I have never been able to keep flowering Begonias alive outside. I finally got one this year that survived the summer. Now I want to press my luck and see if I can keep it alive for next summer.

I have it in a pot with BEGONIA Gryphon which is a foliage Begonia I have had it two years it does good as a house plant. But the flowering ones I seem to kill.

Should I do something different with the flowering begonias.




It is in the pot with this 2 yr old Begonia, as you can see I even put a little red wax begonia in the pot this year that never got very big either. I see these things get huge in gardens. The pot is big I have know idea what I am doing wrong with these. Maybe they do not like pots.

I know @purpleinopp has successfully overwintered certain Begonias indoors and successfully kept them alive during the rest of the year.

Planto

TY, Planto, Begonias are so awesome, but I fear the Begonia in question here is a tuberous type? What do you know about it, Cinta?

Tuberous begonias seem to have very specific needs, Cinta. I'm not sure what will be the best way to overwinter yours since it's in with others -you'll probably need to remove it from that pot, unless the other plants get a winter rest period?

Things tuberous begonias want:

-Warmth; both soil and air. Critical in the early stages, but once blooming they can take cool weather as long as their leaves are kept dry.
-Fast-draining, but moisture-retentive planting medium. I use straight compost these days and water infrequently.
-Leaves dry almost 100% of the time to avoid disease. This means that attention is required throughout its growing cycle. If the lower leaves start touching the planting medium, pinch them off. If they look discolored or misshapen, pinch them off. Once disease gets going it's almost impossible to reverse in the same season.
-Fed at every infrequent watering. I alternate between two food types; one has a high phosphorus rating, the other has micro-nutrients and a higher potash rating. (These are my standard fertilizers...I don't keep special ones on hand just for begonias.)
-High light levels, but no intense sun. Early and late in the season they'll want a bit more gentle sunlight than what they can tolerate in high summer.
-Humidity; plants kept indoors over winter often don't get as much of this as they need.

At the end of the season I allow my potted plants to stay outdoors until the cold finishes off this year's growing season, and then allow the planting medium to dry out. Once the pots are very light, I store them in a spot that will cool down right along with the season, but remain unfrozen.

The other way to overwinter is to remove the tubers from the medium, allow to dry, then store in vermiculite or dry peat in a cool, dark place for the duration. (Personally, I experience more losses from mold and rot this way, and prefer the other method.)

This year I didn't get my tubers out until after July 4th, much later than normal, and they preformed better than ever before. I just set the pots out of direct sun and hung them up once they filled the pot. I don't even recall giving them water/food until they'd started showing growth.

Pictures taken this morning after two weeks of nights in the forties (but dry, under an opaque roof), and they're still holding on.








(The scraggly and spent plant hanging behind the red one is one that was started early in a nursery.)


Hope some of this helps.

Purp,
Okay, that shows my level of experience with Begonias.

Planto

AFAIK, they're all fairly easy, except tuberous are in a class by themselves? @Chelle ?

I think the rex begonias are most fussy (at least thst much I've read).

Planto

purpleinopp said:AFAIK, they're all fairly easy, except tuberous are in a class by themselves? @Chelle ?

Growing them here is easy now, but until I learned what they liked it was a rather depressing situation.
I tended toward rotting them, and then disease set in as well. Either that, or they fried in too much sun.

WOW chelle you da man. Thank you, Thank you. You should write that up as an article.

I have never had these flower and survive even one month in the summer. I was shocked it lived this long. My local nursery wanted 6.00 for them beginning of summer and then they put all their annuals on sale for 75% off in July and decided at that price I could risk another dead begonia. I could hear the plant screaming GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME, but I did not listen and gave them the couple dollars. Probably why it lived it knows I did not pay a lot for it. I just loved the dark leaves and the yellow flower it was the last one they had with those colors.

My Rex begonias I keep in a terrarium in the winter and they do great. Summer they go on the patio and get bigger.

Now I have to decide how to handle this. The big begonia in the pot I kept it barely moist all winter in the dining room warm and it did good.

Again thank you chelle for the detailed instructions.

You're welcome, Cinta, and thanks for the acorn!

Best of luck to you in whatever you decide to do for it.

"Probably why it lived it knows I did not pay a lot for it. "

LOL, really hard!!

Okay, I missed that statement. That is funny how that works. The last expensive plant I bought died, while my freebies are chugging along.

Planto

Yes the cheap ones always live. They know they are cheap and know they should fight for life. The expensive ones think they are special.

My doggone begonia baskets were expensive...that's why I'm so happy that they'll live here now!

chelle, you have some gorgeous colors. I really like the peach one. I might stop by my local nursery and see what they have left from their summer stock. The stuff should be a 1.00 now.

I decided I am going with your door #1. Leave them in the pot in cool conditions. It is how I keep my tropical plants i.e. canna, Aroids, through the winter.

It's by far the easiest method with the best results that I've found yet. Cripes! I just got around to adding up my (tuberous) begonia pots in my head...there's six, no, seven of them this year! My under-the-house crawlspace area is shrinking even as I realize this! There's other begonias, dahlias and who-knows-what-all that has to fit in there, too!