If you dug and stored your dahlias in the fall, now is the time to check on them to see how they are fairing the winter season. However you have them stored, pull out your dahlia clumps and see how they are doing. If you have clumps that are rotted, it’s probably time to start shopping for some new dahlia tubers for spring. Dahlias will only sprout from swollen part that is attached to last years stem, if that is rotten, the tuber will not sprout. If they are shriveled, the humidity is low in the area they are in. You can try to spritz them with water or place some newspaper in the bottom of your storage box to absorb some humidity and release it to the clumps. The best thing in this case, is to leave the clump intact and don’t divide until it gets closer to planting time. That will hold all the available moisture in the clump for now.
If you have plump, healthy tuber clumps, you can divide them now or wait until planting time gets closer for dividing. After dividing your dahlias, you want to let them sit out in the cool air for their fresh cuts to dry before putting back away into storage.
When you are ready to divide your tubers for spring, here is a helpful video from Dahlia Barn owner, Jerry Sherrill, on how to correctly divide your tuber clumps.
Now that spring is on the way, we’ll be blogging more with great information on growing dahlias. Check out our ‘Dahlia Care’ page for more information. Upcoming blog posts will include tips on soil health, plant health, planting dahlias as well as discussing the other perennials we have to offer here at The Dahlia Barn. We carry a wide range of perennials including Astilbe, Begonias, Daylily, Gladiolus, Hosta and Phlox. Our Begonias are not your typical big box store begonias. Ours are tall, big begonias that bloom for weeks and weeks in the summertime. They are a lot of bloom for your buck and well worth it !
