With the onset of the first frosts, for gardeners who like to grow, the issue of preserving their tubers until spring becomes urgent.
First, dahlias must be dug up in a timely manner. This is done immediately after the above-ground part of the plant dies from frost. It is very important not to damage the buds, which are located at the base of the stem.
When digging, the tubers are immediately divided so that each part contains dormant buds. In the spring, it will be much more difficult to separate them, since after storage the tubers become woody.
The tuber must be carefully prepared: remove excess roots and remaining stems, cut out spots that may precede plant disease, and rotten parts.
Wounds can be treated with one of these preparations: brilliant green, ash, chalk, charcoal powder, clay mash, lime.
Before storing dahlia tubers, they need to be dried. In this case, incomplete drying can lead to their rotting, and overdrying can lead to weak seedlings in the spring.
Storing dahlia tubers in the cellar in winter
When storing dahlia tubers, it is very important to maintain the correct temperature (+3-6°C) and air humidity (55-70%). These are the conditions that are observed when storing in a cellar.
It is necessary to exclude the presence of any vegetables nearby, as air humidity increases.
First, dahlia tubers are kept in a strong solution of potassium permanganate for 15-30 minutes, then dried. After this, they are placed in the basement in boxes, on shelves or on a wooden floor. Paper is placed in drawers or boxes, or tubers can be wrapped in it.
The tubers are laid in 1-2 rows and sprinkled with sand, earth or pine sawdust.
Dahlias need to be monitored regularly to prevent them from:
- drying out (when these signs appear, sawdust or sand is moistened);
- rotting (the room is ventilated, sawdust or sand is changed, rotting tubers are thrown away, and if the damage is small, they are cut out and the tubers are treated with a solution of potassium permanganate or brilliant green);
- premature germination (with this symptom, dahlia tubers are exposed to light, which helps stop germination).
Storing dahlia tubers in an apartment in winter
If you do not have the opportunity to store dahlia tubers in the cellar in winter, you can store them in your apartment.
The treated dahlia tubers are dried in air for about three hours. After this, they are kept for 30 minutes in a strong solution of potassium permanganate and dried again.
Tubers can be stored in boxes or tightly tied plastic bags, sprinkled with sand or other dry material (sawdust, peat). In warm weather, tubers can be stored on the balcony, and in frosty weather - in the apartment.
Waxing dahlia tubers for winter storage
To store dahlia tubers in an apartment in winter, using paraffin is suitable. To do this, paraffin is melted in a water bath at a temperature of +60°C. Then the tuber is immersed in it. After the paraffin has hardened, the tuber is immersed a second time. Tubers in hardened paraffin are stored in boxes or plastic bags, poured 
dry insulating material (peat, sand or sawdust).
When tubers are planted in the spring, the paraffin film is not removed. Before planting, the tubers need to be rubbed a little so that the film cracks.
How to store dahlias in the refrigerator?
To store dahlia tubers in the refrigerator, they are divided into small parts, washed, processed and wrapped in cling film. With this storage method, tubers take up very little space and it is convenient to monitor their condition.
You can choose the most suitable method for storing dahlia tubers.
During the period of winter cold, you often have to visit the storage facility, where roots, bulbs and tubers of various colors await the warm spring, which delight with their beauty on summer days. Dahlias should also be considered such plants.
Many believe that these flowers are the most capricious in the world. And it is true. Of course, there are no special problems in the process of growing them. A more difficult task is storing dahlias in the cellar, apartment and basement. After all, some varieties of this plant require appropriate care.
Preparing tubers for storage
So, how to store dahlias in a cellar or apartment? First of all, the plants must be carefully dug up. In this case, the tubers should remain intact. After digging, the roots of the flower are carefully shaken off lumps of earth and laid out to dry. This is best done in a greenhouse. At the same time, windows and doors should be left open. After 5 days, the tubers are cleared of roots. As for the stem, it should also be removed, leaving a stump 3 centimeters from the neck. It is better to treat all places where cuts were made with lime. After this, the dahlia tubers should be kept for another 7 days in a room where the temperature is from 20 to 25 °C. This time is enough for all the breaks and cuts to become denser.
earlier?
In Soviet times, it was quite difficult to obtain these plants, not to mention varieties of foreign selection. That is why every housewife tried to hide dahlias for the winter so that they would survive until spring. Most often, tubers were stored in small boxes. Initially, the containers were covered with fairly thick paper. After this, a three-centimeter layer of earth was laid on the bottom. On the ground - flower tubers. Then the dahlias were completely covered with soil. In this case, the soil had to cover all the voids formed in the box. After that, they put a row of tubers again and covered it. When the box was completely filled, it was covered with the edges of thick paper. This method made it possible to preserve dahlias almost 100%. This method is still used today. However, it is not suitable for many varieties.
Preparing tubers for storage in the basement
So, how to store dahlias in the cellar? Before putting flower tubers in containers for their further preservation, it is necessary to treat them with a strong solution of potassium permanganate. Plant roots should be kept in the product for 15 to 30 minutes. After this, the tubers need to be dried and placed in the basement in boxes, on shelves or on wooden flooring. If space allows, you can store them in undivided nests. It is best to sprinkle the plant tubers with pine sawdust or sand. No more than two rows of dahlias should be placed in boxes. You can wrap the tubers in paper and place them in boxes.
