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

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 😀

MissyWeitzel

SteveM after I fill the trays with soil and water them I go through with the end of a small paint brush and make all the holes at once. It takes very little time, but I'm not doing nearly as many cuttings as you I'm guessing!

SteveM

MissyWeitzel Thanks, that is what I did when I used larger cells. The cells I want to use now are only about 3/4" square and not sure the peat mix will hold a hole without collapsing. I will give it a try today.

SteveM

MissyWeitzel I tried 100 cuttings of Peaches-N-Cream using your method with my "go to" Sunshine #4 mix. The mix was loose enough that I really didn't need to make dibbles so I did some with, and some without. The mix is peat-based and "feels" like it will hold too much water and not provide enough air space, but maybe I am wrong. I think I am going to end up using 25% Sunshine #4 potting soil and 75% perlite on my next try.

MissyWeitzel

SteveM please keep us updated! I hope they grow happily for you and will potentially save a step and the expense of plugs! 😊

Emilyp

SteveM I love Sunshine mix #4, it is what I use to root cutting 3:1 mix/vermiculite, and it works great! No fungus gnats too, which is a major bonus. I used to use straight jiffy organic seedling mix, which worked great, but the fungus gnats were unbearable.

MissyWeitzel

SteveM how are the cuttings straight into soil doing?

BackyardBouquets_17

SteveM for that reason I always like to wet my vermiculite first and then fill my trays but neither am I doing it on a scale like you are. I might grow 100 cuttings tops per year.

Maybe you shared this before and I didn’t see it or maybe it’s not something you share but something that snagged my interest. When growing at that scale how does the mother tuber situation look? Pots ? A tuber propogation bed? Or?

SteveM

BackyardBouquets_17 When growing at that scale how does the mother tuber situation look? Pots ? A tuber propogation bed? Or?

Yes, a combination of all those methods. I grow mother plants all year in my shade house under long day-lengths (16 hr) to keep them from going dormant. I have no heat except for my heating mat which provides bottom heat for cuttings. Nights are in the 40s and days are in the 60s so the mother plants grow slowly. If I only need 20-30 cuttings of a variety i keep one or two mother plants perpetually growing in 3 gal. pots. If I need 100s of a variety I grow several flats of that variety, most from pot tubers. When it is necessary to force tubers I place the dormant tubers on top of a few inches of moist soil in a bulb crate and then put the whole crate inside a large trash bag to raise the day temps into the low 80s.

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