Etelka, your row of dahlias is going to be beautiful. And the posts are unobtrusive. Surely, being painted green, your neighbors would understand they were there for a reason and leave them alone.

Dan, I think I will do a blend for storage this fall. I did like the saran thing, assuming I get them correctly dry. And a light dusting of fungicide (I coated them like chicken with shake and bake last time and I think it promoted rot being so thick and holding any dampness too much). I will cut up the obvious ones and put the others in bags like this year. If they look like they are drying out I will take a bucket of slightly damp peat and vermiculite down stairs and put it in the bags that look like they need a little moisture retention. Yup. That's my plan and as you say no plant survives meeting reality.

I don't dare go to Walmart. I simply couldn't resist buying some tubers. I vaguely remember buying some and am hoping it was last year because I don't see any bags laying around now.

I will start potting now since most have eyes. I did my inventory and added two new fields to report, one dahlia per page with picture, saying when it came out of storage (already had a field for when they went in) and 'Has eyes' and 'no eyes' indicating how many of each rather than simply one field that says 'eyes' yes no. I didn't have time yesterday to add up the ones with eyes but will do so today. I think I have enough soil (Promix) and am wondering what I could add to each pot to give them a good start. The next 8 weeks are critical. I should be able to put them under poly in the raised beds by the middle endish of April without fear of cold getting them. And they harden off really well in there. They never burn. I open the ends to get a good airflow if it is warm enough. I also have two fans going in the garage to get a little movement on the stems and to circulate the air to discourage fungus/mold.

Technically off topic but still about dahlias.

My first dahlia bloom of 2016! So exciting regardless of how small it is. I hate throwing away the tops when I'm trying to keep them stocky so I plant them in pots and this one, Kasasagi, has done best of all.

Amazing. So you rooted the top when you cut it off and then potted it??? Impressive

Wow!

Thanks. It's always the first to bloom anyhow but getting dahlia blooms in March feels so good.

Yes, Mary, just the top I had cut off - maybe 5" long and it rooted. You don't want to know about all the failures with other cultivars!

Arlene, getting a bloom this early is cheating. It just isn't fair! lol Congrats!

Just to make it "perfectly clear", I took those cuttings last May or June. They're not current.

Oh my. I didn't realize they were that mature. Silly of me. Of course they were from last year; what would you have cut from this time of year. lol

I am down to the wire on getting tubers in the dirt. They are drying out fast. I have pitched some that I simply don't have the room for and look very doubtful while a day or so ago I would have give them a try. Off to get the plywood today for the second table. Ridiculous when I am also considering doing cuttings. I need one of those humongous garages I have been looking at online at properties for sale. Three car garages all open to each other inside. Course many of those have really tall ceilings so don't know how I would drop lights without 10 foot chains and a very tall ladder.

To keep them damp why not try wet paper towels with plastic wrap on top? It should work.

The height would be a problem.

They are all in dirt now. Thank heavens. I used my watering can with a very fine bronze nozzle (think they are called rose nozzle) to sprinkle the tops to keep them from drying out but not getting them too wet. I moistened the soil before they went in.

Congrats Mary!

Almost all of mine are eyed up and putting out little sprouts now. I check the ones that haven't every 3 days, and have had a few more that succumbed to rot as they moistened up, but not nearly as many as last year.

So far, all of my pre-season gardening energy has gone into dahlias - I will finally start my pepper and eggplant, snapdragon and petunia seeds today - I am a bit behind.

I need to empty the last of the shelves on the rolling racks before I can plant more vegies and annuals. Absolutely noooooo room in the inn. And when they start growing and need moving .. no clue what I will do. And if/when the dahlias start growing if I leave them where they are, jammed together I won't be able to water them. A drop system would be nice but not practical to set up and take down. I actually have the parts for one that I bought three years ago the is for my raised beds. I swear I will fumble my way to install it if I cannot get D to help this year. Plus when the dahlias grow and they are jammed together they are so delicate that when you move them you break limbs.

I'd root any broken ones just on the chance they'd grow.

