Taking Dahlia Cuttings

blown_dry · 2023-02-04T23:34:14+00:00

Continuing from https://cubits.org/Dahlias/thread/view/92091/#end_of_thread

janell

Teddahlia Most people who try to grow dahlia to full sized plants indoors fail because of disease. Insects will find dahlias inside and fungus also

I suspect that you are quite right, Ted, especially if/when the plants are stressed, but I still might try. 🙃

SteveM

Teddahlia Except for the magnifying scope, the equipment was not very expensive but some of the chemicals were hard to find. I had a few successes in the late 1980s (very low success rate) but decided not to persue it further because back then it was expensive to get virus testing. Without the ability to test the results there was no reason to continue. I think there are probably more refined methods of meristem procedures available today. If I cared about virus-free stock and had steady hands and good eyes, I would be tempted to try it again.

janell

SteveM Except for the magnifying scope, the equipment was not very expensive but some of the chemicals were hard to find.

SteveM Gerald Weland described a method for meristem culture of dahlia, I believe at the time he was teaching at UC Riverside.

The culturing supplies might not be so hard to find these days. A company sells culturing supplies, and has a blog post referencing Gerald Weland’s tip culture process:
https://www.plantcelltechnology.com/blog/how-to-tissue-culture-dahlia-flowers/

They have a more general overview of tip culture here: https://www.plantcelltechnology.com/blog/meristem-and-shoot-tip-culture/ with links to more studies below

I am a bit in awe about your TC successes, Steve. Taking a 1mm slice of a shoot and the constant threat of contamination, micrografting, etc… it sounds so easy to fail.

AKWindWatcher

Krista - I do leaf nodes. I let the plants grow outside all summer but take the cuttings before I put everything to bed for the Winter.

Krista

AKWindWatcher I see, that makes sense. I’ve been reading about this and I’m not sure I’ll have the confidence to try for fall season leaf node cuttings but I’m glad to know that this is a process that works well for you.

Emilyp

AKWindWatcher I did this one year. I was trying to preserve a sport. It worked, but the powdery mildew was hard to contend with. Do you experience any issues with powdery mildew?

SteveM

janell Thanks Janell, it looks like the method is about the same, you should give it a try! My success was only 3 plants out of about 25 tries.and I never got the plants tested to see if they were virus free. When I did it there was no internet but I was taking a 101 microbiology lab class at college and Gerald Weland lived 10 miles from me so I had sources for any questions I had. I imagine , now, there are YouTube videos and forums you could use to answer your questions and it looks like you have found a source for the chemicals. Good luck!

Teddahlia

Any success at meristem cuttings is an accomplishment. I am sure technology and methods have improved but the inherent precision and attention to detail still would cause most people not to try it. Why would you want to do it anyway? Virus is one reason but if a variety is prone to virus infections, it will get re-infected very quickly. Breed a better more resistant variety. Perhaps doing GMO dahlia breeding would be a better subject because you could design your own dahlia by slicing and injecting snippets of dna.

SteveM

Teddahlia I agree, getting virus free stock is not a goal for me but it is for some growers. I am more a believer in resistance and cross-protection. Howevr, the meristem process was very interesting and learning something new is reason enough to try it. GMO science is another matter and is hotly debated. Do we really want a blue dahlia that smells like a ross, grows like a weed, etc. but has been created in a test tube? Maybe.

HiDahlia

Besides clean stock (while not important to everyone, there is no denying there is a market for), another advantage of tissue culture is the ability to create a large number of plants quickly. Plantlets produced from explants can multiply indefinitely, and create an infinite number of plants (logistics aside). This could be a way to meet demand, especially for new cultivars. The book Plants From Test Tubes is an excellent resource on the subject.

NCDahlia

Perhaps it goes back to the overall health of the dahlia that is the best prevention. Kinda like "health is wealth" same goes for dahlias. You want plants with vigor since they were 1st year seedlings then 10+ years take that as a starting point for hybridizing a line. You would get the genetics of a healthy dahlia passed on from many years.

AKWindWatcher

Emilyp Nope. No issues. But I also don’t have too much issue with powdery mildew outside. I think I’ve had it on one rose years ago. My biggest issue is keeping the humidity up inside during the Winter. Both for the plants and the residents with heartbeats.

