3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
Wait until after the danger of frost has passed- otherwise they'll die. When you do transplant you can plant them deeper so they don't flop over- like you can tomatoes. Take off a couple of rows of leaves & put them in deep & you'll get more tubers where the leaf nodes were.
I don't think so, I'm sorry! I already have tubers that I bought. I am running out of space too. I'm going with Thomas Edison, Le Baron, and Minnesota. I got them at Costco, with many tubers in the pack, so I'm all set! Sorry girlndocs! Did you check Costco if you belong? I also got some at Bartell's Drugs of all places. Single tuber packs of some really pretty looking ones. $1.99 a tuber! Do you have any Bartell's near you?
Of course, you can repot if you wish to. I usually do. However, if you have a pot big enough for them, and you don't mind lugging it in and out, as dictated by the local weather (NO FROST ALLOWED), then you could put them into a larger pot if that is where you want them to be for the summer. Personally, I find the big pots too heavy to lug in and out.
It will grow 3-5 shoots from around the where one you cut off was. You can take many cuttings- sometimes I designate a tuber for cuttings only so I don't have to worry about killing it off but I've not had one die yet & sometimes I do 10-20 cuttings off of one tuber. I've never done more than that off of one but only because that's all I've needed.
Year round gardener, My experience has been when you take above 8 cuttings the tuber is weakened and is slow to grow and may not even bloom. I would think it would depend on the strength of the tuber as some are more vigorous than others. Gilly Simmons from Anderson, SC, one of the best growers in the South, always used 8 as a max if you still wanted to plant the original tuber.
The bonus when you plant a sprouted tuber deep enough to cover a couple of leaf nodes is that at those buried leaf nodes you will get MORE tubers at each node than if you just had the tuber planted at the regular depth. Just let their little tips poke out a tiny bit & they'll grow like crazy.
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poochella,
thats a great idea. I collected all the odd bits from work along with the peat moss that they throw out when we are potting up our speciality dahlias. I might be able to double my collection in one season this way.
I have a very nice small square bladed shovel with a D handle that I keep filed very sharp which I used on the clump once it was pulled from the excavation hole. Since I wasn't concerned with losing a few pieces, I was able to just stand and jump on the shovel and it sliced through fairly easily. I'll let you know how the zip lock baggy experiment works. I imagine placing them on a heat mat might quicken the process???
Jan
Jan, I think I ended up using the transplant shovel to dismember a huge 50 lb clump left in a couple years- whatever works. Glad you got your mass divided.
You know, I almost want to tell people to hold off on the baggie thing, except that it works so well, but this year mine are popping right and left just having been exposed to some light and basement temps of 60. I do have some questionable ones in open baggies, some potted up because they are ready to go, roots even! Pretty nice for the first full day of Spring.
They're called pot tubers & are grown only in pots- mainly to get cuttings from them. Most growers in England grow only pot tubers- they call the tubers we plant "chicken legs"! You can plant them in the garden in their pots & get a normal sized plant from them. Then you just lift the pot in the fall & store it- most people say to store on their side as that lets them drain if they're wet- the next year you take cuttings from them & start all over again. They really don't rot any more than regular tubers do & sometimes they break open the pots & grow out of them.
If I were going to try what you envision, I definitely would plant only one tuber, not a clump, in a pot. Further, You are going to need to put the tuber in a rather large (12") CLAY pot. (If you put the tuber in a plastic pot you will need to water daily, for they need lots of water, and fertilizer.) Unless they are minatures they will have to be staked, another problem if you are going to move them about. Upon reflection , I guess it isn't such a great idea, but don't let me stop you. It might work out better than I project. (I have grown dahlias for years, and up to 200 a year.) Good luck--let me know how you make out.
Don't put your dahlias in the ground until the ground temp is 60*. If you plant too early the tubers will just sit there until the ground warms up- or else they'll rot.
Lots of little bugs around to latch onto anything they can- if you don't have very many pots just give them a light spray with the house & garden Raid that's made with Natural Pyrethrin- it's extracted from Mums & works pretty well.
Some of my large dinnerplate dahlias have surprisingly small tubers. Others have large ones. I think the quality of the soil you plant in will have significant bearing upon the size of your plant. That coupled with the genus of the dahlia are determining factors. Remember the genes of some dahlias will have them grow small, while others will grow fairly tall. I have planted several dahlias in large pots in the past, and moved them where I want them. You may decide to do just that in your situation.
Thanks Huey, :)
Watering is something I can do something about, but what about the fertilizer? Is there something I can do or should I just let it ride out?
I asked a gal at my local nursery and she told me that the best thing I could do is start hardening them and plant them outside maybe next week. So I moved the lil guys to my garage to "harden". If they die, I guess I learned some lessons about how not to grow Dahlias lol. At least the local dahlia society is holding a tuber sale in a couple weeks, so I have something to fall back on.
Don't plant them out if you're not past the last frost date!!!!