Thanks, I feel better now. I tend to get overwhelmed in the fall with life in general (kids starting school, new schedules, plus all the fall cleanup) that I get lazy with some gardening chores. I won't let that happen again this year, though, those dahlias are gorgeous! I don't know why it took me so many years to appreciate their beauty. I think at this point I will plant the clumps as they are. I'm afraid to try to divide them since they have new growth. Our growing season is short enough without setting the plants back because of a mistake. We seem to be in a little arctic microclimate at our house. Flowers that have faded in some parts of town have barely begun to bud at my house. And just for fun, I think we'll label the tubers this year. My husband dug them all up and stored them as I said above, but didn't think about labeling at least for color. Like I said, too much to do, too little time to do it well! If anyone has any links that are especially good for a newbie regarding dahlias, especially dividing, or even links to threads here, I'd appreciate it. I do searches but get so many hits I don't know where to look first. Thanks!

I have purchased dahlia tubers this year, seven of them, I was waiting on beds to go in in my backyard and didn't get them in yet. It is now June 11 and I am wondering if I am too late to get them in. I know that some of the other posts asking the same question were posted in the beginning of July and I wondered since it is the beginning of June if I am still okay. I have never planted dahlias before and I have some beautiful varieties, some of the large dinner plate size, the Maki and others. I would love to see them bloom but am not sure if I am too late, if anyone has any direction they can offer, I would greatly appreciate any advice. Thank you in advance for your knowledge.

Most likely the climate will do any necessary pruning for you. If they are chopped down, and the weather seems good to the tubers, they will resprout anyways until they chose to go dormant. Last time I was able to dig, I saw sprouts coming to about two inches from the surface, where the tip was blackened by the freezing temps about the soil. I am in zone 5, with light snow on the ground. My bet is that there is not too much growth down below the last couple weeks. ;-)

Thank you for the advice! So there are no tubers to save though. They have been dead so long they were hollow upon digging. All I have is some shoots that popped up before the tubers died that I've made into cuttings. The cuttings are doing well indoors under a 1000w grow light and in controlled heat. Three of them I started back in July are about 30 inches tall so far. and when they get big enough I'm going to set them outside in the mild winter weather we get (50 degree days, and 20 degree nights) and let them tuber up, then store them to grow on the right schedule next year. So keeping them alive inside isn't a concern for my set up. I basically turned my basement into a greenhouse because the weather here is so terrible and the growing season so short. My main question was about what size of stalk is too big to become a cutting, not "too late" as in season. Most all the stalks that popped up stopped before they were 4 inches big and only had two or three leaf sets. This one in particular came up about 3 inches, then got snapped off by hail. Then it grew two new stalks on each side of the break that got to about 4 inches tall each. I wasn't sure if that was too big to reproduce or not. Or if I should have taken each stalk individually? We had an early snow that forced me into action so as of right now it is potted up all as one with the two stalks attached to the main one and the main one in the dirt. I have a couple of ideas on why my tubers failed and what to adjust next year. I don't have a big issue with drainage or the soil staying wet. I just worry about the bottom of the 24 inch tall bed draining because of the clay underneath. But the top 6-8 inches I regularly dig into to check. It can get a good deep soaking and then be bone dry 6 inches down two days later. And after a soil test at the local college I can say for sure the nitrogen levels are actually low, so no way they got burnt there. The soil I bought for my raised beds was pretty depleted and all the organic matter I used was composted before adding. I have three living tubers out of almost 20. One is outside and struggled with the heat but is doing well (Shiloh Noelle). I probably won't get a flower this year but I should have tubers to divide. The two other tubers that made it were the ones I moved inside right away to experiment with. They got the same level of moisture to their soil as the ones outside so I know I wasnt overwatering. I moved inside a tuber from a different seller, who I got most tubers from this year, at the same time and it rotted in the same conditions. Which makes me wonder HARD about the possibility of a fungus causing the dry rot. The soil PH was also higher than it should of been and I'll be adding acidifier to the beds before next season gets going, I'm sure that didn't help. I think they mainly failed because most of June had 60 degree nights and 110 degree F days, and they weren't shaded, causing a lot of stress. There is also ZERO rainfall except maybe a sprinkle once every 6 weeks or so (and a surprise hail storm one night). The shade cloth canopy I added late wasn't doing enough on its own for the young guys and I should have ignored certain advice and mulched after they popped up to keep the soil cool and moist. I do have high hopes for next year as the indoor ones are doing so well I'm convinced it's the elements and not me.