How to keep tuberous begonia in the winter: tips for caring for the plant until spring at home, as well as storage methods during cold weather

Begonia is one of those plants that delights in the luxury of flowering for more than one year, but only in the hands of a caring flower grower. He knows how to organize the proper storage of tubers in the offseason and provide the care they need.

Those who neglect the rules of care will not see green foliage and lush buds on it in the spring. It will undergo disease, rot and die.

How to organize the correct wintering for tuber begonias? Read about it in our article.

Description and features of the flower

Begonia is the name of the genus of plants in the Begonia family. It includes about 1.6 thousand species. The name is based on the name of the Governor of Haiti M. Begon, who organized scientific expeditions.

ATTENTION: In the genus, one-, perennial grasses, semi- and shrubs with creeping rhizome or tuber. All representatives have asymmetric leaves with beautiful colors and flowers of different colors with irregular shapes.

The most beautiful flower in the family is tuber begonia. This plant is perennial, but it does not winter in the open ground, growing in central Russia. Therefore, its tubers are dug up with the onset of cold weather. Observing this primary rule, everyone will enjoy the luxurious flowers of different colors and shapes in the flower beds in the summer.

The main feature of tuber begonia is the fear of frost. To plant it in open ground at the beginning of summer, tubers are germinated from late March or early April.

What to do with a tuber plant in preparation for winter?

Digging up tubers of begonia, which will acquire yellow and fallen leaves from the ground with the first frosts until the first serious cold weather.
Late digging is a moral preparation for wintering.
Organizing it, they use a special garden tool so as not to damage significant parts of the plant.
Tubers are harvested for the winter, cutting the stems to 2-3 cm.
Tubers that are clean, landless, are put in a box to dry. This procedure is carried out in a dry and warm room. If it has high humidity, they will rot.
After drying, and this takes about an average of two weeks, the dried up soil is removed and the begonia is moved to the "winter apartment".

The period of rest and awakening

When does begonia hibernate? In late October - early November. She wakes up in the early days of spring, as soon as the grower changes the frequency of watering and moves the box to a warmer room.

The rest period is a responsible event that cannot be omitted or skipped. The main thing in winter is to provide everything so that the tubers do not dry out and rot.

Sending a flower to rest ahead of time, he will not be ready for bed. He will not accumulate a sufficient supply of nutrients and simply will not survive the winter. Haste with the organization of wintering is useless.

The best time to wake up is March-April. At this time, if the storage conditions are changed, the buds will swell on the tubers. To do this, it is important to remove them from sawdust or sand and put them in a warm and dry place. Before planting in a mixture based on peat, cuttings are carried out.

After waking up, i.e. the appearance of kidneys, tubers are planted. First of all, they are placed correctly in the hole: the crown should be at the top, and not at the bottom. In order for kidneys to appear on a concave / flat surface, the air temperature in the room should be higher than + 18 ° C, and watering after each drying of the top soil layer.

IMPORTANT: New sprouts on begonia tubers appear a few weeks after changing conditions.

Tubers are divided into parts if there are several kidneys. Places of cuts are treated with charcoal and ash. After germination, they are planted in open ground in early summer, after taking care of the soil, fertilizing it and protecting it from the wind.

Content until spring at home and outdoors

Different care for tubers of garden and home begonias. Preparing them for the winter, take into account some features.

Garden begonias	Homemade begonias
They have large tubers	They have small tubers
Preparation for rest before the first hard frosts. A light frost is not terrible for them, as it prepares them for hibernation and makes them build up strength	The tubers of the plant do not prepare for dormancy at all. They are not dug up, but left in a pot without being removed from the soil mixture
The best time to dig up tubers is to die off the leaves of the plant and gradually dry the stems	After the stems fade, reduce watering and cut them as short as possible, thereby preparing for bedtime
After 2 weeks of drying, remove the tubers in a cool place	Pots with the plant are cleaned in a cool place where new foliage does not appear on the stems, and flowers on the peduncles

How to care for tuberous begonia at home is described in detail in a separate article.

Important Nuances

When buying sprouted begonia from the hands, they check whether it has tubers or not. More often, the seller issues an annual for a perennial plant.
Never cut the "green" begonia, wanting to lay down forcibly.
Begonia, which has not dropped foliage, is cleaned to rest without circumcision.

Is it necessary to dig up during the cold season?

Begonia is a thermophilic plant. In the wild, it grows in countries where the climate is hot. Thanks to selective work, the beauty is grown in Russia in the garden and on window sills. So that she wintered, do not cut the foliage in the early days of summer and do not dig up tubers to severe frosts.

Autumn is an important stage in the life of a plant. It is at this time that it grows tubers, storing nutrients in them and forming buds for flower stalks, which will bloom next year. Therefore, the haste in organizing hibernation is not needed, but procrastination is useless.

TIP: For the winter, tubers are always dug if the crop grows in the garden. After drying, they are stored in paper bags in the refrigerator. Neglecting this procedure, they are not surprised at the death of garden begonias during the winter.

Storage preparation

Digging up tubers after the leaves turn yellow and fly around and the stems dry.
They are put to dry in late October - early November. Special boxes will be needed and they are kept in a room where it will be warm and dry.
After drying, they are wrapped in paper bags for 2 weeks and put in a place where the temperature will be + 7-9 ° C.
Winter care involves spraying once a month to prevent drying out.
If necessary, rotted tubers are removed.
They do not divide them into pieces until spring comes.

Methods and conditions

There are only three ways to store begonia tubers:

If they keep begonia tubers in the basement, wait for them to dry completely. Only then put them in plastic boxes / cardboard boxes. Sifting sand, pour it on top. You can prepare another soil mixture to protect the planting material from decay: sand, peat and sawdust.
This method is chosen when many tubers are stored. The basement should not be wet so that they do not rot.
Another way of storage is in the apartment. It is advisable to allocate a place under the tuberous material under the door to the balcony or window in the coldest room. If they put it in a box, then sawdust and sand are surely strewed from above.
In the apartment, in a flowerpot suspended from the ceiling, begonias are preserved, limiting in watering and cutting off the stems almost completely.
The third way is the refrigerator. It is good when there is little tuber material. In this case, put it in a bag made of polyethylene with sawdust and several holes for breathing. If not, wrap each tuber individually in paper sheets.
Only after that they remove the plastic bags in the refrigerator, in the compartment for vegetables and fruits.

Conclusion

The correct wintering of tuberous begonias is a guarantee that with the onset of warm days they will again acquire foliage, and eventually lush flowers. The main thing is to follow all the rules outlined above.