Thursday 12 May 2011

Dahlia protection failed

Wednesday continued in a similar pattern to the last few days. Some sunny periods and the threat of showers which didn't happen.
On the plot the dahlias which had been protected over winter using straw and polythene were uncovered. It didn't make for pretty viewing.
Dahlia protection over winter
The tubers certainly hadn't survived the severe frosts of last winter. Some tubers had 300mm or more of straw cover but the tubers had been turned to mush. 
Rotten dahlia tubers
I think with much sorting out it might have been possible to save a small part of some of the tubers but it would be a really messy and unpleasant job so we have decided that the whole lot can go to the compost heap and we will start afresh.

3 comments:

  1. Eeek! I was afraid that might happen after such a harsh winter. I'd been pinning my hopes on your Dahlia method ever since Sue told me about it when I was bemoaning losing all mine, which I had lifted and stored in our garage. Ah well, back to the drawing board! Enjoy selecting your new Dahlias.

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  2. A bit of a blow as our method had worked for more years than I care to remember. I don't think it's the method just the extreme cold weather and the length of time it lasted. Like you our plot neighbour stored his tubers more conventionally but he too lost them all. We're trying from seed this year so it will be interesting to see how our new plants perform.

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  3. This is a sad thing to look at. It would surely steal a lot of time sorting out the undamaged dahlia tubers from the damaged ones. Perhaps next time we could improvised more effective method of storing dahlia tubers during winter.

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