3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
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 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.
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.
I would like to say thanks for the advice... This is where we are sitting a few weeks later and I am a little more optomistic.
The ones from my mother in law that where dehydrated are looking better. I think about 80% look like they are going to make it. I took the clumps, broke them up a bit, discarded the worst, then soaked the remainder in a sink with a cup of bleach for about 20 min. Then I rinsed them off and soaked them for a couple more hours with some No Damp. After, I patted them dry and packed them in a cardboard box filled with pine shavings. (Same type used for small animal cages). I just checked on them, and some have really rehydrated very nicely, there are no signs of mold or fungus, so I decided to just soak them for a few hours again today and repack them away back into the fridge. Seems that being able to breath but being moist is helping most of them to recover.
The others from Vesseys with really small tubers, I took 2 plants and planted them in two 2 gal pots filled with peat and put them in a south facing window. They seem to be doing really well with some new growth. The rest of the bulbs I prepared for storage similar to what I did with my mother in laws dyhydrated bulbs, only I put them into large ziplocks with wood shavings and up into the unheated attic. I just checked on them and they are doing really well. So... I'll leave them for now.
I think it is going to be a long winter!! Probably check on them every 2 weeks and then pot them up and grow under lights in January... Perhaps blue light?
Usually it's really hot weather that makes them go to center too soon but sometimes it means the cultivar has broken down & is beyond hope. We did have a really weird summer & had a few dahlias that had open centers that had never had them before. We also had a few with hard green centers that had never had them before-- like Zorro! What's with that?? This is usually caused by really hot weather when the buds are forming & cold nights--- dahlias don't care for extremes in temps. esp. all on the same day! By Sept. the green-centered ones had straightened up & redeemed themselves- I think some of it has to do with Farmer Walt out there threatening them with the compost pile :)
The open centered ones got tossed-- they didn't take Farmer Walt seriously & never did get any better. So - out they go-- room for more new ones!
If the ones you had that went to center didn't shape up in Sept. when the weather was not too hot you can take your revenge & leave them un-dug!
Thanks, Cory. Leave them I will. The questionables are still out there swilling in our 6 inches of rain they can just stay there for the next 50 inches. Plenty more dahlias to choose from for their spots in 09.
Farmer Walt walks softly but carries a big pitchfork! Good thing Zorro perked up for you.
The one that made no new tubers was Myrtles Folly and it was puny all year, a new one tho. I dug in the hole but couldn't find any broken off. The brain tuber was huge and bright yellow, filled my hand and I have big hands. It didn't look like your picture. The one that didn't bloom right was supposed to be Sonic Bloom, but looked nothing like the picture.
Now I have another dilema, the tubers I dug from all my new plants are shriveling up. I have sprayed them with water, but they don't plump up. wondering what I did wrong? We had a hard freeze, and I waited a week to dig. The older plants, in the ground for 2 years are nice and plump. I'm baffeled. Any ideas??
They really are gorgeous, aren't they.
If I am ever in Washington, I will have to check them out personally. I will wait though until after they are planted and/or dug and cleaned. I can't imagine all the work that is involved in the winter prep for all these beauties.
Bummer- I guess we're not on the jroute then, are we :) Couldn't get Ellie here in time to dig either- must be doing something wrong! BTW, thanks, Ellie for the heads-up on the new site. Walt's on the downhill side of things now though- only 1 & 1/2 gardens left to go & everything he's dug are all divided & in their winter bins. Tonight he's down in the cold room-- aka "the dungeon" --covering the last 2 day's worth with vermiculite.
...and if you ever are in WA or Vancouver, BC, Jroot, come & see the dahlias-- we're only 45 min south of Vancouver-- 15 minutes south of the border.
I'll defer to Walt then, since he's got a tad more to dig than me. Rain? Yes: 5" in 16 hours was our total, add another 1.5" or so between the night before and morning after. My arms hurt from hauling big sodden slumps of mud. "Shake the dirt off" after digging, my eye. Well worth the effort though.
Yeah, out of the 10 tubers I planted for the first time this year, Hulin's Carnival was first to bloom, and the toughest! It is the 2nd one to have bloomed after being staked back up after the storm, and has definitely earned its spot in the garden next year. It still has a few buds on it, but we got close to freezing a few nights ago, so it might be done. I'm going to dig and divide in a week or so - I want more than one of these next year!
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!