Most gardeners who grow these beautiful perennial flowers in their gardens have to store dahlias at home in winter. However, this doesn't always end well. Home conditions are far from ideal, so gardeners have to resort to various tricks to ensure that the tubers do not die and remain viable.
Rules for digging up tubers for storage
Dahlias cannot be dug up just like that, they must ripen. The longer they stay in the ground, the better. And the signal to start harvesting is the first serious frost.
After this you can no longer put it off. Leaves and stems affected by frost will begin to rot intensively, and there is a high probability that the rot will spread to the tubers. If, after freezing, fairly long warm weather sets in, the growth buds at the root collar may wake up and begin to grow again, which is completely unnecessary.
Important! In order not to awaken dormant growth buds, dahlias are not cut before the first frost.
Before harvesting, all dahlias are cut off, leaving only a stem 0.3–0.4 m long. Despite the fact that the dahlia tubers are shallow, they cannot be pulled out by the stem. You need to carefully pry the bush with a shovel or pitchfork from below and turn it out onto the surface of the ground. After this, the tubers need to be shaken off the ground, trying not to touch the root collar.
Using a knife or pruning shears, the root tubers are cleared of roots, small nodules, and rotten shoots. It is necessary to leave only fully formed tubers attached to the root collar. After cleaning, you should completely cut off all remnants of the trunk and divide the rhizomes, making sure that each tuber has formed buds. Hard tubers do not need to be separated if the buds on them are underdeveloped.
In wet weather, a lot of sticky dirt remains on the tubers. It can be washed off with water, and then the rhizomes can be dried by placing them tubers up under a canopy, on the veranda or in the attic of the house.
Important! Before storing the tubers, it is advisable to spray them with a solution of potassium permanganate, or better yet, dilute it in a bucket until it turns red and keep the tubers there for half an hour. This will disinfect them.
You can also use a fungicide solution for this.
How to preserve dahlias in an apartment until spring
Freezing temperatures are guaranteed to destroy dahlia tubers. If your dacha does not have a good basement that maintains a constant above-zero temperature, you will have to store dahlias at home.
In boxes
The most common way to store dahlias in winter is to keep them in old parcel or plastic grocery boxes, lined with old newspapers. It is best to keep dahlia root tubers at a low temperature, so choose the coolest place for storage: a glazed balcony, a stairwell, a storage room under a window, etc.
When stored on the balcony, there is a high chance of the roots freezing, so they need to be stored in special heated boxes.
With sawdust
Using sawdust, you can stabilize the temperature in the box, and at the same time protect the tubers from light. Large softwood sawdust and shavings are well suited for storage.
It is undesirable to use small sawdust, since they are more hygroscopic and will draw moisture from the roots.
With sand
Dahlia tubers are also stored well in containers with sand. To do this, the rhizomes are placed in a box and covered with coarse-grained, well-dried river sand. The top of the container is covered with burlap.
The good thing about this method is that it makes it easy to monitor the condition of the roots visually, but it is problematic to use in a city apartment.
In a refrigerator
To store dahlia tubers in your apartment in winter, you can use a regular refrigerator. If the number of root tubers is small, they can be placed in a plastic bag with holes filled with sawdust, wrapped in newspaper and stored in the vegetable compartment. You can simply wrap each tuber in newspaper and put it in the bottom of the refrigerator.
Waxing of tubers
To store dahlias in an apartment in winter, a method such as waxing can be used. To do this, use regular candle paraffin, melting it in a steam bath. Dry disinfected tubers are carefully dipped in liquid paraffin and immediately removed. When paraffin hardens in air, it forms a dense crust. After waxing, the tubers are placed in boxes and stored in a cool place.
Before planting, the paraffin must be carefully removed by wiping the roots with a rag. The disadvantage of this method is that after planting, the root tuber of paraffin storage wakes up much later, so this method is recommended to be used only for early varieties.
Vermiculite
This substance retains moisture well, so the roots do not dry out during storage. Dahlia tubers are placed in a box in layers, sprinkled with vermiculite. Then the container is covered with a piece of film on top and put away in a cool place. It is preferable to use coarse vermiculite.
Important! When the storage temperature increases, vermiculite can provoke germination of tubers.
