It’s that time of year again! I am in my last week of “good” weather in the garden, so it is time to dig all of my dahlias and get them stored for the winter. In this video I am going to show you 2 ways to store your dahlia tubers. One is a way that I successfully stored mine last year, another is a new way I am trying this year. I am in Zone 5A in NW Iowa.
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15 Comments
Thank you for good sharing ๐
Like 18
My friend, have a good day ๐
Thank you Christina. ๐๐๐๐ฆ๐๐
Thank you for sharing the two storage methods. I will be following the second method. Canโt wait to see which other varieties you are adding for next year.
I worry about the eyes because I had a shipment once from Swan Island where every tuber was small, shrunken and I don't believe had eyes. None of them grew and I have been growing dahlias for 30 years and have never had that happen before or since. I know you like swan island, and that's okay, but I will never buy from them again. Anyway, before you wrapped them, a few of yours looked like the plastic tag might be hanging near the eyes and I would worry that it might rub them or damage them. But, maybe it's just the camera angle, or my bad eyesight. But, once you took the tag off and wrapped them in saran wrap, that was good. ๐ Anyway, all I am saying is that anyone is leaving a tag hanging around the top of the neck, just to be careful of the eyes. ๐
I do a similar method – I use plastic grocery store bags.
Christina, this is an excellent process video. The information is thorough and well-paced. Your audio is clear and you've highlighted important items by offering helpful examples. I am almost ready to give up on these guys but you make this piece, at least, much less daunting, in part because you fill in gaps in my understanding. Thanks for great work. ๐ One more year…maybe!
Hello! Dahlias are not easy to keep. Thank you for your helpful advice. I store in sand., at a temperature of 0 to 6 heat๐๐ป๐ฆ
Hi Christina, great video. I would have thought that you would need to moist the wood so that it keep the moisture in the dahlia. Otherwise the wood will dry out the moisture FROM the Dahlias and thats no good. They will end up rinkley and dried totally out. I know you do that with the perlite ( watch Laura from Garden Answer) she give her perlite lille spray water and watch over time to make sure they are little wet all the storing time.. I assume it is the same with the wood but Im not sure though ๐
I stored my dahlia in wood chips last winter. They dried out until spring๐ and I lost a few. The others were still usable, very wrinkled, though, but I wouldn't store them like that again. I bought vermiculite for this winter. Maybe it's better to check them periodically and see how they stand so you don't have any surprises ๐ฑ๐ฑ in the spring. I will also try the other method you showed us. Thank you so much for your videos! ๐๐๐๐๐
I love watching digging up videos. Thanks for show us the process. I had varying outcomes as well. The plants on the east fence were not very productive and I realised itโs because the soil was sandy, the summer was hot and dry and I didnโt water enough. Now I know for next year I gotta add more compost and water daily. Oh well!
I think you need to lightly moisten the wood shavings a little so it does wick away moisture from the tubers. Iโll be interested to see how this method works. I do Saran and put in a wind cooler.
I was under the impression that they have to be individually cut and wrapped for Saran wrap method. Only because if there are multiple tubers in one wrapping and if one starts to go bad it will infect the other tubers in the clump.
I tried the wood chips last year but in a card board box. All but three lived. They all dried out. So, this year I went back to vermiculite and put them in plastic bags in the fridge. Iโll check them to see how they do. But I donโt have much luck storing them. Great video!
My 8 Cafe Au Lait tubers are all smaller than the others. I am inside the garage today storing mine today. We received 3 inches of rain since yesterday so we are happy to have the 160 or so dug out and ready to store in the basement. Thanks for another enjoyable video.
cardboard box ON concrete is not usually recommended; the concrete pulls moisture out of the box & can cause excessive drying of the tubers; the tubers wrapped in saran wrap may survive. I am concerned about the amount of plastic added to the environment, though. Using vermiculite in the big totes (yes I know, plastic but at least reusable) is a good medium to use.