How to propagate: Begonia

Propagating Begonia plants is easy. However, propagating a Begonia Maculata is somewhat different from the leaf Begonia and most indoor plants. What's different? We'll teach you.

Propagating a Begonia in 4 steps

Step 1: Disinfect

First clean the scissors you might be using.

Keep the scissors under hot water and clean them well. This prevents you from unnecessarily transferring bacteria during the propagation.

Do you happen to have disinfectant or pure alcohol? Disinfect the tools after using hot water. Let's get away with those bacteria and fungi!

Step 2: Take cuttings

When propagating the Begonia Maculata you need a part of the main stem to be able to take cuttings. Unfortunately you won’t get there with just a leaf and a piece of stem. Propagating the Begonia Maculata is therefore only possible when the plant is a bit larger.

Cut just above another leaf, so that you'll have a stem of a few centimeters. The plant will look less full now, but that will be fine! On the spot where you have cut off the cutting, a new stem with leaves will soon grow again.

Step 3: Apply cutting powder

Do you have any cutting powder? You can apply this powder to the ‘open wound’. This is the spot where you took the cuttings from the mother plant. Make sure the powder dries up well!

Don’t have any cutting powder? No problem! Cutting powder does stimulate the growth of roots. Because of this, the cutting will develop more roots in the same amount of time. So it is not a requirement, but it's something to consider.

Step 4: Taking care of the cutting

Put water in a glass or vase and add the cuttings to it. You may surround the cutting with the water. Make sure the cutting is well supported by the edge of the glass.

Make sure that there are no leaves hanging in the water. It's best to remove the bottom leaf or leaves. There is a good chance that when the leaf comes in contact with the water, it will start to mould. The dead leaves takes a lot of energy from. Energy that the cutting can use to make roots.

Begonia care

Position the cutting of the Begonia Maculta on a position with bright but indirect light. Avoid direct sunlight!

Do you want to position the cutting on the windowsill? Make sure this is a window facing north. The north gets the least afternoon sun, which is least harmful for the Begonia Maculata. In any case, avoid a window facing south. The south is more of a place for sun worshippers.

When do the first roots appear?

After a month you can spot the first roots on the Begonia Maculata cutting. How many roots and how large they are can vary a lot.

Are the roots longer than 5 cm? Then you can repot the cutting to soil.