Propagation: Plant Propagation - the Basics, February 2017, 2 by oxdriftgardener

oxdriftgardener wrote:
Hi Jen,
I have been overwintering one type of begonia tuber for several years with so far 100% success but wouldn\'t consider myself any kind of expert. I can only tell you what has worked for me. I will be pulling mine out of storage on Friday. Mine vary from year to year as to how much growth they have upon opening them up but usually les than 4\". I have never cut anything off initially but sometimes I snip some of those straggly ones off later once I get sturdier shoots showing. I don\'t put mine in soil right away. I soak the tuber for an hour or so and then put them in a low glass cake pan under flourescent lights well way from any window light. I mist them with a spray bottle of melted snow water (or probably rain water in your area) for close to a month in the house and then in late March when they have healthy roots and shoots showing they get potted into a soilless Promix and get moved to the greenhouse. Mine I believe are called Bonfire and the tubers are huge. I have to reduce the size of the tuber every fall or they wouldn\'t fit in the pots I plant them in any more. The cuts I make to do that all heal over while they are stored overwinter in dry peat moss.
Shown solitary in first shot below and in mixed basket in the second. The other begonia in the mixed basket is not a tuber. The one with speckled leaves is Gryphon. I used to start it from seed but is very slow so lately I have been buying it in the greenhouse as about a 4-6\" plant
Hope this is somewhat helpful