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| Here's a question maybe someone can answer. I was told at my local dahlia society that cuttings make for a better plant and larger better flowers. One of the gentlemen is Kieffer, orginator of many minitures, such as Joe K and Annie B. He only grows cuttings and has been doing it for 40 years.
I bought at the auction, a cutting of Walter Hardisty as well as a tuber just to see if there really is a difference. Does anyone have any experience growing cuttings? What do you think..... cutting vs tubers? Thanks Willow
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| This is my first year with Dahlias. I started six tubers in pots in mid-March. By April, I had 3" plants. I took four cuttings from those tubers with more than one plant. My tuber plants are now only (thanks to a cool spring) about 12". I expect to see strong growth in the next few, warmer weeks. Unfortunately, my cuttings, which went into the ground about two weeks after the tubers, are only about 5" tall. Despite their diminutiveness, they have (without getting up to go look) about 8 pairs of leaves; they’re, in short, hardy but small. The cuttings, admittedly, are planted in a shadier spot than the tubers which may account for the differential in height; but at the moment, I'm stumped as to why the cuttings aren't putting on more height. In addition to the cool weather, I suppose the growth difference might also be attributable to the fact that the cuttings are putting a lot of energy into root growth…?
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| I was wondering if anyone here has grown both tubers and cuttings during the same season with all the same variables AND whether or not there was a noticeable difference observed. Which one grew the fastest and or produced a better plant on average? |
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- Posted by dahliagardener (My Page) on Sun, Dec 2, 07 at 23:59
| I've grown both & find that if you want more tubers it's better to plant a tuber. The cuttings do put out some tubers but not as many as the mother tuber will. Mostly you can get good plants from either & it's all a matter of whichever you prefer- by the end of August you can't really tell the difference in plants. In order to do cuttings though you need a warm place to start them & raise them until planting out so tubers are more convenient that way- you just pop them in the ground. |
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| linth, I did this comparison this year: tuber and cutting of the same plant. The tuber plant grew faster, bloomed long before the cutting plant, and produced many more harvestable tubers. The cutting eventually caught up in size, bloomed around Halloween and produced a small clump of tubers I kept whole for winter storage. This is likely because I don't start the cuttings early enough. I know plenty of people who swear by them and produce beautiful gardensful of dahlias. If the cutting plant would have bloomed earlier I could have commented further on the bloom quality, but it froze a few days later. |
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| Thanks for the good info dahliagardener and poochella. I used rooting hormone and rooted a cutting in '07 from a plant that got knocked over during a storm. It grew and produced some very small tubers but it was soooo slooow. So I was worried about ordering cuttings but wanted to give Corralito's a try anyway. Guess I'll have to pray for those 8 plants. Waiting till Halloween for blooms is a gamble in MN. Sad, I was REALLY looking forward to seeing Hollyhill Dark Victory in person in '08. :( Now I'm glad I ordered lots of tubers from Connell's too. |
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| Poochella, Just curious...what month did you end up planting your cuttings outside? |
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| The cuttings from Corralito's are super cuttings when you get them and they grow as well as tubers. You won't be disappointed. Sometimes cuttings act differently from the same plant as one will grow without any problem and the next one has a very difficult time growing. I find the tubers from the slow grower, even though small, will grow well the next year when planted. |
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| We grow about 1500 dahlias from cuttings and about as many from tubers. People who visit our garden cannot tell the difference. We grow the cuttings to increase stock of our seedlings and other new varieties. They make tubers but not as many as those grown from tubers. Some varieties seem to grow better from cuttings but I notice little difference generally. Cuttings can be planted in the garden when they are about 6 inches tall or about 4-5 weeks from when you took the cutting. |
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- Posted by crdahlia z8bWA (larryteresa@msn.com) on Tue, Jan 1, 08 at 10:01
| Happy New Year everyone! So glad the holidays are over. Now I can get on to the important stuff -- growing dahlias(just kidding!) I grow over five hundred cuttings every year and will do over a thousand this year. I love planting and it looks like something is there. My plants from cuttings produce flowers much earlier than the tubers, but I do start some in January. True, some don't make many tubers, but others do very well in the tuber arena. One thing to remember when planting is to be sure at least one leaf node is buried, and a pair of tubers will form there. I plant a display garden at our local grocery store. All the plants there are from cuttings and I leave them in 4" pots in the ground. They grow into beautiful plants -- people can't believe they are in 4" pots. When the frost comes it is so easy to pop them out of the ground and put them away. In the spring when they sprout again I cut them into sections to plant. Taking cuttings is the best way to save varieties that don't store well, or make many tubers. Teresa |
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| this is good news to me. I wanted to give a dear friend a tuber of Wheels a couple years ago but my Wheels only produced one viable tuber and this one didn't survive the winter storage. I reordered Wheels from a different grower and hopefully this year I can take a cutting from it to give to her so she can have her own this year and from here on in. Was it just my tuber or plant or does anyone else find Wheels to be not a huge producer of blooms (wonderful though they are) and not many tubers either? |
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