How to Over Winter Begonia Bulbs for The Best Blooms

The begonia blossoms were absolutely beautiful this year. So much so, it made me want to enjoy these blooms again next year. I made a mental note to take the plants in before the first frost. However, as we all know, life can get very busy.

When to store?

So in the cold snap that preceded the Halloween snow fall, I ran around the garden grabbing the hanging baskets full of begonias and pulling them out of the planters around the house. None had entered a dormant stage yet. Ideally, it is best to reduce watering the begonias early in October when the leaves start to turn yellow with the change in temperature. This is the start their preparation for winter. Mine were blessed with rain water so they were still soggy when I brought them.

Type of Begonias

There are a few different types of begonias, these include rhizomatous ones where the stems and roots creep along the surface, the fibrous-rooted begonias, and the ones which we are going to overwinter are Tuberous begonias. The blooms are are very full and last all through the summer, cascading over of hanging baskets.

There are many reasons why you should save your begonia tubers, also referred to as bulbs. It’s cheaper to keep them, why waste money each year on new bulbs. It is usually better to recycle and reuse, as long it is a sustainable practice for you. The bulbs will provide bigger and fuller blooms each successive year.

If you take them in just the before the first frost, you will notice that the stalks are filled with water, because they are a tender perennial.

Once you have you have brought plants in sort them out. Keep the labels, because once the leave are gone you won’t know one from another.

Method of Storage

One method it to leave the stalks on to dry out naturally so the bulbs can draw what they need from the withering stalks. Another is to cut the stalk back to about an inch and then store. The method you use depends on where your plants have been. If they were growing in a protected area, such as a covered porch, they will weather the frosts, and start dormancy later, in this case you can cut the stalk back to start the process.

It is important that the plant goes dormant, or it will keep taking energy from the bulb until it dries out to nothing. Remove most of the heavy clumps of soil around the bulb. Do not wash or rinse the bulb.

When drying the bulb with stalks still attached, try to protect it from pests, cold, and moisture. Give each bulb enough space to avoid contact with each other, this will allow for air circulation and deter mould.

After I gently loosened and removed the heavy soil around the bulbs, I placed them in a cardboard box in the garage, as the best temperature for bulb storage is around 40F or 4.44C. Let the bulbs sit for couple of weeks, then check their progress.

After two weeks, I found that even though the stalks were withered some mould had started. I removed what was left of the dirt around the stalks and put some cinnamon powder on the bulb to get rid of the mould and act as a fungicide. If you find rot on the tuber when you check the box in a few weeks, you can remove the affected area, dust with cinnamon, and return to the box. Check again in a couple of weeks to make sure the tubers are drying with most of the soil removed at this point.

See you in spring time

Once you are satisfied that the bulbs are moist, healthy looking, and mould free, there are various mediums available to store the begonia tubers successfully until the spring time, these include:

• paper bags
  
• wood shavings
  
• sand
  
• Perlite