Digging and dividing 2023

Juliarugula · 2023-10-08T17:22:54+00:00

We haven’t had a frost yet, but could be any day in the next few weeks. We have some nights with lows predicted as 39 coming up in a few days. Additionally...

Krista

Juliarugula Woohoo well done! I’m so jealous, I haven’t even begun but we should be getting some freezing nighttime temps this weekend so I’ll be forced to begin very soon. Your tuber presentation here tricked me into thinking thanksgiving dinner came early at your house!

Juliarugula

Carvin’ up the tubers! 🤣🤣

Teddahlia

The ghost dug these dahlias today. Good day for digging. Will dig more tomorrow.

KitCMC

Teddahlia Best haunting ever. I would love a helpful garden ghost 😆

calico20hill

At our house, digging is more fun with the duck crew. They go nuts over the worms that are dug up. I had to tell my garden assistant digger that the worms belong in the soil, not to feed duck bellies!

Krista

calico20hill Digging at your place does appear to be party vibing quite a bit more than it will at mine, what fun!

blown_dry

It seems to be a matter of being in the soil or not for me. Once the tubers have dried, they have tough skins.

calico20hill

IWe hoped to be done digging at least today but I think our energy levels are running down. Still a half bed to dig but the weather won't be that cold at night...in fact I think we have rain heading our way. Well, we should finish up the digging part tomorrow...then son informs me that we MUST go grocery shopping! The digging and putting away is all consuming.

Juliarugula

calico20hill then son informs me that we MUST go grocery shopping! The digging and putting away is all consuming.

I’ve had some complaints regarding the usual food supply during digging/dividing season also. Seems like the laundry has fallen behind too - don’t know how that happened…

Teddahlia

We are pretty much on schedule as far as digging . We are right at the 50% mark.

MissyWeitzel

I just finished digging Monday. 🥳 I have a lot of outdoor work to do yet and it has been in the 30s and 40s and snowed yesterday so I'm putting it off a bit. I'm hoping for a stretch of sunny days while I complete those tasks so I can soak up some sunshine before the inevitable gloomy and cloudy Michigan winter sets in.

MIDahlias

MissyWeitzel Me too. I don't mind digging in December, but I prefer dividing outside. I hope we get a couple more nice days so o can divide what I have dug outside.

calico20hill

Last dahlias dug this morning! LOTS Of tuber clumps still for me to divide!. But I can do that under shelter. We are at the beginning of a BIG atmospheric River that is streaming toward us off the Pacific Ocean. So glad the digging is done!

Krista

I’m the opposite of you, Noni, I haven’t even begun to dig yet! We’ve yet to have a killing frost in Seattle so all my plants are happily chugging right along. I have a few friends coming over this weekend for a tuber dividing party which will help me get the ball rolling. I can’t wait to find out what’s been happening underground - crossing my fingers for lots of happy tubers!

calico20hill

Question...
Some of my seedlings that bloomed beautiful made NO Tubers. They are just a mess of hairy roots. Does this mean that they were too crowded or that these would never grow tubers even if saved over in pots during the winter. Is it worth trying to save any of them? I could probably plant some of them back out in the raised beds buried fairly deep and they would survive.

Teddahlia

On the Dahlia Talk(two experienced growers) they claimed that "hair root" clumps can be left in the ground, preferably in a raised bed and they will actually make some tubers during the winter and grow well. I believe in the tooth fairy too. But If I am wrong and it does work and you have raised beds, you have nothing to lose.

MIDahlias

Teddahlia
I'm in Michigan, I wouldn't try it in a raised bed. I'm thinking about trying in for my inground cuttings. My thought is a tarp, a garden fence and 2ft of mulched leaves.

calico20hill

I might experiment with this...nothing ventured, nothing gained....

MissyWeitzel

calico20hill I saved the crown on a plant with no tubers and roots only and wrapped it in saran wrap and it overwintered fine with my tubers and I was able to take cuttings from it in spring. This was only one time, mind you, but if I run across that again I'll do it that way again.

calico20hill

MissyWeitzel Great to hear! These were small plants planted close together as seedlings. So not a very big hunk of roots but I am going to try it when I get back to it in the trays of what I have processed. I did save and mark it.

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