Pack a dahlia tuber order with me!
It’s mid April here in Zone 3 Saskatchewan and we’re still about 6 weeks away from dahlia planting. I’ve been busy packing tuber orders to ship out in the next three weeks so I wanted to show you what you can expect if you’ve placed an order with me.
Watch this little video or read on below!
I sell all grades of tubers which is why I’m able to keep my prices a bit lower. I’ll never be of the belief that tubers need to be beautiful to produce beautiful blooms. In fact, I keep the smallest saddest tubers for myself and prefer them. They grow faster and push out roots quickly to find nutrients vs. Larger tubers that tend to be lazy as they have all the nutrients they want stored away in them. Typically if I receive a chunky tuber, I cut it down to about thumb size!
My tubers were stored in peat moss this year and I found it to be a perfect medium, this is what your tubers are packed in inside their little cellophane bags. I knock most of the soil off, divide and dust them in sulphur powder. You may see some white/yellow powder on your tubers, rest assured it’s there to help them. I’ve found this to be the best storage method for my particular climate but everyone’s in different. I always suggest trying multiple methods to see what suits you best.
I often cut the ends off of my tubers to check for rot or to remove skinny ends that could become a problem in storage. This doesn’t affect your dahlia in any way, roots will still form on that end.
This year I trialed stamping my tubers and while I was thrilled with the quick work, I realized upon my first tuber check that the ink I used wasn’t permanent and had run (booo!) So you may see a stamp, or sharpie, or both. Lesson learned!
Your tuber may have been eager and had too much green growth to safely ship, in this case, I’ll remove some or all of it for transport. Once growth is removed, your tuber will send it’s energy to the surrounding crown and push out multiple eyes around that damaged growth. This is a survival tactic and while many eyes can lead one to worry about disease, rest assured, it’s just doing what it’s biologically been trained to do to survive.
Once you’ve received your order, open them up and take a peek. You can pot them up right away, leave them in their bags in a warm spot if you’re wanting them to sprout, or move somewhere cool if you’re not ready yet. No water is needed until you see growth, just warmth to wake them up. Keep in mind they’ve been kept warm in my storage the last few weeks, sudden changes to temp without opening the bags can cause condensation, rot, mold etc so make sure you open them up and let them breathe.
While the internet is full of knowledge, it’s often overwhelming and sometimes the advice found doesn’t suit your growing area. Do your best to find local growers to learn from if they’re willing, watch their content, read their website info, find a local dahlia society, but try not to get overwhelmed. The internet tends to overcomplicate these beauties. All you need is an ugly “potato”, warm soil and a little patience.
I’ll be back with another post about what to expect if you’ve ordered dahlia cuttings from me and again to guide you through planting your dahlias in June, until then, think warm thoughts friends!
💛Natasha