Overwintering Begonia Tubers

My tuberous Begonias have been just super but getting past their best now.

Can I store the tubers for next year?
If so, what's the best way to do it and how do I get them started again ?

 

Hi Alice, I usually start around now drying the pots off or if they are planted out you can lift them with a soil ball and allow them to dry out.
I cut back the stems a bit at this stage as well.

After a few weeks the stems detach themselves from the tubers.

I just store the tubers in a net bag in a frost free greenhouse.

Next April I will pot them up with the tuber only just slightly buried and once growth gets going, I top up the pots.

I'm sure there are other ways of going about it, but this seems to work for me.

 

Thank you Pete. That is very helpful.
I don't have a frost free greenhouse but I do have good sheds.
Can anyone tell me if I can bury the tubers in compost or in a box of crumpled newspaper to keep them frost free.

 

Hello Alice
storing begonias is , as Pete said . I grow pendula begonias and I tend to take them from their baskets and containers in November. They do flower for a long time - frost permitting. Keep brushing the soil off and let them dry out under cover , when they are ready the stems will break off. Make sure you label each tuber , so you know whats what next spring. When tubers are dry I dust with sulpher powder ( not really necessary ) and store them in shredded paper in a plastic bag into which I have cut some holes to let air circulate. I then hang them up in my garage. Pot them up again in early March, on a windowsill . Some start and some dont ,takes about 4- 5 weeks for the first shoots to show. The pendula ones are great for a shady basket location.

 

Thank you so much HarryS. That is really informative and helpful to me.

 

This is a useful thread, so thanks for starting it Alice! I've tried tuberous begonias for the first time this year and I'm won over - masses of blooms and perfect for the shady area that is outside the back door...that happens to be full length glass so they give a great display.

Mine are still going strong though, but that might be down to location. I'll get more next year as they're great value. At a couple of pounds each for the tuber that produces one plant covered in blooms, I can afford another few of them!

 

I'm won over too, Sussexgardener, that's why I asked. They're just great.
Thank you to everyone for their help.
I'm looking forward to a great show next year.

 

I have to confess to leaving mine till after the first couple of frosts upon occasions, through stupidity rather than intentionally :dh: But so long as the tubers themselves don't freeze, it seems OK.
As a teenager, many years ago I worked my pre college year at a Parks dept. We were taught to prepare our tubers towards the end of the current season by sticking a big wooden label in each variety before removing all flowers and watering then feeding with potash to build up a healthy tuber for the following year. (Apparently adequate water before the plant dies down helps avoid wizzened tubers later on) The plants were lifted (with correct labels) when they started to yellow and had obviously put as much into the tubers as they could. Thousands of plants were spread out on the potting shed floors and under greenhouse staging to dry off for a week or so, then we removed all top growth, brushed off the remaining soil, old flowering scar, removed any damaged parts of the tubers with a sharp knife and dusted with sulphur. Tubers were then stored in wood shavings - but I remember we ran out and the tubers left open were just the same - in stacked wooden crates and checked now and then for any rotting, which would be removed and the cut surface dusted with sulphur. The foreman was always very particular about starting off the tubers and I wish I could remember when this was exactly! It was important to have the seed compost warm enough, 65 - 70 degrees F. We hand mixed compost then and I'm pretty sure they were started off in a sand/peat mix. Obviously we had the advantage of heated greenhouse and tubers were set out, the right way up in boxes of seed compost to make new roots. After watering in, we covered the boxes with paper and didn't water again until new growth was showing and the tubers were potted up. Even now, the watering was done carefully and only when the pots were dry. Bedding out was done last week of May/first week of June.
My memories are of real show stoppers!
Tubers I overwinter and start on a window sill are never quite as early to flower or as spectacular as I remember them! Maybe this thread will spur me on to excel at tuberous begonias. In theory you should have bigger and better plants as time goes by, so long as you look after them

 

Thank you for all that inside information - very informative.
They use begonias here for the town floral displays and they are truly splendid.
That's what prompted me to use them for my own baskets.

 

Alice - looking at your towns floral displays , was a tip my sister gave me. They always chose plants which are floriiferous and long lasting. The planters in my home town of Wigan are still in full bloom , even after a poor summer in the NW of England.
On the subject of begonias I have bought tubers on the internet, also Ebay is a good source for begonia plugs in spring. I bought some B. million kisses and B. illumination apricot shades. Which have done really well , the plugs should form tubers over the summer , which I can lift in November for next year. :gnthb:

 

You're so right JWK.
Begonias from seed :cry::cry::cry:
They take a million years to even show a leaf :(
Some jobs are definitely best left to the experts and commercial growers.

 

Thank you Alice for asking the question, it has helped me and quite a few others it seems, who have needed to know how to save our begonias.

 

bought some this year from a well known shopping channel.Only cos you can actually see what these things look like.But,but what they don't say is(think I may have been wound here)but these things sprout croms if your lucky:skp: or have i been stiched up:hehe: so i'm dieing to see if they have.But i could not belive the show they did and have always been woundering what to put in hanging baskets,but i know whats going in them next year.