Moss
Storing dahlia tubers in moss has both positive and negative reviews. Some believe that this is the best storage method, others say that dry moss dries out the root tubers, and wet moss leads to rotting. In any case, storing in this way is possible, and it has its fans.
Polyethylene
A relatively new method that became available after the advent of cling film. Its essence is that each tuber is wrapped in a layer of thin plastic film, thus preserving its natural state at the time of digging.
This method has a number of advantages:
- Easy visual monitoring of the condition of tubers.
- Take up little space when stored.
- Bacteria do not develop under the film.
- The tubers do not touch each other.
- Individual packaging is easy to label.
After treatment with fungicides or a disinfectant composition, each tuber is wrapped in a layer of cling film. After this, they are stored at a temperature of +3...+6°C. For storing dahlias in winter at home, this method can be called ideal if you have space in the refrigerator.
Clay shell
A fairly reliable way to store dahlia root tubers in winter is to dip them in clay mash and then dry them. In such a clay shell, the roots are well stored, retain their natural moisture and practically do not rot.
To prepare a clay mash you need to take water, clay and any fungicide. The consistency of the composition should resemble thick sour cream. Each root tuber is dipped into it in turn, and then dried in air. Thus, a fairly strong protective shell is formed on top, which not only retains natural moisture, but also has antibacterial properties.
After drying, the roots are put into boxes and placed in storage areas. The clay shell must be removed in the spring, immediately before planting.
Optimal conditions for preserving tubers
The optimal temperature for storage is +3..+5°C and humidity 75–80%. Of course, in the basement of a house or cellar the indicators approximately correspond to the necessary ones, but in a city apartment such conditions do not exist in winter. Therefore, when storing dahlia tubers in an apartment, simply choose a cooler place: near a balcony door, on a window, next to cold water pipes. Many people simply store planting material in the refrigerator.
Shelf life
A well-ripened dahlia tuber can live 3–4 years. However, such a shelf life is very rare. In order for the root to remain viable after several years, its storage conditions must be close to ideal throughout the entire period. Usually, the roots are stored for one winter, digging them up around the beginning of October and planting them in mid-May.
Conclusion
Storing dahlias at home in winter is quite difficult, but possible. The main thing is to create the necessary conditions for this, perhaps sacrificing some of your amenities or apartment space for this. In this case, the saying is absolutely true: “Beauty requires sacrifice,” this is true.
However, the beauty of blooming dahlias will convince any skeptic that these sacrifices were not in vain.
Lush dahlias, decorating the garden from summer to frost with bright caps of flowers of various shapes and sizes, make the heart clench painfully every autumn: how many unopened buds as a symbol of unfulfilled hopes remain on their bushes! Dahlias are a holiday in the garden that you want to repeat next year, and for this you need to preserve their rhizomes without loss in winter. Amateur flower growers have developed various ways to store them.
Before storing, dahlia root tubers should not dry out too much, since when they overdry and wrinkle, they are stored worse, and in the spring they produce weak seedlings. Insufficient drying leads to rotting of the tubers during storage.
Before storing, mechanically damaged tubers need to be trimmed and sprinkled with charcoal powder. Rotting of the root collar of dahlias during storage prevents the root tubers from being dusted with chalk or ash; florist V. Kirichenko dips dahlia stumps in freshly slaked lime diluted in water until creamy. It is also practiced to dip the rhizomes in a clay mash. Then the dried root tubers are placed in the basement, on racks in storage. It is undesirable if potatoes or other vegetables are stored here - increased air humidity near the vegetables can cause the occurrence and spread of fungal diseases on the rhizomes of dahlias.
It is considered the best storage mode for dahlia root tubers at a temperature of 3-5 degrees and air humidity of 60-70% with good ventilation.
You can put the tubers on a layer of peat in boxes and sprinkle them with peat; instead of peat, sand or sawdust (preferably coniferous) is also used; When the tubers dry out and wither, the insulating material is slightly moistened. Dahlia root tubers in boxes are sometimes lined with paper. Florist A. Kandaulov advises to sprinkle the tubers in boxes with “dead earth” (soil that has been under buildings for a long time), so that only stumps remain on the surface, the ground around which he lightly sprinkles with quicklime.
