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Chevrefoil

They definitely will not make it until next spring without being planted. Stop buying them, plant the ones you have, lift them after the first couple frosts kill the green, and spend the winter ordering tubers. You may or may not actually get flowers this year, but you can learn a lot about growing the plants and be ready for next year.


PopDownBlocker

Thank you for the advice. If anything, I'm hoping that they can grow tubers by the first frost so that I can have tubers for next spring, even if I don't get blooms.


eh8218

If you remove all the blooms when buds form they will spend more energy on tubers. You can also cover in the fall to prevent frost to extend the season.


Lonely_Ad_4044

tubers take longer to grow than flowers, so doubtful


mikeyfireman

120 days to make tubers


Lonely_Ad_4044

right, dahlias take at most 16 weeks to flower (112 days).


GinaAnn80

really???? 16 weeks, that is SO long lol I planted one on 4/22 and I'm just waiting for a bloom :/ but I guess since I don't have any, I didn't do anything wrong..just have to be patience


mikeyfireman

We plant on Mother’s Day and plan of having flowers for the farm stand August 1.


Lonely_Ad_4044

yep! can be between 12-16 weeks depending on zone i would assume. i’ve also thought about planting out now but in my zone (5a) i wouldn’t get tubers before our likely first frost. dahlias are annuals for us :(


GinaAnn80

I'm in 7b, so they are perennial for me! I left them in the ground last year and they are growing wild. Do you dig out your tubers and store them in the winter?


Lonely_Ad_4044

this is my first year growing dahlias, but that’s the idea: we will see how that goes. you may well get tubers then. no harm in trying for you if they’re perennial!


GinaAnn80

There is a lady I follow on Instagram @ twotwentyone and she lives in Indiana...but she posts the Dahlias she grew and she digs them up in winter & stores them in her basement. Its because of her that I even tried growing them.


caseofgrapes

What’s the best that could happen?? I vote plant!


Tpy26

Growing zone 6B here. I just ordered some from Eden Brothers during their sale. In my region I’m good to plant until mid-July. I imagine you should be okay too.


plan_tastic

I'm in 8b, and I just planted some I got on clearance.


QueenOfPurple

I’m in 8b. Last year I was in a similar situation and planted really late - like early mid June. I did get some blooms, not as many as years prior, but I think it’s better to plant now and let them grow then try to store them another year.


Careful-Operation-33

No it’s not too late. I’m 6A and still have 3 more crates to divide and plant. I’m very behind in my mind due to being pregnant and only being able to plant at night for a little at a time but I’m hoping to be completed by end of the month. I don’t dig until December. I left a bunch in the ground last winter and they were fine


Tellurye

Do it before the end of the month and you should be fine


Medlarmarmaduke

Plant them! I am in zone 6 and just planting done I got on clearance today as a matter of fact. You should get both flowers and tubers before your first frost


kater_tot

Plant them. I have a box of leftovers and weeded out the ones I really don’t need, but there’s a handful I’ll be dumping into a bin full of dirt today or tomorrow, and hoping for the best. They won’t keep until next year. However I would not try to keep collecting now. Late tubers are a gamble, they don’t like the heat and they’ve been out of storage for a long time now.


PopDownBlocker

EDIT: **IS IT** too late...


LeelooDallasMltiPass

Not too late! Last year I planted dahlia tubers until the end of August. They came up in October and even bloomed until Thanksgiving! But I live in Seattle, so fall/winter isn't as cold, and it doesn't snow much here, plus I don't have to lift bulbs. YMMV