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patience

9 years ago

it seems unfair that my stored dahlias suffered from both fungus and mummification. after a great deal of trimming and a few discards i put the sad things in slightly damp compost and now after 6 weeks they are sprouting. one ratty thing has nine sprouts so will do some cuttings in a few weeks. not giving up and patience-two very important garden talents.

Featured Answer

cicivacation

9 years ago

And that first bloom will be the prettiest and most perfect thing you ever did see, Terri! It will be fun.

Yes, I've broken plenty of sprouts by excavating a slow sprouting tuber. Good news is, they will grow back--- no panicking if that happens, you hear? ;-)

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Comments (6)

cicivacation
9 years ago
Amen to that, Dave! Sorry to hear about your struggle this spring.

Even really experienced growers have lost most their stock once or twice, but that doesn't help much when it happens to you. Two seasons ago, I lost three-quarters of my varieties in the unheated garage due to a deep freeze before thanksgiving. It did give me the excuse to try out lots of new varieties hadn't the room for the next season, but I sure did feel incompetent for losing them in the first place!
Terri Williams
9 years ago
Ugh! Patience a virtue that, apparently, I don't possess! I just planted one tuber of a dinnerplate variety this week and three tubers of pompoms. I have done too much research and as a first time dahlia planter (and gardener) I am driving myself crazy!

I even gently dug them up this week. I do have some sprouts! Yay! On two they are still purplish red and on two they look like they might be forming their first set of leaves! I am just so impatient. I have talked, sung, and begged them to do something!

*this gonna be a long summer*
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Terri Williams
9 years ago
I have seen where you leavena bit of the tuber exposed so you can monitor the growth.

Then add soil as the sprout grows up. That is what I am doing. Am I better to "plant it and forget it?" They have been in the house the past couple of days and seem to be loving the warm house. We had snow and freezing temps here this weekend. The days are going to warm up again so I will let the babies have the sunshine again during the day.
davez7anv
Original Author
9 years ago
two months after potting up, the last of the sad dog tubers from last year has budded. 11 sprouts so far-yay.
purslanegarden
9 years ago
You could have stored them by cutting off those other stems, also.

I usually left my bulbs in-ground or in-pot for the winter, but about 2 years ago, we had a pretty late ice storm. A few days after the storm was over, I could see that my amaryllis bulbs took a beating. Some made it and most didn't. I waited at least 2 months to see the normal growth in the pots for the dahlias and lily bulbs, but they didn't. When I finally checked by digging up that dirt, there was no sign of the tubers and bulbs. They had been disintegrated. Even the larger amaryllis bulbs which looked OK above ground but weren't growing, had squishy bulb parts beneath the soil.

The funny thing is, that same spring, I found some dahlia tubers that had been in the house, which I got on clearance in the previous late summer. I apparently had forgotten about them. I potted them up and they actually grew and put out some great blooms. This year, they have returned, with growth better than last year.

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