# Care for Broms and Begonias post-shipping and pre-planting?



## artgecko (Dec 6, 2016)

Hello all,

I went ahead and ordered a set of broms from bromeliads.com and also found someone selling 12 different begonia species off ebay. I decided to go ahead with the purchase despite my terrariums not being ready to plant yet. 

I wanted to ask your opinion on how to keep them until my tanks are ready to plant? I know that the broms will need to be soaked, then sat upright, but am not sure if that will be good enough to hold them for 2-3 weeks or if I will need to plant them. 

As for the begonias, they are coming from someone who was a member of a begonia club. I am assuming they used ferts and pesticides (I have asked them, but they haven't responded). Because of that, I know that they will need a detox period, planted in organic dirt / potting mix. That said, I am not sure about washing them (I remember reading that their leaves do not like standing water)

If you have any tips on how to keep these healthy until I plant them in my terrariums, I'd love to hear them. This is the first time I will be receiving shipped plants without a terrarium that is ready for them to go into immediately. 

Thank you for your time and help!


----------



## Gibbs.JP (Feb 16, 2016)

Assuming the broms you speak of are epiphytes (like neoregelias), you can just keep them upright and fill their axils with water and they should be fine. No need to plant them or anything, unless they are terrestrial broms like vrisea. Those should be planted in a temporary pot. You can use the same substrate you're using in your viv for easier transplant.

The begonias can be a little more fickle and temperamental. Those should be planted (same substrate, small pot) and watered. Without knowing which specific begonias you got, detailed care info could change. You could also just stick them in a tub with damp sphagnum moss and they'll likely be ok. That works better for fresh clippings though. 

You should process any and all the plants you receive (not orchids and mosses) in a 10% bleach solution mix to better clean them. Pre-soak in RO water, soak in the bleach solution, and then rinse thoroughly with RO water. Then plant and wait til they are ready to go into your viv. 

I'm not a plan expert by any means at all, but that's how I've been treating any new broms and begonias (and many other plants) and it's worked well for me.


----------



## artgecko (Dec 6, 2016)

Thanks! I am hoping the seller of the begonias will send names / IDs with the plants so that I can give you more detailed info. I will find some small pots and plan on planting the begonias in substrate until I can root them in the terrariums.

I got the grower's choice assortment of broms..supposedly all terrarium-safe plants. I will post once I receive them if there are any non-neos that may need different care.


----------



## artgecko (Dec 6, 2016)

The begonias arrived today.. They arrived earlier than I thought, so I will be going to get small pots for them tonight. I am hoping to pot them all in the terrarium soil in temp. pots today and lightly water them... Or should I do the bleach rinse first? Right now I have them standing up inside clear plastic KKs with wet newspaper underneath. 

The seller did label them, but unfortunately, his handwriting is pretty bad. I put together a list of them below.. These may not be 100% accurate, as I had a hard time reading the handwriting and pieced the list together via google searches.

If you have any tips on which to plant ephiphytically, in soil, how large they get (terrarium placement, etc.)that would be great. 

Begonia Burkilli silver
Begnia burkilli
B. prismatocarpa
B. chloroneura
B. versicolor
Begonia bullatifolia
begonia sizemoreae
begonia staudtii
begonia luzonensis
begonia african violet 
begonia mumtaz 
begonia nigritarum
begonia coriacea

A couple pics..
The whole order. The mumtaz is the large one on the left


The nigritarum

 

A few of the others are very interesting... One has tiny foliage. I will try to post pics of those once I get them potted. I did not want to handle them too much until then.


----------



## Marcello (Dec 3, 2016)

Are you pleased with your order? I'm
Debating an eBay purchase as well


----------



## artgecko (Dec 6, 2016)

For the most part, yes... Some of the plants are very small though, and may be beyond my plant growing skills to keep going. I have them under a grow light now and am going to be re-potting them into terrarium soil (VE2) tomorrow or Monday.. Then they will continue to grow out. The seller I got mine from didn't give species names, just that he was selling a 12 pc. set suitable for terrariums and that he was moving and clearing out stock. I went with this option, vs. individual plants, because it was much cheaper (~$30 with shipping for 12 plants vs. $4.99+ per plant of the named / photoed ones). The seller I used had 100% feedback rating and I think he packed well.. Plants came with ID tags, in soil or spaghnum wrapped in seran wrap (around soil / roots) and wrapped in newspaper. 

I think in the future, I will ask more questions to a seller before I buy, since I am new and not sure what to do with some of the more "exotic" specimens. I'm sure a more experienced grower would be fine with ordering a mixed lot though. The seller i got mine from was robe_ham


----------

