My dahlias pretty well spend almost six months in storage with most remaining nice and plumb in mid April "IF" I have managed them properly, the long skinny tuber types can though be more challenging to keep hydrated. Those that have remained potted have always stored the best for me.

Hey @FrozeBudd_z3/4 I too have the best success storing the tuber in a pot of potting soil 👍. But I have never done this ie put it in the cold cellar in September.

I was under the impression - which could well be wrong lol - that they needed to get hit with the frost to go dormant before you dig them up. It this is so, and I do wait, based on this info, it is indeed kind of a pain because it's usually miserable out while you are digging them up lol. But I've always waited. Maybe I should try digging one earlier and seeing how it does.

While I used to have a pot ghetto of more than 200 pots which I overwintered successfully for several years, I've never had luck overwintering potted dahlias. I wish I could because I have about a dozen in pots, but no luck so out of the pots and into storage they go!

:)

Dee

that they needed to get hit with the frost to go dormant before you dig them up.

yes that is the usually stated mantra for putting dahlias to sleep but I can tell you Dee that more often than not I put them away before a frost.

If you were digging it out and storing in sand or such, you could certainly do it now. The only reason for waiting is to allow the top growth to die back and to remove as much moisture from the hollow stem to avoid future rotting at the neck of the tuber. If you were going to store it now, Rouge, it would be worth lifting and allowing the top to dry out on a workbench, then later replanting in almost dry compost mix. Controlling the moisture levels is always a key consideration for overwintering perennials, don't you think?

A good succinct summary post @rosaprimula...thanks.

Maybe I will lift them now, maybe not.

Please note, I haven't grown dahlias since I was a kid. But wow, it seems so early..my asters haven't even started blooming yet. Is it autumn where you live?

I always waited till the foliage was mostly dried before I dug, figuring that gave a good curing/drying time. Of course, often dahlias left alone in the ground will return here.

Is it autumn where you live?

Yes, Kind of. Some of our perennial mums are blooming.

(For sure there are plants still to flower but I just want to get "stuff" done.)

I always waited till the foliage was mostly dried before I dug,

For sure, drying is the key but right now we haven't had rain for several days and there is none forecast for the foreseeable future. It I wait till say...October it will be for sure wetter. Like I said to 'rosa', its probably 50/50 I will do this Fall job now.

rouge you have to remember to let us know how it works out, if you do indeed do it early. I personally wouldn't do it now - I feel like my dahlias have just started blooming lol - but I would be interested to know if it can be done successfully earlier than the cold miserable weather I'm usually out there doing it in!

I have lots of duplicate dahlias from when I grew for my daughter's wedding a couple years back. And one only needs so many of a certain dahlia lol. But I also don't have the heart to NOT dig/store/plant/grow the tubers, and only so many people take them for free lol. And of course they just keep multiplying so hence my many duplicates. So maybe I will try digging one of those a bit earlier and seeing how it fares. Not this early, but maybe end of October, early November before the frost hits it. *IF* I can get around to it, which seems to be my problem with everything in life lately (twin baby granddaughters take up a LOT of time lol!!)

Spring seems soooo far away but we'll have to try to remember to post our results!

:)

Dee

I used to hang around another Dahlia-forum, there were many specialized breeders and cutflower-growers among them,

they dimsissed the frost-before-digging,

a rule of thumb I wrote down was that about 90 days in the ground should be enough to get proper, big enough tubers (apart from soil conditons, feeding etc)

I usually lift them at the beginning of October as I usually have some days off then and cull any virused-looking plants that I notice when digging

I reckon mine are about 120 days in the soil

Thanks for the confirmation @linaria_gw. I often start my dahlias too early in the spring (inside of course). Here is one of them sometime this past April! So technically this one has been growing and developing for probably 5 months at this point ;).

Experience from a very careless and lazy gardener: Mine are dug and tossed into plastic trash bags which I throw into the garage. If it's a warm autumn they begin to re-sprout and I open the bags to let them dry more, if it's cold they just sit dormant. The garage stays cool but never freezes so I guess my point is cool is more important for keeping them dormant but dry helps as well... especially for controlling molds and rot... but not too dry or they die.

As we hadn't had much rain the past week I thought digging up a dahlia or two yesterday might be good as the tubers shouldn't be as wet as they often are this time of year.

The dahlia in question has been overwintered for the past...3 seasons or so. This current year it was probable 4.5 feet tall and robust with many individual stalks/stems coming from the ground.

I am always curious how the below ground tubers will look based on the above ground plant.

