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

KitCMC Cuttings do not have a central nervous system and they respond to light very quickly and need no time to acclimate. They use light to make energy and to grow. If they were deprived of light for awhile, they just do not grow. When the lights are on the chlorophyll factory starts up again.

KitCMC

Teddahlia thank you, that makes a lot of sense.

Krista

I took a perfectly healthy cutting from this tuber, and it followed up with these mottled leaves for new growth. The veins are yellow and the leaf is green. I have two other plants doing this, all from different sources. I’ve been very cautious with sanitation - bleaching tools thoroughly between every single plant, and no shared water (and I’ve got these in a completely separate space from the rest of my plants). None of these plants have been outdoors yet and I’m hoping this isn’t viral, but I’m afraid I just don’t have the experience to confirm. I’ll really appreciate the help of some better trained eyes. Thank you!

Teddahlia

Generally, virus cause irregular mottling on leaves. That is because it grows sporadically here and there and the symptoms vary on the leaves. So this appears to be some sort of chemical issue probably excessive something or other. No more fertilizer for awhile and I bet it clears up.

Krista

Teddahlia Thank you! I did give my plants a round of diluted fish fertilizer a couple weeks ago so I will not do this again until they’re back in fighting condition. I appreciate your help, I was feeling very worried for these three and hearing this is a relief!

Krista

Ohhh. And I mosquito bits’d & then spinosad’d everyone too to get rid of fungus gnats. Perhaps that’s what caused this! Ugh. Well, I’m glad to hear there’s hope!

Teddahlia

I opened my almost last batch of cuttings at 9 days instead of my normal 12 days. I surprised that most all of them had roots and the biggest difference if there was one, was that were not as green and tall as 12 day cuttings. Percentage wise the number of rooted plants was very good and I had planted several "two to a pot" and when both root, I get bonus points. Always there will be a couple of very desirable cuttings that do not make it and one that does not root rooted.
I want to name a flower Cleopatra as she is my favorite Grecian-Egyptian lady who loved Roman guys. One author said she was the richest woman that ever lived.

Teddahlia

I received my box of rooted cuttings from Steve Meggos along with 8 rooted petunia plants(his origination) today. This was the best box of rooted cuttings I have ever received and they were packed with a small amount of soil and the root balls were wrapped in aluminum foil. A couple of them were very large: 8-10 inches tall. The leaf portion was cushioned with shredded newspaper. Margaret loves that petunia and it is a seedling of one of the best called Bubblegum.

Krista

Teddahlia packed with a small amount of soil and the root balls were wrapped in aluminum foil.

Are you willing to divulge how they were secured in the box? I’m reluctant to try sending rooted cuttings with lots of confidence. That being said, I’ve been rooting most cuttings in 4” pots which would be quite a large root ball!

[Edit: I guess my reluctance is actually to root in root riot cubes or something significantly easier to ship]

Teddahlia

The box was literally crammed with plant material and strips of shredded newspaper. It must have weighed 5 pounds . There is a method to this madness as the biggest cause of loss is the shaking and tumbling of the boxes as they go through the post office torture chambers. Tightly packed items do not move and they certainly were tightly packed. Perhaps $20.00 of stuff in a $10.00 box. It was packed in the afternoon of the 14th and arrived at about 2:00PM on the 17th. I called Steve and thanked him. He got my box of tubers many weeks ago and he has numerous cuttings and plants from them. One 2022 seedling that shares his genetics (seedling in my garden from his origination) will be in both of our gardens and he may have a couple more plants than me.

Teddahlia

Today I will open the last bag of cuttings to see if they have roots. It has been a very good cutting year but the last expensive tubers of the season missed out on cuttings this year and we will have to grow them the old fashioned way by planting a the tuber in the ground or I may leave them in the pots to make
pot tubers for next year.

Bessie

Teddahlia why not grow the tuber in a pot, take cuttings destined for pot tubers, then when the remaining shoots on the tuber are big enough, plant the entire pot with the tuber in the ground?

Teddahlia

Time to plant dahlias and tending cuttings is not in the cards. Yes, if I had time but then again if the new one is a crappy flower, I did not waste time growing two crappy flowers instead of one.

SteveM

@Teddahlia I sure like the color of that WL. Form looks good too. Is it a seedling?

Teddahlia

Yes, it is seedling 20-150, a seedling of 17-102. The breeding all bee pollinated:
20-150
17-102'
Red HH WL
Red HH flower
Dark Red HH flower
Bloomfield Smoothy(Bob and Myrtle Bloomfield and she did Myrtle's Folly) I did a typo and said Bloomquist by mistake.

Teddahlia

Much disappointment! I was going to open my last flat of dahlia cuttings to check for roots and when I opened it, I discovered it was actually an entire flat of Margaret's petunia cuttings. I have no more cuttings to check. Her cuttings were about 33% rooted and who cares!!!

Krista

Teddahlia Her cuttings were about 33% rooted and who cares!!!

To be clear, I was reacting to this quote, not the disappointment. Is it too late to take one more round of cuttings for yourself?!

Teddahlia

For me it is too late. For a certified dahlia enthusiast who loves to multiply plants it could be done now but the expectation that the plants will bloom is marginal. To keep as a pot tuber is a good goal. 12 days to root, 14 more days to get plant big enough to plant without issues and that is essentially a month. Today is May 21 and the plant if all goes well would be ready to plant on June 21 or so. That is a very late planting date and in a typical climate the summer heat will cause plants from cuttings to grow slower and struggle all summer. In other words, a dahlia enthusiast knowing all of negative factors will be taking several cuttings in the next few days. Not me, however.

Krista

Teddahlia This is great information for an amateur like me; hearing the general breakdown of timeline from cutting to planting and the results caused by late planting. And I see how this is just a bit too late for growing for successful bloom quality. Those petunias better be darn spectacular!

Teddahlia

The dahlia cuttings mailed to us by our friend are doing well in 4 inch pots. The petunias are taking more time to recover as he sent very long plants and some leaves fell off. I am sure they will be fine in another week or so and in the past they have been very nice hanging basket plants.

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