4 days ago I visited our local Menard’s to buy some 6x6 lam. posts, of course in the bargain rack. As I walked into the store, on a rack outside, were bags of the nicest daffodil bulbs, so I found the appropriate manager and offered him a deal for all the spring bulbs he had, over 4000 at $45. I was pleased and he solved a problem. Late spring I did the same with dahlia corms, 4-500 for $10. Here’s my issue, we dug the dahlias after the first frost and every web site has conflicting ways to store them over the winter. How do you store your dahlias for spring replanting?
Chikn,
I have not stored dahlias but I have stored cannas successfully for the past two years.
I dig them up after hard frost, brush off dirt/soil, discard any damaged or any rhizomes that soft to my touch. Then, I put them in a paper bag like the one I get from Trader Joe’s. Fold the top of the bag and put it in my unheated ( dark and cold) basement all winter.
They have kept well until the spring.
I will ask my coworker who has stored dahlias and will let you know.
Thank You
I am interested to see where this goes , I planted some dahlias this spring and have one in particular I would like to save. I am still waiting for a frost to knock them down
I just checked with my co-worker. She said after the frost, she trims the stems of her dahlias down, digs them up, shakes off dirt, put those rhizomes/tubers in a plastic bag (like a 13 gal white trash bag), covers them with peat moss, put them in her unheated basement. However, she puts them near her boiler so they don’t freeze.
She said she has been able to store her dahlias like this for the past five years. She said she has learned it from someone who was very knowledgeable about how to store tender bulbs/rhizomes through the winter.
I have a dahlia bush this year that I want to save. I will follow her method. Hope this helps.
Greetings:
My grandfather grew dahlias for years. So did the great grandfather and also exhibited them at some shows.
We sort of inherited more dahlia tubers than we wanted when I was a boy after my grandfather died. We had them for years until we lost the entire crop in winter storage (kept in neighbors old house as their basement was cool). The neighbor died and his wife went away for months. By the time she got back it was August and the tubers were all dried up.
We used to wait until a hard frost killed the plants. Then we dug up the tubers
before the ground froze. Best to let the soil dry well and then remove from the
clumps of tubers. Then we stored them in wooden boxes that we filled with vermiculite. The key is to keep them cool and make sure the tubers are covered or they will shrivel.
Some would dust the tubers to prevent rot but we never did. Sometimes a few did rot but no problem. Dahlias produce a lot of tubers so if you start with one, soon you have enough to go around the neighborhood!
In spring, the tubers should be divided by cutting them apart from the clump so they are individual. Each tuber should have a piece of the original plant stem on the end. This is where the eyes will develop! Do not cut the tubers up like dividing potatoes!
Plant in spring when warm and frost gone. They take a while to come up so be patient. Usually we would fill in the hole slightly until they sprouted and started growing. Fill the hole up more as they grow as the roots can be quite large and planted fairly deep.
Watch out for stem borers and European corn borers. Both are pests to dahlias during the growing season. The corn borers sure seem to prefer white flowers than the other colors from my experience. The larvae will leave lots of holes in the flowers. Spray if it gets too bad.
Our biggest problem is that modern homes have insulated and heated basements so dahlia tubers do not store so well anymore. The dahlia club in my area has avid members that actually purchase used refrigerators to store their tubers. Although one confided in me that he likes cold beer more than dahlias so sometimes he has to compromise on space.
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