Storing Dahlias

 I got all of my Dahlia tubers stored.  I worked on them yesterday and today.  I'm whooped.  That is a lot of hard work.  I've done more detailed blogs about my methods in the past.  Digging and Storing Dahlias  and Dividing Dahlias.   This year I made some improvements to my system that saved a lot of work.  Instead of washing them into the wheelbarrow and then dumping the mud out each time, I set my compost sifter up on sawhorses so the mud washes away.

I also got these neat tags that can stay with the tuber all year.  You can wash them and plant them.  I no longer have to write on the tubers.  When you plant them you can either leave them on the tuber or pull them off and put them on the garden stake for identification.

Those two improvements made a huge difference.   Also, I have culled over two dozen plants this year.  Some of them I pulled during the summer when I lost patience with them and some I pulled recently because I didn't want to waste time and energy storing them.  This was either because they just don't bloom well, or they were not a color that I liked.  A couple of them died on their own.  

I cleaned up each clump, removing damaged or old tubers, and a few of them divided up on their own.  Some of the clumps are massive.  This poses a storage problem but it ensures that the plant will be large and productive next year.  I've stopped worrying as much about dividing them.  I just remove what I need to and get them cleaned up. I managed to get everything into the same amount of tubs as I did last year, even though many of the clumps were quite large. 

This is most of the ones from yesterday drying in the breeze.

I have decided that I enjoy getting new varieties each year, looking forward to seeing the new bloom in person.  I will probably keep storing Dahlias for a few more years, but the more I store, the fewer new ones I can plant so I am not going overboard.  Last winter I stored 97 tubers.  I did not have room to plant them all this spring, and between that culling and culling throughout the year, I am down to 59 in storage.  And that is plenty!