Taking Dahlia Cuttings

blown_dry · 2023-02-04T23:34:14+00:00

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

NCDahlia

Interesting almost looks like pillow stuffing

MissyWeitzel

NCDahlia yes, batting maybe!

KitCMC

NCDahlia that’s what I thought, too.

blown_dry

MissyWeitzel a little fuzzy cushioning

Probably good for making sure it doesn't end up in a little pool of water if there is condensation.

Teddahlia

Krista Half strength is half as much fertilizer powder per gallon of water. I use a teaspoon per gallon for most things indoors.

Krista

Teddahlia Thank you!

Teddahlia

I potted up 36 cuttings and it took a little over an hour. I am taking the last cuttings of many of the varieties/seedlings. My coleus cuttings are mostly rooted in the 9 days since I took them. Margaret took cuttings from a fancy salvia and they also rooted in 9 days. I would have left them under the lights longer but we need the room for more dahlias.

Krista

Well, I'm feeling fairly confident that my first ever cutting of one of my first ever Hollyhill varieties has rooted, thanks to everyone in this discussion thread! Even after its dreadful bleach-swish, clumsy leaf-knocking-off, and mycorrhizae dip, and I’m feeling very pleased tonight. Thank you!

JessieC

Krista Yay! It’s a good feeling, even with the bumps along the way. I’m amazed that all of my cuttings (30-ish?) appear to be chugging along. I lost the very first one when I broke it. In retrospect, it might have been fine. I’ve been erring on the side of too small, mostly because I am impatient. Now that my annual seedlings can live outside, I’ll have some more room to foster the cuttings. It’s definitely habit forming 🤣

Krista

JessieC Yes! Dahlia cuttings are definitely starting to take precedence which is a whole new can of worms. It used to be that there were too many vegetables and annual flowers for my indoor grow space and now there are so many more contenders. The hardiness of cuttings adds a whole new level of reward with dahlias, it’s very exciting!

edewitt

Those first cuttings taking root is pretty satisfying. I remember when I first noticed the cutting starting to grow and thinking "I AM MASTER OF THE PLANTS". Unfortunately all the plants that died the following years have disproven that claim.

SteveM

edewitt Ha! Dahlia growing has presented me with many humbling moments!🙂

Krista

edewitt I am one-hundred percent definitely at the "I AM MASTER OF THE PLANTS" stage! 🤣 I’m not sure I’m ready for the reality to set in, but it’s coming no doubt about it. Whenever friends comment on my garden successes, I tend to reply with a comment that references the innumerable mishaps. Often saying something like “gardening is just an expensive opportunity to learn new ways to fail every single year.”

KitCMC

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CrA-SmcIN5a/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Saw this video of Dutch growers starting cuttings, thought you guys might like to see it too. They use damp sand. That’s a lot of plants!

PegMc

KitCMC Thanks for this share! It's a question I've had in the back of my mind for awhile - why not propagate in sand for dahlias? I used to propagate flowering perennials using sand and with success, but I'd not seen it touted as an option anywhere thus far for dahlias. I do wonder though, how tight those sprouts are to one another --how is there enough room for the start of a decent rooting structure?!

SteveM

KitCMC Saw this video of Dutch growers starting cuttings, thought you guys might like to see it too. They use damp sand. That’s a lot of plants!

She is much faster at "sticklingsproducent av dahlio" than I am.🙂

HiDahlia

KitCMC This is so interesting! Thanks for posting. How do you think they get the cuttings so uniform in size? Just by the sheer number of them? I wonder how much light they give them, they are not completely white.

Teddahlia

Sand has been on sprouting medium lists but not recently. You cannot use beach sand but instead river sand(where the hell do you get that?). You can also use (I wonder how accurate this is) the sand sold at Home depot intended for childs sand boxes. It is sterilized. What is one of the biggest drawbacks? The weight and a bucket of wet sand may be more than what you can carry.

KitCMC

HiDahlia I’d guess they bundle the cuttings, then trim them? I want the rest of the tour! 😆

Krista

KitCMC I want to go on the rest of the tour too! This is such a cool share!

Teddahlia

They sell the field grown "pot tubers" and need thousands of cuttings of the same variety to plant at the same time. That takes lots of tuber clumps pumping out cuttings. They have huge greenhouses in order to do this.

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