10/11/2026
THE SECRET TO TUBER STORAGE!!
Everyone claims to know āTHE SECRETā to tuber storage! Do YOU?
The REAL secret to storing dahlias? Itās yours to discover! What works for one may fail for another. Your climate, your magic! Every storage process works for some but NOT for others so your secret is YOURS ALONE!!
Letās discussā¦ļæ¼
There is no āBEST WAYā to store tubers. What is best for me may not be best for you. Itās going to depend on your specific storage area (attached garage? Detached garage? Heated garage? Heated shed? Inside the home? Unheated shed out back? Aunt Margieās house?). Each and every one of you who read this post will relate to one method or anotherā¦but none of you will be āwrongā!
Okay soā¦
I live in the deep ļæ¼northwest region of the Pacific Northwest: Arlington, Wa. I store my tubers in an unheated but attached garage which hovers around 50Ā° all winter. I layer my {LABELLED ~ donāt forget labels} undivided tuber clumps in pine shavings in those ubiquitous storage containers that are black with the yellow lids. I DO drill holes in the bottom of each container, and I DO snap the lids closed and check on them monthly. This method delivers fresh, plump tubers in the spring so it works for ME, but if you have cooler or hotter conditions or higher or lower humidity in your storage space, then my method may rot your tubers or they may dry out completely. Youāll need to test a few methods this season (if itās your first season) and see what works best for you.
Things I do beyond drilling holes in the containers and keeping the lids closedļæ¼: I DO gently rinse my labeled clumps with a hose and let them dry overnight before I layer them up in my tubs. Many people think that leaving them unwashed works better. I have found that creepy crawlers such as slugs (and slug eggs) will remain in that dirt and they start eating away at my tubers so that method didnāt work for me. But again, that method works great for others!! I grow all of my tubers 100% organically, so it may be that others donāt have problems with critters because they use pesticides which kill the critters. I donāt know.
I DO toss my clean and dry pine shavings with a little bit of powered copper. Not too much but just a little to help with fungus. I get it on Amazon.
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I DO trim the clumps to be nice and tidy before I put them into storage. That means I clip off all of the little rat tail roots, and any dangling tubers with broken their neck. Those get trimmed away. As stated, I let them dry before I put them to bed.
I DO drill a few holes in the bottoms of the {black and yellow} containers so that moisture/water can drain out of the containers without water pooling on the bottom. I have had trouble in the past with tuber clumps rotting because theyāre on the bottom of the container and theyāre just sitting in water so now I drill a few holes in the bottom of all my containers.
I DO make sure that none of my clumps are touching one another. This is imperative because if you allow the clumps to overlay one another, they will spread rot from clump to clump. I layer them up so they are completely separated from one another and packed in with clean, dry pine shavings around each clump.
One thing to note (that Iāve noticed other people donāt mention) is that you need to cut the stem/s of your clumps 100% completely off. If you leave a stem poking up out of your clump (oh dang, Iām making you cut off that handy dandy little handle!) it may rot, and that rot will go right down into your clump and rot everything. Cut stems completely OFF just so you donāt have to deal with this. There is no legit benefit to leaving the stem on the clump {beyond leaving a little handle on your clump, which is dumb}.
Lastly, I DO check my boxes at least once a month. If you are new and youāre just trying out a new method on storage, check your tubers every two weeks MINIMUM all winter long. Your tubers will rot in just two weeks (*or less* if itās warm and wet) if you get lazy, donāt check on your tubers and miss the signs of rot.
All this to say, my method works *for me* with my exact conditions, but it will not work for everybody. Iāve been storing in the same way for years, making subtle changes along the way, and I know now that I can check my tubers once a month and Iāll be fine.
ADS has a pretty in-depth description of how to use saran wrap to store your tubers in the winter. I tried this method and I had about 20% rot. I know that Ken Greenway {AC dahlias} uses this method and it works excellent for him!!
Also, as I said, many people choose not to rinse their tubers at all. They let them dry in the field and store them encased in soil from their garden. Many people divide in the fall and put their individually cut tubers away in vermiculite through the winter. This didnāt work for me, but works for many.
Again, everyone must find their own way regarding storage. There is no āone answerā. Those are the yellow, who are just setting out and determining what method works for you, I encourage you to try several methods this year, and then try more methods next year! Iām many years down the line now, but I lost a lot of tubers along the way. You will too.
Thatās completely normal!! ļæ¼
