Dahlia - is it dead from the frost last week?

[BolloxtoGender]

Hi there, first time growling dahlia this year, Bishop Llandoff (sp?) was flowering beautifully until the first frost about a week ago and now everything looks dead.

I have a cloche and some compost. So my question is, should I dig it up and bin it or shall I cut it back cover it with compost and a cloche? Will it come back next year? TIA green fingered MNs.

Hello,
You need to dig up the dahlia tuba and put it in a paper bag. Put it in the shed over winter and replant again in the spring.

Yes, the frosts will almost certainly have knackered the vegetation and flowers, but, unless you live in the Arctic Circle, we have not yet had any deep, penetrating ground frosts and the tuber, below ground, should be fine. I would suggest digging it up and storing it somewhere dark and cool over winter, stored in some dry, loose, potting compost, hopefully where mice cannot easily get at it, and replant in the spring. Most tender corms, bulbs and tubers will survive some frost - it is wet soil which does more harm and causes rotting when they are dormant.

Bishop of Llandaff is a good choice, by the way, a lovely Dahlia and deservedly popular!

Thank you @sunshinecounty..so it’s not dead..which is good.

But I m hoping not to hav3 to dig it up, and mulch /cloche instead....I’m so lazy...

Thanks @Beekeeper1. All the Bishops are lovely aren’t they ...😀

Dig it up, dry it, keep it frost free and dry over winter. Plant out in spring. I start mine in march in the mini greenhouse, but they only go out in the ground at the end of may after frost risk has passed.

Depending on where you live a cloche and a pile of compost will be perfectly fine . It's the wet coupled with the cold that will kill the tubers . I just pile compost on mine and rarely lose them . They're slower to come back but I don't mind that as have limited space indoors to start them off again . They're always in flower by the end of July . Pinch out side shoots for the first few weeks they resprout.

Yes, my preference is for blues and purples, in the garden, as a rule, but there are some striking red and magenta coloured flowers which will always have a place too!

A cloche and leaf mulch is ok as long as the tuber doesn't get too boggy and wet. Is your soil well drained?

@sunshinecounty

A cloche and leaf mulch is ok as long as the tuber doesn't get too boggy and wet. Is your soil well drained?

Not sure how I can tell, it’s just topsoil and compost.....

Shall I throw in a layer of grit....?

Yes- good idea with the grit, but work it into the soil.

Hi there, first time growling dahlia this year Be nice to your dahlia, and it won't growl .

Yes- good idea with the grit, but work it into the soil. Might be easier just to dig up the tuber!

If your soil is clay-ey, it won't be well drained, and winter rot is a real danger. If your soil is sandy, your drainage may be OK. If you pick up a walnut sized lump of soil, can you roll it into a ball? If you can, your soil is clay, if it keeps falling apart you're on sandy soil.

Trowel, paper bag, a minute's work now to give you a gorgeous dahlia next year. Why wouldn't you? :)

If you’re keeping the tubers in the ground (I’ve got v free flowing soil so hoping will be ok) do you need to cut the stems off or just leave them to it to die back?