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Produce => Non Edible Plants => Topic started by: adrianhumph on May 07, 2009, 09:02:36

Title: dahlia cuttings from tuber
Post by: adrianhumph on May 07, 2009, 09:02:36

Hi all,  :)
                 I have started off in a plant pot 2 dahlia tubers, they are set just below the surface of the compost, on GW, Alice, showed how to take cuttings from these as they grow. Do I take off all the new growth,  and plant the tuber as deep as I would a dormant one? Or do I only take some as cuttings & then plant the tuber, burying the growth that I have left on? Or do i plant the tuber the same depth as it is now, that is just below the surface?

                                                                           Confused ??? Adrian.

Title: Re: dahlia cuttings from tuber
Post by: hopalong on May 07, 2009, 09:52:18

I assume you mean softwood cuttings? You remove the first shoots when they are 3 or 4 inches tall, usually in early spring. Cut above the the lowest node but leave a bud on the tuber.  After you have taken the cuttings keep the tuber in a warm moist place.  I leave the tuber in a box of moist compost in the shed, with the top exposed above the surface, until new shoots appear, then give it a foliar feed before planting out.

This year I just left the tubers in the ground under a thick mulch and didn't take any basal stem or softwood cuttings.  Despite the worryingly cold winter weather which I feared might have killed them off, the shoots are showing through strongly now.

Title: Re: dahlia cuttings from tuber
Post by: adrianhumph on May 07, 2009, 13:50:54

Hi hopalong, :)
                       Thanks for replying, I think you have hit the nail
 on the head, I didn`t think i should be burying the foliage, I need to sever the softwood cuttings but leave enough new growth on the tuber to begin growing again.
                          Regards, Adrian.

Title: Re: dahlia cuttings from tuber
Post by: Tee Gee on May 07, 2009, 15:09:00

There are a few ways to propagate Dahlias here are three of them;
http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Data/Dahlias/Dahlia%20propagation/dahlia%20propagation.html (http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Data/Dahlias/Dahlia%20propagation/dahlia%20propagation.html)

http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Data/Dahlias/Dahlias.htm (http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Data/Dahlias/Dahlias.htm)

http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Data/Dahlias%20(bedding)/Dahlias%20(bedding).htm (http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Data/Dahlias%20(bedding)/Dahlias%20(bedding).htm)

Title: Re: dahlia cuttings from tuber
Post by: Digeroo on May 07, 2009, 20:07:02

Many thanks  you reminded me, I have just taken a cutting from a tuber that a neighbour left on my door step. 

I came home last week and found them waiting for me.  What a lovely present that was.

I think they are Bishop of Landaff, anyway they are bright red.