Cutting my Begonia without killing it.?

My begonia is WAY to tall, and has no leaves until the very tip top. I was thinking of cutting off the tops of each limb and putting them in a glass of water to grow roots, but I'm scared that I'll accidentally kill the plant. Will that work or should I just put the clippings in soil? This plant is sentimental so I REALLY don't want to accidentally kill it. Thoughts?





Here is a picture of it where you can really see the height problem that I'm talking about: http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b231/s...

Cutting my Begonia without killing it.?
No problem - these will respond very well as cuttings.





Cut off all the tops and leave about 4 nodes to each stem. Remove excessive leaves - they are not needed. Throw away the old plant - it has exhausted its food supply in the soil.





If you are squeamish, you can start them in a glass of water. However, if you fill a small pot with potting soil plus some perlite and keep it moist, your cuttings will root better. Push them all the way to the bottom of the pot.
Reply:Sure. You can cut it back to half the height it is, plunk the cuttings in water, you'll see roots in about a week. The "mother" plant will be fine. Nice angel wing begonia.
Reply:Isadora has it right. I also grow the spotted angel wing begonia. I can't bear to throw out the cuttings before I put it in the garage to winter over, so I put them in large vases where they root like crazy. She's also right about the repotting. I also thought it looked like the pot it's in right now is way too small. Good luck.
Reply:It looks like an angel wing begonia. You have leaves near the bottom of the plant. I would cut off the top stalk and root it in water. They root quite easily. I wouldn't cut off any more than that, however. Cutting it back should force new growth. If you haven't repotted it lately, I would do that also, in a pot at least one or two sizes bigger than the one it is currently in, with good fresh potting soil. Miracle gro or another one that has fertilizer in it is good. That is what I use for mine, and I have a collection of angel wings. They spend the summer on the deck in partial shade and get huge before fall, when I cut them back to bring them in. I repot them each spring in bigger pots. I have one that got nearly 6 ft tall last summer.