Taking Dahlia Cuttings

blown_dry · 2023-02-04T23:34:14+00:00

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

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". 😁

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?

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.

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!

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.

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/

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

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?

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.

Teddahlia

"...but are your thoughts different about cuttings harvested at the end of the season, in the fall, from summertime cuttings?" Most of the people I know and that includes myself do not take cuttings in the early or late Fall:
(1) The cutting material is extremely infected with spores and insects. Powdery mildew is the worst offender and almost impossible to prevent and then to control.
(2) Who has time to nurture these cuttings for 6 months during the winter? Most of the people I know who tried including myself ended up fighting fungus and insects and very few cuttings if any survived and if they did survive they were pathetic looking plants. And the fungus and insects contaminated my growing area for the next spring season. One year we kept a cutting of seedling that did not make tubers alive in the kitchen. It looked like crap all winter and barely made it. We placed it under lights and got some life into it and planted it into the garden where it did bloom. The powdery mildew spread to adjacent plants in the garden and I had to spray in July for the first time ever. The seedling flower was not as good as we had remembered it and since it was not a tuber maker it was culled.

Krista

Teddahlia Thank you, this is the case I needed for cementing in the only-best time to take cuttings. Once again, slightly discouraging for those desperate times when you dig a favored plant to find not a tuber in sight, sounds like thats just the nail on the coffin and we have to move on. I’m crazy-braining what-ifs for alternative options when this happens so I’m thankful for your experience reminding me to just hush myself on that. 🙃

AKWindWatcher

Teddahlia I actually do take a lot of cuttings in the Fall. Mainly as backups for my rarest ones just in case the plants didn't produce tubers. But my environment is also very different from a lot of others. Or maybe I've just been very lucky. I don't really ever have powdery mildew problems. I've never really had insect issues inside but to be safe (and since I'm not worried about pollinators) I use a houseplant systemic every couple of months. I found these yellow sticky things on Amazon that work great for the fungus gnats which are the only real problem I face. That and keeping the cuttings from getting too big. I try and keep them at 2 to 2 1/2 feet. (My cats love the forest they create) 🙂 The grow lights also really help with dealing with the dark, dark. It's a good thing I live in the woods. Anybody who sees my house glowing for 15 - 16 hours a day might begin to wonder what crop it is I"m actually growing. 🙂

calico20hill

calico20hill make that 2001-2002!

SteveM

Bessie In my evaluation, the study does not prove that mycorrhizal fungi contributes to rooting any more than using rooting hormone alone

True, but it does indicate the combination is more effective than the control or the other two variables (rooting hormone or mycorrhizal fungi) when used alone. They also concluded the best results are obtained the closer to root initiation the myco is used. The study uses semi-hardwood cuttings and the results might not tranlate to dahlias but I think there is enough of a possibility that I will try it on a few flats of cuttings.

Teddahlia

Mycorrhizal fungi is cool when it "takes" and the plant in the pot gets a mass of white roots.

JessieC

AKWindWatcher Thanks for the reminder on the yellow sticky things. This is my first year doing cuttings and I have a small indoor setup with lights and all kinds of accessories from our wonderful local “hydroponic etc” store, where I imagine most people are interested in growing an altogether different sort of bloom ;-)
So far, I just have a handful of tubers that have sprouted. I attempted to cut my first one yesterday (Miss Amara, which made so-so tubers for me.) I was armed with all the gear, and followed Ted’s instructions, as I have been all along. Alas, I broke the sprout and ended up tossing it. Oh well, I hear the first sprout is often a bust anyway. Hopefully she’ll send up some more shoots and I’ll be able to root a bunch at the same time.
I’m trying the crummy looking tubers first, just to gain practice. My Orange Globe plant from last year gave me only one tuber that survived. It’s a gorgeous tuber with at least one good eye, so that’s the one I’m most interested in propagating.
Thanks to everyone (especially Ted,) for sharing your knowledge!

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