Taking Dahlia Cuttings

blown_dry · 2023-02-04T23:34:14+00:00

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

SteveM

jistjul If there is no possibility of putting soil on the crowns

If I had no choice, I would rather take a chance on keeping them too dry as opposed to too humid. I don't like to keep dahlia foliage in extreme humidity any longer than necessary because of the diseases encouraged by high humidity (in this case, botrytis and mildew).

jistjul What is a general timeframe to get 3" cuttings?

There's a lot of variables but, after eyeing out, it usually takes a week or two to get 3" long shoots. If the growth looks good and continues to grow then things are going well. If the shoot completely quits growing and stays small then you need to check the tuber and crown for rot.

jistjul

SteveM Thank you again! One of my tubers I ordered in the fall ended up rotting in the baggie just as it was eyeing up. 🙁 another 1 was a dud and just never eyed up, but has developed glorious roots. I am chalking it up to live and learn. Of the 4 tubers that shipped in the fall, 2 have eyed up and are doing well, and 2 were duds. Another order I placed for 10 or so tubers this winter (from someone local) all eyed up within 14 days of putting in a baggie. I did let the growers know about the ones that were duds, but they don't seem terribly interested. One said I should be patient (they've been in baggies since 12/24) but I don't think patience would help a tuber that is oozing. I left it at that and didn't ask for a replacement, because I am too new to know if the failure was my fault! The other never even responded. I will just take this year to learn, and not pester sellers. Also I'll take note of the failures and the sellers response, and can choose not to shop with them again. I'm rambling now because I have no one to share all of my excitement with. But thanks for "listening."

SteveM

jistjul This forum is the place to come after ones family and friends have left because of incessant dahlia talk.🙂 There's lots of great people here with all ranges of experience.

Krista

jistjul Plus one to SteveM, you are in the right place, fellow dahlia addict!

jistjul

Krista Thanks! I definitely got bit by the dahlia bug. I am loving every aspect of this plant. The tubers, the eyes, the cuttings, the incredible blooms and the "easter egg hunt" in the fall! I find it all fascinating and love trying different ways of propagation. I bought some seeds from Bloomquist, Swan Island and a local grower here, Treetown Homestead and I am super excited to grow them!

calico20hill

jistjul It can be hard to hold back when everyone on the internet is rushing to prestart and take cuttings,etc. After years of this I am holding back until at least March for these early activities even though I have a greenhouse. April is soon enough to be pulling my cuttings back inside to avoid a thunderstorm with hail! And March is early enough to start seedlings to set out in early June when it is warm enough. I keep reminding myself that I have lots of other garden seeds I can pre-sow to set out early...and the less time they spend in the greenhouse the less trouble I will have with gnats and mildew.

magucci

I definitely recommend holding off, if you can. Otherwise you end up strapped to a watering container and a mop (if indoors). I swore I would not do it again this year, but it’s Feb. 1 and I have 300 plants 😩. Just say no! It’s the first one that gets you.

Teddahlia

Shipping tubers in the Fall: I have never done it and have refused to do so. A grower has a percentage of tubers that do not show eyes until Spring. It is a guessing game or perhaps even worse, the seller examines 20 or 30 tubers to find one that has an obvious eye. Then you are at the mercy of the buyer who attempts to store tubers and then blame you for a defective tuber that they could not store properly.

The late Mike Iler was incensed by people getting early shipments of his new ones and then selling cuttings. He shipped in Mid April.

drewtheflorist

I took a few cuttings pf Aggie White in the fall, glad I did because Aggie did not produce much in the way of tubers. (We had an extremely dry year, and even though I thought I watered plenty, it probably wasn't enough ) Fall cuttings are a pain ! But at least I am now able to take cuttings of the cuttings. I'd rather grow a few in 4 - 6" pots sunk in the garden for cutting material in the spring.

blown_dry

drewtheflorist Great news. I love the pics I have seen of that one, but I know it's a shy tuber maker.

bloomhjelm

I think I have finally perfected my method of pulling root riot cubes apart before moving to 4" pots. Is this necessary? Not technically. Should I not be using root riots in the first place? Probably. But instead of finding it inconvenient I actually look forward to it. I start by gently pulling away roots at the bottom of the cube. Then I remove the top "shoulders" of the cube where there are rarely any roots. Then I dig between major feeder roots with my thumb, to start removing material from the center of the cube, because it also tends to have fewer roots. By that time the radial pattern of the roots starts to free up, and then I can gently roll away clumps of coir with my thumb. By the time the raw stump end of the original node is free, I'm done.

