3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
Wow JRoot: great photographic tutorial or demonstration. I sort of shuddered viewing this thinking my kitchen could easily look like that! Do you ever worry about too much moisture being held in or does the light help stave off any fungal attacks, etc?
Bad sign here: I bought an exacto knife. This could be bad for ever getting my house cleaned before planting season. Kitchen table looks alot like last November: covered in tubers, sulphur dust and baggies for the big unpacking.
Me too, Poochella. I purchased my new knife yesterday after work. I shall be watching the sprouts carefully, and cutting out the part with the sprouted eye, and putting that into a nice large pot, already wrapped with newspaper so it is easy to slip out of the pot and put in the ground. It worked well last year.
I don't have any fungal attacks yet, but I check it twice a day. I did have fungal attacks on my castor seed put into a baggie with a damp paper towel. They are toast now, I think. So far, the dahlias look good.
They will indeed dry out if not stored properly. If I were you, I would carefully cut out the particular tuber that has the growth, dust the freshly cut end with a fungicide powder, and pot it up. Put it under lights or in a nice bright window. I am doing that to mine already. You may have to pinch the growth down, but that is okay if you want a lot more flowers on a bushier plant.
The first season that I grew dahlias I only retrieved half of the tubers undamaged. I have mixed beds of roses, perennials and annuals, and they are admittedly crowded. The tubers that I did retrieve did not survive until the following spring. This time round I am planning on either storing them in their pots or plastic wrapping them. I also read someones post on using a transplant shovel. I could also just leave the tubers in the ground and mulch heavily.
How much less tuber production will you get using the pots?
Sharon
I want to try this with a dinner-plate dahlia. The tubers are very large though, its going to have to be a pretty big pot. I don't know how I would find all the tubers in the fall among the perennials so thought this might be the solution.