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Dahlia overwintering confusion

135

Posts

  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    You can tell if you lose dahlias foliage to frost as it blackens. Slug damange looks chomped or absent.
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    But, you can’t tell in Spring, if a Dahlia fails to emerge, if it was Winter cold/wet, or slugs during regrowth.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    ...if nothing happens, I would take up the tuber and see if it's solid and firm and see what the roots are like.
  • CopperdogCopperdog Posts: 617
    Thank you EVERYONE for all your good advice.  I think I shall wait until they have gone over and dried out and then pop them in the dry shed and get them out again next year and see what happens X
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    Please keep us posted!
  • CopperdogCopperdog Posts: 617
    Thanks @Fire I certainly will do X
  • WAMSWAMS Posts: 1,960
    We have a couple of barely-used bedrooms in the house that we don't heat in the winter. Would it work to put my potted dahlias there for the winter (to ensure they stay unrained on), or would the tubers attract mice do you think? I won't have any space left in my shed 
  • Red mapleRed maple Posts: 1,138
    I grow my dahlias in pots, so once the first frosts come, I take them out of their pots, brush off the excess compost and then store them wrapped loosely in newspaper and placed in cardboard boxes in my garage. I’ve done this for 4 or 5 seasons now, and it works very well. I live in South Yorkshire. I imagine that in warmer areas they could be over wintered in the ground.  Where I live, it gets very wet and very cold in the winter, so as a precaution, I lift and store my tubers. I have to say that this year, the blooms have been spectacular. Maybe that has been due to the very hot and long summer. 
  • Red mapleRed maple Posts: 1,138
    I would imagine @WhereAreMySecateurs, that your dahlia tubers would over winter very well in your spare bedroom in your house if you store them in the way I store mine. Mice shouldn’t be a problem, unless you have mice in your house? If you do have mice, then I suggest you deal with them with suitable traps/seek the advice of your local cal council or pest deterrent people before they become a mammoth problem - they breed at an incredible rate.
  • Red mapleRed maple Posts: 1,138
    I’m sorry, @WhereAreMtSecateurs. Re-reading my post, it sounds a bit judgemental. I don’t mean that at all. If you’re worried about mice, then, yes, they need dealing with - we had a problem a few years ago - couldn’t figure out where they were coming from until we realised they were getting into our kitchen via our attached garage. The blooming things were reproducing at quite a rate. Luckily, after the help of a pest controller and our own efforts with traps and blocking up holes behind the kick boards, we got rid of the pesky blighters, so if you suspect a mice problem, set those traps.  :)
    I hope I haven’t offended you - that was not my intention.
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