hi i was talking to someone about dahlia tubers today, who said that they have potted their tubers already, and hope to take and grow cuttings. I think they do it to sell the cuttings rather than plant. I've had a quick look on another dahlia website, and it seems simple to grow and take cuttings. It doesn't say what you do with the tubers once you've taken the cuttings from them.

I'm new to gardening and dahlias, and just dug up and split the tubers out so that they survived as much as anything else. the plants had obviously been left in over winter for a couple of years, and the tubers were a tangled mess. Am i right in thinking that only the fat tubers will be any good?
or should i pot some of the weaker looking ones and try and grow cuttings from them?
i don't know what happens when you pot them, do you get only one shoot from each tuber?
and then if that is removed, is the tuber useless? or could it still grow another in time for the season?

i know some of the dahlias were show flowers, but some had grown from dropped seeds and were no longer true to type. I have no intention of showing them, but it seems daft not to keep them as they were intended.
also the ground i dug them from is still bare, should i grow something in here as cover or to aid the soil until i'm ready to plant out. i would appreciate any help thanks.

"lowlife" wrote in message
...

hi i was talking to someone about dahlia tubers today, who said that
they have potted their tubers already, and hope to take and grow
cuttings. I think they do it to sell the cuttings rather than plant.
I've had a quick look on another dahlia website, and it seems simple to
grow and take cuttings. It doesn't say what you do with the tubers once
you've taken the cuttings from them.


You only need to take cuttings if you want extra plants.
I would recommend just planting the tubers out in May as normal and see
what you get. If you really like some of them, then use cuttings next year
to get more.
Dahlias take very easily from cuttings. You can also split tubers to
increase the numer of plants.

I'm new to gardening and dahlias, and just dug up and split the tubers
out so that they survived as much as anything else. the plants had
obviously been left in over winter for a couple of years, and the
tubers were a tangled mess. Am i right in thinking that only the fat
tubers will be any good?

They might all be ok.
When you pot them, you usually get a few shoots per tuber.

or should i pot some of the weaker looking ones and try and grow
cuttings from them?
i don't know what happens when you pot them, do you get only one shoot
from each tuber?
and then if that is removed, is the tuber useless? or could it still
grow another in time for the season?

i know some of the dahlias were show flowers, but some had grown from
dropped seeds and were no longer true to type. I have no intention of
showing them, but it seems daft not to keep them as they were
intended.
also the ground i dug them from is still bare, should i grow something
in here as cover or to aid the soil until i'm ready to plant out. i
would appreciate any help thanks.

Nothing much will grow there between now and the Dahlias being ready, apart
from weeds.
Just dig it and dig in some organic matter and remove any weeds.






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lowlife

hi thanks for that. ok as some of the decorative dahlias only had a few tubers, maybe i could pot these up for cuttings now in the hope of having some more plants. if i'm to take cuttings from them, should i leave one shoot for the plant to grow into?

well assuming i want to take a cutting and plant the tuber, how long does it take to grow a shoot for cutting, so that i know when to take them out of winter storage?

any tips for fending off earwigs? thanks

On Jan 28, 4:35 pm, lowlife wrote:
hi thanks for that. ok as some of the decorative dahlias only had a few
tubers, maybe i could pot these up for cuttings now in the hope of
having some more plants. if i'm to take cuttings from them, should i
leave one shoot for the plant to grow into?

I was about to guess and make up an answer but then I decided to cheat
and google an answer but there was so much information, I gave in. If
you google dahlia and cuttings you get a wall of details.

e.g.
http://www.scdahlias.org/howto/cuttings.html
http://www.jrg-dahlias.co.uk/new_page_3.htm
both look like they give all the details and they are just the first 2



well assuming i want to take a cutting and plant the tuber, how long
does it take to grow a shoot for cutting, so that i know when to take
them out of winter storage?

any tips for fending off earwigs? thanks

No :-)


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lowlife