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I'm thrilled - all my bulbs/tubers overwintered!!

14 years ago

I've never had much luck in the past overwintering dahlias and in particular elephant ears, but this time around was a resounding success!! I put them in plastic grocery bags that were stuffed with the paper pet shavings from the pet store, tied the tops of the bags shut and put them in the crawl space. Every single one made it through - all have elongating eyes, the sure sign of success! YAY!

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Comments (7)

pitimpinai
14 years ago
How wonderful! I'll have to try your method next fall.
I lost 3 buckets of Dahlia tubers!
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
14 years ago
super!!!!!

but why are you pulling them out with basically 6 to 8 weeks of potential frost/freeze remaining for our area????

it is way too early for them to go outside.. thinking about potting them up in the garage?????

or did you leave them in the root cellar ... just looking???? [BTW .. now you know why they call it a root cellar]

ken
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If you get temps of -10 your tubers will freeze for sure. What about an attic, if you have one. It should be cool up there, being unheated, but won't freeze. If they are really important to you and you have absolutely place to keep them cold and yet unfrozen for the winter, why not try to grow them in a sunny window as houseplants, potted? Would that work? Does the tuber need a rest period? I would cut it back severely before potting up and continue to cut it back throughout the winter to keep the growth small, then let it go when planted in ground. You could cut it back completely in early spring and then plant the tuber in the ground when the ground is not going to freeze anymore. It won't grow until the soil warms up so it will get a rest period then. This is all just hypothesis, of course. I have not done this, but have thought about it. I have a cold, damp root cellar in an old, old farm house, so storage is not a problem. It's the work and time involved in properly cleaning, dividing, labelling and wrapping that I have considered shortcutting by just potting up. Also I do lose a few every winter, especially the little ones, so have considered doing this with them. I often bring mine out and pot them up in late Feb/early Mar. They are large by the time I put them in the ground at the end of May. When potted up that early, I cut them back to keep the small until I can put them out. You could root the cuttings you take from it all winter.
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mxk3 z5b_MI
Original Author
14 years ago
Ken - I pot them up and get them growing in the house, either on/next to the light cart or on a table in a sunny window. They will take a couple weeks in the house to put on root growth, then when the top growth finally gets going I will start taking them outside during the day to get the bright sun (sometime in April, depends on the weather, of course).

I do the same when I buy the tubers this time of year, it works great and jump starts the season - I have nice growth on the EE at planting out time.

I do the same with the geraniums that I over-winter, I've got some BIG geraniums that I've had going for a few years now, they would cost $$$$ to buy them *that* big at the nursery come annual time. :0)
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
14 years ago
i figured you knew what you were doing..

i just recall.. once.. that i tried it .. and did it too soon .. and they got all leggy and yucky due to improper amounts of sun in the house even with lights .. and they never recovered ...

for a newbie.. i might recommend that mx is way ahead of the curve here..

if you want to experiment.. timing is everything..

ken
mxk3 z5b_MI
Original Author
14 years ago
The key to avoiding the legginess/lankiness problem is to get them out into the sunsine ASAP (again - weather permitting). This does involve dragging them in at night for a couple weeks until the night temps warm up a bit, but the results are worth it as far as I'm concerned - that straight-up warm spring sun really makes for luscious plants (and isn't strong enough to burn the EE yet).

I *really* want a greenhouse at my next house - and I've already informed DH of this LOL!!
tiffy_z5_6_can
14 years ago
mxk3,

Did you divide the tubers in the fall or are you doing it now?

This is my second year doing Dahlias at our present home. Used to grow lots of them at another house and fussed over them to tuck them away for the winter. Here I just throw them in a box and forget until spring. I was actually going to cover them their first winter here but forgot them and found them in the spring on the basement floor just raring to go. :O) Figured I'd do the same this past winter and it worked again.
kimcoco
14 years ago
I have some questions about the elephant ears. Last year, I cut one of them back and threw the tuber in a shoe box and left it in my cool basement, but it dried to a pulp and I chucked it come spring. The other plant I left potted in the basement, the leaves all yellowed out and drooped to the point that come spring, it was all cut back, but there were new eyes that grew in. It flourished come spring in the sun.

This past winter, I just left it potted as a houseplant in a south facing window, I watered maybe once a month...still I think I overwatered as I usually do with my houseplants, but now I have maybe one good stem left. I'll put it outside once the weather warms up.

I was surprised to learn after the fact that Elephant Ears are more a shade than sun plant, it has done well for me on my patio in full sun.

My question is, are you cutting it back and placing the tuber in a plastic bag for the winter? What's the point of the paper pet shavings? And no air flow?

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