Episode 4 –
late February
Well I think I
may have went on a bit too long with the last episode – one of the
bi-products of having plenty of time on my hands now that I’m a man of
leisure, I did try to keep it brief this time but failed miserably!
Sunday 11th
February was the first begonia trip of the year for Colin Elsworth and
myself. We had an early start – once Colin had adjusted his seat into
the ‘sleep position’, leaving Blaydon around 8.00 a.m. for the 3 hour
drive to Bert Nelson’s on our way to the first SBS meeting of the year.
Yes, I know it shouldn’t take that long but I should perhaps point out
that our eldest grandson calls me Captain Slow!
I don’t have to tell anyone who is a regular visitor to this website who
we met there – yes, who else but Michael Richardson and his band of
merry men, regulars Robert Bryce and Dave Weatherby together with our
Vice Chairman Peter Sourbutts. As we turned off the A689 just north of
Carlisle onto the M74 I said to Colin that Michael would probably have
left Heywood at about the same time we left Blaydon but would still be
at Bert’s before us! As always the welcome and hospitality from Bert and
Margaret was first rate.
Now you would imagine that one of the things on a begonia growers mind
when visiting a fellow members garden would be the possibility of a
tuber or cutting of a variety on their wanted list – well, one of us
only had eyes for a certain plate of coffee biscuits, because Margaret
had promised him he could have any that were left to take home; I for
one was too scared to even look at them never mind try one! I couldn’t
possibly say who it was but obviously it wasn’t Dave Weatherby; true to
form, new begonia stock was the only thing on his mind! It wasn’t Colin
either, or Robert, or Peter – perhaps I’ve said too much…….?
It was good to see a
healthier turnout for the meeting; I hope this bodes well for the
future, we should all remember – use it or loose it. The talk was by
John Hamilton and part of his presentation was a trip down memory lane
of shows and members past and present. This was good to see, for both
the members who had been with the SBS for a long time and those who
joined more recently. As one of the latter,
for me it was fascinating to see some of the shows and exhibits of
yesteryear and also some of the great characters there have been. One of
them was Billy Stark from Selkirk, one of the famous ‘Border Men’. I
consider myself fortunate to have met Billy, even if it was just the
once. The stories that I have heard about him from his great friend and
fellow Border Man Ken Jeffrey and his vast knowledge, and not just about
begonias makes me wish that I had met him a long time ago. Billy also
raised, amongst other varieties Symestar, one of my favourites (with
good reason!).
John also gave some great
topical advice about starting up and one of the things he stressed was
just how much tubers can grow in the first few weeks of growth. The day
after we got back, while looking through my cutting tubers in the
propagator I noticed a few of them had what appeared to be splits in the
skin, almost like stretch marks, which can only be explained by rapid
growth and expansion of the tuber – see below.
Soilless composts
Not for the first time, I’ve heard the odd concern about Everris M2
compost; plants not getting away well, yellowing foliage, poor root
movement are the usual comments. I have used this compost for the last 5
years for starting up, for rooting and potting on my cuttings and also
as the soilless element of my half and half compost that I occasionally
use for tubers that are struggling to get away and also for my flowering
cuttings. So far, I cannot complain about it’s performance – I am very
careful to ensure that it is fresh and don’t use compost left over from
the previous year but that rule should apply to any compost we use. I
get my M2 from a local allotments shop and I can keep a close eye on
their stock situation and I grab the new stuff when it arrives. I will
say that I always open it up a bit by mixing it 5 to 1 with Vermiculite
for my start up compost and my half and half mix and 4 to 1 with Perlite
for my rooting compost. I would do this no matter which soilless brand I
use (although I am considering a trial of sharp sand instead of
Vermiculite to pot up the cuttings) but M2 does seem to compact far too
much when used on it’s own. It makes me nervous hearing these reports
and I’m starting to think that it’s possible that I have been lucky so
far so I am going to trial Mother Earth multi-purpose, perhaps for some
of the rooting compost and for potting on the cuttings.
Cuttings
The cutting material has moved on really well, I should be taking my
first batch in the next couple of days with more available for the
middle of March, so I have decided to pot up the tubers – see below,
into 2 litre pots into some of my new Mother Earth multi purpose
because:
●
They are becoming root-bound
and I need to keep them growing for hopefully a second batch of cuttings
that are coming away.
● I need
the propagator they are in – for the cuttings I am about to take off
them!
Domestos Update
Last episode I said that I have often noticed damage to pips after the
bleach treatment. To get my facts straight I thought I needed proper
evidence, so what I had intended to do was take some before and after
photos of some of the adult tubers that had pipped before they went into
the bleach and then some every couple of days afterwards for comparison.
Well, typically I remembered to do this as the last tuber went into the
bleach, so said to myself no problem I’ll do it when they come out,
however by the time I took them out and let them drain a little to take
the photos, I could already see some signs of damage. My first reaction
to blame the treatment was quickly replaced with the realization that I
was probably the culprit and that the damage was due to my putting all
of the tubers in at once and was nothing more than abrasion damage due
to them rubbing together! I still stand by my concerns regarding the
effectiveness against mites and fungal infections and also the impact on
bacteria. I’ll carry on investigating over the coming months.
Tuber Update
The cutting tubers are making steady if not spectacular progress, but
they do appear to be starting a little more evenly than they usually do
for me – see below. I haven’t had a 100% result, somewhere a little
above 95% is probably true but I’ll leave the laggards for a little
longer as they seem healthy enough. I will put them into some fresh
compost in the next day or so as I have heard this can often give them
the kick-start they need.
The adult tubers are all in
the propagators now – see below. I held some back for a week or so to
try and stagger them but to be honest more than 95% of them were already
pipped so I think this will make little or no difference in the long
run.
I have also started my
multiflora tubers and a dozen or so of the tubers that I selected from
the seedlings that I flowered last year. The bad news for me is that I
lost one of them and it was one that I really liked – see
below. Typical I suppose but there you go – I guess that is my welcome
to the frustrating world of hybridising! I have also started the rest of
the seedlings that I didn’t flower last year. I nearly called them
cutting tubers but they’re not – seedling tuber is probably more
correct?
What’s keeping me awake at
night?
When will the cold spell end? The average daytime temperature for
January and February in these parts is supposed to be 6°C but I’m sure
it’s been way below that for most of this year so far and now we have to
contend with the latest new phenomena to come along; ‘Sudden
stratospheric warming’, ‘Weather bombs’ and ‘Polar vortexes’ – or should
that be vortices? I’m sure that they weren’t around when I was a lad; in
the infamous winter of 1963, ‘Brass monkeys’ was the standard
terminology used!
Later on in the 70’s if you had mentioned the Beast from the East,
people would have probably though you were talking about someone such as
Vasily Alekseyev, the famous Russian super heavyweight weightlifter, who
incidentally took up strawberry hybridising during his retirement –
obviously he hadn’t heard of begonias!
Anyway, basically it’s freezing cold and the meter is going round far to
quickly for my liking – I’ll just have to try and get away with blaming
the next electricity bill on the tumble drier!
Next episode - First
cuttings and potting compost.
