Thread: Saving begonias
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Old 21-10-2010, 11:08 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening
Bob Hobden Bob Hobden is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Aug 2006
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Default Saving begonias



"FiveMins" wrote
Hi, I'm new to gardening but trying to learn. I bought begonias as plug
plants this year & have been really pleased with the enormous flowers we
had. I grew them in pots because I was worried about slugs & the plants
were much bigger than I expected. Anyway, they were still in bloom when
the first frost struck so that's that. I think I have read about being
able to save the plants (in a frost free place) & then grow them again
next year. Is that right or have I got to throw away & buy new plants
next year?

Depends what sort of Begonias they were. If fibrous rooted then they are
finished if tuberous then they may still survive the winter if put in a
frost free place and not watered at all over winter. Mine are still outside
and seemed to come to no harm in the last two nights of frost but they are
up near the house.
What I do is once the top growth is all dead I clean up the pots and place
them on their side on the bottom shelf of our little heated greenhouse and
leave them there until the new year. Then, about February time, I repot the
tubers in new compost and again leave them without water. Just cover the
tubers with compost. Once they start into growth, little green buds begin to
break the surface, I start to water, very sparingly at first, and over the
next couple of weeks as the plants grow further I increase the watering
until they are in full growth.


--
Regards
Bob Hobden
W.of London. UK