Hello!
I am Julie, a newbie, only started growing dahlias from tubers in 2023. I have been growing my own annuals for my container gardens for several years, but just discovered dahlia tubers in 2022. I started with 6 plants, 5 in a bed and one in a pot (Firepot, it begged to be in a pot)! They came from Eden Brothers and Park Seed. After overwintering my tuber clumps for the first time, I thought they had all dried up when I looked at them in March. I packed them in cardboard boxes with dry pine shavings and had the best of intentions to check on them, but truthfully, I completely forgot. I cried when I saw them in late March. So I went right out to our local big box store and bought 4 more varieties, each with 2 tubers apiece. I saw that they looked nearly as desiccated as those I overwintered. I cried again. Then I decided that if these were being sold in stores, I should at least try them out. When all but one of them sprouted, I decided to give my poor desiccated garage babies a try. I had casually tossed them back into cardboard boxes intending to compost them. one of them had white mold all over it, so I thought it was ruined and tossed it. I have since read that I could have cleaned it off and planted it! But of the very large, seemingly desiccated bunches of tubers, they all sprouted too! So now I had a total of 13 plants for a 5 plant bed! I planted the rest in 18" pots and they all made it! I was completely winging it, because I hadn't discovered the online community yet. As I was waking them up, the second year tuber clumps were sending up dozens of shoots, and I got nervous and posted the dreaded gall question. People suggested I take cuttings, so I did that too. When I nurtured my first three cuttings until they were ready for planting outside, I was hooked. My husband said they were so prolific that I wouldn't need to buy more tubers for years and years...silly husband! I had some failures with the cuttings, but two of them survived the summer and gave me tubers!! After discovering the online groups and learning about the American growers (hats off to all of you talented, kind people) I decided I would buy some new, healthy tubers from an American grower for the beds, and keep all of my european tubers in bags until they show signs of disease. 2025 will be year #3 for them, so it might be the year of disease for them, or maybe not - who knows. So I saw an idea about growing in bags and "hiding" the bags in a raised bed. So that is how I am growing them this year, plus I bought each one two companions that complemented them. My husband added a new bed that will hold 12 dahlia and we are doing 4 round raised beds with 7 gallon bags inside of them. I have brought my tuber collection up to 45. Shhh - don't tell my husband! LOL.
