Taking Dahlia Cuttings

blown_dry · 2023-02-04T23:34:14+00:00

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

Teddahlia

This pot tuber was grown in a buried pot last year. The 7 inch pot was the largest we use and when it comes to sprout production, it seems to be setting a record. There are 6 sprouts to be taken right now and I believe I already took 4 previously. I bet we could get over 20 altogether. I have about 50 cuttings of this one now and many of those will just be pot tubers as I also have quite a few tubers of it.

SteveM

Teddahlia When you bury that size pot does it get the same quantity/frequency of drip water you give your regular field-grown plants or does it get a special watering and fertilizing schedule?

Teddahlia

My first year doing very many in various sized pots. Very few in the 7 inch pots and they were planted in the same row as tubers and rooted cuttings not in pots. So, they got the same amount of water. Fertilizer was randomly thrown near the base of the plants in the row and I did not try to place any in the actual pots. Fertilizer is water soluble and gets spread around by the water in the soil. As usual, too much of a good thing can be a negative. Our best first year seedling last year was in a 7 inch pot too but it broke open the pot and became a "gordian knot" and was indivisible. It too is sprouting but the sprouts are too fat even after the third batch. I hope they root as it is the best seedling. I have about 10 of them taken so far. Will take another batch today.
Hope this one does well again.

SteveM

Teddahlia Great looking seedling! What size it she, appears to be larger than a Min Ball?

SteveM

Teddahlia Good info, thanks! I am going to grow all of my seedlings in buried 1 gal. nursery pots this year to deter the gophers. But I have never tried buried pots before so I hope I don't learn too much! (every time I learn something it costs me money).

blown_dry

SteveM Someone local to me that I met once had a dahlia garden with gopher pressure that she managed by planting in large plastic pots. She showed me a 2 gallon(?) pot that had a sizeable hole chewed through it.

Teddahlia

Many years ago on our primitive social media that was just a group email, one person in central California coast? grew his dahlias in one and two gallon pots to deter gophers. He even posted a picture. He did not divide clumps every year and said it was an onerous task.

Bessie

blown_dry , darn, I was afraid of gophers eating through plastic. I planted my seedlings 3-4 per good sized(~ 3 to 4 quarts), thick sturdy rectangular plastic "baskets" from the dollar store. We'll all have to compare notes on how well the gophers are deterred by plastic.

blown_dry

Bessie I think it worked well as a deterrent, it was just not a gopher-proof solution. 🙂

SteveM

I have found the solution that works best is to alternately plant one $20 tuber and then 10 cheap tubers in a row. The gophers will eat all of the $20 tubers and leave the cheap tubers alone. This makes it easy to justify ordering new $20 tubers next year. 🙂

Krista

MissyWeitzel I’m so glad you sent this note, my cutting started looking pretty sad last night but after a couple of leaf-drinks it perked back up and is looking happy again this morning! Thank you for sharing the wilty-leaf antidote ahead of time so I knew exactly what to do to save it in the moment!

MissyWeitzel

Krista so glad it perked up for you! ❤

MissyWeitzel

I sent UNrooted cuttings to dahlia friends in Washington and California testing out 2 methods in both shipments.
Each got one in a plastic bag with a teeny bit of moisture but no pooled water. Each got one with the base wrapped in moist paper towel then foil and cushioned with dry paper towel in a clamshell herbs come in at the grocery store.
They had opposite experiences. The friend in CA's wrapped clamshell cutting looked a lot better. The friend in WA's cutting in the plastic bag looked good and the other not.
They're both going to pot them up and see what happens but I'm definitely curious to test both methods further!

SteveM

MissyWeitzel Great info, thanks! How long were the packages in transit? I'm looking forward to your follow up and future experimentation.

I also tried sending unrooted cuttings to a friend in Alaska. I placed about (20) 3-5" lateral shoots in a air-tight plastic food container. The cuttings were dipped in water and placed in the container, some were in an oasis with the bottom wrapped in plastic and some were not wrapped in anything. No standing water in the container. At the last minute I decided to place a "shipping heating pack" in the shipping box next to the plastic container with the cuttings. That was not a good decision. I knew that heat and humidity is perfect for fungal growth so I should have predicted the result. After 5 days in transit, the cuttings were rather moldy and probably had several fungus growing on them. We decided to dump them and try again without the heat pack.
For this experiment I also made a control by placing wet, unrooted cuttings in an air-tight quart freezer bag with no standing water in the bag. I placed these cuttings in a light-proof box and shook them once a day to simulate shipping.🙂 After 5 days in the unheated barn the cuttings looked very good except for a few lower leaves. I am currently rooting those cuttings.

MissyWeitzel

SteveM 2 days but I packaged them up early Thursday morning and they weren't received and opened until later in the day Saturday, so 2.5 days.
I should also add that the one that looked the worst of all 4 was the largest cutting, which wasn't all that large - Maybe 3" tall. Everything else was 1.5-2". And they were all traditional "tuber cuttings".
This just means I'll need to experiment more with packaging, cutting style and size! I'm curious to find out from these friends how they're doing 2 weeks from now. I'll update here. 😊
Will you try sending to your friend in Alaska again?

blown_dry

SteveM I placed these cuttings in a light-proof box and shook them once a day to simulate shipping.🙂
Great idea!

SteveM

MissyWeitzel Will you try sending to your friend in Alaska again?

Yes, a week from tomorrow. I will post the results here.

Teddahlia

Trading unrooted cuttings is a sign you have reached dahlia nirvana.

MissyWeitzel

Do any of you have any special tricks for difficult to root variety cuttings? Of probably 80 varieties I'm taking cuttings of this spring, I have 2 problem children. The sprouts are nice, they aren't super fat or super skinny and they are the same size as other cuttings I'm taking and environment is the same. Yet cuttings from these 2 varieties keep rotting.

I had this happen last season with a particular variety, however this year cuttings from that variety are rooting well. That leads me to believe it could be tuber related, however one of the varieties I'm having problems with this year I have 2 tubers from different sources. So that leads me to have no idea what the heck is happening!

Is this just the way it goes for everyone? Do you have any advice or suggestions for me to try? I had visions of growing at least 10 of these this year and I'm gonna be sad if I can't get the next several cuttings to take!

SteveM

MissyWeitzel If you are rooting cuttings less than 2" try some slightly taller and skinnier. Also, a cutting taken from a cutting will sometimes root easier than one from the tuber (skinnier). Also, if they are rotting fairly soon after taking them check the humidity and temp. Too hot and humid is the main reason I loose cuttings to rot. Sometimes I get a hot spot on my heating mat and the cuttings will rot in that spot.
It might be your problem variety is just harder to root than average. I have a tough time rooting Chimacum Troy and a few others. Some varieties (like Hollyhill Black Magic) will root easily, no matter how much they are abused.

Teddahlia

My most difficult cuttings are the tubers that throw up fat cuttings. I took one from Kenora Clyde today that may well root as it was
not real fat. Some tubers were so well fertilized that all they do is send up fat cuttings. I just keep on harvesting them and eventually they get small enough. Yes, the tubers may have a fungus infection that causes the stem to rot before it roots. In that case, you need to grow it tall as small may not work. I am germinating seeds and taking cuttings and I am getting dizzy trying to do both. 19 cuttings so far from our best 2022 seedling but some are too fat to root. I am going to have a nice skinny batch of sprouts in about 3 days. I know several are rooted out of the 19 taken.

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