Teddahlia

Dahlia 53 asks: Will some of these cuttings make tubers if they are planted in the ground?

My mentor, Phil Mingus, who grew dahlias for 70 years , said plants grown from cutting make 50% fewer tubers. Good tuber makers make an almost normal amount. Poor tuber makers sometimes make almost none. Note: People generally do not grow cuttings from varieties that are good tuber makers as they have plenty of tubers. They take cuttings from the ones that are poor tuber makers or are new introductions. I grow cuttings to increase stock of seedlings that show promise. Most are culled. Lots of work to find out the seedling was not a winner of the seedling lottery. This thread should have been on the new site at dahlia addict. I will no longer post here should not have posted this. I am going to copy and past answer to the thread there

Teddahlia

Working on getting pot tubers ready for sprouting. Sounds easy enough but I need to sort about 250 more of them today and did more than that yesterday. Most will not be sprouted and many will be planted into the garden and many more into the compost heap. Two piss me off issues (1) plant tags fall out of pot. For my best ones I am putting two tags in the pot. (2) that person who wrote on the tag did not write legibly. He should be fired. 😫

Krista

Teddahlia piss me off issues

☺ I think I'll start my own list of piss me off issues, that sounds pretty gratifying. I get so frustrated with myself for labeling errors. I understand the aggravation, but it's heartening to hear that this happens even to the most seasoned professionals.

Darce

Teddahlia

Ted might you ever do a you tube video of your pot tuber processes? Or dahlia cutting processes. It would be super interesting/instructive to see your steps. I have learned an incredible amount from your writing on cubits.

MissyWeitzel

Proof that dahlias are magic? 😉

As I was taking tubers out of a bag I took out of storage a couple weeks ago, I accidentally knocked a teeny sprout off of one of the tubers. I decided to see if the tiny colorless sprout would grow despite not having any leaves. It was so small I had to use tweezers to stick it into/onto some moist soil in a cell tray.

Two weeks later and it is rooted and has 4 (albeit tiny) leaves!

Krista

MissyWeitzel These are the successes I find the most gratifying, borne from a hasty blunder that has me beating myself up. You took so much care and ended up saving this one, perhaps it is you who is magic.

drewtheflorist

MissyWeitzel It is amazing what little bit of a dahlia will survive to become a new plant. Those white shoots that develop in storage root easily and green up to become nicely rooted cuttings too .

JessE

janell I don't think this guy did well... and he didn't do a follow up video. He also had total devestation growing all dahlias in a hoop house in pots. The spider mites wiped him out. But take a look at his set up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IZdPQAA63Y&t=229s

Teddahlia

Attended our dahlia club meeting tonight and the educational subject was a 40 minute presentation on how to take cuttings. I have probably sat through at least 20 of these cutting presentations over the years. Mark uses oasis products for the rooting medium. He uses Virkon to clean tools. He showed a picture from last year that was taken at the time of peak production and there were 1500 cuttings in the picture .Not bad for someone who does this for fun and he gives away the rooted cuttings to dahlia clubs for fundraisers. Our club sells many hundreds of them. Nice to be able to buy the newest varieties at our meetings when they are sold out in most places. It is a very nice thing to have an active club in your city.

StevenS

Teddahlia You are a hybridizer and grower with a wealth of knowledge and experience. i am so curious in the cuttings and pot tuber propagation methods. A quick question related to cuttings, if a cutting variety potentially has a virus, can it be transferred if in the same domed environment sharing the same water and humidity chamber? i am thinking yes, but maybe also depends on which virus. FYI - cutting tools are sanitized and no pests.

calico20hill

Teddahlia It was really frustrating trying to watch it on zoom last night, I had trouble hearing him and following through his presentation. My inhouse computer assistant was on strike....

AKWindWatcher

Teddahlia - I'm sorry I missed seeing Mark's presentation! Sounds like some cool (and different) info was shared.
Alas, it's the time of year when I literally have double or sometimes triple booked meetings multiple nights a week. Last night was the Lead Guard meeting for the upcoming Fur Rendezvous Open World Championship sled dog race and that had to take priority.

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