Everything about digging tuberoses

You  can dig your tuberose bulbs in the fall starting a couple of weeks before your first frost date. We begin digging the first week in October in zone 7a. You don’t have to rush - as long as you get them out of the ground before the ground freezes, they’ll be fine.

The drier it is, the easier it will be to dig them, and the easier to get the soil off of them.

Lift them with a shovel, being sure to go deep enough that the tip of your shovel gets under the clump of bulbs.

It is important to get as much soil off of the bulbs as possible when you dig them.  We have found that grabbing one in each hand, holding them by the leaves, and banging them together lightly is the best method of loosening and removing as much soil as possible. If you bang them too hard, you’ll damage the bulbs.

After digging, cut the leaves and old stems off of your bulbs.  You should not trim them too closely - leave about an inch of leaf on the top of the bulb clump.  The bottoms of the leaves are reddish, and your trimmed bulbs and clumps will have only the reddish portion of the leaf remaining.

Put your bulb clumps in one layer in crates or trays, or simply on a tarp on the ground.  You can leave them outside - sunshine and wind help to start drying.  But don’t let the dew or rain fall on them. Your goal is to get as much of the moisture out of the clumps as possible. 

So now, you have clumps of bulbs.  What next?