B. ‘Beach City series’

Culture

Propagation Method

tissue culture or cutting

Cultural Requirements

Growing Conditions: Light: Bright, indirect light year-round. Because they are not aggressive bloomers, they can tolerate less light than other begonias and will thrive under fluorescent lights. Water: Rex begonias like even water, but hate being overwatered, and they thrive on humidity, but don't like direct misting, which encourages powdery mildew. Temperature: Average to warm (and humid). They cannot tolerate freezing, and some types of Rex begonias go into a dormant period during the fall. Soil: Airy, light, fast-draining soil. Fertilizer: Use liquid fertilizer weekly at quarter strength or biweekly at half strength. Propagation: The vast majority of begonias offered in the trade are hybrids and thus cannot be accurately propagated from seed. Rhizomatous begonias can be easily propagated by rhizome division during repotting, while almost all begonia species will readily sprout from leaf-tip cuttings. A rooting hormone can help the cuttings sprout. Rex begonias can also be propagated by pinning a leaf down to the bedding mix and making small incisions in the leaf veins, or by inserting a leaf (with a petiole) directly into soil. Repotting: Rex begonias are rhizomatous plants that grow from a shallow and knobby rhizome. As such, they do best in large, relatively shallow pots where the rhizome has room to spread. As long as there is still growing room in the pot, the begonia should be considered happily potted. When the rhizome begins to butt up against the pot side, however, it's time to repot into a fresh pot with fresh soil. Divide the rhizome at potting time to increase your plant stock. As with all begonias, don't soak the soil of newly potted plants, but do keep it lightly moist and warm.

Comments

As with all commercial series the individual colors change or are improved on a continual basis. An entire series may disappear if sufficient improvements are made in a new line of genetics and when the company removes a series from the market they also clear as much old information about the series from any web based sources. They do this to avoid confusing their customer, nothing nefarious, but it makes it difficult to see changes in series over time, so this entry is merely a place marker showing the series at this point in time 2015.

Known In Cultivation

Yes