Do you have a pit where you put potatoes? Just stick them in there and forget about them. In two months or so bring them out and start watering. I assume that they are the tuberous begonias not the non stop.

Brenda

Find the coolest darkest spot in the house (a cold room is perfect for tubers) and just let them be, no water, no fertilize, no nothing. It's ok if they are sprouting, around March bring them up into warmth/light and fertilize lightly to get them going again.

Sharon

I've been doing the same with my alstromeria this year in trying to encourage the dormancy. They all started sprouting way tooooo early. Plus, we seemed to have had a sudden invasion of Giant Crane Fly in the house (looks like a GIANT mosquito but quite harmless.) Turns out they were coming from my Alstromeria pots. So, I ended up covering both pots with green garbage bags. I haven't looked at them for about a month or so. I'm sure they will be fine. I need to get them started very soon, though, as my niece is wanting to use them for her wedding on June 17. Hopefully, they will be in full bloom then if I get them going about now. Just waiting for a really nice day so that I can take them outside to open them up to let out any live craneflies that are still there. Any suggestions on how to get rid of the cranefly larvae that is in the soil? I'm thinking BT but I need to find it in some form that can be incorporated into the soil.

Sorry, Marcia. I didn't mean to wander off topic. But, I started out wanting to suggest that you put the pots into green garbage bags for a bit.

Shauna

Thanks for the suggestions! I think even the cement floor of the porch might be good for this. I'll just have to dig them up and put them in smaller pots that can hide under the shelves in there.

Brenda, we don't have a pit. We store potatoes in dh's garage (minimally heated) in a corner he blocks off with styrofoam. That's where i was thinking of putting the begonias, but i think the porch floor will do.

Shauna, no problem! :) The garbage bag idea is good too because they'd still get some light under the shelves.

Marcia,

All you have to do with your begonias is cut the tops off, leaving a good inch of the stem attached to the tuber. Dig the tubers out, take as much of the dirt as you can off them, you can wash them under the tap, if you want to. Let them dry and place in a brown paper bag, till you want to plant them again.

Never NEVER place bulbs or tubers on a cement floor!!!! This drys them out and you will lose them. I found this out from experience, but after I lost them a couple years in a row, I read that that was the problem. Now I store them up on a shelf in the basement or under the stairs on a shelf in the basement.

I have had begonia tubers get so big, that I had to divide them, just so they will fit into the planters. To divide them you wait till the little pink eyes are showing and then just cut with a knife so that each piece has at least one pink eye. Let dry/heal and plant.

When I buy new tubers, I usually start them right away, as soon as they become available. This gives them a longer growing season, and larger tubers to store at the end of the season. However the larger tubers that I have from previous years, I just plant up in June when I plant everything else up. By then they usually have large pink stems/eyes. Its less work to do it this way and there are lots of blooms by July.

Good luck!

Sierra

Be careful about using green garbage bags. They will hold any excess moisture in and you definitely do not want any rotting bulbs or moldy ones. If they are in the soil and the soil is dry they should be okay. Just leave them in the open...maybe a cardboard box, but not a garbage bag.

I set my cannas in garbage bags just to hold any excess loose dirt and then place them in my pit, but I never close the bags, just bring the bag up a few inches.

Brenda

Okay, today i put all the tubers into two baskets, put them into a garbage bag, and slid them under the shelf in the porch. The soil isn't very moist, esp. in one container, but i'll loosen the bag to help prevent mold.

I'm such a sap for plants - i hate to let them die, even if they're just "dying back". :)

You know it never ceases to amaze me, the strange things people do with their plants. I will never understand why people want to do so much more work than is necessary...and by doing silly things end up losing plants because of it. It really does make me laugh!

I have a large collection of begonias....some are 11 years old and I add new ones each year....here are just a couple of pics.

This one is 11 years old.....there are 3 colors and the tubers got so large that they all had to be divided.
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These ones are 6 to 8 years old.
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These ones were new last year.
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Sierra

Sierra, that is amazing that you have tubers that are 11 years old! Where do you buy your tubers from, what varieties do you like best?

Sharon

Haha Sharon, Asking me what varieties I like best...picture a kid in a candy store..LOL!!!!

The oldest ones are the standard up-right type. I got these at a local nursery. I also have bought some from T&T. I ordered from another mail order a few years ago, but can't remember who. Last year I ran across a deal at Superstore and got a kit with three in very cheap...and they grew just as well as the others. I also bought some locally. The red ones that you have seen my pics of...were a bag from Costco.

Sierra