Dividing Tubers

Tubers come in all sizes and shapes. Little ones, big ones, short, fat, round.  My theory is that as long as they have an eye or a sprout, they’re going to be good – it has no bearing on the dahlia health.

I like to store my dahlias, still in clumps, and divide in the late winter, when they start producing eyes.  I store them in peat moss combined with wood shavings in our basement in plastic containers drilled with holes on the side.  Our basement is usually around 50 or so degrees and so far, this has worked for me.

In early February, I’ll start bringing them out and putting them in a heated, lit, mini greenhouse that I use to start seeds.  When the eyes starting showing, I will divide, very carefully, the tubers into single tubers.  I then put them in baggies, with small amounts of potting soil and mist them every few days, encouraging sprouts. 

The thing about dahlias is that some of mine sprout immediately and some take several weeks. I document everything and be sure and label everything immediately or you’ll have a lot of “mystery” dahlias.

This year, I’m doing cuttings on some of my most desired dahlias, so I will carefully cut off the sprouts, dip them in root hormone, and plant them in single containers to grow.  I do this to increase my number of plants that I love and I will also sell some cuttings this year.  

Some of my containers are the porous ones, but I’ve found, especially with the longer tubers, that red Solo cups are perfect.  I cut holes in the bottom for drainage and I label the name of the dahlia and the date that it was planted. I journal everything, for future years, so I know which dahlias take longer than others.

Dahlias actually don’t need light, until they sprout, so I put my baggies on shelves without lights, until the sprout develops.  And I usually run my lights 12-16 hours a day after they have sprouted and for my other early seed starts – the same with the heat mats. It generally stays around 60-70 degrees inside their little plastic home.  I bought these on Amazon and will attach a link, if you are interested. It’s worked well for me the last several years. 

This year, I will sell tubers and cuttings and continue to add different varieties to my obsession. 🙂