How to store begonia at home in winter

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

It will not hurt any florist to know how to store begonia in winter. This applies to both home and garden plant varieties. In the case of indoor flowers, a dormant period begins from the third decade of October to February, while garden species should be stored in order to protect them from frost.

How to properly prepare tubers for storage

An important stage of preparation is material drying. It is necessary to clean the tubers from the soil, then cut off the stem, leaving a small piece of the cutting. Drying is a lengthy process that takes about 2 weeks. This should be done at room temperature. If there are areas affected by fungus and diseases, they must be cut off and greased with brilliant green.

How to store begonias in an apartment or house

For successful wintering, you can place the tubers in flower pots. They are also placed by the balcony or in another cool place. The first method is the most popular and preferable, because thanks to it it is possible to increase the flowering period of begonia by a couple of months.

The room should be well ventilated and darkened. A balcony, basement, refrigerator are well suited for this. You can leave the tubers in the country house.

Alternatively, you can store begonias at home during the winter by wrapping the tubers in paper and placing them in a box of sand or sawdust. If there is not much planting material, you can take plastic bags, make holes in them, put shredded paper or sawdust, and then pour the tubers. Next, you need to place the bags in the refrigerator and leave until spring. Young plants are best kept in the refrigerator.

Regardless of where it is planned to store begonia in the winter at home in an apartment, sealed containers, containers with a lid are completely unsuitable for this. This will help build up moisture.

It is important to save large and small tubers separately. Check containers every month for sick and rotten specimens. If the affected area is small, you can cut it off and treat it with brilliant green. A diseased plant does not have to be thrown away. You can put it in a separate box and store it there.

For the successful preservation of tubers until spring, spraying should be carried out every month. But for this you need to use very little water. If there is a lot of moisture, buds will begin to sprout.

If all these tips have been followed, the awakening of begonia will be outlined in late winter or early March. From this time on, you can already start sprouting tubers.

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Storage in a cellar or basement

If you plan to place begonia tubers in a basement or cellar, keep in mind that damp rooms without proper ventilation are not suitable for this. An increase in humidity leads to the formation of mold. It is also unacceptable for the air temperature to fall below -1 ° C. Basic rules if you plan to store begonia in the cellar in winter:

1. An easy way - placement in boxes made of dense corrugated cardboard or wooden boxes. You can take any clean containers. The use of polymeric vegetable bags is allowed. The walls of the container must be treated with a fungicidal preparation.
2. Using dry filler. It will act as a drain. For this purpose, you can take sawdust, moss, sand, peat. Both their combination and pouring into containers separately are allowed. But the filler must first be treated with steam, as this ensures the destruction of harmful microorganisms. After steaming, be sure to dry it.
3. During the laying of the tubers, a box is taken, at the bottom of which 3 cm of filler is poured. Put 1 tuber: first, place large, then small. Sprinkle each layer with peat or sand.

Begonia boxes and boxes should be placed on pallets or shelves at least 15 cm away from walls and floors. From above they must be covered with a cloth or film, but not tightly.

The covering material must necessarily allow air to pass through, otherwise moisture will accumulate.

Common storage errors

You should not place the tubers of room begonia after digging for storage, without allowing them to go into hibernation mode. Together with the roots, they must be dried on newspapers before sorting for storage.

After drying, the roots must be cut with scissors. In no case should you move begonia pots to a warm place and water them. After drying, it is necessary to clean the tubers from the soil and treat with a fungicidal preparation.

You cannot leave a garden begonia in the garden in winter. It is also unacceptable to put tubers in polyethylene or closed containers without sprinkling the layers with paper or filler. Without airing and turning over during storage in the winter in an apartment, all work will not bring the desired result.

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Storing the first year begonias

The problems with storing first-year begonias are due to the fact that such a flower formed buds only once, and therefore it did not have enough strength for a problem-free wintering.

The root system of the first year begonias is underdeveloped, so it requires a delicate attitude.

Storage in flower pots is best suited for these begonias. It is imperative to reduce watering, it is better to do this through the pallet. As soon as the final signs of flower wilting disappear, it will be possible to talk about the plant's readiness for wintering. Dry stems are pruned to ground level. If for some reason they remain green, you cannot touch them.

Unlike old plants, first-year begonias should winter at temperatures from +10 to +15 ° С. Sunlight should be diffused. The optimum humidity is 80-85%. After the onset of spring, the young crop should be transplanted into open ground or a pot of soil for permanent maintenance.

Outcomes

1. Begonia is not adapted to wintering outdoors in winter, since the conditions of the Russian climate at this time of year are not suitable for it. Accordingly, both domestic and garden varieties should overwinter in a special room.
2. For wintering, you can allocate a place in the cellar or in the corner of the balcony. In any case, it should be a dark, cool part of the room.
3. Do not store tubers in closed containers, as this will contribute to the accumulation of moisture and the formation of rot.