Dalhlias - winter care
I bought some dahlias this year and planted them in pots. Do I need to take them out of the pots over the winter?
If I leave them in the pots, they could go into the greenhouse (can't guarantee frost-free, but could wrap them in bubble wrap). Is it ok to leave them to dry out?
Thanks!!
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what about dahlias that do not have tubers? what do you do with them over the winter, i have a Dahlia x hybrida 'gallery la tour' i've dug it up and taken cuttings of the good bits that the slugs and snails haven't got to and it is now in a pot in the small plastic greenhouse, it doesn't have tubers just roots.
Thanks for clearly describing your routine with dahlia tubers Hazel. I have had some colourful dahlia tubers flowering in the garden this year and will try to following your detailed description of overwintering them. Do you have to keep the dahlia clump of tubers joined together or will it produce more flowers if they are taken apart?
You can split the tubers but each bit MUST have a bud. It's easier to see in the spring when the new growth starts. I take mine out of pots for the winter as I can check the tubers for Vine weevil grubs that love dahlia tubers and will eat them
We bought some dahlia tubers early last Spring. Most of them were in "clumps" and have flowered well, but one clump had broken up and we put all these broken individual tubers in one pot. There was plenty of greenery as these grew but no flowers, which makes me a bit weary of disturbing the flowering tubers in case they break off and consequently don't flower.
Has anyone experience of growing Dahlias from seed? I have just sown and now they have germinated tiny seedlings. Do I just treat them like any other seed - i.e. pot them on when they have 4 small leaves and over winter in the cold GH?
Do you think they prefer to be in the dark, particularly?
Having dried them off well, wrap the tubers in plenty of newspaper, put them in plastic boxes without lids and store them in a garage, shed, outhouse,loft or cellar, they will be fine. Carefully split them with a sharp knife in the spring when they start to produce shoots in the spring, discarding any damaged or rotted tubers. I have even used a saw to split them if they are very big, Good luck.
That's the story of my life Verdun - however I waited in the hope of a reply and you have come to my rescue with some sound advice.
I think I may have made the mistake of nipping the tops off my tiny dahlia seedlings as I thought that it would help them to bush out - but their response was to do nothing - in fact they seem to have stopped growing. I will sow another few seeds this week and hope that they germinate before it becomes too cold.