3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
If you want them to stay dormant, 45 degrees is a good temp. In an attic, when the sun comes out it will be way too warm for dahlias. They will sprout. Better to have them inside the house in a cool room than in an area where it gets very hot, even for a short period of time. Tubers can store OK in temps of 55-70F but will sprout a bit in the storage medium well before planting time. Put a remote temperature sensor in the attic and monitor it. They only cost $15.00 or so.
Yeah I have a thermometer lying right beside the boxes of tubers, and since they are right against the door, I can look in and see the temperature at any time. Also, the way the roof is positioned, I dont get any sun hitting it in the winter, because the sun is so low in the sky and neither side of the roof faces the sun.
It's 2:56 PM right now, and the temp in there is 45 degrees F. The temp outside is about 33 degrees. The temp differential is caused by heat from the house getting into the attic from below and from one side(my bedroom).
When do start the clock? when you put them in the ground? when they first poke out of the ground? What if you start them inside? and when do stop the clock? when you notice a first bud? when it starts to open?
Sorry, I just want to be accurate.
^^ I shouldve mentioned the criteria...
Time to bloom is usually measured from the day you first planted the dormant tubers, til the day that the first flower was completely open.
So if you started your tubers indoors, you'd measure time to bloom from the day you planted the dormant tubers inside, to the day the first flower completely opened up.
Round up has no residual effect on the soil and is inactive within days of spraying. You can spray it before you plant dahlias but it must be done in the Spring when weeds are starting to grow. I have sprayed it a week before I tilled and planted dahlias. Weeds do not look very dead at one week but they are definitely goners.
If your goal is just to check for eyes, you can warm them up and check every day. If you see an eye swelling, put that tuber back into cold storage and then plant it later.
Conversely, if you saw an eye when you divided the tubers, you could store them separately from the unknowns. Most people keep tubers with "possible" eyes and many in fact do have eyes.
You can start dahlias any time of the year and many people start them in January in greenhouses or under lights indoors. Their purpose is to take cuttings to increase stock. Some people transplant the cuttings into big pots and when they plant them, they are already blooming.
Hollyhill Spiderwoman is blessed with lots of eyes that you may not see. The tubers are bit small and a bit ugly but save them all and I bet you will find sprouts on many of them in the Spring. Even a small tuber of it will grow well.
Aiming for places where there should be an eye is easy to say to the experienced dahlia grower but is difficult to explain to the beginner. Eyes occur where the tuber attaches to the stalk and if you cut them off of the tuber, the tuber will not sprout no matter how big it is. The eyes are actually in sets of three: a large one in the middle and a small one on each side. Any of the three can sprout but the middle one does so first. If it is lost one of the others takes over.
On tree dahlias the tubers can be three feet long and are difficult to divide. Also,on a tree dahlia there are inter nodes on the stem that can be used in place of tubers. They can be planted and will grow into a full sized plant. This can be done with our dahlias once in a while. For example if you grow a dahlia in a very small pot to make a "pot tuber" the plants will make very small tubers. If you happen to cut off the stem a few inches above the pot, you sometimes leave a leaf node on the stem and it may sprout in the Spring before the eyes on the tubers below it sprout.
Why? Why dig them up every year? Why dig in the fall/winter? Or why dig them at all?
In some climates, you don't have to dig every year. I used to not dig every year and dug in the spring instead, chose a tuber that looked good to put back in the hole and gave the rest away, or planted the extras someplace else. More often than not, when I dug in the spring, there was something I could put in the ground. But about 3 springs ago, I went out to my garden of about 150 plants and all except for maybe 8 of my plants were 100% rotted. There had been an early hard frost followed by rain, rain and more rain. It was spendy to try to replace just my favorite varieties. Further, I was trying to replace favorite varieties long after most of the tuber inventories had been well picked over. That's why I dig every fall now. Come spring, I know what I have, and what I really will feel the need to replace because I've been through my storage boxes and I know what I have and don't have.
Why dig at all? Because the tubers multiply and deplete the soil. Because your flowers will get smaller. Because if you ever do decide to dig, and it's been more than 2 years, digging will be a mess.
I bought 7 dahlia tubers from Dan's Dahlias, a supposedly reputable grower/dealer, and 1/2 of the ones he sent me were not the ones I ordered!
Turns out, they were out of stock on some of their selection, even though it was early in the season, but instead of removing the out of stock choices from the list, he allowed people to order them anyway, then he just sent out less desirable replacement tubers without even an email beforehand.
Then, turns out that half were dead on arrival anyway!
"even though it was early in the season"
What does that mean? Most of the dahlia vendors are very small operations and sell out on some varieties before January 1st. In some years, a particular variety may make very few tubers or worse, rot in storage before it can be shipped. I would email the people at Dan's and give them an opportunity to make things right. Many of the dahlia nurseries have been in business for a very long time and they would not be successful if they did not make things right with the customers.
I wrapped all of mine in newspaper print end rolls. I think the layer of paper helped. My boxes were so stuffed I didn't have any room for bubble wrap, but something to keep them slamming side to side during transit would be a good idea. remember to look at the forecast so the tubers don't freeze in transit.
Keri~
I already have quite a few planted and theres lots of space between them so I was hoping to maybe squeeze some in the open spaces and see how they do. I tried using stakes and then tying the plants loosely to the stake but didn't work to well for me. I tried a couple tomato cages this year that worked pretty good so gonna try that again next yr. I have them mingled in with roses and lilies so I don't plant them in rows but if the cages don't work out I will def use the post and try it that way. Thanks, Judy
