant, provided it is not kept in an atmosphere which is hot and dry.

Young plants are raised easily from the old leaves but when the plants become old, they are apt to become ungainly. Plants of this description can be split up into smaller ones. If an old plant is examined it will be seen that it has developed several thick semi-procumbent stems, terminated by a tuft of leaves. Each of these portions will form a young vigorous plant.

Knock the plant out of its pot, remove the old soil and divide up the clump by cutting through the stems with a sharp knife. Each piece must be cut sufficiently low down the stem to be furnished with a few roots, and may then be potted separately into a four-inch pot, using a light, loose compost of equal parts turfy loam, from which the fine soil has been shaken and half-decayed leaf mould. The po-ts also must be well-drained: onethird their depth of crocks is not too much. Dividing and repotting should should be done as soon as the new growth commences, which will be at any time from September until October, according to the temperatures in which they are growing. The critical period for plants which have been divided and repotted is the first few weeks after these operations have been performed. At this stage they are so easily over-watered that it is necessary to water with great care.