JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
"jellyfish" wrote in message
...
JoeSpareBedroom Wrote:
"jellyfish" wrote in message
...-
hi there, have planted some dahlia bulbs this year and they have
sprouted and come up and ive been told i need to lift them for the
winter but i dont really want to if i dont what are the repercussions
of this? and if i have to what is the best way of over-wintering them
jellyfish-
If you're in a climate where the ground freezes, it's likely your
dahlia
tubers will turn to pudding under the ground if you don't lift them. If
they're planted near a foundation or other structure where you notice
snow
melting due to the retained heat of that structure, you MIGHT get lucky
and
the plants will survive.
It's easy to think "Oh well, they were cheap. No big deal if they die.
I'll
buy more." But, it IS a big deal. If they're the dahlias that grow 4-5
feet
high and make really big flowers, those tubers improve over the years
and
produce even better.
Yup. Yup. Yup. And you might never find the variety you loved again. It
happened to me. I had a fabulous hot pink cactus dahia, which inadvertently got
frozen and turned to mush. I have never seen another one like it. Odd thing is,
I got it at Home Depot about 10 years ago. You'd think it would still be around
somewhere ... but nooooooo.
And, you can divide them and have an endless
supply of
new tubers to foist upon unsuspecting gardener friends, or total
strangers.
It's worth taking good care of them.
I had a huge compound tuber of another Dahlia. It put out flowers that ranged
all the way from lavender to dark violet/purple with white. It was prolific and
a very strong grower. It was bigger than a football. I stored it in one piece
each winter because I found that if I broke up the tubers to store them, the
smaller ones dried out completely. I'm in zone 6, but the effective winter can
last as long as 9 months as far as Dahlias are concerned. Unfortunately this
one got inadvertently frozen also, and I haven't been able to find it either.
thanks for the advice..what would be the best way to store them?
jellyfish
Get some shredded peat moss from a real garden center. Get some Hefty jumbo
size freezer bags. Hose the soil off the dahlia roots with a hard spray. Let
them dry for a couple of days. Put the dahlia roots in the bag, fill with
peat moss. Add a tablespoon of water, or a few shots from a mist bottle. If
the peat moss was already damp when you bought it, you can ignore the water
step. Close the zipper MOST of the way, and store in a cool place, like a
corner of the basement.
That's how I store my smaller bulbs and tubers, except that I use those
perforated ziplock vegetable bags, which I then place inside large paper bags,
and fold shut. For years I've stored the huge tubers in peat moss in doubled
paper bags. That works too. This year I'm trying vermiculite and large paper
bags. I nested the biggies in the vermiculite, dusted them with garden sulfur,
and then covered them with more vermiculite. I think it'll work too.
Mark your calendar so you remember to check them every month until spring.
If they seem to be getting soft, add just a little water - a couple of
tablespoons, and zip up the bag.
I've never done this. It's too much of a chore to get to where I stash them for
the winter. You are more vigilant in this regard than I am.