Do deer eat dahlias? YES! and so do chipmunks eat dahlia tubers. I got rid of my chipmunk family by trapping them and I don't have those limp plants anymore. That is the only way I found to get rid of them. Mothballs won't cut it.

You can also plant your tubers in pots in the ground and that will keep them away from the tubers. Dahlias grown this way will grow just as well as out of the pot and the bloom will be just as good. The clump will be more difficult to divide as all of the tubers will be compacted.

There are at least two dahlias that must be grown in pots everytime you plant them as they won't make tubers and you want them to be compact. They are Camano Cloud BB-SC-PK and Madam De Rosa B-C-Y. They both grow very well in pots.

FWIW, all of my Dahlias are being grown in 4" pots. My pictures attest to how well this works. I too have noticed a few holes near my Dahlias, but none of those Dahlias have suffered...guess the little buggers got to the plastic and moved on to someone else's beds...;-]

Cheers,
Russ

Wow! I have never had this. That is going to be one lot of shoveling if I have to put them all in pots. I also have voles. I guess I have been lucky the first few years. They have moved on to the one behind the first. Darn things are 5 feet high and I have not seen the buds open yet. We have had some 50 degree nights. I am worried about alot of my buds.