Hello everyone, this particular thread has gone silent. Can't have that. So here goes. I've ordered dahlias from 7 different growers and did a trade with Geoff. This is my first year getting dahlias from anyone other than Swan Island. I've really become obsessed-interested in laciniated forms and Colwood Eve has really got my motor running. Lobaugh's Dahlias is just a few miles away and I went and picked up my order rather than have him ship it (saved me 10.00). He was kind enough to show me his storage system in his garage. His walls are insulated and he has floor to ceiling cabinets. He stores his bulbs in clear shoe boxes in vermiculite. He says if it gets really cold he puts a little space heater out there. Here in the northwest we don't have much freezing weather. He told me Home Depot has the shoe boxes on sale for a dollar a piece right now. I feel a shopping trip coming on.

While I have only heard good things about Lobaughs in the past, I ordered from them for the first time this year, and 7 out of the 10 tubers that arrived rotted very quickly - he is replacing them and was very nice about that.

I am hoping I just had some really bad luck, He carries some really nice dahlias.

I bought some of those 'shoe box' sized sterlite boxes with tops for my knitting projects. I keep buying yarn and patterns that I cannot get to for years so I store them and label with the project. I have put all of that aside a few weeks ago. There is no time for knitting nor will there be for some time. Guess I really is a winter hobby. But the boxes are great and indeed even there it was 10 for $10. I also used two in the garage, one for string and twine, and one for wire bits. I am always looking for some of one or the other and getting things that have really nice wire wraps that I want to save for use later. Now I have a go to place that is tidy.

It seems like it would be awfully expensive for storing tubers for the home enthusiast though. Especially as you would have to (I cannot label my tubers like Dan or Geof) keep each kind in a separate box. I have tried writing on them but they are too wrinkly or the skin sort of peels. And that is even when they are sort of shriveling. Have not figured that out. I pull after two weeks frost, lightly clean off dirt, and then dry on racks for a few days and shrivel they do. I simply don't know how you do it Dan. Wish I did.

Mary, the skin on my tubers tears pretty easily too, if they aren't dry enough. I've found labeling with a Sharpie designed for laundry helps since the tip seems more blunt. Even then, I don't apply much pressure. I think it works better than the ones with the fine point.

I was out of town for a week and a half. When I returned I was very pleased to see so many tubers eyeing up and some had sprouts a couple inches long. I had put a few in bags of soil and had to untangle some of the root systems that had matted together. I will be potting some up this afternoon. I continue to be amazed by how fast tubers can sprout and develop roots after receiving light and warmth. These are the best looking tubers I've had in years. Now, I'm hoping they'll grow and produce.

and I am just holding on and hoping that I can get mine through this critical period when I suffer so many losses. They simply are not designed to be kept in pots under grow lights (and the ones on the tables are very inadequate) for weeks on end.

mandolls said:While I have only heard good things about Lobaughs in the past, I ordered from them for the first time this year, and 7 out of the 10 tubers that arrived rotted very quickly - he is replacing them and was very nice about that.

I am hoping I just had some really bad luck, He carries some really nice dahlias.

I wanted to write in a follow up to my whining post about my Lobaughs order.

Today I received a box, that had 2 tubers each of most everything I had told him rotted, plus a tuber of the one that I told him would probably make it after surgery, plus a $5.00 check for one he didn't have any stock left of that had rotted.

The tubers are looking very good all of them well sprouted. I had to cut 3 of them down a bit to get them in the zip locks and didn't see any signs of internal rot on those.

So...........great customer service!!

I wrote him, telling him I would tear up the check to help him recover some of the postage from the second shipping. I feel bad that he is loosing money on me, but I will definitely be a returning customer.

My last order arrived yesterday from Cowlitz. Two of the dahlias that I especially wanted, I didn't get, which was disappointing, but I did get some that were NA when I place my order, but had listed them as "wish list". so all in all - very happy.

I also had a last sale of tubers for me. An ATP member who lives in the next town over dropped by this morning and bought 6, half of them were already growing plants, the others well sprouted.

So done with the wheeling-dealing and ready to start planting soon.

We are having a freakishly warm day today - supposed to be 88, which will be great for warming up the soil in the dahlia beds - but maybe a bit much for me to go out in the sun and work - need to wait till after 3 when my yard starts to get some shade, or I will burn to a crisp.