Time to wake up the dahlias!
Dahlias are not morning people.
They wake up slowly. They need it to be warm and kinda dark, with a little spritz of water for re-hydrating. If you hurry the process they get cranky…too warm and dry and they shrivel up, too wet and cold and they mold. They are who they are, so let’s work with them not against them shall we?
Regardless of how you stored them, we’re all starting with a dormant tuber and aiming for the same result…dahlias who’ve been woken up and are ready to grow! We do this to stimulate their growth cycle and prevent accidentally planting an unviable tuber.
Before you begin the process, you’ll need to think about the following info:
Your dahlia can’t be planted outside until nighttime & soil temperatures are consistently at or over 10c. In Victoria (Zone 8b/9a) that usually means you plant your dahlias outside in May.
It takes 3-4 weeks to wake a tuber up from dormancy. This part takes up very little space.
Once your tuber wakes up, you have to decide whether: a) it’s warm enough to plant it outside or b) you want to plant it in a pot to grow until it’s warm enough outside.
If you plan to plant your tuber in a pot after it’s awake, it will need to be placed in a warm, sunny spot, in a greenhouse, or under grow lights until planting time. Where are you planning to do this? Do you have the space prepared?
A tuber planted in a pot and cared for (sun & water) will grow approximately 6-8”/month. Is your space set up for this?
Check the calendar and count back from May. If you’re prepared to pot it up and grow it on inside, you can wake it up as early as you want! If you just want to plant it in the ground, you’ll want to wait to wake it up until the end of March.
If you’re planting the tuber in the ground, keep storing it in a cool, dry, dark spot until about 4 weeks before you want to plant it. Keep an eye on it and use the trouble-shooting info below if needed.
If you’re waking up a tuber clump you will need to trim off any dried or rotten bits, any tubers with broken necks, and any of the remaining stem. Any part of the clump that is not being ‘fed’ by the healthy portion is prone to rot during the waking-up process. You can divide the clump at this time for more single tubers (more plants), or just keep it as a clump (one plant) and simply follow the wake up advice below.
Waking Up Your Tuber
Hopefully the advice above has helped you decide when you’ll be ready to wake up your tuber.
Remember that once it’s awake it’s ready to grow, so you’ll be caring for a real live plant pretty soon! Make sure you’ve planned ahead for that with enough space, warmth and light. Pretend it’s a baby and do a little nesting to get ready.
When it’s wake-up-time, follow the tips below:
Bring your tuber into a warmer space (15-18c) like inside the house, on top of the fridge, on a shelf in the laundry room etc.
Contain your dahlia tuber in a ziploc bag, a plastic tub with a lid, or basically anything that can hold your tuber and enough medium (pine shavings, coconut coir, sterile potting mix) to cover it. You can put more than one tuber in a container, just try to keep each of them surrounded in medium.
Spritz the medium with a spray of water. The idea is to add humidity to the container and stimulate growth, not to water it as though it’s a 3ft plant. You want things almost dry.
Cover or close your container, but leave it cracked open in some way for humidity to escape! You’ve created a small greenhouse, and sealing it up completely will allow mold to develop. It’s better to add humidity as needed for growth, but not containing it leads to problems.
Set your tuber aside in a warm spot and let it wake up. You should see the ‘eyes’ plump up and look like tiny sprouts within a month or so. You can add light at this time if you want to, but I’d encourage you to think about what nature does. If the tuber is growing underground, the sprouts get 4-6” tall before they emerge from the soil! Keeping it in the dark as it wakes up is similar.
Troubleshooting
Tuber looks wrinkled & soft: It’s drying up like a raisin. Too dry and crispy and it won’t be viable! Spritz the medium with a little water and consider moving it somewhere less warm. I’ve planted pretty wrinkled tubers with great success, but I avoid it if possible.
Tuber is getting moldy/rotten: All tubers (no matter how expertly they’ve been produced) are prone to molding if the conditions aren’t right. Using clean snips, cut off the moldy bits, even as much as chopping off half of the tuber if needed. You need to make sure the eyes, neck and a portion of the body remain intact. Wash the tuber with a very diluted mixture of 1litre of warm water and 2tbsp hydrogen peroxide, Use a toothbrush to brush away anything soft. Let it dry, and start again with fresh medium.
Tuber sprouts are getting very long: You can plant it in a pot or pinch off the sprout. More will grow it its place, but the tuber is definitely ready to go! Leaving the sprout on the tuber in the warm, moist container will encourage it to rot, so either remove it or plant it.
Tuber isn’t waking up (after 4 weeks): All varieties wake up on a different timeline, but if you’ve seen no action after 4 weeks, try planting it in potting soil and keeping it warm and moist. If that still doesn’t work after 2 weeks, you might have a dud. It happens. Contact your seller (me!) if this happens and they’ll very likely provide you with a replacement.
Now you know when and how to wake up your tubers and what to do if something weird happens!
I’ll be posting soon about how to pot them up once they’ve sprouted, so stay tuned for that. I’ll also be sharing the information above with a video or two, so find me on Instagram and YouTube for a more visual approach to waking up your tubers.
As always, comment below with any questions and I’ll be happy to help if I can.
Happy gardening!
xo - Renée
