Taking Dahlia Cuttings

blown_dry · 2023-02-04T23:34:14+00:00

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

Krista

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

Krista It sounds possible and it would be an easy experiment to prove one way or another. Do 10 cuttings with nothing, 10 with rooting hormone alone. 10 with mycorrhizal only, and 10 with both. Looking forward to your results

Krista

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!

SteveM

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/

Flowernut

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.🙃

Teddahlia

"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.

Krista

Teddahlia This makes sense to me, albeit, I failed to consider the contamination risks caused by just being outside. Thank you! I definitely find myself down rabbit holes with eyes for the bottom without consideration for the hints along the way. I am still navigating all of the incoming information here so clear reminders like this are really helpful. I am imagining the optimal time for nurturing cuttings is early spring, but are your thoughts different about cuttings harvested at the end of the season, in the fall, from summertime cuttings?

Teddahlia

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.

HiDahlia

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).

Flowernut

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

Krista

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?

Teddahlia

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.

edewitt

I found my Hillcrest Kismet tuber that I kept in a pot w/soil had sprouted. I dug out the tuber to get rid of the sprout and found it had rotted. So I'm getting an extra head start with that cutting if it makes it. I currently have it in a 4.5" square pot under a grow light and so far appears to be slowly opening up on the top set of leaves after a week of taking root (hopefully). Hang in there & take your time, buddy!

Krista

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!

Teddahlia

"...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.

Bessie

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

Krista They were very well behaved and did not expand the pots at all. I used 4 inch pots on a table. A small amount of fertilizer at the beginning of the season. I’m going to try slightly larger pots this year- even in partial shade, I was often worried about them drying out. Otherwise low maintenance. They grew 2-3’ tall and were easy to cut back and move under cover at the end of the season.

AKWindWatcher

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.

Krista

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?

Bessie

SteveM I just finished reading the study. In my evaluation, the study does not prove that mycorrhizal fungi contributes to rooting any more than using rooting hormone alone. There was not a statistical significance analysis on the resulting numbers from the experiment, and the conclusion points out the enhanced rooting results may be obtained using rooting hormone alone.

When compared to the control, the treatment of mycorrhizal fungi alone achieved better results in all of the parameters tested, but overall was not as successful as the combined treatment or the treatment of rooting hormone alone.

However, I watched a video (at 3:00 minutes into the video) where Kristine Albrecht (KA'S dahlias) used mycorrhizal fungi on the root ball of rooted cuttings being potted up.

SteveM

Krista 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?

If you take a cutting and include a node you will get tubers with eyes regardless of where on the plant the lateral is growing (anecdotal, I haven't proven this is true in all cases). I don't usually take cuttings from field-grown plants because I don't like crawling around on the ground (with the rattlers) looking for laterals. Saving a sport is an exception, otherwise I keep my mother plants in the greenhouse on benches and take lateral cuttings from them.

Krista

SteveM Rattlers?!! My worst enemies in the garden are Seattle's rat population (aside from the insect pests we all already know about). Life could be different! Someday I will have a greenhouse, someday ...

Krista

AKWindWatcher I like hearing your take, and your plan to sit tight until the fad has passed. I have to say, this forum has been a haven from my only other outlet for dahlia discussion (the dreaded FB). The relaxed attitude that comes with losing tubers is a much-needed level of reality.

calico20hill

AKWindWatcher Hillcrest Kismet was one of the "must have" dahlias around the year 2001-2992 when I started my first rows of dahlias. I grew it and liked it but I didn't get a lot of production from it...my memory says that it was a late bloomer in my garden and sometimes did not bloom before frost.

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