Maybe you have damaged your dahlia bulbs while storing them or perhaps they arrived to you damaged. Either way, you now have some broken dahlia tubers and you are wondering if they will still grow, well let’s find out!
Will Broken Dahlia Tubers Grow?
The foliage on a dahlia tuber comes from the neck of the rhizome which I have highlighted below with an arrow.
If a part of the tuber away from this neck has broken off then it will not grow on its own. The original tuber should still be fine but the broken-off piece will not grow.
As long as the tuber has a neck though it has a good chance of growing, so a lot of this answer depends on where the break is.
Looking at the tubers above, say the break was to happen right down the middle of the tubers where the necks and old stems are then you would say that all the individual parts would have a chance of growing. Indeed this is how you split tubers.
But on the other hand, if it was one of the bulbous lower parts that had broken off, which has much more chance of happening, then it would not grow.
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.