You're so awesome! I have a few more questions, but put them in a new post so I wouldn't hijack this one.
Thank you!

Great photos Poochella. My dahlias only frosted off last evening. I have removed the tops but thought I'd wait a few days to start digging. In such a dry season I'm curious to see what I will find. At least I have a much better idea of how to divide. Jean

wonderful shots, Poochella. Are you sure you weren't a teacher? You surely are now. Thanks.

Thank you, Poochella. You truly are awesome. I'll mark this page and print it out on my color printer. Thank you.

Poochella, excellent photos that clearly show the eyes where the tuber joins the stalk.

Thank you, glad to be of some help. I dug more clumps today and two more have that pink tone! I know I've seen eyes come out pinkish or purple in Spring, sometimes stems on very dark pink/purple varieties, but this is weird! The outer skin of the washed tubers definitely have a pink cast.

One clump was Jennifer's Wedding, a deep purple flower: pink tinged tubers. The other was Jomanda a nice orange flower: also pink tubers.

Could it be fertilizer or something in the soil? The other clumps are all the more normal parsnip color- yellowy/tan. All dahlias were given equal treatment during the growing season, as far as I recall. Has anyone seen this before?

Our daughter had some really pink tubers this year but not being a dahlia fanatic like her mother & father, she didn't have name tags on them. They could have been either Jennifer's Wedding or Jomanda as she grew both of these this year. In all the dahlias we grow I don't think we've ever had a different colored tuber. We thought it might be her clay soil- but maybe it really is the variety.

Those are wonderful pics. I have many questions also. I am brand new the the dahlia "fever". Please if someone could read my post on cutting and storing, I would greatly appreciate it. And thanks a bunch Poochella, I had no clue what to look for. Wolfeleslie

Regarding "pink tubers" I hit the mother lode today with the digging up of Lil Tiger- a red and white dahlia. The tubers are beyond pink. They are beet colored! I've never seen this in 10+ years. Could barely read my ink pencil on the skins of them. Can sure see the eyes well, though!

Also: any of you who suffer rodent damage: Are these holes visible in the tuber flesh looking like the work of an underground varmint? I've not had this problem before, but have noticed mole hills lately in the area. I have to tutor the moles to eat worms, not tubers!
{{gwi:660183}}

Bites?
{{gwi:660185}}

Moles don't eat tubers or bulbs- they eat insects & worms- but -- they put their runs in there especially for the field mice to use to get at your tubers (I think they charge them a toll for using the runs!) & those little varmints love dahlia tubers & daf. bulbs & lilies & ....

Pooch, I dug JW yesterday and it wasn't pink.

Nice pictures.

Interesting Katykelly. Maybe it's my soil. I would guess about 8-10 of my tuber clumps had a pink tone to them. Mostly purple or pink flowers except Jomanda. Weird.

Plantylady I ought to put up my own toll booths shaped like mouse traps. Thanks for that info. A couple clumps were really gnawed on much worse than in the photo. Luckily, ones I have duplicates or quadruplicates of.

Short and to the point. THANK YOU.

This is just too informational not to bump to 2006

Thank you Poochella

Sue

Pooch, when you cut the tubers do you ever leave some stalk too? I'm having a difficult time getting eyes on all the tubers in the clump. thanks for reposting, great pics.

Pipelakelinda, you have to leave a bit of the 'collar' which is the ridge/bubble formed between the thinner tuber neck and the main stalk/s of the plant. That's usually where they eyes form. I trim off as much extra material as possible: roots, rootlets, stems and stalk so you end up with something that looks like a bulbous parsnip.

Not all tubers will have eyes, you have to ID which tubers have obvious eyes, those that look promising, and duds and save them accordingly. If in doubt and you have room- save them all, but not all will have eyes.

Skinny ones will tend to rot or shrivel hopelessly in storage, but some might it. Skinny necked ones are prone to breakage, but might make it if handled with care.
Fat ones are slow to start up in the spring and can be trimmed off to inspire them to grow.

