When gardeners ask this question, it’s usually because they’ve noticed unusual coloration on the leaves of their dahlias, known as chlorophyll spotting. Chlorophyll spotting can be the result of many different conditions, including viruses like DMV, but also including overwatering (or too much rain), underwatering, bug damage, poor soil, overrich soil, etc etc. Severe or more advanced cases of DMV will often include deformed leaves, which is not typical of yellowing or spotting due to most other causes. Here are two good guides on spotting DMV specifically: American Dahlia Society Utah State University What to do next If you are concerned about any given plant, I would continue to observe it as it continues to grow over the next few weeks. If the condition is due to virus, the condition will worsen and should include deformed leaves and possibly dieback, so it’ll be much more clear what’s going on. Whatever you do, don’t panic. No garden or farm, even organic ones like ours, are ever completely free of all disease or pests in any given year. If you aren’t experiencing a sick plant this season, you will eventually. Most plants, like most humans, fight through diseases and pests and do just fine. Take appropriate measures, practice patience, and document everything so you can ask good questions and get good help from more experienced growers!

Leafy Gall is generally unmistakable – there are a lot of good examples here. It helps to understand a little better how gall spreads. It’s a disease of opportunity! It spreads through contaminated fluids from one plant to another through a wound, like cutting tools, shovels, pitchforks, etc. The disease won’t spread just from two undamaged tubers being in contact with each other in shipment, or even through the soil in normal conditions. It works kind of similarly to how the common wart is spread in humans. You can shake hands with someone who has one, and unless the wart is bleeding or otherwise open, AND you have an open cut on your hand, no transmission of the virus will occur. What we suggest do do if you're concerned: pot the tuber in question up in damp potting soil in a sunny place with the crown sticking out and watch it continue to grow for a couple of weeks. You’ll know for sure as it continues to mature.

Dahlias last a very long time on the stem, and the plants keep producing blooms as often as you cut the old ones. However, like many other bold, lush flowers, dahlias have a shorter vase life than more spare blooms. How long your dahlias last depend on the variety, on conditions at harvest, and on how you display them, but in good conditions, a good rule of thumb is 5-7 days. The Seattle wholesale growers market has an absolutely fantastic resource on vase life by variety. Definitely check that out!

A tuber that produces healthy looking roots but fails to grow any sprouts is likely a “blind” tuber, meaning the body of the tuber is healthy and alive, but there is no viable eye present at the crown. A tuber growing like this is “trying it’s best,” you might say - but it will eventually die without producing a sprout. It will not generate a new growth point. Dahlia tubers are not like some other tubers (like potatoes) in that growth points only exist at the crown of the tuber, where the tuber once was joined to the stem of the mother plant, and occasionally at low points on a young stem. But you’ll never find an eye on the body of a tuber - the crown and living stem are the only places the genetic information required for new green growth are present.

The million dollar question! Everybody has a favorite method. Here are a few methods in brief: Wrap each tuber in plastic wrap and store in your refrigerator crisper Store in peat moss in a cardboard box in a cool, dark, damp place. Store in vermiculite in a plastic tub with a lid in a cool, dark place. Store without storage medium in a five-gallon bucket covered with newsprint in a cool dark place. However you do it, consider these key factors: Temperature, humidity, and air flow. Temperature Dahlias should be stored at about 40 degrees. A little colder or a little warmer is ok, but if they freeze, they’ll die, and if they get too warm, humidity and rot become a problem. A garage, crawlspace, or cold basement often works well. Humidity Dahlias gain and lose moisture in cycles in response to their environment, so they need to be kept in a somewhat damp atmosphere (think how damp the ground is, where dahlias in warmer climates naturally overwinter). To facilitate this, most people use a storage medium. A storage medium has two jobs: it keeps tubers from losing too much moisture, and it absorbs excess moisture respirated over the winter. Most beginners seem to have the best luck with peat moss as a storage medium. The trick is to check it frequently (every two-four weeks) and add moisture if it gets too dry, or leave your storage containers open to airflow if it gets too damp. Air flow Speaking of airflow, you’ll need a container to store your dahlias. Most people store them in plastic buckets or tubs with a lid, filled with a storage medium, since that offers the most control. However, if you have a particularly humid and cold environment relatively safe from critters (like the classic root cellar) you can even use a plain old cardboard box with soil. Want to learn more on how to avoid losing your stock over the winter? Check out our Storage Masterclass here: https://www.sunsetviewfarmdahlias.com/courses

