Better Homes And Gardens Large Wood Crate

After cutting back the foliage of the dahlia, carefully dig around the mass of tubers with a spade.

Growing Your Garden: Winter's coming — Here's how to save tropicals and tubers for next year

Theresa Forte Contributing Columnist

Fri., Nov. 12, 2021 4 min. read

Article was updated Nov. 14, 2021

Tropical-looking plants such as canna lily (Canna), elephant's ears (Alocasia), sweet potato vine (Ipomoea batatas), and glorious dahlias are popular additions to our summer gardens.

These plants all form bulbs or tubers, potatolike growths that store energy for the following growing season. By harvesting these bulbs and storing them over the winter, you can have a head start for next season and build up your stock of tropicals.

The best time to harvest tropical bulbs and tubers is in the autumn right after the first frost. Frost is nature's way of telling the plant it's time to store up the energy it will need to survive until spring.

How do you know if the plant in question has gone dormant? Usually the lush foliage will turn a sickly brown or black. In the case of dahlias, the flower stems collapse and can no longer support the flower, the foliage looks wilted and loses it's colour.

After the frost has killed the top growth, remove any supporting structures (if used) and cut the stems back to about 15 cm. Leave enough stem so you grip the stem and use it to help lift the tubers. Compost the spent top growth.

With the area cleared of debris, use a sharp spade or garden fork to carefully dig a generous circle around the perimeter of the plant. Don't try to cut too close or you will sever the tubers. The larger the plant, the farther out you should start feeling for the outer edge of the tubers.

It is inevitable that some of the tubers will be snapped off, but work as carefully as you can. Firmly, but gently, loosen the root ball by pushing down on the tool's handle to lift the mass of bulbs from the ground. Set the root ball on the ground and tie a label around the stems — this is especially important if you are lifting dahlia tubers and want to keep track of the variety and colours for another planting season.

This all sounds pretty easy, but don't be deceived.

Tropicals such as canna lily, elephant's ears and even dahlias have well developed root systems, and depending on your soil type, can be heavy to dig up. Clay soil holds more water and makes the job more difficult. It's easier to lift the bulbs during after a few days of dry weather.

After lifting and labelling them, the bulbs can be washed to remove excess soil and then set out on the garage floor or work bench to dry for a few days.

Washing the bulbs serves several purposes: you wash away insects that you won't want to bring inside for the winter, and the clean bulbs are much easier to examine for damage, rot or disease. Some people just shake off the excess dirt and never wash the bulbs, it's really your choice.

Canna lily and elephant's ear tubers can be loosely packed into a Dutch crate (a milk crate would also work) lined with a heavy plastic garbage bag. Loosely cover the top of the crate with another sheet of plastic. I've successfully stored canna and elephant's ear tubers this way for many years.

Some sources suggest wrapping clean, dry dahlia tubers in newspaper and then storing them in a plastic bag for the winter. I tried this method last winter and lost about half of my dahlia tubers, so I'm trying another method this year. This year, I've purchased a bag of wood chips (used for pet bedding) from the farm supply store. I will pack the dahlia bulbs in the wood chips and then store them in a plastic bag. I'm hoping the wood chips/plastic bag option will provide better insulation over the winter months.

Store the dormant bulbs in a dark place, such as basement, garage or wine cellar where the temperature will average 4.5 C to 10 C. The temperature must not go below freezing. Check the stored bulbs from time to time over the winter, remove any diseased bulbs, a little spritz of water can help resuscitate any shrivelled bulbs.

A few last thoughts …

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I don't wash canna lily and elephant's ear tubers, they are set out in the garage to dry for a few days and, if the weather stays above freezing, any remaining stems are snapped off and the tubers are given a gentle rub to loosen any soil before laying them in the Dutch crate. Do not be tempted to remove the roots — leave them intact if possible.

This year, two clumps of dahlia tubers came out of the ground with their roots tightly woven together. I will leave the clumps whole and divide them, if necessary, in the spring.

Mid-sized clumps can be left intact and replanted in the spring — these clumps will quickly send up stems. Large clumps can be divided in the spring. Tease the tubers apart to form two or three new clumps. Some clumps just fall apart on their own, taking the guess work out. The tops (stems) can be cut back for storage, do not remove the fibrous roots.

To get a head start on the gardening season, pot up tropical tubers and bulbs and bring them into a sunny room or set them on heating mat or radiator to get them started — the bottom heat will encourage them to start growing.

Better Homes And Gardens Large Wood Crate

Source: https://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/life/homes/advice/2021/11/12/growing-your-garden-winters-coming-heres-how-to-save-tropicals-and-tubers-for-next-year.html

Posted by: rodriguezrecke1963.blogspot.com

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