This spring I planted some dahlias, one plant had strong growth and many flowers. I decide I wanted to over winter this plant. I waited till frost killed top part and dug up roots. The tubers from this plant seem small and dried out, are they worth saving?
The first picture, the plant looks dead. The next plant: Sure. Let's see if you can get it through the winter.
That skinny one that is off to the right must be last year's tuber that you bought. Clip that off and toss it. If there is another like that, clip that off, too. Many years ago, I would just dig my 3 or 4 plants and put the entire clump in box of dry leaves. Too many times I have found serious decay since I got more plants and began tidying them up more. Decay, before or after storage, is worth trying to avoid.
The new tubers sure are round. I wonder if that reflects the clay conditions in your soil. I thought one was cracked but it just appears to be a root over it.
New growth will show up at the stem end of the tuber. Be careful with that area.
Here is Illinois Extension on dahlias. Scroll about half way down to where it says, "There seems to be a million variations out there on how to overwinter dahlias." I don't know about that.
Most recommendations are simple. Store in peat moss or vermiculite at cool temperatures, not freezing! The idea of wrapping individual tubers in plastic wrap seems risky to me. Notice the extension author doesn't do that. I may dust cuts and breaks with sulfur this time but it would be a first for me.
Good luck, NyBoy. Not every plant can make it through winter and begin again in the Spring. Those that do, often reproduce 3 or 4 to 1 .
Thanks Steve I figured first was a goner but wanted to make sure. It was a dollar plant, so if it doesn't make it, no big deal. Using it to learn some thing new.
I've been storing mine in peat moss inside a plastic grocery bag tied shut at the top, then inside a box they go. I have such a hard time finding a cool, but not freezing place to put them. Inside, I run the risk of the woodstove drying them out too much, so I put them in the garage or sunroom and watch the temperature forecast like a hawk. When it gets down to freezing, I move them to a far corner of the (heated) basement. I really need a cellar! I do lose a few to them drying out. If you don't heat with wood, you'll probably have better luck than me.
And by that I mean my dahlia tubers have not been nibbled by mice. I do not mean my mice don't eat dahlia tubers.
And by that I mean they are not my mice, but that the occasional mouse gets into the house, especially in the fall. I have seen no evidence that South-est, central-est Wisconsin field mice/house mice eat dahlia tubers.
I brought some of my dahlia tubers in this fall (I found some truly GORGEOUS dahlia plants at a florist in Chinatown, and REALLY wanted to save them for next year. They looked fine when I brought them in but now all look like the first picture (let me guess, dahlia tubers dry out if you don't bury them in something. Wish someone told me.)
That is a gardener's problem sometimes. We don't know what to ask until it's too late. Storing dahlia tubers has been discussed here before, but not this fall that I can remember.