Dahlia question

ladycee

Do I need to bring them inside during the winter? It has been a very mild fall so there has been no need to as of yet, but I don't want to kill them if they need to be in the house. Anyone know something about this? I'd appreciate the advice, gardening is pretty new to me!

kastle

What I've heard is that you wait until the first frost turns the leave black.  The you cut off the stalks and leave them in the ground for a few weeks.  THEN you pull them out.

dirtyred

I'm in Zone 5, and I've never brought my dahlias in for the winter--not even the ones in pots.  They've always been fine.

kastle

dirtyred:

I'm in Zone 5, and I've never brought my dahlias in for the winter--not even the ones in pots.  They've always been fine.

Interesting.  I'm in zone 7a & none have ever survived the winter!  What kinds did you plant?

RoRo10733

I agree w/ Kastle. My dahlias never survive over the winter but this year I dug them up before the frost came. Upon talking to my Grandma she says she has left her Elephant Ears in the ground the last few years (she lives 20 mins away from me) and from what I understand they too have to be brought in before the frost (but they survived.) I think I will have to Google this one...

dirtyred

I have no clue what kinds of dahlias--one variety was bright pink and the other was orange.

nefariousmango

I live in zone 5 as well, we always cover ours from snow/frost (with buckets) once they've come back in the spring, but other than trimming them back in the fall, we just let them alone all winter!  Sometimes they don't come back, most of the time they do.  My mom swears by heavy mulching and good compost, and the combination has done wonders for my garden- this was the third summer for some plants I have that are only rated down to zone 7!

nicole-n-chris

this is what i do and it works:

once the first frost turns them black, i pull them out of the ground.  i then store them in a cool, dry place (garage) and once they have become dry (not dried out - just no longer moist), then i cut off the stalks and wrap each individual bulb in newspaper and store them all in a paper bag.  i leave the paper bag in the attic until it is time to plant them again!

leiann2003

ggdgd