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Frost got my dahlias
wakeshine
Posts: 975
Hi there. Last night the frost finally got all my dahlias! The leaves have all gone black and withered, flowers all dead. It's a very macabre seen out there, and Halloween was over a week ago!
Does this mean that the tubers have also died? Or can I now cut them down and remove the tubers from the ground?
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The tubers may well be fine, if you get them dug up now.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
Oh dear. Should I not have waited for the frost effect?
You've done it the traditional way Wakeshine.
1. Let the first frost blacken the foliage
2. Dig up the tubers, cut off the foliage and shake off as much soil as possible
3. Put the upside down onto sheets of newspaper in a dry frost free place.
4. When most of the soil has dried and fallen off, wrap them in newspaper and put them in cardboard boxes and store in a frost free place until the spring.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
If Verdun waited for the frost effect he could wait a very long time indeed some winters - he lives in balmy Cornwall
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Thanks for these instructions. I have a shed I can put them in, or after drying I can bring in and store in a box in the study. Will get my warm clothing on and get to work asap...
Not the study if it's warm ....... the old way was to put them under the bed in the spare room, but most spare rooms are too warm nowadays, even if the radiator is turned off.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Mines gone the same so started digging them up, going to dig ground where there've been ready for next year at the weekend would you put horse muck on or not
I dug the remainder up today. The frost got them last night. They are now in the greenhouse. Amazing how dry the soil is under them, I have more bulbs to plant in the gaps, but as the weather is supposed to warm up at the weekend, I will do it then. It's brass monkey weather out there.