Today I will tell and show you how to best store Dahlias until next spring. Two reader questions from Sjouk and Andries were how to best deal with the Dahlia and the Begonia (that blog will come next week) if you want to keep them for next year. The Dahlia has to be dug up to get it through the winter unscathed. Of course, it sometimes happens that a Dahlia survives the winter without being dug up, but usually it goes wrong. A Dahlia tuber can easily give up due to frost or too much moisture.

Dahlia American Sunset , new in our range next spring

If the Dahlia leaves have turned yellow and die, you can dig up the tuber. When digging up, keep in mind that a Dahlia tuber can be very large. Do not put the spade or fork too close to the Dahlia plant in the ground. I have made this mistake far too often and ruined many Dahlia tubers.

Damaged Dahlia tubers are more susceptible to rot and drying out during storage. After removing the Dahlia tuber from the ground, cut the stems a few centimeters above the tuber.

Dahlia Robann Regal , new in our range next spring

Sjouk's question was also how the tuber can be split in order to obtain more tubers. Often this is self-evident, if the tuber has grown well it often has the tendency to fall apart. In these photos you get a somewhat idea of ​​it:

A very well grown Dahlia as it emerges from the ground.

In this photo the same tuber that has been rinsed clean. I prefer not to rinse it clean. I prefer to lightly knock out the excess sand, which makes the tuber less susceptible to drying out.

Here again the same tuber but now broken into three pieces by grabbing the tuber by the stems and gently wiggling and turning it a little.

But my advice would be to divide the Dahlia only in the spring. A tuber like this will probably fall apart a bit when you knock the sand out, but if not, leave it whole until planting time. Cut the stems off to a few centimetres above the tuber and put it wrapped in newspaper in a crate or box and put it away in a frost-free place.

The newspapers are to prevent as much airflow as possible along the tuber, which means it dries out less. Some people also use wood shavings, which works fine too. Instead of a box or crate, you can also put them in a plastic bag, but don't close the bag completely. Even though the Dahlia is dormant, it still needs oxygen, so leave the bag open at the top, otherwise it will suffocate.

In the spring you will see that new shoots will develop on top of the Dahlia tuber, next to the old stems. If you try to split the tuber now you will see that it is considerably easier. The tuber has dried out a bit and you have room to put your fingers or, if necessary, a knife between the tuber legs, making it easier to separate it.

Make sure that every part you remove has one or more shoots. This is almost always the case with a piece of old stem.

In this photo the shoots are clearly visible. This tuber cannot be split, there is only one old stem. But as soon as two or more knots of old stems are visible it is usually possible to pull or cut the tuber into pieces. It is also clearly visible that the tuber has shriveled considerably during storage, but that is not a problem, the sprouts show that it is still very much alive.

I don't know the Chinese zodiac by heart but I would be surprised if last year wasn't the year of the Snail. I myself have never seen so many snails scurrying through the garden as this year and from what I heard on the complaints line I wasn't the only one with the snail problem.

Many people informed us that the Dahlias just wouldn't come up. When I pointed out to people that the sprouts were probably being eaten from the ground up by snails every night, usually after a few days there was a surprised or worried reaction of 'wow, that's bad, you're right, we've never experienced this before'.

Often it turned out well because a Dahlia does not give up easily, if a sprout dies it immediately makes a new one. But I am convinced that we would have had many more Dahlia flowers worldwide if those slimy dresses had not been so numerous. They move at a snail's pace, but they can make more snails at a bloody pace.

And oh yes, if you are digging up the Dahlias anyway, kill two birds with one stone. Put some tulips, daffodils or other spring bloomers in the hole of the Dahlia, there is bound to be something nice to find in the Fluwel shop.