10/14/2026
Turns out the frost just singed most of the flowers but definitely didn't truly kill the plants.
Still counting that as our first frost though, and the plants are still coming down! There's a lot of 'rules' about waiting for frost, or waiting a certain amount of days after frost, or not cutting down and digging up on the same day etc. and I'm here to tell you I've done them ALL and do them all every single year in my field and it makes zero difference in how they store. I've gotten frost mid October, and sometimes I haven't got one until January. But pretty much every year, I start digging before frost, and don't finish until WELL after everything is dead from freezing.
In short:
I dig tubers before frost. I dig them 6 weeks after.
I cut down and dig the same day. I cut down and wait two weeks.
I wash and divide right away. I wash and divide a week later. Etc.
And the reason I do it every single way is because that's what naturally happens processing thousands of dahlias every fall.
And after talking to several growers and hybridizers who have been doing this multiple decades.... same.
Good tubers that store well has more to do with the variety, how long they're in the ground (120 days minimum), and making sure that they are cured and stored correctly for the environment that you have to work with (this isn't a one-size fits all either, but that's for another post!)