Here it is:

(the soil was nice and dry)

I dug mine on the last weekend. We had a long dry spell so I watered them a few days earlier

the soil was good for digging, soft enough, not muddy, it would come off the tubers in crumbs

I splitt my tubers every year and plant single fingers, it takes less space that way, so the tubers are fairly managable,

two days later it poured down with rain, boy was I happy!!

two days later it poured down with rain, boy was I happy!!

Perfect timing eh @linaria_gw!

I MUST get mine dug tomorrow, we're headed for an early and rather very, very nippy arctic outbreak, hope it eases off afterwards to allow the return of decent autumn weather.

I don't have a huge dahlia collection, but the best of the lot being 'Karma Choc' and 'Mr. Optimist'

rouge that's quite the clump! Had it ever been divided? That's not from one tuber, right?

My dahlias are still blooming their heads off, so I still haven't dug any!

:)

Dee

Okay, so, with this thread in mind, I went out this morning and dug up some small, under-performing, non-blooming dahlias, with the intention of experimenting to see if digging early would work (with the understanding that these plants weren't the most robust to begin with). Also I just want to get stuff done too lol.

So I just dug up about 10 plants, and realize I'm not sure how to proceed! Do I cut off the still-living foliage, or let it die on the tuber? Do I just store them as usual or since it's early do I need to let the tubers.... do something, lol? Dry? Go dormant? Not articulating well here but just wondering if regardless of digging time, is it business as usual?

:)

Dee

I always thought Dahlias had to be hit by frost as well. I watch the you tube channel of a woman who lives in the UK who grows flowers, including dahlias, for floristry (Common Farm Flowers) and she digs hers up BEFORE frost, leaves a short stem, shakes off the dirt and dries them upside down for about a week on the floor. She doesn’t wash the tubers off. She then stores them in bins in a cool place and takes cuttings from them the next year. She just did a video on it. I live in mid Northern Ontario and the idea of digging them up before frost really appeals to me…the weather can be so miserable

No need to wait for the frost @Gargamel. I dig them up when it is "best" for me i.e. I try during a relatively dry spell in the Fall.

Had it ever been divided?

@diggerdee zone 6 CT, this particular dahlia has never been divided. It has been so healthy, vigorous and floriferous since I got it a few years ago. I plunked all of what you see in that picture into a large container, filled with potting soil and into the cold cellar it will go.

I don't have a huge dahlia collection, but the best of the lot being 'Karma Choc' and 'Mr. Optimist'

Hey @FrozeBudd_z3/4 I did a quick search on 'Mr. Optimist' and by chance it was listed on the Canadian Tire website of all places!

Thanks rouge, that's really quite the clump! Just curious - do you have any plans to divide it, or will you just keep replanting it as is? Looks a little scary to try to divide but that might just be me. Sigh, if I ever had a blog or a podcast it would be called The Timid Gardener lol.

Speaking of timid, hoping you are still checking back in this thread so maybe you can help me. You say you dig your tubers when it's good for you. So, I ask you my question - what do you do with the still-living foliage? Do you cut it off, let it die...? Oh wait - now that I think of it, you actually pot up all your dahlias, is that right? As opposed to storing them?

I think at this point, I will leave the tubers another day or two and just cut the foliage off and then store as usual. I don't have high hopes but it really has nothing to do with digging early. These just aren't the most robust plants and the tubers are small and few in number. But hey, I have nothing to lose by trying this little experiment!

Thanks, Gargamel, for your input. I appreciate that info!

:)

Dee

Rouge, I'm currently reading Dahlias: Seed to Bloom by Kristine Albrecht (santacruzdahlias) & she says large clumps should be divided because "When those tubers sprout in the spring, they'll produce a swarm of individual shoots that compete for nutrients and sunlight. As the growing season progresses, the resulting tangle of foliage will make an overcrowded plant more prone to powdery mildew. Such a plant will also produce smaller blooms." It's a terrific book and you're welcome to borrow it one day when a shopping trip takes you past my place.

Dee, Erin Benzakein of Floret Flowers has just released a free 3-part video course on dahlias. You have to sign up on her website (https://www.floretflowers.com/) for them, but here is the first in the series. She's a lovely, knowledgeable, passionate woman & a great teacher.

https://workshop.floretflowers.com/2023-dahlias-fall-mini-course-video-1?vgo_ee=dnUIxN8r8IOZFXFVn%2Fc%2BLc91%2BCt2KsGWix2QhKv7OClM%3AZ4Jhf4jbswIA6P%2Falc%2FCfj0zGaGOu4v1

lowville, yes I am familiar with Erin - I love her! I actually want to live on her website lol. It's gorgeous! She has wonderful articles and mini courses. I waver between loving her website and feeling depressed that I can't do that for a living lol! I thought I already saw something on dahlias on her website but if you say it was just released, perhaps I had read something she wrote. I'll check out the video. Thanks!

