Storing bulbs for winter is super easy, and a great way to keep your favorite summer flowering bulbs year after year. In this post, I’ll show you when and how to dig up bulbs, and give you step-by-step instructions for how to store bulbs over the winter.
Tropical plants add wonderful, lush foliage and bright colorful blooms to summer landscape.
In cold climates, it’s common to grow tropical plants as annuals that will die over the winter, and be replaced every spring.
But many of these tropical plants form corms, tubers or bulbs (commonly referred to as bulbs) that can be grown year after year by overwintering them indoors.
With a little bit of dirty work, and a small amount of storage space, you can easily overwinter tender bulbs.
You will be able to keep plants that you love without worrying about having a sunny window to put them in, or fighting pest infestations during the winter. It’s a huge money saver too!
Tropical Bulbs To Overwinter Indoors
Here’s a small list of common tropical plants that have bulbs, corms or tubers which can be overwintered indoors.
- Canna lily
- Spider lily bulbs
- Voodoo lily
- Dahlia
- Elephant ear
- Crinum lily
- Tuberous Begonias (not all begonias are tuberous)
- Gladiolas
- Caladium
- Calla lilies
- Sweet potato vine
When To Dig Up Bulbs
The best time to dig up tropical bulbs for overwintering indoors is in the fall after the first few frosts have turned the leaves brown. This will trigger the plants to go dormant naturally.
You can dig up tender bulbs any time that is convenient to you, but you must do it before the ground freezes.
I like to wait until a few hard frosts have killed the foliage before I dig up my tender bulbs.
You can cut the foliage down to the ground before digging up the bulbs, or you can wait until after you’ve dug up and cleaned the bulbs to remove the foliage.
How To Dig Up Bulbs
I prefer to cut most of the foliage off before I dig the bulbs, leaving enough of the stalk to use as a handle if possible.
To avoid damaging the bulbs, start digging several inches away from the stems of the plants.
Dig around the entire root ball to loosen it up, and then lift it out of the ground. As you dig up the bulbs, make sure that you keep track of what is what (unless you like surprises).
Carefully loosen up the clump of bulbs, removing as much dirt as possible. Cutting off tightly bundled roots will help with this process.
You don’t need to cut off all the roots though. The goal is to loosen them up, remove the bulk of the dirt, and separate individual bulbs as much as possible.
Tender bulbs could be overwintered as one big clump, but splitting them apart helps prevent rotting and mold.
As you separate the bulbs from the clump, inspect each one and discard any that have signs of rot.
Healthy bulbs are firm, not mushy. Remove the remaining foliage before storing bulbs for winter.
Storing Bulbs For Winter
To reduce the chance of your tender bulbs rotting or growing moldy over the winter, allow the bulbs to cure (dry out) for several hours or days before overwintering indoors.
To do this, I lay newspaper on the garage floor and then spread my tender bulbs out on the newspaper.
The larger the bulb, the longer it should cure. One or two days for small bulbs, three to five days for large bulbs.
How To Store Bulbs For Winter
Once the tender bulbs have cured, it’s time to pack them up. I use cardboard boxes so they are easy to stack in a corner in the basement, but you could use paper bags too.
I would not recommend using any type of plastic container for overwintering tender bulbs, unless it is well ventilated.
You can wrap each bulb in newspaper, or you can pack them in peat moss, coco coir, wood chips (pet bedding works great) or saw dust.
Alternatively, you could use a mixture of vermiculite and perlite for storing bulbs. Whatever medium you choose to use to store your tender bulbs, make sure it is fairly dry before packing.
To prevent rot from spreading between bulbs, try to pack them so that the bulbs aren’t touching each other.
Continue to pack the bulbs between layers of packing medium until the box is full. Don’t forget to label them so you know what you have come spring.
Store your tender bulbs in a cool (above freezing) and dark location for the winter.
You can check them periodically during the winter to make sure there aren’t any signs of mold or rot, and ensure they aren’t drying out.
Overwintered tropical bulbs can be planted in pots and placed in a sunny room several weeks before they’re planted outside, or they can be planted directly into the garden in the spring after the last frost.
Digging up and overwintering tender bulbs requires a bit of work, but is a great way to save money and get a jump start on the garden in the spring.
More About Overwintering Plants
- How To Overwinter Coleus Plants Indoors
- How To Overwinter Brugmansia Plants Indoors
- How To Bring A Plant Out Of Dormancy
- Dormant Cyclamen Care: When, What To Do, & How To Revive It
Share your favorite method for storing bulbs, or add your tips for overwintering bulbs in the comments below.
