Dahlia Tips and Tricks

I was tired of seeing no new posts and it dawned on me to start a place for any useful hints as the season draws to a close. If you know anything dahlia related that might be helpful please share!

My big tip used 3 times yesterday is to keep beverage straws on hand to act as splints for those stems that invariably bend in the wind, break in the bucket, or vase. You have to trim off the leaf nodes or cut the stem back to a diameter that will allow the straw to slip over, of course, but it has saved many a bloom for me.

There are wider diameter straws at places like "jamba juice" or Slurpees and such at 7 11.

Have your cat check for earwigs- they are excellent hunters. If you don't have a cat, get one.

My most productive tip is to have Poochella as a buddy. If she doesn't know, she'll find out, if she can't find out-it doesn't matter.

Love the cat photo. Too funny. Snickers will not let me to have a pet cat.

2nd tip, make sure DH wears his hat when cutting down trees, just in case there are any cranky ground bees in the vicinity.

In order to have enough stakes for your dahlias, plant tomatos for Husband. Over estimate the amount of tomatoes one is going to grow. Whoops,.too many stakes, might as well use them for the dahlias. .... No honey, I didn't buy more tubers, Poochella sent them to me. See tip #1.

What is the best way to store dahlia tubers?
I have many diferent named hydrangea paniculatas to trade for dahila tubers.

Gary

Hey Gary, haven't seen you here before. How's the Sunrise Side.???

The Colorado Dahlia website will give you details directions on how to dig,& store your tubers. But, I'll tell how I do it, if your're interested. Only lost 2 tubers last year.

I will also trade tubers with ya.

How 'bout some more tips from the others ??

Please, Granny, how do you do it ? I'm growing dahlias for the first time and some seem to be dying down already. Doris

ps, glad to see you, Poochella!

Hey DJM! Another familiar face. How are you? More importantly did I promise you any dahlia tubers? LOL

Dying down is okay, the season is drawing to a close. There is no greater hideousness than going to bed one night with a beautiful dahlia bed and waking up after a hard freeze to corn stalks with frozen spinach leaves dangling and colorless frozen blooms you scarecely recognize as a dahlia. It is gutwrenching. But it is also nature's way of putting the season to a halt; it's either going to happen slowly as in dying down, or overnight.

I'll let Granny tell her storage secrets, but after listening to her last year, and having a great winter myself, I am sold on the 'no fuss' Saran Wrap method, although it seemed like a lot of fuss last year sitting at my table hour after hour, day after day. The rewards are great.

Since I cannot figure out how to post this as a hyperlink; google this :

No Fuss: Store Your Tubers in Plastic Wrap

It should take you to the pages that explain the saran/plastic wrap method. Plus a whole lot more that were interesting to me at least. LOL

That accomplished, some lessons I learned in the process.

1. Whack off the plant at the main stems, cover the hollow stem(s) with aluminum foill so water doesn't get in there. Wait a couple days. If it is hard to see they eyes when you first dig, wait a few more days before you dig some more. This I learned by accident. LOL The eyes seemed to show up much better.
Use a SHARP knife. Try to do this on a sunny, dry day. It's much more pleasant.

2. For me, it was easier to dig one cultivar/variety clump at a time, clean, sort, label and wrap. It pays to use caution when digging, Tubers that are gored or broken do not keep. Thin necked ones are a pain the . . . and are tough to handle without damaging them.


3.. Label as you dig.
Label as you clean and sort.
Label as you wrap and store.
In other words, Label. I used a permanent magic marker on the tuber itself, plus on the tape that I wrapped 'em in. You are NOT going to remember who is who. Trust me on this............




4. We have the luxury of a deck around the house where I could do the cleaning and sorting, so the mess pretty much stayed outside. Plus, then I could lay them on top of the railing to cure a bit in the sun. And also, Snickers (our dog) couldn't help me by carrying them off. They need to be thoroughly dry and the cuts 'scabbed' over before storage.

5. There are various studies that suggest that corn meal is a good anti-fungal. I used it as an extender instead of perlite or vermiculite with the elemental powdered supher, that you dust the clean & dry tubers in. The sulpher is available at your local pharmacy, ask at the Pharmacy counter. Use latex gloves, this stuff is an irritant.

6. The cured, dusted & wrapped tubers are stored in a styro container with a tight fitting lid. They spend the winter in the closet of a bedroom that we keep the heat waaaay down until we have company. We don't have a basement or root cellar. In a pinch, I've kept a couple of wrapped tubers in the veggie drawer of the fridge. I've also farmed them out to friends who do have cellars. Which works great until their furnace breaks down in the middle of the winter. My styro containers also came from a local pharmacy--free--some types of drugs are shipped to them in styro coolers.

This sure sounds like a huge job. It truly isn't. And worth every minute of effort next year. BUT, I don't have hundreds and hundreds of dahlias like some of the others. Not yet !

