The stem isn't important. It's getting part of the collar (where the eyes form) below the stem and before the tuber that's key. If the tubers broke off at their necks below the collar, I don't blame the customer for returning them. Likewise, a stem and collar area with no tubers attached to root or provide nourishment would have a hard time growing as well. If they broke off the stem with both tuber intact and collar having an eye, then he'd be in business.

Have those inherited clumps been in the ground for 30 years, or replanted for 30 years? It would be interesting to see an undivided 30 yr old clump!

HI Poochella
Just think of all the time and saran wrap you could save by leaving the durn things in the ground!
Alyricss

Thanks for answering my question. I'm going to pot up the broken pieces along with some others I bought myself and see what happens. It appears that when bought at this early stage it is difficult to know whether a viable bud is going to form or not.
The thirty year old and older clumps have just been left as is and never moved. Once I went in to lift one that was in the way and yes it was a monster. It's top was over a foot underground from all the mulching over the years and I must of excavated a three foot by two foot hole to get it all out. Some of the top tubers were mushy but I just chopped it into four chunks and they all produced nice clumps. My garden floods every winter from the high tides backing up the river but the ground is that perfect sandy loam so it freely drains after the flood and the dahlias seem to be fine. The only failure I've had is when I tried to put in some new tubers to early and they never came up.So I'm wondering now if it was to early or was it because they were broken pieces with no viable bud. Perhaps the best way to treat store bought tubers is to pot them up first to make sure they will grow before putting them in the garden.

Hi Alyrics, sorry so delayed. I think of all the time I could save every single Fall! But I left a few clumps in the ground from last year and they are either mush or very un-nice looking. I much prefer dealing with digging in the Fall regardless of the labor.

Somewhere in this forum I've mentioned my 6-7 yr old clump (one I don't care about) left in the ground that long. To make more space this year, I dug it up anticipating a gigantic mess. Not to be: it was quite small, less than 10 tubers, a few rotted. I was stunned because this is a super tubermaking variety in most cases. So I guess, the 'huge monster clump' warning doesn't always apply for those lucky enough to leave them in ground, but it does in many cases.

Organic Janice, another easy way to see if you have good tuber eyes or not is to put a little handful of damp potting soil in a sandwich baggie. Not too wet, just enough water to stick the soil together a bit if squeezed. Plop in your tuber/parts slightly planted, leave the open baggies in bright light, near warmth, and watch for eyes to pop. Some are very slow, some will show up in a few days, duds will show nothing no matter how long you wait. If they do, then you can go on to pot them.

If I plant too early in our cold wet Springs, I am guaranteed to lose tubers to rot. Perhaps that's what happened to yours planted early? Great job on the giant hacking of the clump into quarters! What sort of tool did you use for the surgery?

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.