Hi, I'm Jessica Smith, and I'm with Bland's Nursery in West Jordan, Utah, and in today's series we're talking all about bulbs. Right now, we're going to discuss how to dig and store tuberous begonias. Now, tuberous begonias are just an awesome plant for a partial shady to shady location. They've got these big flowers on em', and you can joy, enjoy them throughout the summer. However, it doesn't matter where you live. If you live in a mild climate or a cold climate the tuberous begonia needs to be dug and stored for the winter months, and it needs to be stored indoors. Unlike other bulbs; like your dahlias or your gladiolas and that, you need to actually dig the tuberous begonia while it still has foliage on it. You don't want to wait until it dies down from the top. The way you're going to dig your tuberous begonia is first off, what you're going to do is cut off; about the end part of August, the first part of September, you're actually going to cut back your watering on it, you're not going to fertilize, and you're going to pinch any of your flowers off. At this point, you're going to cut em' down to about five inches or so. In cutting them back what this is going to do is it's going to help rejuvenate all that those nutrients and all that energy back down to that bulb. And what you'll do is after, after about oh, a week or so, and you're going to put this; I'm sorry, in a cool, dry location. Not out in the sun. And you'll know when it's time to actually store the bulb. After your tops have died back, and and they've gotten all crisp and everything, and you can actually remove the dirt easy, the roots'll rub off easily and so will your top growth. This is when you're going to store this bulb. And where you want to store this bulb is down in the basement area. You can even put them in a spare refrigerator. You're going to keep the temperature right around forty five to fifty five degrees. You do not want to freeze them, and you do not want to get them wet, so don't wash the soil off with any water. Let, just rub it off gently. And the way to store it is very similar actually to garlic. With garlic or your tuberous begonia here you're going to put it in a mash bag that's breathable, or even like a a pantyhose, you know or a knee high, and hang it up just like I say, in a dry location. Then, after next spring; after your your last frost has come out, you can go ahead and replant them in a pot or in the ground.
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