This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
Starting off dahlias
Andy Leeds
Posts: 518
in Plants
When should I start bringing my overwintered dahlias into growth?
Should it just be bringing them indoors on a sunny windowsill until seeing shoots then lightly water?
0
Posts
I'd let them grow when they're ready. I'd certainly not bring them indoors. Others may disagree, but I'd think you'll just end up with lush growth and it'll be too early to get them outdoors.
You see dried up tubers shooting in poly bags in garden centres, they'll grow without you watering them.
"Never trouble trouble, until trouble troubles you" as my dear late Mother would say.
I agree - they'll wake up when they're ready, then you can take cuttings and start the tubers off.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Cheers - I was going to do that, just I'm sure I saw in the latest GW mag that cuttings were being taken so wasn't sure if i was a little behind. Seems not :-)
In my Belgian garden I would fish them out of winter storage in mid to late March, soak them in a bucket of water for a day and then plant in trays of compost in the garage till shoots appeared. Once the shoots were visible i'd give them light by day and when they were 3 or 4 inches high I'd pot up into their final pots but keep them sheltered at night till the last frosts in mid May.
Here I'm expecting the garden to get warm a lot sooner so I started off my new tubers as soon as they arrived last week. So far, one Bishop of Auckland has a couple of decent shoots but all the others are lying doggo and are clearly not ready to burst into life just yet.
You need to think about how long you'll need to keep yours sheltered between shooting and planting out. If space is restricted, leave it a few weeks yet.
Last edited: 24 February 2017 17:07:19
I'll be potting mine up in the greenhouse early April. I plant them out in mid May. But the ones already in the garden I just leave there, mulched. Usually most of them survive the winter.
That's good to know Busy. I was intending to grow them all in raised beds as cutting flowers so it's good to know I can leave them out all winter and not faff.
Not sure about keeping them dry aym280.
Most people would say that they need lots of moisture. That is certainly what I do.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
Think I prefer Pukedoc!
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
I saved some tubers from last year and also left some in the grouno, a little experiment. Do I plant the tubers in pots now and leave them in the greenhouse and take the soil off the top of the this nes I left in the ground.
going to some research on ho to take cuttings.