Dahlias
Lyn Plant-Wells
Posts: 317
in Plants
I have been given a clump of Dahlia tubers (?) which were in flower. The stems have been mostly removed (from a friend moving to a flat.)
What is the best course of action? They had single yellow flowers and very dark purplish green leaves. Thanks - your help is always invaluable! 
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Hazel, your Dahlia will be cut down by the first frosts. If you or your Dahlia are in a sheltered area, by covering the tuber with a deep mulch to protect it through the Winter it may just survive but I am of the same school as Verdun. Dig them up, dry them off and store frost free.
Tee hee Tetley - isn't that just typical!
No Verdun, they are not potted - they are a bunch of tubers about double the size of a large cauliflower* - dug straight out of the ground today, with only a small amount of foliage attached. They were in full flower so seemed a shame to cut the stalks off but apparently the clump was quite large & floppy so not practical to dig them up intact.
The clump has lots of tubers packed together. Can they be divided, if so, when? I have never grown Dahlias but always wanted them.
I don't have a GH - just my brick shed (see photos.) I live on the edge of Bournemouth so not usually very hard Winters. Saying that - frost got my container of Pelargoniums last year - my brother's (in his garden border under a tree) survived ok.
Bit mindful of mice as some seed packets in the shed were nibbled last Winter by something!
I do intend to make a cold frame but haven't done it yet!
* peculiar comparison, I know, but couldn't think of anything more appropriate to give example of size!
Put them upside down in your shed for the winter (and set a mouse trap). You can wrap in newspaper for added insulation
You can propagate from the tubers in the spring by splitting off any tubers that produce shoots when they start to regrow
Last edited: 22 October 2016 07:40:45
Thanks folks. Also for kind comment re shed! (originally outside loo/coal store in the 50s/60s.)
It's just had a new roof (black corrugated fibrous material) and the plastic corrugated removed. It used to get like an oven in summer - much colder now so bang goes drying washing! It's not attached to house and only single skin brick so gets a bit damp. Seeds kept in there went mouldy last year
. New roof prompted me to have a mega clearout/tidy - old door made good worktop!
The other alternative to keeping the tubers in there (re mice - think there are various 'entry' holes) would be my understairs cupboard. It's on an outside wall so quite cool. I'm too mean to have heating on very high!
Presumably the tubers will be easier to separate when they have dried out a bit? Clump is quite tight.