Video on winter care for dahlias

I'm still reeling from it:
http://video.about.com/landscaping/Dahlias-Care.htm

Please, someone from the Northwest, tell me if this is reality or a nightmare!

I've never seen dahlias treated this way and I'm sitting here in a state of shock.

Not in the Northwest, but I have to say I cringed at her tuber separation method. Just yank 'em apart - why didn't I think of that? :)

That was the part that shocked me, Tod.

I'd like to know where she lives in the NW! Must be Dreamland, WA. I needed TUMS watching this video. Such callous disregard for tuber necks when yanking them about. Calling them "bulbs!" Here, if I can break the stalk of a tuber clump, it is considered an inferior, weak plant which would be discarded. PVC cutters or sharp pruning shears are more the order for cutting stalks. If I covered a bed with a tarp here I could expect some really flooded peripheries of that tarp after feet of rainfall all winter. I've also read seasoned advice to remove all dahlia debris from your bed each year to discourage disease, not mulch with it, even if it is on a tarp.

About.com dahlia girl gets my Bad Press Award for 2009! LOL- as if that matters.

I'm scared to look. I'm not going to. There are no nite lights in hotel rooms :(

I felt it was a total disgrace to dahlias and to those of us who love dahlias. I also felt insulted to think we're supposed to believe what she said!

They could have done a MUCH better job but it makes me wonder who reviewed it and allowed it to be presented - obviously not a dahlia person!

It does serve a purpose: don't even believe what you see until you investigate it.

I saw this and I was appalled. The other thing that appalls me is that about.com is carrying this. I have gone to about.com from time to time on various things and I won't anymore. What credibility they had with me previously is now gone....

carolynn, am looking for vidio.on christmas cactus?on here.have you seen any?

Dori: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1065246/

dnut...Initially I didn't look, but curiosity got the best of me, so I watched it. Stick with your gut feeling to be very afraid. Everyone else covered my sentiments after viewing it...Dahlia Girl needs to go to Dahlia Care Reform School. Looks like she takes out a lot of aggressions on those poor defenseless tubers...

Hee hee Reform School! Good to see you out of hibernation C'moose.

Dnut how long of an excursion to the SW are you undertaking? Safe travels!

Well, I will admit that I use the dahlia stalks/stems to mulch with in my garden beds. Have for years and haven't had any diseases or problems.

I break up the stalks/stems, put a bed of leaves mulch on top of the tubers and then use the broken stalks/stems on top so the leaves don't blow away.
Then if I have extra stalks/stems, I use them to mulch other types of perennials. I just consider it green material for mulching.

I don't think a tarp would keep water from getting into the beds around the edges anyways. Unless they are raised beds. So am not sure what the point of the tarps are. Especially here in the NW with all our rain.

After this last year of dividing so many dahlia tubers in the spring, I realize that tubers are very hardy really. I threw many tubers away that never eyed up but they still did in their compost piles in the garden. I was very surprised. Some varieties are better tuber makers than others but they sure were hardy.

I just consider that video of the gal being sloppy or careless, more than anything really.

Pooch we're looking for a snowbird place in the SW where I will grow winter dahlias ^_^ Back home on Thurs.

Carol/ruffles, How are you and Albany's cutest pup?
If mulching with them works for you, there's no sense changing now. You're so lucky to be able to leave the dahlias in the ground. I finished putting my last ones away 3 days before Christmas and don't intend to ever go that late again. What a mess!

You remind me of the year long ago when I really needed 'green' for my compost layers and thought it would be super to chip and shred all those dahlia stalks/leaves for that use. Might as well have used a Cuisinart. Can you imagine the bag of green goo that came out of the shredder with all that moist material? Ewww. I toss mine behind the barn or deep in the woods, but the stalks don't break down very fast.

Dnut, It will be wonderful for you to have a warm place to escape the winter ravages and grow off-season dahlias etc. Happy hunting!

I use some for mulch and other I throw in the compost stalks and all and clean out the stalks when I harvest the compost.

I'd have imagined they'd present the film to a dahlia expert for review before putting it on the web but obviously I'm wrong.

Hi Annie, me and Button boy are still alive here in OR. LOL

The big stalks of the dahlias don't break down very quickly. That is why I break them up into small pieces to speed up that process. It works much better.
But I have noticed this year for some reason, the stems are decomposting much faster. Is weird since it has been so cold so maybe the freezing and thawing helps that process?

I just hate to waste any possible mulching/composting material so I use everything I can get my hands on.

Glad to hear you two are still treading on all 6 feet! Got any updated Button photos?

I hate to waste potential compost material too. One year I was so desperate for "brown" to layer in the compost, I was out under every deciduous tree scooping up leftover leaves in July like it was the biggest Easter egg hunt ever. Each leaf was like a treasure! Reminds me I need to work on the compost piles- never ending tasks.

The compost bins here all must be frozen. We've been in the single digits.

I guess when you go hunting for leaves under neighbor's shrubs then you might be questioned but with the beauty you share I doubt they'd mind.

Sure, Annie, here is Button as a tree ornament! LOL

And Button's favorite tree! LOL
We were at a dog park in Corvallis and it was in the 20's. So he had several coats on but still had a hey day playing with the other dogs.

I know what you mean about every precious leaf. I was like that this year since I couldn't afford any mulch, so I went around the neighborhood asking for their leaves. Got several pickup loads full.

Pooch I bag up leaves from my winter mulch layers in the spring and save them for brown layers in the fall.

Button's a regular arborist and a fashion hound! How did you get him balanced up in that tree???? He sure is a cutie.

Dnut, good recycling of the mulch! I try to bag up as many leaves as I can when they drop in autumn-before they get too soggy- and then shred them when I have tons of grass in spring and summer. Then they go to mulching dahlias or into compost piles, if I can save them from Mr. Poochella hauling them off 'by mistake' to the dump.