Proper wintering of the tuber begonia will save the plant from disease and death. Read what you need to do with begonia in the winter and how to take care of it, so that she can endure the cold season.
As winter begonia?
To save the tuber begonia in winter, when the first colds come, it is necessary to dig it out of the ground. Note that the action must begin in the cold, and not with the first frost. Wait a bit and let your begonias prepare mentally for the winter. Let yellow and fall all her leaves. When it's time to excavate, arm yourself with special small garden tools. While digging be careful, try not to damage the roots and bulb. Stems that were on the surface, cut with a pruner , leaving small shoots for 2-3 cm. After that, as far as possible, gently clean the plant from the ground. Clean truncated tubers in a box and leave in a warm and dry room to dry. Watch the temperature and humidity of the air so your pets do not rot. Approximately a week after 2, when the bulbs and roots dry, remove the remaining soil and stems.
After drying and preparing begonia for the winter, we move it to a "winter apartment". The temperature in the room should be cool, no higher than 5-10 degrees. But the humidity is allowed high. Naturally, the most common storage place for begonias are cellars and sub-floors. Tara, in which begonia will winter, all the same wooden boxes can serve. Gently spread the tubers and roots, and spacing the plants with sand, dry peat or sawdust. During the winter you do not need to water begonia. Otherwise, the sleeping buds become entangled and begin to swell, preparing for growth and flowering.
Another good option is how to keep the begonia tubers in winter - it's a refrigerator. Clean the finished root systems in plastic bags with dry peat and hide in the refrigerator. Whichever way you choose, do not forget to sometimes check the safety of your tubers so that there is no rot and mold.
In this way they keep begonia until March-April, just at this time the buds will begin to swell and the plant will begin to wake up after its hibernation. At this very time, you can do it with cuttings, or you can simply plant it in moist peat for germination. Now the air temperature should be 16-18 degrees. After a couple of weeks, the first leaves will reach a height of about 5 cm. Then, if the street is still cold enough, transplant begonia into pots. If you are sure that there will be no more frosts, then you can transplant begonia to a flower bed.
Winter care for tuber begonia
If you grow begonia not in the garden, but at home in pots, it is also worth knowing what procedures should be performed in the winter. With the onset of cold weather, the home begonias fall into the so-called resting state. Therefore, they should not be disturbed, transplanted from one pot to another, or dealt with their root system. It is also necessary to reduce the number and frequency of watering, even though begonia likes wet soil. In winter, the tuber begonia should be watered only when the soil in the pot completely dries. Only the control over the humidity of air remains unchanged. With the onset of the heating season, this
I would like to give one more little advice. Take it into your habit in winter to put begonias in a pot for several hours to bask in the sun. You need to do this twice a day.
Now you know how to keep the tuber begonia in the winter and will be able to do everything so that it continues to please you for more than one year.