Begonia corms

[laurieuk]

Just getting ready to start my begonias, much later than I would have liked but have no heat of any kind. Some of my corms are over 25 years old.

[laurieuk]

[Jayb]

Wow, they look huge!

[raisedbedted]

Wow, they are huge, I'm pleased to say my B & L tubers are resprouting from last year but are still tiddlers in comparison.

Do you limit the number of shoots, and remove surplus for cuttings?

Which do you think is better, to take basal cuttings or to cut a corm in half?  For shows I have to keep mine in 8" pots.

[Garden Manager]

Which sort are they? I tend to grow trailing types.

I have to say though mine are much younger one or two of mine are bigger than some of yours look.

I planted up some new corms in late Feb without heat in a warm conservatory and they are well grown already. Haven't started my old ones yet, but usually apply some bottom heat until they are growing strongly.

[laurieuk]

Sorry I missed your reply but I prefer to take cuttings rather than cut the tubers. I do not limit the number of shoots and I do cover the corms completely as recommended by Blackmore and Langdon.

Wow, they are huge, I'm pleased to say my B & L tubers are resprouting from last year but are still tiddlers in comparison.

Do you limit the number of shoots, and remove surplus for cuttings?

Which do you think is better, to take basal cuttings or to cut a corm in half?  For shows I have to keep mine in 8" pots.

[Garden Manager]

I have had something of a disaster happen with my tubers. Since last post i got my old tubers out of storage and found all but 5 had either rotted or died and disintegrated in storage. I did have problems with vine weevil last year as lost one or two as a direct result but the remeaining tubers were examines thoroughly for grubs before storing and all seemed well. I did nothing different than normal, the dried tubers were packed in a box of shredded paper and  put on a shelf  in the garage. This method had worked well for both begonias an dahlias in the past even in cold winters. Great shame.

[laurieuk]

I sometimes lose a corm when they seem to go to powder, this is why I used to take a few cuttings to make sure I had spare ones as they are very pricey.