Allotments 4 All

I've been told that the best dahlia plants and flowers come from cutting raised plants so I thought I'd give it a go this year.

But in 'Life in a Cottage Garden' Carol said that cuttings taken from Bishops Children in March wouldnt be strong enough to go out until the following year ???  Is this right?

Also what does everyone think about cuttings being better?

if you want high grade flowers then cuttongs are best but if you want plenty of good qaulity flowers then dividing tubers would be quite OK. We grew about 200 plants to cut flowers to sell and always divided the tubers. I would have said that any cuttings taken in the spring would flower that year in my opinion.

We raise hundreds every year at work & they always go out the same year. They're always done as cuttings taken from last years stored tubers and are ready to go out into the borders around May/June time I think. Admittedly we don't grow Bishops Children, but I wouldn't have thought plants would need another whole year to be strong enough to go out  ???

I think it was a reference rather to surviving the frosts and the size of tuber rather than the plant flowering. We grow all our dahlias from cuttings in march they flower from june onwards no problem however the tubers are not hardy and therefore the stronger the tuber the more likely it is to survive the winter.
Bishops children can be grown from seed to flower by july no problem.

We get less than 50% tuber survival outside even in well drained spots but perhaps so far south in devon winter survival is pretty good in second year tubers.
x sunloving

I'm not sure lauriek what you mean by 'splitting/dividing tubers'.

My understanding is that the new dahlia growth is from the main stem of the old plants.  You can not break off one of the tubers and get new dahlias.  The tubers are food stores, and need to be attached to the old main stem to produce growth.

The other thing I understood about taking dahlia cuttings was that the younger the cuttings were the better, but once the dahlia stems had become hollow they would not root.

I appreciate that things have improved in the last hrrrumpteen years. ;D

I would be interested to learn if it is possible to break off a dahlia tuber to get new plants.

I think my point about the dahlia stems being hollow and not rooting are still valid. ;D

valmarg

that probably explains why I have eventually lost all my dahlias - splitting the tubers caused it?

I left tubers in the ground over winter for a couple of years and when I did decide to lift them they were massive and easily broke into about 6 viable tubers with growth buds (eyes). Did you see the size of that Bish she had though? Mine never get taller than 1m.

I took cuttings last year from shop bought tubers and planted out the same season. The plants grew well but no flowers until September !! So how do I get them to flower earlier this year. Remember we had that long warm, dry spell last Summer so it can't have been too low a temperature but I lost most of the flower buds to the first frosts.

We noticed how big the cutting were. We have always taken ours at about 3". 4" if missed

Yes! its true that hollow stemed cuttings tend to rot of rather than root i think bishops is a more flimsy stemed variety and so thats how she got away with it.

Re the cutting to flower issue its a question of timing. We start of our tubers with bottom heat second or third week in feb, take cuttings mid march and are planting out around 1st week in may this allows a long period of growth before flowering start end of june early july til oct.

Somthing to be thinking about now! ;D
x sunloving

Now I'm just being greedy...

Is it possible to take cuttings from the tubers and then subsequently leave a shoot on the tuber to develop as normal and so have plants from the cuttings and one from the tuber itself?  Would this mean that I have some earlier flowers (from the tuber) and some later?

I take cuttings from rooted cuttings when I pinch them out. After you have taken you cuttings jusy plant the old tubers up somewhere and they will still give you a good show. I have had the old tubers for years until the frost got em this winter.

Yes and the tubers do tend to flower earlier this way. The key is planting out very soon after the last frost for a long season.

The reason historically folks grow from cuttings is that there was a virus that affected tubers that was fairly rampant. So folks would grow from cuttings and chuck the tubers.

Sorry I have been so long in replying to the query about dividing tubers but we have lost out tied cottage and so have to move after25 years to a flat with no garden  :'( :'(. However about the tubers, when they start to show buds in the spring you can cut each tuber from the main stem provided it has a growth bud showing. We were growing to sell the flowers so wanted them as early as possible and they do flower quicher from tubers than cuttings.

Thanks Laurie thats very helpful.

I'm still awaiting my tubers from Rose Cottage Nursery and so I might do a combination of the two.  I grow so many Dahlias that I dont want the garden bereft of flowers until late in the season.

Sorry to hear of your forced move, if ever your itching to share some knowledge and advice in my garden youd be very welcome.