3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
The "white shoots" on the ones you just bought will be green shoots when you plant them & they start to grow-- these are your "eyes" ... but farther along. You can either plant the tuber deep enough to just allow a bit of the shoot to be above ground or you can plant the tuber in a pot & grow it until the shoot greens up & take a cutting & have another plant from it.
Thanks for clarifying that Jroot. Makes good sense for longer tubers. Have you ever tried cutting the longer ones off a bit? My head was in the earth and not thinking about planting in pots, although I am doing that RIGHT NOW (yippee) for the first time myself.
thanks for the prompt reply i'll follow your directions and keep my fingers crossed. i've noticed that the bugs are only eating the dahlia's. the haven't touched the gerbers, petunias, pansy's or the clematis. i'm using bug be gone but it doesn't seem to help. is there anything you recommend for protecting the dahlia's? we've only been in east tennessee a little over a year (new england transplants) and we are absolutly loving it. all the trees are leafed out, the grass is green and the azealia's are in full bloom. life is good...thanks again for your help
Why not try the best of both worlds: plant it with the white shoot on- yes, it should green up if it stays in tact. And the bonus: if it happens to break off, eyes will likely resprout from that same location, the shoot will disintegrate into compost and you will still have your dahlia.
I've inadvertently broken off sprouts and in a few days you can find the bulging pink or yellow eye forming right where the other fell off, or to the side. I don't know of any reason NOT to plant the white shoot, other than its frailty.
More than likely it was potash. We're a grower of field and specialty greenhouse cutflowers. And, potash is spread on our field each season before planting. We have several acres of field grown dahlias with very sturdy stalks. We've never used any type of staking on the dahlias in the field. They are, however, planted closer together than you'd plant in your garden.
And, speaking of dahlias. This is the week we start planting the tubers here on the flower farm.
CAC= cactus-- Narrow ray florets that are revolute for the majority of their length
SC= Semi-cactus- ray florets are broader at the base & revolute for about 1/2 their length
LC= laciniated -those are the ones w/ the frilly split ends
FD= Formal Decorative= These are the nice smooth ones-w/ broad ray florets that go right back to the stem
ID= Informal Decorative- sim. to the FD but the ray
florets have a twist or wave to them
BA= ball types
Then we get into the others & the Min & all that stuff- you can look at the Colorado dahlia society site or the ADS site to get good picts & descriptions of all the dahlia types
Thanks, Bernie, for letting us know. Most of mine are now potted up, and either under grow lamps, or outside on warm days enjoying the sun. I won't put them into the ground until all danger of frost is past ( end of May ), but I felt that I had to pot them since they were sprouting.
I only lost one tuber last winter. That's a pretty good record.
I have several that are growing roots, but no sprouts. I was ready to throw them out the other day, but today I notice there is a nice strong shoot coming up. Patience is essential when dealing with dahlias.
You can tell by my name, I'm not a grower - enabler of an addicted one though.
Just a money saving hint - you don't have to have grow lights - my husband does 100s of tubers/cuttings, etc., using just plain old fluorescent bulbs in cheap shop light fixtures.