I have the oppurtunity to get a lot of dalia tubers from a friend. They should have been planted in the spring but were not. Are they any use to me now. Can I keep them until next year, a lot are already sprouting? Or can I plant them now... August... and will they come to anything this year? I dearly want to save them.

I live in Canada.

Since you live in Canada you cannot plant them now and expect the dahlias to bloom. You will have to wait until next spring to plant them. You cannot plant them in the fall and let them stay in the ground all winter. The bulbs will freeze and die.

Right now the only thing you could do with the bulbs that are sprouting would be to put them into dish containers and keep them inside your home to sprout up and bloom. That is possible with tubers like dahlias.

Where's Just Dahlia when we need her?

I have 4 amarylis that I keep on my windowsill in special pots. They grow very long, spindly leaves and then one huge bloom comes up on a stem and lasts forever it seems. I used to let them "rest" and take them out of the pots but I don't bother anymore. They just start nudging up their greenery every so many months between dormant periods.

You could do the same with your dahlias. They will probably grow quite tall prior to blooming so you might need to either prop them up against a window or put a stick in the ground to hold them up so they don't fall over.

Use a pot that has at least 12" of dirt to hold the plant properly.

One year I forgot to take my dahlias out of the ground and they froze to death. I live in Ohio where it gets well below zero Fahrenheit each winter.

Hi! ruanich1975, and twinkiedooter

Something in a similar vein...

I don't have the experience with Dahlia's like you do td, but I do with Bulbs like tulips, daffodils, even rhizome's like Irises.

I've wintered them by placing them in shallow 2 to 3" terracotta dishes 'bout quarter to half full of soil,
Place the bulbs or rhizomes in a pattern. Place that whitish with caramel streak river rock ('bout half to one inch size) around them or any rock you like. The rocks hold the plant in place and their decorative. Follow usual watering habits.

Sometimes it turns out so nice, I'll leave 'em like that for a while.
Eventually though they should be re-placed into Mother Earth, as it will rejuvenate them.

K

Sorry guys, but there are hard and fast rules for storing dahlia tubers. I had some years ago, stored them properly but forgot where they were! That's the downside of storing anything that has to go in the ground next spring.

Here are the instructions:

Tubers should be kept in the dark at a steady, cool temperature so they stay firm without rotting, shriveling or sprouting prematurely. The storage place should be dry and safely above freezing but below 50 degrees. Aim for 40 to 45 degrees. An old fashioned root cellar is perfect. Consider an unheated basement, attic, crawl space, attached garage or even a refrigerator

Store in a burlap bag, paper shopping bag, but never in plastic.

Any bulbs I have to store are kept in my garage which isn't heated but insulated and is similar to a root cellar.

Tick