It is easier to grow new dahlias from cuttings than seed and they will have the identical characteristics of the parent

Increase your stock of your favourite Dahlias for free by cuttings. You can grow more and stronger Dahlias from cuttings taken from your old tuber root stock.

Gardeners Tips Dahlias from Cuttings

• Start tubers off early in a frost free well lit position – I use my garage due to greenhouse space constraints.
• I have started my Dahlias at the beginning of February in a large pot filled with light compost. I mixed peat substitute based compost and perlite.
• When the growth is about 4 inches a normal cutting will be taken at the first joint above the tuber. More cutting material will then grow from that spot. If only a few plants are required a heel from the tuber will increase survival rates but reduce the available cuttings.
• Make the cutting near a leaf joint and trim off all surplus foliage.
• Put up to 5 cuttings in a 3 inch pot of seed compost firming in with a dibber. Do not cover as this encourages botrytis.
• You can dip cuttings in a hormone like Seradix B but I do not bother.
• Avoid too much watering to avoid damping off.
• Pot on into there own 3 inch pots when rooted. Aim to keep plants growing without check.
• Pot on into 5 inch pots in April if they are out growing their current pot.
• Cuttings will be planted out in mid May. I like to plant them quite deep to anchor the stems and encourage growth.
• Tuber grown plants may flower a couple of weeks earlier but cuttings or green grown dahlias will be stronger due to the vital new root system.
• Last spring the wind broke my favourite dahlias before I had tied them up. I pushed the broken stems into the ground and was rewarded with strong Autumn plants and new tubers for this years cuttings