Here's a shot of where I cut a tuber out of the clump last year. You can see how the cuts were excavated about 3/4" cut at each angle to leave ample collar to support the area with eyes. Once you get a tuber off the clump you can trim up any excess junk and move on to the next one.

Sharp, thin blades are very useful as I find there is a lot of stabbing to get in where you need to cut.
{{gwi:660187}}

Poochella, thanks so very much. I'm a newbie to dahlias (and gardening in general). Your awesome pics will help so much when it's time for me to divide.

Thanks so much Poochella! These pictures have helped me a lot! Looks like you are very skillful with the tubers. The stem should be cut very short? I usually leave a 5" stem.

HELP!!!!! I can't even cut thru the tubers. My Karma dalhias are rock hard. Yes, there are eyes..... but I've tried serated knives,pruners, knives...What is wrong??? Heidi

hi, this is my first year growing dahlias. am glad there is a place like this with such great info. very helpful. i just dug mine up today and i didn't realize that they multiply like that. wonderful. i started with two and know have twelve. very cool. i'm growing one called firebird and it's very pretty. love it. if in the future someone would like to trade even if it's one for one, let me know. i would like to try different types.kelly

HELP!!! I'M SO LOST!!! ok this is a newbie. my first year to plant these and try to save them. my clumps have 20+ tubers coming off them! the frost hit and i ran out and pulled them not knowing different! they are now rinsed an i visited here to see how to divide. have i just ruined these enormous beauties? i have them in the garage and i see little long skinney growth on only a few that remind me of the sprouts when i planted them. however it looks hopeless to get to them.
does anyone have photos of them as the whole clump right out of the ground? i wonder if this is normal because my white one was in a different bed and didnt tuber up like the other bed.
also, when i pulled two called dahliettias they had no tubers??? what is that about? they looked like a mum when they grew, short, round, and very full of blossoms, much smaller then my other ones.
thankyou in advance to anyone who answers this...
blackiris

You're all welcome.
Mingus Alex, I leave enough stem (5-8 inches) to use as a handle for carrying,washing, and turning the clump while I'm working on getting tubers cut off of it. It will eventually become compost when I'm done with it, along with broken, rotted, or eyeless tubers.

Heidi41, some of the tubers are very tightknit and nearly impossible to divide but I've seldom run into any that can't be cut with some sharp object and a little muscle. Be careful! Make sure your blades are well-sharpened. Shorter blades are easier for me to control than long ones. You might want to support the clump on a wadded up towel as a cushion for all the muscle it sounds like you'll need. I've used a screwdriver and hammer to make some intial breaks too. Could help save a neck from breaking.

Blackiris, different dahlias produce different shapes/sizes and numbers of tubers. I know nothing about dahliettas. Below is a clump whose stem was broken off below ground level.(It's a tiny clump as it never got a good chance to grow before getting mowed down by a falling dahlia.) You've already rinsed the tubers- that's step one. Then trim off the rat tail roots and little roots, any broken necks or rotted tubers, most of any stems to get them out of your way. This little clump only had one good tuber off of it, (on the right) the two facing the viewer parallel to the tag are too skinny to save, even though they had obvious shoots/eyes.
{{gwi:660189}}

Here's an older clump given to me, still with dried soil on, but several years without dividing made it quite a task to separate all the stalks/tuber clusters etc. You just have to study it and start and know that some tubers will be broken in the process. I think I ended up with only 4 tubers off of this clump and another one like it.
{{gwi:660191}}

Here are the separate little clumps I eventually untangled from the mass above. Much easier to work with, and another testament to dividing every year or two.
{{gwi:660193}}

It was just guesswork for me to find obvious eyes on this dahlia. It had been out of the ground for a long time. So take a guess and hope for the best. In spring, the heat and light and internal alarm clock will show you if you have got some tubers that will produce growth.
{{gwi:660195}}

Poochella, I agree with an earlier posting, you are a great teacher. Thank you for all of your advice and especially the pictures! I grew dahlias for the first time this year and they were beautiful! I just dug up the tubers and before I started dividing them, luckily, I decided to check for help. Thank goodness I did. I surely would have done very badly. Hopefully with your help I will do better.