Not all gardeners have the opportunity to store dahlias in a basement or storage facility, so for storage in a city apartment, tubers are often placed in boxes that are placed in the coolest place (for example, next to a balcony), or stored in plastic bags with insulating material. When storing in warm and dry rooms: place dahlia tubers in bags filled with dry peat, then tie the bags tightly. When storing in warm and humid rooms: place pre-waxed dahlia tubers in plastic bags and sprinkle them with dry peat.
Florist M. Koryagina wraps dahlia tubers in newspaper and places them in a plastic bag, which is placed in a cardboard box; covers the box with film and places it in the coldest place in the apartment.
Flower growers V. Kalinin and T. Shepeleva practice growing dahlias from stepsons in the autumn-winter period: they remove the stepsons in August-September, root them in pots with soil on the windowsill - by spring strong bushes grow; This way you can preserve and quickly propagate your favorite variety. In February, young dahlias can bloom with additional lighting, but if (without waiting for flowering) you gradually reduce watering, the shoots will begin to dry out; After the shoots dry out, the pots with tubers can be removed into the corridor until spring.
Dear flower growers! If you have other proven methods for storing dahlias, please share your experience with other gardeners on the pages of our website.
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Much more difficult than growing. New varieties, as a rule, produce weak root tubers. After excavation, and with certain subtleties, a long winter period of unrest begins for the safety of the material. Home conditions are not always close to ideal, but numerous methods of experienced gardeners allow them to be preserved both in the cellar and in the apartment with varying degrees of success.
Prerequisites and subtleties of digging
Dahlias can delight with their flowering in September. But even small drops in temperature below zero can lead to the cessation of the normal functioning of the plant’s nutritional system. That’s why it’s so important not to delay the excavation time. All sorts of tricks by experienced gardeners, such as a smoke screen or mulching the soil, may not work. Although they are justified. After all, the ability of a plant to stay in the soil longer automatically makes the tubers larger and stronger. The approach of serious, regular frosts is a reason to prepare dahlias for winter.
Advice. After digging up the tubers in the morning, let them dry until the evening.
Digging up dahlias is not the easiest task, because it is important not to damage the tuber:
- You should dig with a large distance from the cut stump - at least 20-25 cm.
- They are afraid of breaking the neck - they shake off the earth without lifting it above the surface.
- If it is possible to observe optimal storage parameters and underdeveloped tubers (for example, propagated by cuttings and overfed with nitrogenous fertilizers), do not shake them off vigorously, leaving part of the soil in the form of a lump.
You need to dig up dahlias very carefully
Ideal conditions
Most common varieties of dahlias will thrive in these winter conditions:
- average temperature +5°C;
- air humidity 60-75%;
- regular ventilation;
- air circulation.
The last two points are guaranteed to reduce the risk of fungal development. Preliminary disinfection of the room will also not be superfluous (for example, fumigation with sulfur).
The tubers are laid in no more than two rows, and on a dry surface. It could be:
- sand, earth;
- wood shavings, sawdust;
- wooden surface.
Treatment of tubers with sand
Real opportunities
But not all dahlia lovers always have basements and cellars with classic parameters. Practice shows that there is always a way out, and the percentage of tubers remaining healthy is quite high.
- Carefully trim old roots and stumps (distance 2-3 cm from the neck). Treat with lime. Dry at room temperature for about 7 days. Line a wooden box of a suitable size with thick paper, fill it with soil, lay the root tubers and cover it again with paper.
- Wash the roots thoroughly and trim off any excess thin roots. Treatment with potassium permanganate is carried out by soaking, with a fairly thick solution, until the tubers change color to dark golden.
- Can be stored in the refrigerator in the upper chamber (plus temperature). But this option is only for a small amount of material.
- On the insulated balcony in boxes that are brought into the apartment during severe frosts. But the disadvantage of this method is temperature changes; mold may begin to form or germination may begin.
Helping materials
- Paraffin. Quick treatment of the roots in this substance will create a protective shell that can be easily removed in the spring. Not recommended for late varieties.
- Clay. Process and dry in the same way.
Tubers should be stored in a cool place
Unreliable methods include cling film. There is a very high risk of rotting even with the slightest damage to the root system, which may not be visually noticeable. Therefore, this method should be used in combination with vermiculite. Holes are made in polyethylene, wrapped tubers are placed, and covered with this substance. Used relatively recently in plant growing, this versatile natural material has proven itself well. Its obvious advantage is that it can be used repeatedly.
Attention! If several varieties are grown, it is advisable to prepare stickers and labels for specifics.