This would absolutely not scale to hundreds or thousands of cuttings. It is more manual than dividing.

SteveM

bloomhjelm I have the same quandary with oasis cubes. I sell only rooted cuttings and not tubers so removing the oasis is not necessary. If I sold tubers from cuttings I would want to either remove the oasis or use a potting mix instead of oasis to place the cuttings. In oasis, the first node (and thus the top eyes) are buried in the oasis when the tubers are dug in the Fall. I doubt this is a detriment to "eyeing out" but it does make the eyes difficult to see when dividing the clumps.

MissyWeitzel

I decided I hate the cubes themselves plus the added expense. It's cool to be able to lift the plug up and look for roots or to use them for shipping, but otherwise I much prefer straight into soil.

I switched potting soil this year and I'm really happy with the switch. No more Pro-Mix for me. I'm using Fox Farms Ocean Forest potting soil and I love it. The texture is great. Without knowing the technical terminology- it holds moisture pretty well but not right up at the surface if that makes sense. In the two months I've been using it I have seen zero algae or fungus gnats. I stick cuttings directly into that and everything 10 or 14 days + is rooted and putting on new happy growth.

SteveM

MissyWeitzel I decided I hate the cubes themselves plus the added expense.

I use them because I can fit 500 cuttings on my 2'X5' heating mat. I am just about out of oasis cubes so this is a good time to switch to a propagation potting mix rather than ordering another case. I have flats with 3/4 inch plugs so I will need to experiment to find a suitable rooting media. Maybe sand.

blown_dry

MissyWeitzel Ocean Forest is a big favorite of mine.

calico20hill

MissyWeitzel zero sign of fungas gnats sounds excellent to me! I'll be picking up the Fox Farms Ocean Forest soil as soon as we are out where the farm store is again! I much prefer planting in soil to any kind of cube.

BackyardBouquets_17

MissyWeitzel im going to have to see if I can get my hands on some of this to try. I always struggle with fungus gnats in my seed starting set up so this Sounds like it would be worth a trial.

Teddahlia

Oasis left on a cutting holds too much moisture and the plant can rot. I killed an expensive cutting this way . In the greenhouse, when you are growing plants, too much water is worse than too little water. Root rot is caused by too much water. Oasis holds the water and if your other plants do not have oasis, your oasis plants can rot and the other plants be just fine. Also the miracle gro potting soil has a chemical that holds too much water. I have an unopened bag of miracle gro potting soil and am waiting for someone I do not like and I will give it to him.

Juliarugula

Teddahlia I have an unopened bag of miracle gro potting soil and am waiting for someone I do not like and I will give it to him.

Miracle Grow is my preferred potting soil for tomato starts, FYI.

For dahlias I use ProMix.

Juliarugula

(But not the organic Miracle Gro! I haven’t found anything that does well in the organic Miracle Gro)

BackyardBouquets_17

SteveM
I really like vermiculite for rooting. When they have a decent amount of roots it’s simple to pull em out and transfer to trays with potting mix.

MissyWeitzel

SteveM is there a reason to use another medium rather than root directly into potting soil? I know people like sand or vermiculite or whatever but I guess I never understood why, when it works just putting them into potting soil and skipping that whole step?

SteveM

BackyardBouquets_17 I really like vermiculite for rooting.

I have always used perlite just because it is easier to source here. I think both perlite and vermiculite work equally well and I know another commercial grower who prefers vermiculite.. I don't like to work with either because of the fine, airborne particles they both seem to throw up in the process of filling pots, mixing, etc.

SteveM

MissyWeitzel is there a reason to use another medium rather than root directly into potting soil

There are a lot of reasons but it is possible none of them are good reasons. 🙂 It has been years since I placed cuttings directly into a potting mix. At that time the commercial standard for cuttings of all types was to use a mixture of 3:1, perlite:peat moss. This media required making dibbles to insert the cuttings. It is possible, if I use a peat-based potting mix similar to what you use, I won't need to make dibbles. Do you make dibbles or do you insert directly into the potting mix?

BackyardBouquets_17

MissyWeitzel
For me my basement tends to stay cooler so ones in the sungro potting mix tend to rot. With vermiculite it’s easier for me to keep moisture levels correct and once I switched to that I didn’t have the rotting anymore. Just what worked for me and once I found something that worked I didn’t try to mess with it further 😀

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