Starting Dahlia Tubers Indoors - 20 Days Later - Early May 2026
In mid-April, I began the process of potting up my dahlia tubers for the year. They are MOSTLY tubers that I have grown in previous years that I dug up and stored over winter using the Saran Wrap method . I began by trying to divide the tubers into viable 'clumps'. After watching a bunch of YouTube videos, I learned that tubers need to also have part of the 'neck' attached to them in order for an 'eye' to sprout. Without that 'eye', the tuber is 'blind' and won't ever put up shoots. I ended up potting up close to 100 tubers in one-gallon nursery containers and after watering the potting mix (just a little bit), carried them all down to my basement to begin what I call 'sprout watch' . From what I understand, these tubers (if they are viable) have enough energy stored in them to produce the initial growth and don't need too much water in order to begin their annual cycle. Too much water and you end up rotting the tuber, so...