A question about Dahlia's

Hi all,

I have about 20 different Dahlia's in my borders that I never bothered lifting last year (Silly me!).
I pruned them back October/November last year.
None of them have any sign of new growth yet.
How long should I give it. I was so impressed with them last year, it would be a shame to lose them and was banking on them coming back this year.

Cheers

 

I've never grown Dahlia's before, although got a tuber this year to try out, but from what I've heard they are very frost tender...and this winter was the coldest in many parts of the country in 18 years :( Doesn't sound promising I know :( On the other hand, its recommended not to grow them outside until late April so maybe they might start appearing then.

The above is only what I've read, not experience!

 

Mine were liftet over the winter - so should come back. I have now potted them up and they are in the warmth of the greenhouse - but even so - there are no signs of life. You'rs will be in colder soil - so I wouldn't expect anything yet.

 

Sorry for my ignorance, but do you think I should lift and examine mine?
If so, after lifting should I cut away ALL of last years growth and place back in the same spot?
Cheers

 

It probably doesn't matter too much if you lift them now Bashy. The damage, if any, will have been done some time ago. The only benefit of lifting now is that if you find one with some rotten tubers, you can cut the rot out so it doesn't spread.

New growth will come from the woody crown at the top - not from the tubers themselves - they are just storage organs. So cut back to above the crown, but don't cut the crown itself. The standard practice is to lift them in autumn and then to pot them up at this time of the year in a frost free place. Covering the bottom half of the tubers, where the roots will grow, with compost but don't cover the crown. The reason is that once growth starts from the crown it won't rot. But until that time there is still a small chance of the crown rotting if it is too damp. Once you have two or three inches of growth you can replant them as deep as you like.

 

bashy, have you got room to start them off somewhere warmer?

I don't grow them, but my Mum had hundreds. They were all put in fairly large boxes (old wooden fruit & veg boxes back then, I expect) with some damp peat around (yeah, we used to have that too back then! but any compost will do), and then we planted them out when the firsts were over. I suppose we took some cuttings to increased the numbers, or split them up when we could see where the shoots were on the stems, but I don't clearly remember doing any of that.