Expert: Kenneth Joergensen - 10/14/2004

Question
I have quite a few begonias that are coming to the end of their season now. How do I over winter them so that I can have them flowering again next year. At one time I used to lift them and then treat them with flowers of sulphur, but I lost a few that way. I live in Ireland where the winters are wet and cool.

           Thanking you, Myfanwy.  

Answer
There are different ways, but an easy and effective method is to dig up tuberous begonias with a scoop of soil ("root ball") and leave them dry and cool until the tops die back.

Remove the tops by cutting them about 1/2" above tuber level. Do not pull the small stalk off. wait until it falls off by itself.

Move them to a storage area which stays above freezing, but is dry and mostly cool during the winter. An attached unheated garage, crawl space, or a greenhouse are all good options, as long as temperatures stay above freezing.

Next spring, you can wash the soil from the tuber.

I have found this method to be easy and effective.

Instead of cleaning them, dusting with sulphor and storing on peat (which is the traditional advice), I prefer to store them in the native soil until next spring. This works best if you have sandy loam. If you can clayish soil, you are probably better off washing soil from the roots in fall before storing.