the great annual dahlia dig

Dahlias do not survive over the winter in our Midwestern climate. When lows in the mid-teens come, we work hard to dig and divide the dahlia tubers on our Fort Wayne farm.

Dahlias grow into large clumps of tubers below ground, which can be divided and replanted each year. With a bit of care and proper storage, we can propagate dozens of new plants off a single cluster!  

​Each cluster is cleaned, cut in half, and divided into smaller tubers for storage. It is important that each tuber has an “eye,” or growth spot, located near the stem of the main cluster. Dahlias need the energy stored from the root to make it through the winter storage, but they will not sprout without an eye.

Divided tubers with eyes end up looking like small potatoes or even weird, gnarly fingers. It's because of the eyes that the tubers have these long, delicate necks as pictured on the right above. 

Once the tubers are cleaned and free from any debris that may cause rot, we wrap them in plastic to ensure they do not dry out in winter storage. The wrapped tubers are stored in our walk-in cooler at around 38-40 degrees - just cold enough to prevent premature growth, but not so cold that they might freeze. Thanks to these funny-looking tubers, we will have plenty of Fort Wayne dahlias for next year! 

Obligatory side note: dahlia tubers are actually perfectly edible, but with so many other veggies on hand, we prefer to keep them for flowers!

Finished and ready for winter storage. Each tuber will eventually grow into the massive clumps pictured previously.