Buying Dahlia tubers can be expensive, with some of the more unusual varieties being sold for £10+ a tuber. But there is one easy way to make your money go further, and that is taking Dahlia cuttings.
Through cuttings you can turn one plant into three, four or even five plants depending on the tuber. But when is the best time to take Dahlia cuttings? After all, you don’t want to cause any damage and hurt your tubers inadvertently. So let’s have a look and find out.
When To Take Dahlia Cuttings?
Depending on how you start your Dahlia tubers this may be March, April or May. The actual date isn’t important, what is important in the growth on your tuber.
To take a successful cutting you want full leaves and a good chunk of stem to have formed so you will need to wait around two weeks after the tuber starts developing.
You can continue to take cuttings from the same tuber two or three times. Be careful not to overdo it though as you may sap too much energy out of the mother tuber if you take more than three cuttings in a row.
More on Dahlias
Dahlias are simply stunning summer flowers, the pop pop head produces amazing displays. The plant is a member of the Asteraceae family along with daisies, asters and marigolds.
Usually grown from a tuber but they can also be grown from seed. The tubers require special care over winter here in the UK and many growers end up with an almost fanatical devotion to their dahlias.
Despite being unable to survive winter outdoors in most of the UK, they thrive in our summer conditions. The moderate but wet climate we have is absolutely perfect for them.
Dahlias make the perfect container flower and are commonly grown this way. Growing them in containers also makes preserving the tuber over winter a lot easier.