I did terrible with storing dahlias last winter. I only had three surviving, sprouting tubers – a dwarf variety, a white one (pictured above) and a purple one. All the other ones were shriveled and/or rotted. I am pretty sure I dug them up too soon and also neglected to take good care of them over the winter. Plus, our basement is too warm. This time, I want to make sure I divide them correctly and store them properly. We had a “killing” frost on November 18, so the foliage of the dahlias started to turn black. I cut down the stalks to about 4 to 5 inches and left them in the soil for a few days so the tubers could cure a little. I then dug them up (on November 30), rinsed the soil off the tubers and let them dry for two days (one day would have been enough).

Today, I divided them. I made sure, each piece was intact and had at least one “eye”. I discarded the “mother tuber”. With a Sharpie, I put a number on each tuber that corresponded to the number on the twist tie: 1 for the dwarf variety, 2 for the white dahlia and 3 for the purple one.

I then dusted them in sulfur powder to prevent fungal disease.

Then, the tubers were wrapped in plastic wrap. Not the most environmentally friendly way, but a dahlia expert I spoke to swears by it. Plus, my previous system of storing them in a box filled with vermiculite and spritzing them with water every once in a while did not work last year, so I am trying something new. I wrapped them in packages of three to four tubers making sure each individual tuber was fully wrapped. This way, I am saving plastic wrap, but I can still inspect each individual tuber for rot.

The wrapped tubers will be stored in the back hallway, the coolest spot in the house (the basement is too warm), and I will check on them every two to four weeks. Fingers crossed.