Digging Dahlias

Before the actual task of digging your dahlias, there are a

few things to do so you have an easier time next year when
you take them out of winter storage. Go through the garden
and ensure that all your varieties are marked with the
correct variety, adding any pertinent information that could
help you next year (too tall or short heights, favorites). Also
mark extremely good stock, in case you want to take
cuttings to multiply that variety. Throw away any plant that
has a virus, is stunted from a virus or yielded inferior
blooms. You have only a limited number of spots to plant
your dahlias, so dont plant anything questionable. You can
always buy new stock. Be sure NOT to discard unwanted
tubers and dahlia stalks into your compost pile. Send all
dahlia refuse to the curb or to the landfill. Why chance
spreading virus, spider mites or cyclamen mites to your
compost.
Before you take out your shovel, transfer all the tags to the
base of the plants. Look across all the stakes to make sure
all tags have been moved. This will help prevent creating
"no-name" tubers. It might seem to be a sin, but to me a
tuber without a name is worthless.
The next question would be is "When to dig". According to a
recent experiment reported in a handout by Kevin Larkin,
dahlias produce tubers under shorter light conditions. Thus
it would seem that the longer the tubers are in the ground
at the end of the growing season, the more fully developed
they will become. While most people wait until frost to dig,
some cant, due to the large number of plants they must
dig. Small growers should seriously consider letting their

dahlia roots continue to grow and mature as long as

practical.
When you have decided when you will dig your tubers, cut
the stalks about a few days to a week before digging. This
will enable the tuber to start developing eyes in the ground
and will help you later when you divide the clumps into
individual tubers. Leave about 4 to 6 inches of stalk above
the ground to make handling easier when you dig the tuber.
If the stalk is open at the top, cover it with aluminum foil, so
water cannot get in and promote rot.
Dig and handle the tuber clumps with care. A dahlia tubers
neck is fragile, especially right after digging. The actual
digging should be done with a long handle shovel. Do not
use a garden fork. A fork wont cut the fine roots free and
much more damage will occur. Insert the shovel about 9
inches away from the stalk STRAIGHT DOWN into the soil
and continue around the stalk in a circle. When all 4 sides
are loose from the long feeder roots, push the shovel under
the clump and lift carefully. If it is stuck, you will have to
further cut the fine roots where it is stuck. Remove any
large clumps of dirt and gingerly shake the tuber clump to
further loosen the soil. Turn the tuber clump over to drain
any water that has collected in the stem. At this point there
are a few decisions to make.

To wash or not to wash, that is the

question
Leave the dirt on:Let the clump dry in a cool area
to prevent shriveling. The dirt will generally fall off with a

little shaking. Move and secure the tag to the base of the
stem and trim the stem and all long thin roots.

Wash the dirt off:Using a garden hose, wash the

dirt off as much as possible. Move and secure the tag to the
base of the stem and trim the stem and all long thin roots.
At this point some people dip the tuber clumps in a 10%
Clorox solution to kill any hidden worms, insects or
microorganisms.
In either event, washing or not, the most important
step in successful winter storage of dahlia tubers is
the curing process. The outer skin of a dahlia tuber is
somewhat damp when dug and downright sopping when
washed. This outer skin must be slowly dried so as to
toughen it enough so you can write on it with a felt pen
without rubbing the skin off. At that point the tough skin will
prevent further dehydration of the tuber and shriveling.
Curing is accomplished by loosely covering the freshly dug
or washed tubers with a plastic tarp. The tubers should be
inside a cool space, like a garage, screened in porch or
unheated basement. Do not place them on cement, since it
tends to draw the water out of the tubers too fast. If outside
is the only recourse, they should be kept out of any direct
sunlight, as this will possibly cook the tubers. They should
be controlled dried in this fashion for 4 to 7 days, checking
them every day for dryness.