Yes you can! With caution. Dahlias need about 120 days in the ground to reach full maturity during a season. Don’t harvest them much earlier than that. You can certainly cut back the dahlias and go through the whole regular prep process early, however they will start sprouting eyes all over again if it’s still warm in your zone. Some growers do this intentionally to make it easier to divide the clumps in fall. We usually prefer to let nature take its course, but with careful planning, an earlier harvest can be successful.

The “eye” on a dahlia is a growth point, similar to eyes on a potato. But unlike potatoes, Dahlia eyes occur only on the crown of a tuber, the spot where each individual tuber attaches to the main stalk of the plant. If a tuber does not have an eye (if it’s a “blind” tuber) it’ll never grow anything. It can be extremely difficult finding eyes most of the time. The best case scenario is if you have a killing frost, then the temperature warms up over the next week or two before harvest. The frost will kill the stalk, then the eyes on the tubers will start to swell or even regrow tiny little shoots which makes dividing them a lot easier. ​ Another option is to store your tubers as clumps, then wake them up one-two months before it's time to replant, so the eyes start to swell. Some tubers take up to three months to eye up nicely. Others will wake up within two weeks. Most are wide awake within one-two months of returning to 60-70 degree temperatures. ​ There are many video tutorials online for finding dahlia eyes, but they’re tough to see even in the best videos. It can be really helpful to take a few undivided clumps out of storage quite early, pot them with the crowns sticking up above ground (they won’t dehydrate) and watch them wake up. You’ll be able to see in real time whether or not something you thought was an eye really was.

Every variety is different. Some tubers will show visible eyes within two weeks of being “woken up,” that is, moved to warmer temperatures. Some take two months to show any signs of life, or even longer!

Dahlias are not terribly fussy to ship. The key is to ship them early in the season when temperatures are cool but not freezing. Ideally, this should be true both for your region and the destination. However, most places in the US are generally safe to ship to by mid-April so long as the recipient is on the lookout for the box and never lets it sit outside overnight. Ship dahlias in a microcosm of your successful winter storage environment. If you stored your dahlias in bins with peat moss, ship them in ziplock bags in the same peat moss. If you stored them with no growing medium in crates or buckets topped with newsprint (like we do), ship them the same way. Use the smallest box they’ll fit in and make sure there is plenty of padding. Wood shavings and newsprint (our favorite) work best. Loose peat moss or potting soil tend to spill out during shipping, making a mess and reducing the efficacy of your padding. When the box is all packed, give it a gentle shake. There should be nothing at all rattling around. If shipped at the right time of year and packaged properly, dahlias do not need to be shipped priority or overnight. Economy shipping works just fine (wholesale dahlias are shipped in bulk from overseas growers and stored in crates for months at a time - yours will do fine in the mail for a few days).

It's good to remember (we forget ourselves sometimes) that though the flowers are so gorgeous, and we package up the tubers in pretty boxes, the tubers themselves at the end of the day are roots that go in the ground, and all sorts of things grow on them. As long as the eye is there and the tuber is still firm, a little fuzz or black mold won’t hurt anything. They'll grow beautiful flowers. If you're still concerned about a particular tuber, squeeze it firmly to check for hollow-rot. If it's questionably firm, snip off the bottom third. If the tuber is healthy, this won't hurt it. If it's beginning to rot from the inside out, this will reveal the problem.

