Just received Tubers

Hi,

I just received some tubers from Antonelli Bros. I have Mike Stevens book, which I stated in an earlier post is difficult to read, and the instructions from Antonelli which are very simplistic. I suspect the most efficient method is somewhere in between. Having said that I have a few questions -

1. Stevens describes a dizzying array of methods to insure that the tubers bud up including heat pads, warm/cold water baths, bleach solutions etc. I assume in zone 9 and with high quality tubers none of this is necessary?

2. After reading some of the posts in the soil forum I have come to realize that drainage is one of the most important aspects of soil and this is doubly so for begonias. Stevens recommends a good potting mix with the addition of up to 40% coarse sand, pumice, perlite or vermiculite. I assume he means the 40% is any or all of the items in the list. Perhaps someone with experience can recommend a formula suitable for begonias that utilizes readily available components?

3. Stevens advises 3 stages of potting - trays to 3" of growth followed by 4" containers and finally moving the plant to it's final 8" container (he says large tubers may skip the 4" pot). Is this a good idea?

Thanks, I'm sure I'll have more questions when I get to the staking, shaping phase.

I agree that is way too complicated. My friend Mike has visited Mike Stevens' garden and the man lives for his tuberous begonias. If you have other things going on in you life, then you need an easier method.

Here is what I do which usually results in very pretty begonias. I used to just leave the tubers in the pots over the winter. Now I do take them out of the pots after they die back in November or so. I just give them a shake and store them in the garage. Then in about March I bring them out, clean them off, and cut away anthing that looks like rot. Now some say you should wait until the first shoots show but that can take a long, long time so I just pot them up in hanging baskets or regular planters for uprights. I use something like Miracle Gro potting mix with water-holding crystals. I put them about an inch below the surface. Then I stick them in the garden and wait.

Already many of the are shooting up, probably slow because of all the cold weather we've had. And here is how my favorite hanging basket looked last year (and for the last several years). I got these bulbs at Antonelli's also but I've found some very good bulbs at local nurseries too.

Mine have been a bit slow to take off too. I just shared these photos with Butch and Kell but guess I'll put them here too. These all have tub. begonias planted about an inch down. Couldn't help sticking an Escargot in one.

All of the tub. baskets that wintered over in my greenhouse have about an inch of growth now. Here's the one with Escargot.

Hey Kell, can you see the little fernleaf begonia that you gave me, just below the red pholo. Planted it up with variegated glechoma. (which has taken over!)

I brought out the monster Mrs. Fred T. Scripps yesterday. That one is so huge. She's been in my playhouse since you gave it to me and it's in full bud at the moment. Woo hoo!

Thanks for the great advice.


One other question... I recently built a raised brick planter in my front yard. It's a beautiful unit that just cries out for some colorful flowers. I filled them with a mixture of potting soil, compost and a little manure. Problem is it only gets sun from early morning until about 11:00 or so. It's pretty intense up to that point since it also reflects off the house. We put in tulips this spring and they do well but of course there just about finished. We've also tried impatiens and they do bloom but the plants don't seem to really take off and fill the planter.

I was thinking of trying out some non-stop begonias since the blooms are self supporting. I've read they are somewhat burn resistant but can they prosper with only 3-4 hrs or so of morning sun?

I was thinking we could remove the tubers in the fall, plant the tulip bulbs in late winter and when they are spent plant the begonia tubers. I suppose we could start the begonias in pots to get them going if we wanted to reduce the down time between tulips and begonias.


Thanks

I received some top quality tubers from eflowergarden this year.They all had multiple eyes.I put them in some damp sawdust with some mix that I use for seed sprouting and seedling.It's called metro mix.After being in this mix for about a month they all have small leaves.I potted 2 up in up side down Aussie pots.Some of the tubers are so big that they don't fit in the openings off the pots.

In another few weeks when the leaves are bigger I will tuck the rest of the tubers into some huge pots that are permanant on my deck.I have been doing this for a few years with alot of success.I always bought small tubers and saved some but now that I have these big ones I will lift them and keep them inside for the winter.

eflowergarden has great bulbs and tubers for very reasonable prices.

Nancy

Thanks,

I ended up taking the safe route since I'm a beginner and started them in trays with a well draining mix. Temp has been going down to 50F or so at night so I bring them in the garage and put a couple of desk lamps on them. About half of them have 1/2" sprouts now.

Most of mine are hanging basket type begonias and I noticed that Mike Stevens seems to say that for these types he goes straight to a hanging basket. He doesn't say why he does this for the hanging and not the standards but I'm guessing it's because he uses the wire type baskets which drain/dry out very easily.

I'm also not totally clear on whether to get a good hanging basket if you need multiple eyes. So far I see a maximum of 2 eyes but perhaps some eyes are earlier than others?