When to start dahlia tubers
Sprouting Dahlia Tubers Before Planting - Planting Dahlia Tubers in Trays
hey everybody what's up and welcome back
to the garden today we are going to be
taking a look at some of our Dahlia
tubers and begin the process of pre
sprouting those now pre sprouting is not
totally necessary some people choose to
just plant their tubers in the ground
and for some people that works fine for
me personally I don't trust my two birds
enough I don't trust my yard enough I
have a very heavy clay I have lots of
snails it like to munch on my tubers so
I like to be in full control of what's
going on you know especially since so
many Dahlia tubers can be so expensive
you best bet I'm gonna be taking care of
these things and as best as I can
first and foremost there are several
ways to do this and disclaimer full
disclaimer I am NOT a Dahlia growing
expert there are tons of people
specifically in the Pacific Northwest
that are experts at growing dahlias you
know I'm down here in the South dahlias
ain't really our thing down here
sometimes it gets a little too hot they
don't do as well as they should but I do
think that everybody can enjoy growing
them and enjoy growing something new in
their garden so if you have any helpful
comments feel free to leave them below
in a nice and constructive and helpful
manner and I would love to hear them our
first thing we want to do obviously as
we want to decide when we are going to
get these started my last frost date
here is about the first week of April so
I'm gonna get these started about a
month I'm a little bit late a month
before my last frost date a lot of
people choose to take Dahlia cuttings to
propagate their dahlias and get more
Dahlia plants for the growing season if
you do plan on doing that you will want
to start sooner hopefully I will have a
video coming on taking Dahlia cuttings
it just depends on how things go things
are a little bit crazy right now so
we'll see how that goes
but if I plan to take cuttings I usually
start them around sometime in February
indoors for the sake of this video we
will be pre sprouting them outdoors
using our winter sowing low tunnel or a
winter sowing container both of these
methods work really really well I'm here
in zone 6 be bordering on seven here in
Kentucky
to give you some reference so in the
spring in March we still get some cool
temperatures some nights below 32
degrees Fahrenheit those are the nights
we're gonna have to watch out for I'll
get into that here in a second the first
thing we want to do is choose some nice
healthy tubers now you know of course
you can save your tubers you'll see a
little bit later I have some tubers that
I've saved you'll know they're mine
because I didn't cut off the stem all
the way because I have bad tuber saving
habits but that's besides the point or
of course you can buy them when you were
buying them you're likely buying them
one of two ways through a reseller or
through just a privately owned farm both
ways I have their benefits you can
generally tell between the two resellers
will have clumps large clumps of values
sold to you and individuals usually just
have one single tuber there are pros and
cons with both obviously the clump may
seem like you're getting more but often
times you know the individual tuber is a
lot healthier and somebody actually
cares you know it's not just a large you
know ship them out somebody actually
cares so do prefer ordering from just
individuals not to mention its
supporting small business and I've
learned over the years firsthand how
much of a huge impact just supporting
one family can have on that family it's
really something kind of cooled and I
think we've gotten away from as a people
a lot anyway I am going to look for nice
healthy tubers to do this I want to make
sure that that tuber is nice and firm
and plump when I touch it with my hands
it's got no give in it it has very
little wrinkles deep wrinkles are
specially or bad if you give that a
squeeze and it sounds papery and it's
hollow and it kind of crumbles in your
hands just go ahead and dish it toss it
in the garbage I've received tubers like
this before you guys might remember that
strawberry ice tuber I got last year
what a joke anyway we want tubers
they're nice and plump after we look at
that we want to look at the neck of the
tube
that's just the part that connects the
top and the actual tuber itself I guess
the big plump part I don't know how to
explain it that next should be nice and
plump as well or most importantly that
next should not be damaged in any way
occasionally if the neck is damaged it
will be fun but any kind of severe
damage you're not going to get any kind
of growth out of that tuber so another
thing to look out for
to make sure our tuber has eyes I think
the Dahlia growers say their tubers are
blind when they don't have any eyes
sometimes some varieties I think take a
little bit longer to develop eyes and
others so if you look at your tuber
directly after pulling it out of the
ground for storage and it doesn't have
any eyes yet don't freak out those out
wait and give them a chance but if they
are arriving in spring and they still
don't have any eyes I'll go ahead and
pop them up but I start worrying about
them a little bit anyway last but
certainly not least we want to make sure
that our tubers are a sufficient size
now this is where it varies wildly okay
depending on the varieties some Dahlia
plants that make gigantic tubers just
loads and loads of gigantic tubers some
do not some make little tiny things some
make you know barely any at all so
that's where you really have to kind of
pay attention ideally a good sized tuber
I like to make sure it's at least as
thick as maybe you know a washable
Margaret like the marker is used when
you're a kid in school to doodle
sometimes I will get one that's a little
bit thinner than that but generally
that's I think is a good guideline to
make sure that you are going to get a
really nice plant as much as length
