Dear Members: This may be the wrong forum, but I've a question about what governs the leaf spotting on begonias, specifically Begonia grandis alba. Last fall I saved some seed pods and the seed in them. (I also gathered the bulbils, but since I forgot until after the first frost, when they were planted, they rotted, so I don't want to talk about that.) The seed was duly planted this spring in a pot under flourescent lights, covered with a plastic bag, and left. In due course, seedlings appeared, and there are now about ten pots with one or two small plants each. When the fourth leaf appeared, (on each seedling) it was spotted with silver in varying degree-some spots more than an eighth of an inch in diameter, some tiny pinpoint spots. Well, that does appear in Begonias, and I was intrigued, since the parent had never had anything but plain green leaves. The seed was open pollenated, but the only other begonias in the area were some tuberous begonia hybrids, which themselves do not have spots. The seedlings were transplanted, mostly to individual pots, although a few were put two to a pot. They've been fertilized, so the new leaves are darker green and of course larger. Most of these seedlings now have a fifth leaf, and all are plain green with no spotting. So, the question is, what controls the spotting? Light level? They're still under flourescent lights. Fertilizer? Phase of the moon? Whether or not I've been a good boy? Incidentally, Begonia grandis is normally hardy here, though I try to mulch in the fall. The parent plant, outside all winter in the ground, now has a few full size leaves, very pale green, so it has just been fertilized. Ken western Oregon Z7