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| Anyone ever use Begonia partita for bonsai material? I saw the plant and thought it would be interesting. When I searched it online, I found several pictures of them in bonsai pots with nice thick trunks. They form a huge caudex at the base which is interesting, I guess. The leaves are very interesting and stay small. The almost look like ivy but not quite the same, and they have tiny white floweres spring through fall. My kids in my classroom wanted to watch the process of root pruning, potting up, and shaping (they're a little nerdy for fifth graders, but I love them) so I bought a few little pots-- this begonia, some succulents, and an ilex vomitoria for our in class science lesson yesterday. I used my standard free draining soil but don't know what kind of fertilizer to use when I do start fertilizing. Would regular liquid houseplant fert work or is there something better? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Regular, but prior to flowering, use one with a higher middle number. How the plant behaves as a bonsai may be interesting if it's a perennial or annual, etc., plus whether the trunk part actually gets woody or not, and whether or not you could do much shaping - will it respond to bending or will branches snap? |
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| Hi Lucy, The trunk part is already getting a bit woody. The stems are kind of greenish brown but still soft. I know it has the potential to get woody because I searched one out as bonsai to see photos and was able to find several on yahoo. I included a link. It seems like it might be wirable. That's why I was hoping to find someone who'd worked with it. I six different books about bonsai and can't find it in any of them. It is a perennial semi tuberous and forms this big caudex thing at the soil line. It supposedly can flower continuously from spring to fall so should I fertilize with the high P fert throughout these months or just keep it on an even system. I don't know if you can influence the energy it puts into growth or flowering, but I'd rather it put its energy into growth right now. I wonder if it would help then not to give it the higher P which helps with flowering. The phosphorus also helps with growth so it might be better either way. Thanks for the tips. Any other folks have a begonia that they've used for bonsai? |
Here is a link that might be useful: Begona partita bonsai pic
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| Oh wow! That's gorgeous. I don't know the plant at all- to me begonias are Rex and Angel Wing and that's about it, but I had no idea you could do that with one of them. I'd definitely give it a try if I had one. |
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