Begonia plug plants not doing well

My Begonias are also doing badly. I bought 160 Begonia Destiny plug plants a few weeks ago, and probably, only about half are left. I think, after reading this thread, that l have overwatered them. Last week l repotted them, and took off most of the old compost. The old compost was very compacted and crusted on the top.....l don't think that the roots had enough air around them...is that possible? Any way, l have experimented, and used 3 different composts. 1) Basket & tub compost from Homebase, 2) John Innes No 2 Growing on compost, 3) B & Q Multi Purpose Compost which was left over from last year. We shall see. I can't say that l am over confident, as most of them did not seem to have a very good root system.

Josie

 

I think our Guru, aka JWK is right. The day and night temperatures just aren't warm enough for them outside. I remember too, when I took them out of the compost at the end of last year, they didn't have a very extensive root mass.

 

Whenever I pot on plug plants I always add perlite to the mix to keep it nice and 'airy' for little roots to develop.

Val

 

Hi Val,

I forgot to say that l added Perlite to the John Innes NO 2, as it seemed to have a dense texture.

Josie

 

Still not convinced that I will get begonias again though - no harm to them, but I don't think they are as tolerant of my ignorance as the likes of petunias and fuschias.

Same here I think that next year l'll stick with Petunias, l don't think that my fingers are "green" enough LOL.

Josie

 

I don't think we should beat ourselves up about this. it was a gamble to plant out, but it hasn't paid off this year. Win some, lose some....

 

I use 10% Perlite with Multipurpose (to keep it "open"). More than that will improve drainage, but you will have to water them more often.

I only water the Begonias from "below" - they are in a large gravel tray, I put a 1/2" of water in it every few days, if they haven't "drunk" it in half an hour I tip the remainder away (so they don't sit in water)

But they are in my conservatory, not in hanging baskets, so nice and warm . If your night temperatures have been below 10C I would expect that will have made them sulk.

 

Hmmm ... I don't think that "9 or 10 " would be an issue, particularly this time of the year, as the nights are short - so even if the min is 9C it is probably only down there for less than an hour ... its the 5C nights that will be below 10C for several hours that are the problem. Heat during the day would counteract some cool during the night ... maybe you've had none of that either? :(

Have a squint on wunderground and fine an amateur weather station near you and have a look at the actual temperatures since they have been outside?

 

Yes, that would make them miserable. If it were me, and I had hung-out my hanging baskets, I would bring them in for the night (utility room or garage will do) if we had a night forecast to be much below 10C - particularly in early May or (if you were brave!) April - the nights are longer then, and the cold lasts longer too ... and 4C is cold for anything "tender"

 

These are my first ever Begonias for hanging baskets,I am planting them up this week and am hoping for a big show.....They are though from corms and still in the greenhouse.