length doesn't seem to really matter too
much as long as it's a nice robust plant
that we were putting into the ground so
you have a couple of options when it
comes to pre sprouting these I've seen a
lot of people pre sprout these in moist
peat moss I personally haven't done that
maybe I'll do that in the future and I
can make a video about it in the past
I've put my tubers down into just you
know plastic cups with drainage holes at
the bottom straight up and down that has
also worked phenomenally I've put those
plastic cups right into the low tunnel
the winter sowing low tunnel and
humidity in there and the warmth in
there is perfect for getting these
tubers growing and getting them active
if you do not have a winter sowing low
tunnel I have also done this exact same
method using milk jugs using the milk
jugs I prepare the milk jugs just as we
did with winter sowing Hoover in the
milk
I tape it around the center I set it
outside where it can get rained on and
that extra warmth and heat will allow
that to grow what I've started doing in
recent years now that I've got these
seed starting trays is I am just simply
laying the tubers in the seed starting
trays flat and I'm covering them with
soil and allowing them to sprout that
way obviously I should mention that
these also go in the low tunnel the
winter sowing the low tunnel now the
reason I have actually grown to prefer
this way is for one it doesn't use any
cups I'm trying to cut down on the use
of plastic of course we all know that is
an issue not only that it allows them to
lay flat laying flat is essentially how
I plant them in the garden so the stems
will be nice and strong and they won't
topple over and break off and all that
stuff so I like to get them started
laying nice and flat as well and that's
something to the cups and sometimes the
milk jugs don't necessarily allow
depending on the size of the tuber is
for us to lay it flat so I think that's
really the main reason that I prefer
this laying the mountain trays I was
also a lot easier if I plan to take
cuttings of them they're just right
there I don't have to open containers
and yada yada and all this stuff it's
just easier to take cuttings from them
this way now of course you can start
these indoors on a heat mat with you
know grow lights and or in a warm sunny
windowsill you can of course do that I
personally like to get the Head Start
outside just so everything is already
hardened off everything is ready to go
everything is adjusted to my garden this
is personal preference there are tons of
ways to do it I don't think any way is
wrong necessarily or right but you have
to find what works for you so in doing
this with the winter sowing containers
and the milk jugs here in March I still
do get cold temperatures these dahlias
are not tender to frost the tubers
themselves I think are Hardy to USDA
zone eight or nine don't quote me on
that it might vary depending upon
variety if by chance I do have a very
light frost and they are in the hoop
house or the low tunnel or in a milk jug
container they will be fine as long as
they have not started
to grow once they have started to grow
that's really when you're going to be
needing to watch the containers and
watch the temperatures if you have
Dahlia growth you know and the
temperatures are gonna drop below 32 or
you got a frost come in you know your
weather better than I know your weather
you will need to take steps to protect
that new tender delicate growth so that
either means bringing those containers
indoors and you know if you only have a
couple containers that's not gonna be a
problem just bring those containers
indoors for the night when it warms back
up stick them back outside and let them
do their thing
this time of the year here where I live
we don't get a frost every single night
so I can afford to do that little extra
step because it's not as much of a
hassle another option of course is to
use a frost blanket there's a frost
projected or I think there might be a
frost or it's getting a little bit cold
what I'll do is I'll go outside and I'll
throw a frost blanket on it and then I
will cover the low tunnel right back up
and then when it warms back up I'll take
that frost blanket off um this really is
a process of trial and error and it
depends on where you live but that's
kind of the method that I've developed
over the last couple of years and it
seems to work really really well I know
when you say it out loud it sounds like
oh that's a lot of work but depending
upon the season it really is just a
matter of covering some things up a
couple times it's nice to not have to
you know squeeze things in under grow
lights and crowd things into a
windowsill it's really it's really nice
to just have it out there have nature
taking care of it you will need to watch
the soil moisture times those container
traits can dry out pretty quickly
especially if the weather is warm so you
will want to make sure you're keeping
those consistently moist of course not
soaking wet soggy because we don't want
our tubers to rot
obviously we want to keep it nice and
warm as well because we don't want to be
sitting in cold soil or a lot of this
really is you just have to use kind of
your own discretion on when the time is
going to be right then all the time it
takes for tubers to begin waking up and
starting to grow will vary greatly just
depending on the pond the variety
sometimes I get tubers that are already
actively growing which I personally like
and sometimes they will take forever to
wake up and start
growing out of their dormancy but you
just be patient don't lose hope
as long as you start with healthy tubers
you should get good results that's
really about it for this video I hope
that it was helpful I'm not quite sure
if it was I'm really just learning here
and hopefully it's helpful to somebody
you have any questions or comments be
sure to put them down below I usually
try to get to those within a week
depending upon my work schedule and how
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