:)

Dee

she says large clumps should be divided

@lowville5 zone5b/6 ON, Canada thanks for that. I revisit this clump and split it up.....today.

diggerdee zone 6 CT, this morning I received an email from Erin at Floret stating that she has started her own YouTube channel! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL9cgFOzNl37GeDulbEGICA

lowville, as soon as I saw your post I went to open my email and sure enough, there is the email about the YouTube channel!! Yay!... I think lol. Of course my first reaction was excitement, but I am so pressed for time in my life that I can see myself going down the rabbit hole with this one, lol, when I should be doing something else. Still it will be fun. I never watched her show(s) on the Magnolia network because I don't have access, so this will be my poor man's version, I guess! It will be fun!

rouge, good luck with that clump! It seems rather daunting to me! But I suppose even if you lose a few to breakage or cutting at the wrong spot, you will have more than enough for a few nice plants next season!

:)

Dee

LOL, Dee. I will wait for snow to go down that rabbit hole as I, too, will become immersed.

So today I spent several hours with my dahlias. Brought up four large cardboard boxes of stored tubers. I had a bit more loss than usual I think, but I was pretty lazy last fall - or no, I should give myself some credit and say that I was too busy to finish storing them properly. Some were just in paper bags in the basement. Most were in paper bags, folded over and put inside cardboard boxes. Those did a bit betterthan the ones outside the boxes.

Anyway, I came here to this thread to say that I am pleasantly surprised by my little experiment of digging up the tubers early, before frost. Especially because I did it with some of the truly under-performing plants, so I didn't expect much. I'd say I had about a 70% success rate - judging by how the tubers look now - not shriveled, still plump, and most with eyes. Hopefully when I plant these little guys they'll get a bit more robust this year.

Can I just add that I HATE all this stuff that we need to do for dahlias? I hate digging them up, I hate storing them, I *really* hate dividing them. I hate that I have to pot up way too many tubers in spring because they're too advanced to stay in storage but it's too early to plant out. And then I have to try to keep them alive till it's warm enough to plant. And I hate potting stuff up in general. Too expensive, too time-consuming, never have the right sized pots, ugh, just don't like it.

So why do I do it? Because I love dahlias! I grew them in earnest in 2019 for my daughter's wedding arrangements and I've been smitten ever since. So it's definitely worth the work, IMO!

:)

Dee

I agree dee. They are so much work and take up alot of space. I threw out my dahlias at the end of last year (horror of horrors) ….but I only had 2 -lol- and they were rather disappointing and very dull. I had thought that I would ”branch out” and try a new dahlia, but that was a mistake. But I got worried this year because it seems that where I live it is getting more difficult to find dahlias (H. Depot did not have one single pumpkin last year!!!) so as soon as I saw my favourite (Thomas Edison) this year I bought them…just in case they never sell them again. I lay them in a tray and barely cover them with damp potting mix so I can see if they are going to sprout. When they do sprout I cram them into a 1 gal. pot, so they take up less room. I’m going to try your way this Fall and put them in paper bags- thanks for the update!

I agree with you guys ie doing dahlias from year to year isnt my favourite gardening endeavour and so I only do a couple now. And for both, I potted them up before I brought them indoors to the cold cellar.

I brought both up St. Patricks Day and for one, 3 weeks later it showed signs of life and the other it was 4 weeks.

Here are both as of today:

Dee, I totally agree, dahlia culture is a LOT of work! Last night I was shaking my head at the vast quantity of plants I have sitting in the solarium, upon veranda and all the new acquisitions resting on the kitchen table. I've been felling and cleaning up trees and branches and sorting through numerous massive mounds of pots and garden accessories and debris, this gardening stuff never ends and especially so upon such a very large property, it can consume ever last fiber of being! last night, as I tripped over those excessive dahlia pots, I said "enough is enough!" and pulled ten or so containers for removal, the varieties I can live without for not loving enough to keep! Also, giving up my hibiscus collection for always requiring aphid treatment, a few pots of other things are going out as well, a bit of liberation, lol.

this gardening stuff never ends and especially so upon such a very large property, it can consume ever last fiber of being!

