Low Temperature for Begonias: Easy Guide for Beginners about Cold Hardiness.

Okay, so I’ve been messing around with my begonias, trying to figure out the best temperature for them. I heard that they don’t like it too cold, so I wanted to do some experimenting.

First, I gathered my begonias. I have a few different types, some Rex begonias, some cane begonias, you know, the usual. I made sure they were all pretty healthy before I started, didn’t want any already-sick plants messing up my results.

feels like vs actual temperature why different – weather factors explained

Track Table Rock Lake water temperature – know before you go swimming!

Low Temperature for Begonias: Easy Guide for Beginners about Cold Hardiness.

My Experiment Setup

I set up a few different areas in my house:

One spot in my living room, which stays pretty consistently around 70-75°F (21-24°C). This was my “control” group.
Another spot in a cooler room, where I could get the temperature down to about 60-65°F (15-18°C) with a window slightly open.
And my unheated garage, I put a couple of begonia in there, It was winter, so the temperature was around 40-50°F (4-10°C).

I watered them all the same, made sure they had the same kind of light, basically tried to keep everything else consistent except for the temperature.

Watching and Waiting

Then, it was just a matter of watching them. I checked on them every day, took some notes on how they were looking. I was mostly looking for things like:

Leaf color: Were they staying vibrant, or turning yellow/brown?
Leaf droop: Were the leaves perky, or starting to wilt?
New growth: Were they still putting out new leaves, or just sitting there?

Results

The begonias in the living room (70-75°F) were doing great. They looked happy, healthy, and were putting out new growth.

The ones in the cooler room (60-65°F) were doing okay, but not quite as good. There were some new growth slowly.

The begonias out in the garage (40-50°F) did the worst. After just a few days, the leaves started to look really sad – droopy, turning brown at the edges. There were not showing any signs of new growth.

What I Learned

So, from my little experiment, it became pretty clear that begonias really do prefer warmer temperatures. While they might tolerate cooler temperatures for a little while, they definitely thrive in that sweet spot of 70-75°F. I brought the ones from the garage back inside, and they slowly started to recover. Lesson learned!