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Over wintered begonias

harris.vyvyanharris.vyvyan Posts: 2
in Plants
I have over wintered begonias and would like to plant them out now.  Do I soak them before I plant??  Also I have ordered some begonia corms - they will arrive today, should I soak these before I plant??  Beginner on here I live in south west France so we still get frost but hopefully no more this year!

Posts

  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    No, you need to keep the dry,  prepare a seed tray of damp compost and lay the tubers on the top just pushing them I slightly. Don’t let water get on the bowl of the tuber or they can rot.  Pot up separately when the shoots are about 4” tall.
    heres mine I’ve just started,  have to admit it left them overwintered in their newspaper caccoons for a bit to long, 

    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    Just to add, I won’t be planting them outside until at least mid May,  they won’t like cold nights. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    Thanks Lyn for that very timely advice, I got mine out of the cardboard box it's been living in all winter, it looks pretty dead to me (no shoots and I had left it in the porch) but have nestled it on damp compost as you suggest and put it in the spare room.
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • harris.vyvyanharris.vyvyan Posts: 2
    Thank you so much Lyn will follow your instructions.
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    @Lizzie27. Have a look underneath and make sure there are no little holes, vine weevil love them and will bury in for a cosy winter feed,  they should have started shooting by now if they’re going too. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    edited March 2021
    I do a similar thing. I have mine in window boxes. I put the whole thing in an open shed. When I see shoots coming up I put them outside again. No water until then.
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    Your weather’s much better than ours @Fire it’s an overcoat colder here.
    we are at least 3 weeks behind other areas.  Hard to believe in Devon, but true. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    Mine don't go out until May/June. It's an exciting moment to see the little shoots rising out of the soil again each year - quite amazing that they reappear. They have to be one of the best value, low maintenance plants ever.
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    They are, although I’m forever picking of the females so as to maintain long flowering period.  Seems to be a daily job when they get going, and then there’s the vine weevil problem here. Little b*ggers bury into the corms.
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    I just deadhead. Is that a bad thing?
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