Hey Alyrics! Nice to see you. I use the baggie thing mostly to verify there's a viable eye, assuring a chance at a plant in your future. You can leave the tuber in the baggie- they will root up and grow nicely if they have an eye, but it can be a little tricky getting them out. If you get growth, you can transplant to a milk carton, a flat, a pot or whatever or cut the baggie open when ready to plant and set it in its nice dahlia nest in the garden or pot. Keep the bag tops open and monitor the moisture. I've lost some to too much and too little moisture in the baggies (which sounds like poor rocky Otto's Thrill there) What is it with you and poor Otto's!??? You could change your name to Otto Slayer, Otto Resuscitator, Otto Dehydrator. LOL I really miss that flower all of a sudden! Deer have never ever taken so much as a leaf off my dahlias and they are unprotected by fences or Scarecrows etc. Moles dig holes, voles and mice follow, as Plantlady taught me, and they turn your tubers into nibbling fastfood, but they have never killed any plant for me. Coyotes are creepy aren't they? They don't hurt dahlias but are creepy. Gophers I don't know about. Stakes: wood, green metal flanged fence posts, rebar, inverted tomato cages or other. I guess for longevity, I'd go with metal. Wood stakes are cheap and have lasted in our wet climate many years, but they do rot and break, sometimes at inconvenient times. Rebar is sturdy but dangerous unless tall and I'm remembering that helpful hint about kids'play balls to put atop them. Thanks poster who said that :) Fence posts are extra sturdy and work really well. I put them a bit further away from the tubers to allow for new tubers to grow close to the flanges that hold the post in the ground. Just a few inches will do. I have since learned: dig first, pull flanged fencepost later. Worked like a charm. Here is an eyeless tuber. It will never produce a plant. There is no eye, I could wait until December for one to form: it's simply not there. Wait til you see the roots. Here are the roots, straight out of the baggie: no eye, no plant. But plenty of wonderful roots going nowhere. I can't help you with planting out in Ohio but the link might lead you to something. Don't be a stranger Alyrics. We'll need a status report on Otto's Thrill as time goes by! Annie Here is a link that might be useful: Ohio Dahlia info

I had a few that did that as well. What I thought was up, was down. Well, Mother Nature won. As soon as I realized what was happening, I took the tuber, and placed it sprout side up, and then potted. Honestly, sometimes it is VERY difficult to tell which side is up, if the eyes have not swollen yet. If I were you, I'd repot.

Sounds like it would be great stuff for hanging baskets. They are always the first to dry out for me.

Thanks - I know that once I get it all together I will be proud. Right now its difficult for me to see anything other than all of the work I still need to do. The tomatoes just started to ripen, I ate the first 3 last night!. It has been fairly productive, except for the beans. During the septic installation a tree crashed onto the bean arch and pretty much yanked them all out of the ground or broke them. I made a curry last night with eggplant, tomato, cabbage, red peppers, jalapeno, and broccoli all from the garden. The cukes have some sort of blight, not mildew. The worst off are the Armenians which are not in the pics. I will move them away from the woods next year and give them a little more space. Growing in front of the vegetable garden are about 35 Dahlias, They are behind this year. Most have buds and a couple have started to bloom, but in a month they will be a riot of color.