Taking Dahlia Cuttings

Teddahlia Thank you, Ted!

I watched a clip from a flower farmer in Vancouver, WA who dips their cuttings in mycorrhizal instead of rooting hormone saying this practice results in root development within five days. I thought mycorrhizal is beneficial when there is existing root tissue, but can it also support the development of roots too?

SteveM I've never taken cuttings before! I will go hunting for rooting hormone and mycorrhizal and perhaps muster up the courage to try this year. Can leaf node cuttings be taken when topping plants in the spring? I could also go rustle up some tubers from the crawl space and get started right away!

I have a question regarding pot tubers. Can I take my pot tuber (without the pot) and plant directly in the ground this year? Will I get the same size, quality plant as I do with planting a tuber of the same variety? Or should I use my pot tubers to take cuttings? I think this subject was covered before, I just can't locate. Thanks.

"Can leaf node cuttings be taken when topping plants in the spring? " I have seen this question asked at least 25 times over the years. The technical answer is "yes" if you want to go to the extra effort to root something at the wrong time of the year. And, plant material taken for cuttings from outdoor plants have likely been contaminated with with fungus or insects that would invade your cutting area. And you are generally way too busy to do this as the garden needs your full attention.

Can I take my pot tuber (without the pot) and plant directly in the ground this year? All experienced pot tuber growers plant some of the pot tubers into the ground and grow wonderful plants from them. Will I get the same size, quality plant as I do with planting a tuber of the same variety? The general consensus is that the resulting plants and tubers are better than tuber grown plants. Or should I use my pot tubers to take cuttings? We grew the pot tubers to take cuttings not to plant into the ground. People grow pot tubers to get nice small clumps that are used to make lots of cuttings. Yes, they can be planted into the ground but that is not why we grew the pot tuber.

Note: "without the pot" was part of your question and you can plant the pot tuber into the ground in the pot knowing that it will grow as well as any tuber grown plant but will not be easily divided as the tubers are constricted by the pot. I have about 50 of these to deal with this year and may cut them in half or may just plant the whole clump again but without any pot as it is destroyed anyway.

Teddahlia Hi Ted, on the topic of pot tubers, you mentioned growing some cultivars as pot tubers for multiple years. Do you take cuttings and start a new pot tuber each year? Grow them in the same pot for multiple years? Something else? Last year I followed your method of growing pot tubers above ground and was happy with the results. I liked the idea of not having to dig them, as well as the ability to move them to a protected area if needed (hurricane season is June-November here).

Do you take cuttings and start a new pot tuber each year? Most of the time they are just re-potted.as no time to take cuttings from everything. I had HH Chloe only as a pot tuber for many years and then took some cuttings and grew them in the garden and they were excellent. The UK growers have been doing this for a hundred years.

Teddahlia Thank you for the answers to my questions. In the future, I may start all my cuttings as pot tubers.

"...all my cuttings as pot tubers." Take 5 cuttings, plant 4 in the garden and save the other as a pot tuber. That would be typical for me and this would be for an easy to lose variety. For a really touchy one like Formby Kaitlyn, I may keep three pot tubers. Pot tubers are my insurance policy and my source for cuttings and occasionally are planted into the ground. New promising seedlings are the majority of our cuttings and the goal is typically about 6 plants to put into the garden to further evaluation and or to increase stock. Most of those plants are culled as they were no good. But if it is a good one, I will have a pot tuber of it for sprouting the next year. There are always a bunch of worthless pot tubers to toss as the seedlings were no good.

Hollyhill Ruby Rose 2094 introduction. Will be taking lots of cuttings to go with the numerous tubers we have.

Teddahlia great information on the pot tuber from a professional's perspective. Beautiful waterlily! Going off topic... I see there's a way to "flag" someone's post. Could we get "flag" that marks your posts as belonging in "Ted's Dahlia Book". Then blown_dry and mr_blown_dry would be able to do a compilation that would have all the " Ted's Growing Dahlias - words of wisdom".

HiDahlia "growing pot tubers above ground" Do the plants burst through the pots when they're above ground?

Teddahlia "Do you take cuttings and start a new pot tuber each year? Most of the time they are just re-potted" The pot tuber is split before repotting, yes?

edewitt There's been lots of chatter on FB about Hillcrest Kismet, highly coveted - I hope your cutting takes it slow and steady so we can see your pics this summer!

Krista You could easily root cuttings from laterals that are taken from field grown plants. I have the best luck with the skinny laterals found lower on the plant. If you do these cuttings in June/July ,when the days are long, it would probably be easiest to root them outdoors in a shady spot. If you root them inside you would need to add supplemental lighting (or place them near a sunless window). There are a million ways to take cuttings so you will have to experiment to find the method that works best for you. Personally, I never have had much luck taking leaf cuttings but some people here do.
Here is an article you might find interesting using the methods you propose (on semi-hardwood cuttings): Makes me think you might have hit on a great idea!
https://horticultureconnected.ie/horticulture-connected-print/2016/winter-16/mycorrhizal-and-root-initiation-and-development/

SteveM Oh thank you for putting your finger on the exact article for my question! I would not have imagined that having mycorrhizal present when the roots are simply forming could contribute to generating, in fact, the greatest benefit. Wow, this is pretty exciting! I'm curious to know more about the comparisons between the only-rooting hormone and only-mycorrhizal cuttings. I may have to discover this on my own. I'll have to poke around and learn about taking lateral cuttings. I recall hearing about risk factors caused by taking cuttings from the wrong section of the plant; taking a cutting from the wrong section could result in the prevention of the formation of roots that produce tubers. Is this possible?

Krista - it's really crazy how popular dahlias change from year to year. Last year I had no problem getting a Hillcrest Kismet. Unfortunately, she didn't like all the rain we had and rotted on me before producing new tubers. Trying to replace her this year has been insane. Unless I find a surprise one somewhere, I think I'm just going to wait to replace her for a year or two. Until she's no longer the "must have" tuber of the season.