3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
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!
Want to know more about Over Wintering Dahlias? A lot more? The article below points to some of the best internet sources for information on digging, dividing and storing dahlias.
Here is a link that might be useful: OVER WINTERING DAHLIAS
Mother may be used to doing it the old way with peat moss, which I find dries them out. If you are getting 80 % making it through, that is probably better than "mother's", but I am not mother so I'm therefore not sure what her success rate is.
The only thing I would do other than what you are doing is use a bulb dust ( fungicide ) on them. Then put the tubers in the bags ( loosely wrapped ) into a cardboard box, and place it in a cool place for the winter. Don't let it freeze.
JRoot,
Yes, mom always uses peat moss. LOL.
Thank you for your helpful advice I will use the same method as I did last year.
Put some bulb dust on them and put them in the basement in a dark spot. OH, and I use grocery bags as well to keep them separated.
Thanks Again
The reason you divide dahlia clumps each year- or at the least every other year is because the bigger the clump the less vigor the dahlia plant will have. A plant's mission in life is to reproduce & if it has a great big clump of tubers to live off of it won't try as hard to put out blooms. The stems will get weak & floppy & you'll get way less blooms. You are better off with a nice healthy tuber that puts out one nice fat sturdy stem with many laterals than you are with a spindly plant with a lot of stems that are all weak. Also- the size of the tuber doesn't really matter- a small one puts out just as nice a plant as a huge one does. Look at our photo albums- each one of these plants is grown from a single tuber- notice the vigor & the amount of branching from just one bigger-than-a-broomsitck stalk
Here is a link that might be useful: photos of dahlias
I responded on the gallery page.
Thanks jroot the post from Poochella is the first one we printed out for the details.