Poochella

Wow, this is really helpful. Hopefully in a month or so when frost passes I will dig mine up (had in ground 2 winters and havent divided yet) it will look like one of those clumps so i can divide correctly. I really like my dahlia but dont know what type it is. IT is single, and a light autumn orange color. I love it....

Again, thanks for information and pictures (say a thousand words)

You have frost in the OC? As in Orange County? The world really might be coming to an end....

Thank you for your kind words. I look back at those photos and it looks like I gnawed some of those tubers off the clump LOL!. A little practice and it will be child's play for you.

You will have to dig up your couple-year clumps to see what awaits you. They can get tougher to divide each year in the ground, so hope for the best.

Want to see a comparison between year 1, 2, and 4-5 of the same variety coming out of the ground? Not all varieties will behave this way, but Chimacum Topaz cannot be stopped.
If you dig in the spring, you might very well find well developed sprouts such as these:
One year in the ground
{{gwi:660197}}

Two years in the ground, notice I only let a few stalks go on to grow. There would have been others I broke off from all those tubers fighting to grow.
{{gwi:660199}}

And after several years in the ground, you end up with a complete mess that's very difficult to divide easily.
{{gwi:660201}}

Wow, fast response. Yes, frost here. In fact, our freeze protector went off on our pool several nights, that doenst happen often.

Those pictures.....Now I am scared, lol! I was before actually.

Can you tell me, is the best thing to put on after I cut them sulfer, or are there other things? Also, do I need to wash in bleach water if only drying the cut a bit and putting back in ground?

As well, I am interested in other types, I like the smaller single ones, is there a good source to get them from?

If you are just going to dig them, split up clumps, and replant them, I would think you can just check for any obvious decay, trim it away, and spritz the cut areas with lysol. I like to let the cuts dry before planting; don't know why, it's so darn wet out here in spring it really wouldn't matter.

No idea on the singles. Seeds which are often single flowers are available at many places and are easy to grow. Other vendors have a variety of singles.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bright Garrish and Vulgar!

B and D dahlias has quite a few singles. Look for "S" and "MS" under the form column.

Here is a link that might be useful: Single dahlias

Okay, all you diggers and dividers: I was in a digging lull today so took a couple more photos of eyed tubers and how to divide them. Some from last year: this plant had blown down and the stalk broke off below ground level so the pink shredded tissue is where the stem was and began to rot. The collar material surrounding it is where the eyes will form, or on the underside of the clump.
{{gwi:660203}}

Marked with eyes
{{gwi:660205}}

Marked with where I'd cut. Don't forget to turn the clump upside down to check for eyes associated with tubers on the underside.
{{gwi:660207}}

One or two cuts from left and right to get these two tubers off the clump. A careful slice between eyes and you'll get two tubers off this "V" shaped offspring.
{{gwi:660209}}

Eyes marked in red, where I'd make cutting lines in green, brown spot fungus marked in blue. I'll have to use chemistry to kill that in my soil next year.

{{gwi:660211}}

Notice the stalk is pointing down, so don't forget turn the clump over to get some easily nabbed tubers that may be there.
{{gwi:660213}}

From last year or 06, marked for dividing. This kind of clump is a real gift: tubers usually only take one cut, are widely spaced, eyes bulging.

Happy dividing.

{{gwi:660215}}

Bless your heart, Poochella!
I have absolutely no questions now.
Consider this post "clipped"! :-)
Thank you for your pictures, markings, captions....
I feel like I know everything I need to know about Dahlia tubers! Applause to your efforts...
Linda

Greetings'

Thanks for all the information about dividing the tubers.

It figures the first year I really put a conscious effort into saving tubers over winter, and I end up with dahlia varieties with tubers with eyes that are almost impossible to locate! Great!

Poochella was my first dahlia mentor, and this post back in 2005 is the one that really helped me on my way. Although she is no longer active in the dahlia community, her posts are still searchable in the archive and definitely worth seeking out.