Cheap dahlias

[Ricado]

Ive been out scouting for plants again and liked the look of the dahlias in wilkos, so I picked up 11 mixed for £10.

Any tips on best planting time would be apreciated, should i cover until planting ?

[Ricado]

[sandersj89]

I grew mine from seed last year so even cheaper!

;) ;)

In fact I grew too many and was swamped with flowers for a few months!

But with your tubers plant out towards the end of the month and mulch well to protect from frost.

Watch out for the slugs when the shoots start to appear.

They are hungry feeders so give them a feed every now and then, I used fish blood and bone, and they like plenty of water in the summer.

You can also start them off in trays in a greenhouse and take cuttings form the tubers as they grow to increase your stock for little costs.

HTH

Jerry

[Columbus]

Hi Ricardo,

I really enjoyed having dahlias last year so I`m going to have more this year. Some, in particular the pom-pom types get nibbled by earwigs so if you put a small plant pot filled with straw or a scrap of fleece at the top of a short cane in the middle of your flowers you can catch them but I also found lots of tiny snails this way.

I was really surprised how the dried up peice of tuber I planted in the spring became a huge heavy mass of fleshy tubers by the autumn. I had cut flowers all through the summer and was able to give loads away and never ran out.

I`m not sure yet if my saved tubers will produce again this year as I`ve had some rot off so I bought new ones at lidls last week as insurance.

Enjoy, Col

[Ricado]

when you say take cuttings, do you mean from the foliage or by dividing the tuber into sections ?

[sandersj89]

Place the tuber in a tray of compost in a bit of heat.

The cuttings are the shoots of the tubers.

Cut them off when about 2" long, dip in rooting compound and then place in a gritty cutting compost in pots to grow on.

The tuber can still be planted out to grow on as normal.

HTH

Jerry

[Larkspur]

You take dahlia cuttings when the new shoots are about 4" high (before they become hollow). Cut them  off at the base, put them into gritty compost keep them at about 60 degrees in a light spot and they should root quite quickly. Funnily enough I am doing some today myself from a huge white cactus dahlia that performed amazingly last year.
You can also divide the tubers but not until they have sprouted buds and you can see where the new growth is.
Sorry Jerry for jumping into your post you replied whilst I was typing this. :)