Storing tubers in the basement
The main task is to protect dahlias from being eaten by rodents, premature germination, freezing, drying out and rotting. It is for this reason that it is necessary to inspect the tubers approximately once a month. If signs of decay appear, then such dahlias should be removed. If the lesions are small, they can be carefully cut out to healthy tissue. After removal, all sections should be treated with a strong solution of potassium permanganate, brilliant green or other fungicide. As for sawdust or sand, they must be replaced with fresh ones. The room where dahlias are stored should be ventilated. This is necessary to ensure that the infection does not spread and the air does not stagnate.
Since dahlias need to be stored in the cellar throughout the winter, you should take care that the tubers do not spoil. If the roots of the plant are wrinkled, then this is the first sign of drying out. This problem can be eliminated by sprinkling the filler in which the tubers are stored with water from a watering can or sprayer. It is worth remembering that due to excessive dampness, dahlias begin to rot. To prevent this from happening, you should replace the sand or sawdust with fresh ones and ventilate the basement. If the plants begin to germinate ahead of time, then it is worth exposing them to the light. To prevent dahlia sprouts from stretching too long, you can plant them in pots. Rodents can also seriously damage tubers - don’t forget about this.
Clay shell for storage
Storing dahlias in the cellar has its advantages and disadvantages. For example, in a dry room, tubers can quickly dry out and wrinkle. To prevent this from happening, they can be stored in a clay shell. Prepared and well-dried dahlias should be placed in a clay mash. It is worth adding a little fungicide to the solution. As for the consistency, the mash should resemble thick sour cream. Tubers in clay must be dried. This may take about 4 days. When a strong crust has formed, the dahlias need to be placed in a box in several rows. With the arrival of warm days, the crust is removed by lightly tapping, and the plant is planted in the ground.
Is it possible to store dahlias without boxes?
Prepared dahlia tubers can be stored on shelves in the basement. However, the room temperature must be at least 3 ° C, and the relative humidity must be 70%. To prevent the air in the basement from stagnating, you should regularly, about three times a week, ventilate the room or turn on the exhaust fan for 20 minutes.
How to protect tubers from rot?
Most often, losses of dahlias during winter storage occur precisely because of the rotting process. Typically, the tubers begin to deteriorate at the top of the remaining stump. In this case, rot very quickly travels through succulent tissues to the root collar. The main problem is that at the initial stage of decay, externally spoiled tubers are no different from healthy ones. As a result, affected dahlias are discovered quite late, when the plant simply cannot be saved. To prevent rot from destroying the tubers, you can resort to a simple but effective method - cleaning the hemp. Since it is very difficult to preserve dahlias in winter, you should pay close attention to their preparation. First of all, you should remove the stem from the dug up tuber and remove the skin along with the soft tissues from the stump. This can be done with a sharp knife. It is best to start from the root collar. After the procedure, the dahlias should be dried again for several hours.
Where is the best place to store dahlias?
What could be more beautiful than a dahlia? Storing tubers plays an important role in the further growth of the plant. That is why it is important to create optimal conditions so that the planting material does not deteriorate. In what rooms is it best to store tubers?
The ideal place is a cellar or basement, where the air temperature fluctuates between 1-7°C and the humidity ranges from 80 to 100%. It is worth noting that in such a room the tubers will not begin to germinate ahead of time and will not dry out.
Since it is not easy to preserve dahlias in winter, you should carefully choose a storage location. A basement is suitable, where the temperature is from 1 to 10 ° C and the humidity is from 50 to 80%. However, planting material should be prepared by clearing the soil, drying it and treating it with a fungicide. The tubers should be placed in boxes and covered with sawdust, peat or sand so that all voids are filled.
You can store tubers in an apartment
Since not everyone can store dahlias in the cellar, there are many ways to preserve planting material in the apartment. To do this, you need to place the tubers in plastic bags, sprinkled with peat, vermiculite or perlite. After this, the packaging should be tightly tied.
Dahlias are very beautiful plants, but their powerful bushes seem strong only at first glance. Fleshy tubers of flowers and even its large leaves and thick shoots are very afraid of low temperatures, so the best and only option for wintering dahlias is not open ground, but a dry and relatively warm room. During the winter, the entire above-ground part of the plant dies, but it is quite possible to preserve the root system if you dig up the flowers in time and store them correctly. How to prepare tubers for wintering and how to store them at home?
Preparing tubers for storage
You can dig up dahlias after the first frost, but not later, until it freezes completely. The flower itself will tell you that it needs to be taken from the flowerbed: its leaves will turn black and become limp from the frost.
Before digging up the tubers, the stems must be cut off, leaving stumps up to 20 cm high.
The excavated materials must be prepared for storage by subjecting them to the following sequential procedures:
- Rinse the tubers from the soil.
- Shorten excess shoots by 10-15 cm.
- Cut off the remaining part of the stems and, if necessary, divide the rhizome so that each division contains a pair of living buds.
- Treat the roots in a solution of potassium permanganate or fungicide.
- Leave the dahlias to lie in a cool room for a week so that the wounds heal and the tubers dry well.
If there are small damages on the tubers, such places must be cut out to avoid the spread of infection. It is better to throw away severely affected rhizomes so that all the planting material does not disappear because of them.
Methods for storing dahlias
Prepared dahlias should be stored until spring in a cool (3 to 5 degrees Celsius) room with good ventilation and air humidity of about 70%. Practice-tested methods for storing tubers include the following options:
In a private house, the storage place for dahlias is a cellar or pantry; in an apartment, you can use an insulated balcony for these purposes. As a last resort, the boxes are placed under the bed away from radiators.
Video on how to store dahlias in bags
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.
Loading...