I have a way small property but even so I am spending so much time these days doing "gardening stuff". I cant imagine how you @FrozeBudd_z3/4 and others, with large properties, are able to keep up, not only now, but *all* season.

LOL, FB, as I said, yesterday I was going through dividing all my dahlias for several hours. At first, I was like, oh yeah, this one *might* be okay. Maybe it just needs a bit of moisture and some soil to spring back to life. So I'd clean it, and divide it, and snip off the old roots, and carefully put in a layer of potting mix. Fast forward a few hours. By the time I was getting to the last few bags, I was like, nope. This one's done. Dead as a doornail. No way. And just tossing them haha. I had just had enough and didn't care if I had one more white dahlia!

I agree rouge - seems I spend so much time doing gardening stuff. Not that I always mind it, but it just seems like I never catch up with everything that needs to be done!

Gargamel I love Thomas Edison too. An oldie but goodie. Lovely color! I do kind of the same - lay the tubers in a tray of soil to see if they sprout. And then pot them up -ugh, such a pain but well worth it!

:)

Dee

I can relate to these comments! I labeled my tubers with color-coded string last fall then tucked them away for winter storage. Welp, many of the strings rotted, faded, or fell away from the tubers, leaving me with something like an archaeological reconstruction of which types are which.

It would have been no big deal if these were just for my own use, but I had like 50 tubers that I'd promised to various friends and family and I just kept going around in circles with the mysteries of who was who.

But I'm done now! I have ~25 potted up for myself and friends, shipped out about 20 more to family today, and have a handful of others to give away. I made this task so much harder than it needed to be. This fall I will use plastic twist ties that won't fade. My dahlia learning curve is still on the steep part, lol.

Despite that, yep they are still worth it!

Do you water your potted dahlias over the winter Rouge?

No 'Gargamel', once they are in the cold cellar they are on their own.

Well Done, FrozeBudd. Liberation indeed! It is hard to be ruthless, consigning perfectly decent plants to the compost pile...but the opportunities (space) makes the decision much easier. Personally, I fret and stress enough already, without adding plants which have to be given extra care because they are tender, rare, fussy and so on.

I can see vigorous shoots on the potted dahlias - nothing much from those which overwinter in the ground as yet...although any new growth has to survive the gastropod challenge.

Dee, sounds like you were up to your eyeballs and when they began to roll around you said "Enough, is enough of this!" ... :)

Karin, that is the sort of fun I just had with attempting to identify my dahlias. Instead of using a maker to place name directly upon the tubers, most I had written on the stem .... mmmm, well, those old stems of course had dehydrated and badly shriveled that the writing was nearly imperceptible and guess was my only option. Fortunately, I was able to make enough sense to sort out my favorites, sigh! Have decided to maintain only the varieties of compact growth (no staking) or those I just can't live without, such as 'Karma Choc'. This year, I intend to visit a nearby dahlia display garden to see of who might be a new next favorite.

Rosa, yes, despite my expanse of garden space, a bit of a ruthless side assists me to avoid chaos. Doing my bit of rose breeding, I set out rows of seedlings that after given sufficient time of evaluation, most all must go off to the burn pile. The sighs and pleas I receive that others are given over my rejects, I say a firm quick NO, these are discards for reason of underperformance. Same goes with pretty well anything unless it's off in a section of garden that just does not matter, only those of favor receive license to live, lol. Also, if it proves to require a good deal of pampering or is disease prone, its days shall be limited, I can only do so much codding nowadays.

Ah, I'm not usually that ruthless! If I am tired of doing something (dividing 100+ dahlia tubers for example) I get ruthless. Otherwise, I am very ruth lol. I always say I will be ruthless, but it never works out that way unless I start to get sick of something lol.

As far as labeling, I write the name on the outside of the paper bag, and then inside the bag I include some kind of plastic label - a plastic plant stake, or a piece of milk jug (from my wintersowing jugs) with the name written on it in sharpie. Sometimes if it's a new-this-season dahlia, I have the original plastic tag with the name printed on it. So my labeling is pretty decent. Then I use these tags/stakes to put in the pots when I pot them up (and make many more new tags!)

:)

Dee

Many new dahlias arrived by mail, most being of compact growing types not requiring staking. Sad though, those Dutch dahlia harvesting machines really beat the tubers up that most have so very few viable tubers attached, all broken necks. I watched a video and would say they need to dial down the aggressive shaking of those machines!

I did toss out a good number of varieties that haven't overly thrilled me, those I'd pass by with hardly giving a look, real keepers are coveted. Dahlias will be better labeled this autumn ... maybe, lol.