Dahlia tubers - shrivelled up

Hi all,

Just opened the boxes where the tubers have been stored - all dried up, very light-weight, no substance, but not rotted.

Should I bother planting or are they gone?

I dug them at the proper time for our area, stored them in card board cartons filled with dry peat moss in the basement (dry basement). Last year was my first with dahlias; they were beautiful. I was so concerned with them rotting over the winter. Got the opposite.

What did I do wrong?

Thanks.

Is there any firmness at all?

I'd give them a go but not expect anything, then if they come up it's a lovely suprise. I'd give them a good watering in.

It's quite common to see people/books suggesting dry storage. They don't like overly dry or wet storage and it can be quite difficult to keep a good balance, even the experts suffer from losses.

We keep our Dahlia tubers in a frost free greenhouse without any packing, we don't water in the coldest months but there is enough humidity in the air of the greenhouse to keep them plump. You can pack them in a greenhouse or shed in boxes, with sand or dry soil, again they don't need any water spray because of the humidity. Don't cover the entire tuber just the 'fingers'. That way you can keep an eye on the crown and lift the fingers from time to time to check on them. A very, very light spray of water if it gets very dry doesn't hurt if it's very occasional. (I realise my greenhouse has the added bonus of being in wet S. England). Storing in a heated room isn't too good for them either, they prefer to be just frost free at about 40 - 45F.

The important things are; they are kept frost free, out of draughts and without much moisture but not entirely dry.

Strangely, it's the well fed (with compound fertilisers) grown on very fertile soil Dahlias that don't store well as a general rule. Also the large flowered, exhibition types aren't easy to store either. A dry summer, especially towards the end of the season helps the tubers to store their required food, a wet summer can be disasterous. So it's not so much a case of what you did wrong, it could also be the type of Dahlia and how it was grown that can be factored into storage problems as well.

I just purchased a few new varieties from Swan Island and they told me they store their tubers in moist peat moss. They moisten it just enough so that there is no dust that flies around.
We have at least 100 different varieties and we have noticed just as you have said Baa that some varieties just don't store well and others are perfect. I also noticed that I had two of my prettiest varieties(the plants) broke off late in the season . Sometimes that old hollow stem just gets too heavy. Anyhow there wasn't enough time for it to regrow very substantially and those varieties did not make good tubers and did not store at all.

here goes with another option.

I dont store mine anywhere. I just leave them in their pots, 20L, and bring them into the shed. They start to grow when they feel the urge like a few weeks back.

I did this to D. Bishop of Llanddaf, D. merckii,
D. imperialis and Cosmos atrosanguineus

This is my first year planting dahlias. A friend sells that in the summer at farmer's market. I got quite a few of her stored tubers. Her suggestion was to soak them for 24 hours before putting them in the ground. We'll see how they do.

i lost all of mine this past winter too. i stored them in peat moss, in a cooler part of the cellar. probably 40-50 degrees. what i think i did wrong was during the season i used a water soluble fertilizer (miracle gro) and come to find out they don't like that. here is a hyperlink i learned a lot from.
https://www.dahlias.com/care_growtips.html
and here is another
http://www.gardenguides.com/flowers/bulbs/dahlia.htm

I lost about half of mine this year ...and it wasnt due to shriviling(which is how I usually loose them)
Last fall I dug them,hosed them off cut the tops off,let them dry off in the house,sprayed them with "wilt pruf",and then dusted them with a fungal powder.

None of them shriveled

But half of them disentegrated,the tuber is there ,but its just the shell of it,there is nothing inside of it,when you touch them they just crumble like a dried leaf .

and I thought I was doing sooooo good.......

thank goodness I bought lots in the co-op or my DH would kill me........

This is great information...also the hyperlink to the dahlia info. was helpful. I have a "Wickey Woo" Dahlia. It is gorgeous, and I hope it stores well. But, I don't want to think about winter right now!