To divide the clumps in Fall or later in

Spring
It is much easier to divide roots in the Fall, since the stem

hardens over the Winter. In fact, it may take a set of

loppers to cut through the stem in Spring. On the other
hand, it may be harder to find the growing eyes in fall
before they start to sprout. In either event, each division
must have a piece of the crown with an eye. Remove all of
the stem, because any piece remaining tends to promote
crown rot and ruin the tuber. Also throw away the "Mother
Root" (initial tuber planted in Spring), as it tends to rot and
could spread to other tubers. Tubers need only large
enough to keep through the winter without shriveling. Many
experienced growers prefer small tubers to large tubers,
unless they plan to use the roots to take cuttings(and then
throw them away). Some varieties seem reluctant to
develop feeder roots if their tubers are large. For these
varieties, smaller tubers (or large tubers with all but the top
inch or two cut off and thrown away) will produce stronger
plants and better blooms than large tubers. If the inside of
the crown has any brown or rusty colored divisions, cut
them away. The discoloration probably indicates crown rot,
and the tuber is unlikely to keep. After cutting divisions, use
a hose or indoor wash tub to clean away any dirt missed
when first washing the clump. Treat any cut end of a tuber
with either sulfur, or a fungicide like Captan or Clearys
3336.

Over Wintering Dahlias

There are numerous methods to store tubers over the
winter. Various methods seem to work equally well as long
as it has the same characteristics of a root cellar
environment. Root cellars are generally 40 to 50 degrees
and have dirt floors which provide an exchange of moisture.
The temperature requirement should be easily supplied by

using an unheated basement, crawl space or the inside wall

of an attached garage. But the moisture requirement is kind
of a tricky thing to replicate. Its important to keep in mind
that any further moisture given off by the curedtubers must
be absorbed and trapped in some kind of companion
storage medium so the tubers will not continue to dry up
and eventually shrivel.
Most growers seem to use vermiculite in plastic bags or
Styrofoam coolers to store tubers that have been cured
(controlled dried for 3-5 days). Course vermiculite works
better than fine, due to being able to keep trapped moisture
farther away from the tuber. Always use a dust mask when
working with vermiculite. Perlite has been used, but most
do not recommend it, because perlite does not absorb
moisture. Experienced growers warn against peat moss, as
it tends to draw moisture from the tuber and make it
shrivel.
Many growers use newspaper as the storage companion for
moisture retention. A sturdy cardboard box lined with about
12 sheets of newspaper on all sides, bottom, sides and top
make an inexpensive method of storage.
The storage location does not only determine the
temperature, but also the average humidity of the tubers.
Again the temperature should be between 40 and 50
degrees, but you should judge how much dry winter air is
being circulated through the general area of storage. An
active garage where the door is opened daily, should not
affect the average temperature, but it will dry out and
shrivel tubers, even if they are in a closed cardboard box.
The best thing to do is enclose the cardboard box in a leaf
bag, so any moisture leached out of the box will be trapped

in the plastic enclosure.

Dipping tubers in paraffin was fairly popular several years
ago. Tubers dipped in wax tend to be very slow to develop
eyes. The failure of this method to become popular probably
indicates that the extra effort is not worth the trouble.
A recent method described in an ADS bulletin was the
"Mandella method" using Saran wrap. The cured and divided
tubers are wrapped in Saran wrap in such a way as they are
not touching each other. The Saran wrap is pulled from the
roll and is totally wrapped around the tuber, then
subsequent tubers are wrapped in the same piece of Saran
wrap. Only tubers of the same variety (properly marked)
should be wrapped in the same bundle, making it easier to
catalog what you have. Click here for more information on
the "Saran Wrap" method. The wax and Saran wrap method
would probably be much more forgiving of a dry storage
environment as long as the tubers were properly cured.
With any storage method you should always check your
tubers monthly for any signs of fungus, rot or shriveling. A
spritz of Alcohol should keep any fungus in check. Discard
any tubers that have rotted before it spreads to others in
the container. If the tubers show any signs of shriveling
dampen the tuber and medium slightly and enclose the
container in plastic if not already done so.