Potting Up Dahlia Tubers - Both Stored and Newly Purchased - May 2025

Late last year, I dug-up and attempted to store a number of dahlia tubers that had been in our beds all year-long.  This was the first time I had grown dahlias (in the ground) and also the first time that I attempted to "save" the tubers from one-season-to-the-next.  

In this post from last December, I showed how I ended up using the "Saran Wrap Method" to attempt to preserve the tubers over Winter.  I dug up clumps of tubers, let them dry out just a little bit, left most of the soil on them then wrapped them and left them in the garage where the temps *usually* stay above freezing all Winter.  

With Dahlia planting season fast-approaching (I have to wait until last Frost date to plant them - which is right around mid-May), I grabbed the box of tubers and went to check to see how they did?  Were they rotten?  Dried out and dead?  

Turns out...neither.  

They not only survived the Winter.  But....most of them were ALREADY SPROUTING.  In the Saran Wrap.  See below for a look at one of them with the little green shoot under the plastic wrap:

I started to unwrap the tubers and began to squeeze them.  All of the clumps from last year were solid.  Not rotten.  And...seemingly springing to life with new shoots like this one you see below:

Last year, I potted the tubers up in one-gallon pots and kept them indoors from May 1st through May 10th - after the threat of frost has passed.  I had six total tubers.  

This year....I have...well....MORE.  

I have 16 new tubers (2 Maar, 2 Mystery Fox, 2 Sweet Nathalie, 2 Pooh, 2 Wizard of Oz and 6 Pablo), and ten tuber clumps from last year.  I only had twenty (20) one-gallon nursery pots, so I opted to hold-off on the Pablo tubers, but plant up the rest.  

Here are some of the Longfield Gardens Dahlia tuber packages:

And, here below, is another one the Melina Fleur tubers that I overwintered in Saran Wrap:

Using the twenty one-gallon nursery pots, a new bag of potting mix and some coffee stiring sticks to identify them, I potted up the tubers.  Some of the Melina Fluers were ALMOST TOO BIG to fit, but I sort-of stuffed them in.  Here are the tubers all potted up on the driveway where I gave them a big drink:

After I let them drain for a couple of hours, I moved them inside, to the basement window ledges where they'll get enough light along with warmer temperatures that I hope will stimulate some growth. 

Here - in this post - is a look at the foliage from last year's tubers after about 2.5 weeks being started indoors.  My (current) thinking is to get foliage above the soil line, then as they put on a little bit of height, move them out to the screened porch where they'll get much more light.  Then, about four-to-five days of hardening them off by putting them outside in a shady spot for the days and back in at night.  

With 26 dahlias this year, now comes the time when I have to figure out where they'll go:  

Some will certainly go in the front porch bed and along the cut flower bed like last year.  But, that accounts for probably five or six.  

IB2DWs can hold three-or-four more.  

The pizza oven bed is likely where the balance are grown.