Thank you Granny. I am going to that website now. it sounds terribly difficult, but I am determined.
Yes Poochella, you did give me coupons. When should I send them to you? Later?
If you guys say the saran wrap method is easy, then thats what I will do. Do they need to be in a heated place (basement)? Or would the garage be better ?
First I have to copy all your lessons and then check the website. Thanks, both of you!!!

Tubers need to be stored in a cool place, they turn to ickly, slicky goo when frozen. Think banana, plus a smell. Then there is all the weeping, chest thumping, keening & wailing.
I think that web site will give you the ideal storage temps. Poochella does something with a heating unit, I think.
The whole process isn't hard at all, it just takes time.

Djm, roger on the coupons ( given as a gift in a birthday swap, in case you're wondering.) Djm I will email you a link to my photo albums and you can make your wish list choices from that. No need to send me anything. Then, when I see how winter tuber storage goes I will do my best to match your wishes.

First I have to wait for frost or close to it, and follow Granny's excellent advice. I am also sold on Saran wrap and styrofoam coolers. You will have to protect from freezing back there in chilly IL.

Nice to see you here!

When I went to the Whatcom County Dahlia Show in Bellingham Wa a few weeks ago I talked to a friend of mine who shows and judges dahlias. She recommended outlining the 'bump' of the eyes with a marking pen after you dig. She said that way it is much easier to tell where the eyes are as you are cutting the tubers up. Sounds like a good idea to me. (I need all the help I can get. LOL)

I have always stored the whole clump in damp peat moss in my garage and then divided them in spring because it was easier to find the eye. This year I am going to try to divide them in the fall if I can tell where the eyes are....I really don't have enough room to store the entire thing anymore and I would like to be able to do some trades this fall.

I plan to try the Saran Wrap method too. It sounds so simple and compact.

I never keened. I wailed and thumped chests a few times when I lost 95% of my tubers stored in peat moss- they froze. Or maybe it was fungus- what did I know? I knew Pulpy mush. It was heartbreaking, but fun to replace them all.

The electric thing I use is a magnificent little deal called the Thermo Cube: a plug-in regulator of electricity to a heating unit such as a space heater in your storage area to maintain a temp ideal for tubers of 35-45 degrees. Works like a charm, available at Home Depot. We are subject to freezing temps for a while each winter, but nothing like the prolonged freezes of cooler states. So you plug the space heater set on "low" into the ThermoCube, which plugs into an outlet and it will only send electricity to the heater when the temp hits 35, and it cuts off at 45.

I have heard of people storing in old refrigerators as well, but can't remember what climate that was in. A root cellar or basement room protected from freezing is ideal.

It's very sad to be talking about storage already, but frankly the wet shoes and cold mornings and spiders on webs between plants are making me look forward to the big dig!

My garage stays in the 40's and low 50's all winter. Last winter we were without power for 4 days and the highs were only in the teens but the garage stayed in the 40's. It is partially underground so that helps to regulate it.

The local forecast is calling for possible frost in the suburbs tomorrow night. I hope not. I am really not ready to say goodbye to the dahlias yet. The worst part is that after a killing frost we always get 2 - 3 weeks of balmy beautiful weather. Grrrrr.

No H20, you will be amazed at the space you save. Even while still wrapped in their snug Saran Wrap ( or other brand) cocoons, the tubers will show eyes and sprout come spring and heat and light. I am making myself a sign to post in the tuber storage room: DO NOT UNWRAP TOO EARLY, because wrapped, they are protected from drying out and any little sprouts that have grown in Saran and break off while unwrapping from a bundle of tubers are going to come right back in a few days. The plants want to live.... A little accidental breakage on our parts isn't going to stop them easily.

The thing is, I so badly want to see who made it thru the winter in good shape and to get them going. LOL, next year I will practice patience and will probably have to keen and wail a bit while I do so!

I will just tell you all how I do my tubers.
I use sawdust (free from a cabinet shop) in open cardboard boxes, layer the tubers 1 layer only (tho I did start to stack tubers when running out of space), store above the garage in the loft/attic (my son put a ladder in the ceiling and we use it for storage up there, also the furnace is up there too), and I just look at them ever so often. When it starts to warm up, I do get them down.
I didn't lose any last winter. Actually, I had way too many and just stuck them in the garden everywhere.
But everynes ways are different.
If it were me, I would try all different ways for storing this year to see what works best as an experiment, which I think I will do this year with the saran wrap.

Granny, I like the ideas on circling the eyes tho.

NoH20, I am going to try to divide my tubers this fall too. I don't have room and have many of the tubers being spoken for. Would like to get rid of them in the fall anyways, so I don't have to worry next spring about them plus in case they don't survive.

It will be fun this fall to see what people have to trade!

Carol

This is a little off topic, but does anyone know if you can store canna bulbs using the seran wrapo method?

Susan

Here is the link for the saran wrap method. I'm going to try some this way this year. Don't know why it wouldn't work for other tubers. http://rain.prohosting.com/midahlia/No_Fuss.htm