3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias

Thank you jroot--I did a double check on the bulbs and they seem firm. Except one of them looks more like a chopped onion on one side. Did I break it digging it up? I'll tell you one thing, I don't know what happens down under but they don't look the same from what I planted in May. Now 40 degrees will be the cue on when to replant them next spring? I may buy some more bulbs. I just want to be conservative with costs on gardening. With a new vegetable garden, I can see how costs escallate on these things. I worked with seedlings and buying flats is so much easier but 10 times the cost.

Good luck Linnea56. I think you may wind up with a white holiday. My husband is from Chicago. I love the Sears tower.

Wow...nice pics and tubers. Please if anyone has extras, don't compost it, I'll be more than happy to take them off ya

Cheers

You are very right!! Last night I went into the garage and startled some of my nasty problem. I saw a couple field mice running out as I turned on the light. I'm going to set some traps to try to catch them but we live near the Ohio River and I'm sure there are lots more of them. Should I do anything to the tubers? Mine looks a lot like what you have in your picture. How do I keep the mice out? It's going to be very hard figuring I don't know how they are getting in. What should I do with the tubers to keep them safe? Could I store them in plastic food containers you think or would they not survive in them? I know mice can eat through almost anything and I'm scared for my beautiful flowers because the boxes I have them in aren't doing a good job keeping them out...

Thank you!
Heather

Traps or some sort of rodent control device would be good. The colder it gets, the more tempting your garage will become. I like the Rat Zapper as it seems more humane and less dangerous for my valuable fingers than those blasted traps!

What do you with your dahlias: I'd decide what is too chewed to save and cut off or discard those. If anything is lightly chewed, and you really want to try and save it, you could
1) Spray the chewed zone with Lysol. I don't think rodents like the pungent smell. Let it and the tissue dry.
2) Decide if you want to use sulfur or other bulb dust prior to storage and apply it. I don't think mice like it either.
3) Store in bags or boxes of vermiculite, or try the Saran wrap method. (Google "no fuss dahlias") Just do a search of "storing dahlia tubers" and you'll come up with 100 different practices and endorsements of each method.

I use styrofoam coolers for tuber protection from mice as well as frost if our power fails. They work well and are really inexpensive or free. Another idea I saw and liked was drilling a series of air holes in a rubbermaid type bin with lid to allow air flow, but no mouse passage. Nice.

I like vermiculite because it is non-drying like peatmoss has been for many, it absorbs excess moisture put off by the tubers, it's inexpensive. Others use wood shavings or even layers of newsprint. You just have to experiment with what works in your area; just keep them from freezing and you've got a good chance you'll save them over winter.

I harvested my (few) dahlias just before freezing here in Maryland. The Husband was working on the basement stairs and I couldn't get down there. So I put my dahlias in the veg drawer in the refrigerator - CLEARLY LABELED! Well, you guessed it - The Husband asked me how to "fix" dahlias. He was ready to eat them. I should add that this is the man I have to take by the hand to show him the 20 foot lilac bush right in the front yard!

Florrie

florrie2, tell your husband that your Dahlias need 10 days in Hawaii so they will do good next year.

I think I saw some "green thing" oddities at the Snohomish Co. show a couple years ago, Cory. Perhaps at the National Show earlier than that down in Seatac. They were not unattractive: just flowerless.

Cheese sauce! Perfect. I may save the tubers and consider the progeny a source of vitamin A, Granny. They had really great stems too LOL.

It was probably at the ADS show. I think Angus Hunter took some there that year. All the big-wigs were appalled & all the cool, funky people went-- "WOW-- what's THAT!!"
That was the same year we entered it on the ADS bench in Vancouver just for fun. We got the first & last DO-NOT Award-- the judges there had a sense of humor & hung a do-nut on it. (Someone stole our do-nut the next morning!)

Nice work. It makes the long winter a little shorter.

Unfortunately Viking, gravity always works and I would be found in some condition, somewhere, with a big grin on my face! The intrigue of the greenhouse also beckons: not so dangerous in there, I don't think.

I grow Miss Rose Flectcher,if you look at my garden shots you will see her right next to Sunny. I got 6 months of blooms out of her.

Miss Rose Fletcher! I still have it too, Viking. Lovely pastel pink. It amazes me that a variety can stick around and be enjoyed so many, many years later.

Unfortunately for me, mine may have rotted because like linnea56 up there, ANOTHER THING x INFINITY (almost) has happened along with my forgetfulness and they're still sitting on my (enclosed) back porch in the pots they grew in. I'm really afraid of what I'm going to find! Even more, I'm afraid of what may have decided to wander in and feast on them!

Is there a chaaaaance, they may be okay? anyone?

I don't recall seeing any very threatening temps in Chicago yet this year, unless I missed them. Being in an enclosed porch, in soil, I would guess there is a very good chance your tubers are fine and waiting for you to dig in.
You'll never know until you look.

I have something that is eating my Dahlias as well! This is during the day. It's blackish, crawls/walks slowly, but can fly pretty fast and makes a loud buzzing (flying) sound when it flies.

There were about 4-5 of them on one of my plants and insecticide doesn't seem to faze them at ALL... ARG! They have eaten so much into my plants that the limbs are breaking in addition to them simply eating the leaves.

I had erewigs also that were eating my flowers.

Then once I got that under control the Japanese beetles came to eat on the buffet as well. I sprayed them with my soap and water solution but then the bloom would turn brown. So, on go the gardening gloves so I could squish them.....I hate squishing them but I love the flowers more. LOL.

That's called the mother tuber. It'll grow just like the new ones but it's better to keep it stored apart from the others because it's more likely to rot & if it's not in with the others it won't make them rot.

Oh Great, I have them all put away and the Mother tuber is with them!

Thanks jroot...the winters here in Tualatin, OR are quite mild. If we get any snow, it won't stick :( This will be my first winter with anything delicate...I will err on the side of caution. Probably bring her in when I here reports of frost coming.

That is a beauty! Wouldn't risk losing that one.

What is that pink peach flower at the bottom?

That is an azalea, a florist azalea that most people throw out after it's bloomed (not the hardy outdoor type). Perhaps not as floriferous as when "new", but in late fall, early winter, any and all blooms are welcome in the house. It spends the summer outside, and just before frost, it comes in, and by this time, buds are already developing.

A beautifull arrangement. All the fall colors. I am now pouring over pictures trying to decide what to get for next year even though I have saved all my tubers. I am just so afraid they won't make it and than what would I do?

PDShop check you tubers ever month, they willmake it.

Woodygardener, I took the liberty of saving your photo and marking it up too. I agree wholeheartedly with Jroot on his markings. Most people don't save the 'old (mother) tubers' from the past season, unless desperate to save the variety.

I think I see a couple obvious eyes: the largest on tuber 1, and the darkest point on the photo above it on the stem, which has no tuber yet, but, if left to grow, would likely spawn one. Doesn't do you any good now, but if it had a tuber with an eye, it would be salvagable and they grow just like other tubers, the next year. I'll post a shot of stem tubers below, but here is what I can see from the photo posted. Some really close up shots of questionable eyes/tubers would be easier to see or at least fathom a guess. If in doubt, save the clump whole after trimming, or hack it into approximate halves or quarters and remove 'junk' before storing. Then mother nature will help you divide in spring.

Your clump:

Green lines are where I'd cut/trim.

an example of stem tubers seen 1-2-3 high up above the main clump/tubers below. Bet you can see obvious eyes on tuber number 4, right of the stem tubers.

Many thanks to you both jroot & poochella. Your picture markups are greatly appreciated!! We will do our best to follow you tips.