Judy Powell Miller says
Amy – Of all the many sites I consulted for information about overwintering my tubrous begonias, yours was by far the most helpful but I am still confused. I am in Milwaukee so zone 5, with no garage, so will have to cure them indoors. Most sites say cure in a sunny or light place – my 100-year old basement is dark and feels a bit damp, which means curing in the house where the heat will be turned on starting in October. I would think that after a week (or several as suggested by some) the tubers would be very dry. This is where I am most confused. Sawdust, sand, vermiculite are all very dry (no site recommends DAMP sand, sawdust, etc.), so what is going to prevent these dry tubers in dry sand in a cardboard box in my basement from becoming desiccated? Tubrous begonias were very expensive and I only bought them (a dozen) because my house was in the Garden Walk this year. I desperately want to keep them alive because I can’t afford to buy them again and they really were spectacular all summer!
Amy Andrychowicz says
If your tuberous begonias are in a pot, you can just leave them in there, bring them into your basement, and not water all winter. Otherwise, if you’re digging up the tubers, then yes, you don’t want them to dry out too much. Let them cure until the soil on them is dry, but not to the point where the tubers start to shrivel. The best way to prevent them from drying out too much over the winter is to check on them monthly, and lightly mist them if they are drying out too fast.
Karen Martin says
I live in Winnipeg, Manitoba so our winters are even harsher than yours. I bring in my calli and canna lillies as well as gladiolus. My question is about splitting the canna lily bulbs. How big should they be before I split them and when is the best time?
The calli lillies have already sprouted. How long before I can plant them indoors? Or should I just wait until the last frost is gone?
Thank you.
Amy Andrychowicz says
Once your canna bulbs grow large enough where they have two or more tips on them, you can split them. The best time to do that is in early spring before planting. After splitting them, I would recommend allowing them to cure (dry) for a couple of days so that the wounds can callus over before planting them.
If your bulbs are starting to sprout, then you can pot them up at any time. You could certainly wait, and just plant them into the garden once it’s warm enough. But potting them up now will give them a nice head start. 🙂
Susan says
Love all your friendly, knowledge. Thanks for sharing for FREE.. ??
Going to try the sweet potato vine ‘dry wintering’. Hope I can find some peat moss.
Enjoy the Fall.
Amy Andrychowicz says
You’re welcome! Good luck overwintering your bulbs. 🙂
Emily says
I was just wondering how I should overwinter some lily bulbs; perfect timing!
Amy Andrychowicz says
You’re welcome!
Christine says
Great tips! I always want to buy tropicals for my zone 5 garden and always pass. I am going to have to treat myself to some next year!
Amy Andrychowicz says
Yes! Tropical bulbs are great. You just buy them once, overwinter them in the house, and regrow them year after year for free. LOL!
Tracy says
I tried storing bulbs in my basement last year, but they dried out and were no good come spring. My basement does not get cold. With enough packing using paper and dirt, is it possible for them to survive in a garage when temperatures fall below freezing?
Amy Andrychowicz says
It sounds like you need to pack the bulbs a bit better so they won’t dry out. Peat moss is a good packing material that will help keep your bulbs from drying out over winter. I definitely wouldn’t recommend storing bulbs in your unheated garage, the below freezing temps will likely kill them.
Linda dunning says
I purchased elephant ear bulb & was told to plant flat cut end down, round pointy end up, but nothing has happened in one mo. Is this right?
Amy Andrychowicz says
Yes, that is correct. I would carefully dig around the bulb to see if there’s any signs of growth. Maybe you planted it too deep?
lori says
This is my first time caring for canna bulbs. So you stated to dig after frost, but then stated it can be done at convenience…can I dig them up before frost if it is more convenient without fear of losing them? Thanks for your help, I am sort of new at this. 😉
Amy Andrychowicz says
Yes, you sure can dig up bulbs before frost. I can’t bring myself to cut them down when they’re still looking good in the garden, but you can do it anytime you want. Frost helps to trigger the bulbs to go dormant, but it’s not necessary to wait that long before you dig them up and store them.
Amy Andrychowicz says
After I wrote this post, I decided to do some experimenting with the types of containers I used for storing my bulbs.
Helen Malandrakis says
Cannas are the only tender bulbs I have. They are planted very close to my house. I do not dig them up, because I do not have the proper storage for them. I cut off the foliage after the freeze, and I mulch them very heavily. They have made it through the winters for at least 4 years, now.
Amy Andrychowicz says
Wow, that’s wonderful Helen. Glad to hear you found a technique that works for you so you don’t have to store your bulbs. It gets too cold here in MN for me to be able to leave them in the ground over winter, so I’m jealous! 🙂
Nikki Gwin says
Where do you live Helen? And what planting zone? I am 7b and am going to hope for the best.
🙂 gwingal
Helen Malandrakis says
Nikki, I live in Zone 6a. We used to be 5b. As I said, my husband piles about 18 inches to 2 feet of leaves on top of the area where I have the Cannas planted. It’s very close to the house with my garage on one side and front porch behind that area. It’ really not a pretty sight, but I don’t care. It really is not visible from the street because of the plants in front of this area.