How to lift, divide and store dahlias over winter (the Geoff & Heather way!)

This video shows how to dig dahlia tubers, prepare them for winter storage, and explains a method for winter storage in a cold greenhouse.
It’s possible to leave dahlia tubers in the ground over winter but in cold or wet climates they may perish. Geoff and Heather, who have been growing dahlias for 30 years, have found that it’s best to lift/ dig their tubers up, dry them, clean them up, divide if necessary, and store them in compost in their unheated greenhouse.
Dahlias
Dahlias start flowering in July and will continue to flower until the first frost, so they have a very long flowering season.
Their flowers come in many sizes from the tiniest pompons to the giant dinner-plate varieties, there are several shapes, including the round ball shaped decorative varieties, the spiky cactus types, the delicately pretty waterlilies and the pin-cushion shaped anemones.
They come in every colour apart from blue, and there are dahlias that reach 9 feet / 3 metres tall, whilst others only reach 18 inches / 40 centimetres.
So there is a dahlia suitable for every garden, and they can even be grown in pots.
Geoff and Heather have been growing dahlias for many years and use the different shapes and sizes to help create a tiered effect in their garden in Cheshire. Together with salvias, fuchsias, and bedding plants they have managed to create a riot of summer colour.
Each September they open their garden to the public as part of the U.K. National Garden Scheme.
In this video, and the other videos in the series, they show you how they manage to do this, providing guidance on how to grow perfect dahlias.

[@clint9027]

This is the sort of knowledge you only get with experience. Thank you my man. Came from the Facebook group.

[@arthurfletcher4702]

Excellent Video many thanks, love to see one on your way of Composting all that Dahlia material for use next year.

[@mytimelesshome]

What a valuable insight! It's wonderful that I've just learned this important tip about removing the mother tuber before storage. This can significantly improve my success rate of overwintering dahlia tubers. Thank you for sharing your experience, I'm sure many other viewers/subscribers will find this advice and video just as helpful. Thanks again & Happy gardening!😊🌸🌿

[@munk4hire]

Remove the mother tuber before storage, no one ever mentioned that and I always lost about 50 % of my stored tubers. Hopefully with this knowledge it won't happen this year. Thank you so much

[@donnaleone3818]

Wonderful video!! You are a good teacher. Love your garden.

[@VancouverIslandgirl]

Thank you for sharing this valuable information 💐

[@peterrat100]

Excellent video as usual, and very timely as so many of us lost all our tubers last winter. Thank you Geoff. I didn’t know about removing the mother tuber. Looks like I’d better get some bonsai scissors.

[@dekkb]

Really useful, thank you. I usually store mine in wood shavings in mushroom crates, but I'll try compost this year as I have lost a few through drying out.

[@christopherjhall]

I’ve overwintered Dahlias for the past 4 years and had no problems with any “mother tubers” rotting. This looks quite severe and un productive for regular gardeners. Having said that I bring mine indoors.

[@ericajamison407]

What should I do with the dahlia bulbs I ordered that already showed sprouting upon arriving to my home? Do I plant them and place them in the sun? Or put them in a pot to continue storage? Any help you can give would be great!

[@Dahliaholic]

I can only tell you what I do….. I pot them up and keep them in the greenhouse until they have 3 or 4 pairs of leaves. By then the danger of frost has passed and they are more able to survive a slug attack.

[@sadovodlybitel]

👍👍👍🙏🏻🌸❤️🇬🇪

[@donnaleone3818]

When you say the temperature will go well below zero, is that Celsius? How low do you think that is on Fahrenheit?

[@apan4201]

Hi, it can get up to -10 degrees Celcius here in England. It just varies from year to year.

[@stevebstslr]

Seriously? Zero C is freezing, 100C is boiling point of water at sea level. In F those numbers are +32F and +212F.

[@user-jo6dc2ts7q]

How cold does your winter temps get?

[@Dahliaholic]

Most years it gets down to minus 7 or 8 Celsius. The year it went down to minus 15 I did lose a few, particularly those tubers that were close to the side of the box.

[@user-jo6dc2ts7q]

@@Dahliaholic thank you so much! You have wonderful information, and thank you for sharing!