# Begonia Thelmae



## jacobi (Dec 15, 2010)

Hi everybody! I find this plant to be particularly striking, and I received a few cuttings of B. thelmae, but they aren't doing too well. How do you grow yours, what conditions do they like, and what is their growth habit like? And I'm sure nobody would mind if you post any photos of your plants


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## Mantellaprince20 (Aug 25, 2004)

They do not like to stay really wet, avoid spraying the foliage directly, give them decent lighting.


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## therizman2 (Jul 20, 2008)

Mine dont seem to mind being misted, most of mine are mounted to be grown as epiphytes and seem to be doing extremely well for me this way. They definitely like good lighting though, that seems to be a key with them from my experience.


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## epiphytes etc. (Nov 22, 2010)

I stopped growing it because it can get too aggressive. I never did anything special.


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## phender (Jan 9, 2009)

I just put mine on damp sphagnum in a shoe box and put it somewhere close to light. The more light it has the bigger the leaves will be. Honestly, I use it in my froglet grow out boxes without any special light over them and they still grow. Try not actually planting them. Just lay them on top of the substrate.


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## Frogtofall (Feb 16, 2006)

phender said:


> I just put mine on damp sphagnum in a shoe box and put it somewhere close to light. The more light it has the bigger the leaves will be. Honestly, I use it in my froglet grow out boxes without any special light over them and they still grow. *Try not actually planting them. Just lay them on top of the substrate.*


Ditto!!!


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## eos (Dec 6, 2008)

Jake, I'm guessing those are the cuttings you got from me? All I did was throw them in the tank that I had them in and they started growing and flowering without any actual 'work'... As the above posts state, just throw them on the ground and let them do their thing.


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## jacobi (Dec 15, 2010)

Thanks for all the advice guys! Riko, yeah these are the cuttings I got from you. Problem is, the floor of my tank doesn't get much light.


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## eos (Dec 6, 2008)

You can always plant them as epiphytes as suggested above.
I've actually put some clippings in a film can full of sphagnum and stuck them on the sides of my tank at one point.


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## MrMycetes (Nov 9, 2014)

I find that trying to root them by sticking them in water or soil doesn't work too well. I use Rapid Rooters with compost tea, and no less than 60% humidity. I have mine under 6 T5's, and the leaves are almost bright blue. I would go with what people are saying and either use my method or just lay them on the ground in a warm, humid environment.


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## jonjoyce346 (Oct 15, 2014)

epiphytes etc. said:


> I stopped growing it because it can get too aggressive. I never did anything special.


How aggressive would you say? I'm thinking of using this species in a build I'm working on this winter. I'm doing a clay substrate, so I really don't want to have to pull any plants if they start taking over.

With good air circulation, high lighting, and 70-80% humidity, would this plant grow out of control like ficus pumila or creeping charlie?

Jon


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## phender (Jan 9, 2009)

jonjoyce346 said:


> How aggressive would you say? I'm thinking of using this species in a build I'm working on this winter. I'm doing a clay substrate, so I really don't want to have to pull any plants if they start taking over.
> 
> With good air circulation, high lighting, and 70-80% humidity, would this plant grow out of control like ficus pumila or creeping charlie?
> 
> Jon


It tends not to branch like ficus or creeping charlie, plus you can break the stems with your fingers so trimming is easy.


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## pdfCrazy (Feb 28, 2012)

Agreed with most. As a species on the floor of the tank and with good lighting, they really get going, especially with direct access to root to the soil as they grow not "over" leaf litter. The good side, yes, they are very easy to trim, and they dont branch off all crazily like ficus and their roots dont get all invasive and grow into everything. Mine lower all the time, I love them. i also keep the closely realted withlacoochie that grows much slower, but its not as striking a species IMO.


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## jonjoyce346 (Oct 15, 2014)

Thanks guys, my biggest worry with this plant was invasive roots, guess I'll give it a try. I'm pretty new to the hobby so I'm not familiar with a great deal of trailing plants, but this one kinda jumped out at me when I was searching through plant sites. Any other nice looking, controllable trailing plants I should look into?

Jon


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## phender (Jan 9, 2009)

There are a lot of nice trailing begonias out there that are not too difficult to control.

B. glabra (nice glossy serrated leaf)
B. prismatocarpa (yellow flowers, delicate)
B. elaeagnifolia (tough stem, pink and white flower)
B. U074 (leaf shape similar to glabra, not glossy but with a nice colored pattern to it.

losts of nice peperomias as well, but these are my favorites:
P. serpens
P. fagerlindi
P. angulata (has a different name as well)


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## jonjoyce346 (Oct 15, 2014)

Thanks for the list, I like the B. glabra and B. elaeagnifolia.

Jon


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## JoeKitz (Sep 18, 2017)

I have had good luck with filling a solo cup halfway with ABG mix, taking a stem cutting with a couple of leaves, placing in a hole in the ABG mix, and then spray it with water. I cover the cup with saran wrap held to the cup with a rubber band. After a couple of weeks, I place in the viv and watch it do it's thing. I will have to try growing it as an epiphyte many have suggested. I love this plant.


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## scahb (Jul 18, 2016)

jonjoyce346 said:


> How aggressive would you say? I'm thinking of using this species in a build I'm working on this winter. I'm doing a clay substrate, so I really don't want to have to pull any plants if they start taking over.
> 
> With good air circulation, high lighting, and 70-80% humidity, would this plant grow out of control like ficus pumila or creeping charlie?
> 
> Jon


I had one clipping that was about six inches long, this is the growth after 4 months









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