Don't forget to check the tubers periodically, at least once a month. After all, too many factors, even when dahlias grow in the summer, can affect their safety in the winter. Practice shows that the better the dahlias bloom, the more difficult it is to preserve them. Only by taking into account all the factors of specific storage conditions, adding your personal experience to the most popular methods, can you keep all root tubers intact.
How to preserve dahlias in winter: video
Bright, beautiful, lush dahlias are a real decoration for any garden. These plants delight with their flowering from mid-summer until frost. But in order to repeat such beauty next year, you need to know how to properly store the tubers of these flowers in the winter at home until spring planting.
Preparation for wintering begins even before the very first frosts in the fall, which are very dangerous for plants.
During a minor frost, not only the above-ground part, but also the root system can be damaged. Such planting material will not survive until spring. Therefore, before cold weather approaches it is necessary to hill up each bush, this procedure will insulate the tubers.
Next you need to look at the weather conditions before the onset of winter. As soon as the first frost arrives, the dahlia foliage will turn black and dry out. When this happens, you need to use a sharp knife cut off all stems, leaving 8-10 cm to the base.
The names of varieties can be attached to the remaining stumps for easy storage after harvesting. After pruning the above-ground part, if no precipitation is forecast, the tubers can sit in the ground for another 5-7 days.
Then they need to dig. To do the digging correctly, use the following tips:
- Dig around the stem from a distance approximately 20 cm.
- Using a pitchfork or a sharp shovel, pry and lift each root. Do not pull the bulbs out of the ground by the remaining stems.
- Rinse all tubers under running water, thoroughly rinsing off any remaining soil.
- Process each root pale solution of potassium permanganate.
- Damaged areas of tubers and roots, cut off small nodules, sprinkle the sections with ash or treat them with brilliant green.
Preparing for winter at home
Dahlias must be dried before storing.
This can be done in a greenhouse, on a balcony or veranda. Warm living spaces are not suitable, as the roots will quickly dry out. After 4-5 days the roots will dry out.
It is then recommended treat dahlias with fungicides. This procedure will help avoid the appearance of pathogens, which can cause plant death. This is done either with a dry preparation (the roots are lightly powdered) or in a solution (the roots are completely immersed in liquid).
How to properly treat with the solution:
- To prevent the roots from rotting during storage, you can add an insecticide to the fungicides.
- Each variety process in a separate container, having signed it in advance.
- Tubers that have floated to the surface must be removed, as they will not be suitable for planting.
- Carry out the treatment with durable rubber gloves to avoid hand burns from the preparations.
With this treatment, the likelihood of plant diseases occurring is reduced to almost zero. Solution time 15-20 minutes. After which the roots must be laid out on a wooden surface, thick paper, cardboard and dried.
It is better to immediately sort the dahlias by variety so as not to confuse them later. After drying, the dahlias can be marked with a special chemical marker or pencil.
How to store tubers in a city apartment in winter
Dahlias that are placed in a basement or cellar survive wintering best.
Optimal temperature from 3 to 5 degrees Celsius, with humidity up to 70%. The room or city apartment must also have adequate ventilation. It is recommended to store tubers in wooden or plastic boxes.
Place the roots in the box as follows:
- Drawer bottom cover with paper(old newspapers, cardboard).
- Add a layer of dry soil.
- Place the tubers loosely so that they do not touch each other.
- Sprinkle a small layer of dry soil on top. You can use dry sand or sawdust.
- Cover the tops of the boxes with paper.
The boxes are then placed in the cellar or basement on racks. The racks must first be sprinkled with a layer of sand. This is the most common storage method.
But there are other storage options:
- Do liquid solution of ordinary clay, add potassium permanganate and copper sulfate to it. Dip each tuber into mash, dry, and place in a fabric bag. Then put them in boxes.
- Drop every root into hot paraffin. When it cools down, wrap it in paper and put it in boxes. Remove paraffin before planting.
If it is not possible to store dahlias in the cellar, you can consider apartment options:
- The roots are placed in a plastic bag, which is filled with dry peat or sphagnum. Store packages in a cool pantry or insulated balcony.
- Treat the tubers with dry wood ash, place them in thick cellophane, fill them with air and bandage them. Then place in a cool place.
- A small number of plants can be placed in the refrigerator.
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