Dahlia Saving Part 1
It’s time to dig and save your dahlias!
Each dahlia plant you have will produce at least 5-10 more tubers underground each year. This means that soon you will be RICH in tubers.
I’m here to walk you through the how-to of dahlia saving. Follow the pictures below for the first few steps in saving your dahlia tubers:
Wait until after the first hard frost to dig your tubers. You’ll know when its time when the plants look completely dead! The stems will still have some green in them but the leaves will look awful. (Quite possibly the ugliest photo I’ll post on my blog!)
Cut off the stems right above soil level and then gently pry up the tubers with a shovel or a pitchfork. The tubers are rather delicate, so pry gently! Use your hand to carefully dust off the biggest clumps of soil.
At this point, it’s important to make sure all your varieties are properly labeled. They can quickly get all scrambled up once they come out of the soil!
Use a hose to spray the tuber clump clean!
Look how many tubers I got on this baby!!! If they all save beautifully, this one plant will give me about 15-20 tubers for next year :)
Again, make sure you label your tubers so you know what you’re getting next year.
Place them somewhere to dry for 2-3 days. Mine are in my hoophouse and in my shed, gently stacked in bulb crates or hung from the ceiling.
If drying in an outbuilding or outside, don’t let them freeze!
Be sure to also read “Dahlia Saving Part 2” to learn all about dividing, packing and storing your tubers.