3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
If you cut off the foliage first, just let the clumps sit for a few days. You might even find eyes now, but the conventional wisdom says to let them sit a few days after cutting. If you dug them up with the foliage on, cut it off leaving a stalk 'handle' of about 6-8 inches or more.
A frost is optional- they grow dahlias in warm climates too and manage to keep their tubers regrowing every year.
Good Luck!
Dahlia seed will produce plants that bloom the first year from seed, but don't plant in January. If you are starting in the house or greenhouse, plant in March or April, depending on when you would normally plant the tubers. Most of the seed growers I know start them April 1st. My son direct sows his seed May 1st. They bloom the first year and look just like plants started from tubers. They do not come true from the parent plant. That is how new varieties come about. If you have open centered varieties you grow, most of the seed will be open centered (much easier for bees to gather pollen from the open centered varieities). It takes a lot of plants to come up with a good one worth keeping, but it's a lot of fun to see what you get. Kind of like opening a package at Christmas.
Teresa
I grew seeds from Thompson & Morgan last year and some did well and bloomed a lot. I tried Bishop's Children and Collarette. Frost wiped out most of the tuber-grown dahlias but the seed-grown ones still have flowers on them. They are in a place that gets better airflow though.
Hi Instar--Heck no, go up to the door and ask. What can it hurt. We have over a hundred Amish in our family and I'll bet if they don't know the name of that dahlia I'll bet they would go out of their way to find out. Hey, the worst that can happen you'll get run over by a buggy. Steve in Baltimore County.
I bought my dahlias last spring as flats of annuals. They produced wonderful tubers that I pulled up this week. I only paid flat price (36/$12). This seems SO cheap compared to the stuff you are talking about. Are they something different? They were plants about 12 inches tall, very bushy, soming in about a half dozen colors. They were beautiful. If these ARE the same as other types, why not always buy like this?
The larouse encyclopedie gormet listd dahlia bulbs as edible. That is what started my search for more info. We have dahlias growing unaided in our yard. We don't dig them in the fall, we just let them grow as they will. We have flowers 4 - 5 inches across. The ground covering the tubers is bulged up in some places about 8 - 10 inches. Some of the bulbs break through the surface. Now that every one is convinced that I am torturing flowers I will say this, these dahlias are so happy that I have too many bulbs. So, why not have a few on the table? Could be a winter item that doesn't have to be stored. At least where I live. I would really like to hear somthing more about this.
This is my first time wintering them, too! I am following the advice of this forum.I researched a bit and it seemed the easiest, with best results.(Hope I attached the link to the forum entry correctly!)
Here is a link that might be useful: Dahlia advice-saran wrap method
I am another fibro patient that gardens. Helps keep me sane. I try to pace myself and not overdo. When I over do, I pay dearly for it, and in bed for a few days. I have a lot of dahlias, just for my own pleasure. I used to do the church flower arrangements. I leave my tubers in the ground all year, and dig some up in the spring and seperate. I also am on a special diet for the colon, cutting out the red meat and the grains really helped with the fibro pain.
Darlene
Ah, I see. Thanks for the input regardless! I think the garage will have to do, I'll just be sure to insulate them well and I'll keep a thermometer in the box with them so I can keep an eye on temps.
I actually live in Peaceful Valley, but my brother lives right below Cannon Hill Park. Why do you ask?
alyrics...The saran method is fast. I do not use anything on my tubers before I wrap them. Do a search for no fuss dahlias. You will find all the info you need. The dahlias do not touch. You use a long piece of saran wrap and roll the first one and add the next and roll it. They must not touch each other. I usually put 5 or so in each piece of saran.
I was thinking of seeding with crimson clover in my raised bed and tilling under in the spring for organic material. I plan on leaving my tubers in the ground since this is their first year, keep the inverted tomato cages over them as markers so I won't till them by accident in the spring, and putting mulch directly on top of them for warmth. How does that sound for soil prep?
Yes I have and it works very well if you want to manage cuttings all winter long. If you have one plant or more that is hard to get started in the Spring or certain plants like Camano Cloud and Madam de Rosa that won't make tubers, then cuttings in the fall is very appropriate. Also, if you just want to make sure you have more plants in case of tubers rotting fall cuttings are the way to go. Again, the only difference is having to take care of them all winter.
I would think if they are on a slope they should drain well enough to keep them from rotting. If they are still actively growing and not wilting your tubers should be fine. If they start wilting then your tubers are rotting. You might dig a clump,not your favorite, to see how they look and just pack it back into the ground or go ahead and and clean it up and let it stay in some cool/cold weather for a week or so for it to cure and get hard. Make sure to wrap it in some paper so it won't dry out and keep it out of freezing weather. You can use this technique if you decide to dig them all
We've had several frosts and I've cut down masses of dahlias.. I don't know that I'd wait two weeks (it won't hurt) but you shouldn't need to wait that long. I've cut one day and dug the next and had no problem seeing eyes. Just think and look for 'pimples' on the collar area surrounding the stem. They tend to be light yellow/white or sometimes pinkish, raised swellings on the collar.
The biggest mistake people make is chopping off the tubers at the neck. You really need to stab into the hard collar area to get some tissue behind the eyed-up area.
Eyes marked in blue. Green part is the main stalk of the plant around which the collar with eyes forms.
I want to get it done so will do it this weekend. If I can't see eyes I will just store them whole.