Dahlia advice please

Posted the same post in wrong place maybe? Bought some straggly, nr dead dahlias yest, marked down in price. Will they die off and not return next year? One is v tall and the others are small and mixed. No labels. Think i may have been swizzed now :(

 

Have you tapped one out of its pit to see if a tuber has been formed? If not, then I think you are on a hiding to nothing to be honest,
Jenny
ps , I'm itching to get the secateurs out and do some deadheading.

 

Hmmm...bit befuddled now, as I thought those bud-like things were to become new blooms. So I have to cut them off? Took one plant out of plug, and it looks like it has regular roots, however, i don't exactly know what a tuber looks like though. Is it like a bulb? I will put in separate pots as you suggest. I can see how dahlia growing is addictive, they can be stunning and have admired them for ages. Here's pic of the v tall white one I bought.
Thanks Jenny and FatController for the advice. [emoji259] [emoji261]

 

Hi lizzerti, the tubers look a bit like a potato, which is also a tuber.

 

If I am reading the label correctly and they are Dahlia Diablo Mix then they are a bedding Dahlia, and normally grown as an annual. Any tubers that you are able to store over winter can be grown on next year, but as they are smaller than regular Dahlias (20" tall say) they don't produce as big a set of tubers as their bigger cousins. Personally I would pot up and try to keep them going for as long as possible (i.e. greenhouse / conservatory as nights start to get colder) so that they period that they are dormant is as short as possible. They can be started off again, with some heat, in February.

 

Thanks to all. I've learnt so much from your comments & pics. Have started to pot them up & hope to complete the rest aft work tomorrow. Yep, Kirsten, tray marked Diablo mixed. An annual; does this mean they only last 1 year and not back following year? I thought dahlias were perennial...to keep in pots or dig up and store -guessing it's a matter of preference and what's more effective perhaps? [emoji10]

 

They are, but "Bedding Dahlias" are typically grown from seed, and then binned at the end of the season - probably because they can more easily ?? be grown from seed than the time & space and effort of overwintering the tubers (given that that type of Dahlia only make small-ish plants). I expect yours will be fine, over wintered (plus if there are any specific colour combinations of leaf / flower that you like they will stay true by over wintering (and by taking cuttings in the Spring, if you want more of them), whereas from seed you get Allsorts.

I think your only real risk is that because they are small, by nature, that their energy reserves in the tubers will be less than full-blown Dahlias and that might mean that they struggle to survive, particularly if we have a long winter.

 

Thanks Kristen and all. Here's my dahlias, all preened and potted. I haven't trimmed where there are flowers and I see a ball shape or two..so more flowers coming. Fingers crossed I can overwinter successfully. Prob move pots into conservatory soon.