Dahlias are classified with three major categories: size, form, and color. The American Dahlia Society has a great succinct photographic guide you can see for free here. Knowing what particular dahlia forms you like can help you search for new varieties without knowing specific names. Dahliaaddict.com has an awesome search feature here which allows you to look for dahlias available to buy right at this moment which have your favorite characteristics. For example, are you looking for medium (6 to 8”), informal decoratives in red? You can find a list of farmers with those for sale on the Dahlia Addict database. Our own website now also has a search by classification feature to make it easier for you to find the kinds of dahlias you like best. You can find it on our main shop page here.

Healthy rooted cuttings will grow, bloom, and produce tubers just like a tuber planted in the ground. Every variety is a little different but generally dahlias take about 8 weeks to bloom after planting.

The American Dahlia Society has a great succinct guide on taking dahlia cuttings, but read on for our take: Taking cuttings is an easy way to get more bang for your buck and grow your collection faster. Healthy plants grown from rooted cuttings will produce blooms and flowers just like a plant grown from a tuber. To take cuttings, make sure you wake up your tubers two-three months earlier than you would normally plant them (we sometimes start 5 months in advance, but we’re overachievers). Some tubers take up to two months to start producing shoots. Some will wake up in a couple weeks. To wake up your tubers, place them in damp potting soil straight up, with the crown exposed. Don’t overwater! The soil should stay slightly damp, never soaked, and never bone-dry. Put the tubers in a warm place. Grow lights are optional at this point. Once the eyes start to swell, make sure the tubers are getting adequate light. Let the shoots grow to at least two inches, then cut the shoot at the base with a sharp knife. Don’t cut into the crown, or you’ll remove the growth point and no other shoots will form. ​ There are several ways to root the cuttings after this point: You can leave them in a glass of water in a warm sunny place (old-fashioned method); you can put them directly into pots with soil that’s kept well-watered; or you can use a growing medium like vermiculite or coconut coir in a 72-cell tray, or similar set up. In any of these mediums, the key components are heat, moisture, and light. Keep the plants about 70 degrees or warmer. Ensure they always have enough water and keep them in a relatively humid environment. And make sure they get 12-14 hours of light per day (dahlias begin growing tubers when day length is under 10 hours, which you don’t want to happen before you plant them outside). With any of these methods, roots can take from one to four weeks to form. Rooting hormone is not necessary, but it sometimes helps speed up the process. Dry or Gel works fine (we use Garden Safe brand). We have tried all three methods and all of them work. The old-fashioned method (rooting in a glass of water) is by far the easiest and simplest if you only plan to take a few cuttings. ​ If you are taking many cuttings and need space efficiency and organization, we recommend you use a 72-cell tray with a water bath and heat mat. If you have lots of space, then you can go ahead and root cuttings in larger pots, just make sure they are kept warm to encourage the rooting process to take place.

The simplest way to wake up dahlias is just to move them from cold storage to a warmer environment. Room temperature is fine. If your storage solution is well designed, you don't even need to transfer the tubers to dirt or pots. Just move them! At Sunset View Farm we start waking ours up in the beginning of March by taking them indoors from our unheated, attached garage (about 40 degrees) to room temperatures (about 68 degrees) so they are all very nicely eyed up or even sprouting by the time we ship in mid-April. That lets people in warmer climates get them right in the ground as soon as they arrive. We're in northern NJ so we don't plant our own until mid-late May, but it doesn't hurt the tubers at all to have been awakened early. The worst case is you just snip off an over-eager sprout and plant the tuber as normal - it'll grow several more sprouts back promptly. This timeline applied to your situation: take your tubers to warmer temperatures 4-6 weeks before you expect to plant them outdoors.

In warm climates where the ground does not freeze, yes, dahlias are perennials and they will come back every year. However, if you live in a cold place you will need to dig them up and store them inside each year, or cover/insulate them if you leave them in the ground. Otherwise, the tubers will freeze and turn to mush. Fun fact: Every spring here in NJ (where we have very cold winters), dozens of "blind" tubers sprout from our compost pile. This goes to show two things: compost piles stay warm all winter; and even the the pros miss and eye every once in a while!