Last winter was the first year I sowed Dahlias, and I think I got about 40-50% germination.

And don't sow them until a few days before last frost date, because they are very fast to germinate.

I had about 20% germination from mine, and a light frost killed them all in April. So just definately wait until no more frost, or be prepared to babysit them a little.

It looks like a had better luck than most with germination. I WS them 4/14, had germ. by 4/22. Germination was between 80 and 100%. The only problem I had was that the grasshoppers ate most of them once I planted them out.

At least you have plenty of extras in case your first batch gets knocked out by a late frost!

Well, I'm pretty bad at math, so I don't do well with percentages, but looking through my records, I'd say I have at least 50%-60% germination (more than half, lol). Some varieties in some years had 100% and some did not do so well, so I can't give a absolute certain percentage rate.

I also sowed mine mostly in February and March. I don't think that affected germination, since I mark actual germination counts and not how many I have left to plant out (if that makes any sense!)

I actually had my best germination this past year - 6 out of 12, 12 out of 20, and 12 out of 12, for three jugs. Those were sown on 2/23. First germination was noted from 3/14 through 3/20 for those jugs.

I'm actually considering not buying tubers anymore, since I feel I do well with WSing. I can never seem to overwinter the tubers, so I might as well just sow seeds!

:)
Dee

Dahlias are my new obsession!! I have traded for a couple of packages and ordered some also-I know they(the traded ones) will be "mutts" but that's part of the fun!! I've wondered over to the dahlia forum to lurk but they're more into huge prizewinning ones for shows-I like the single ones the bees like!
-B

If you start some from seed do they form tubers too? I have never grown Dahlias, but did purchase some seeds to try. How hard is it to collect the seed? Is there a trick to storing tubers?

Thanks for any info
Heidi

Yes, Heidi, they will form tubers.

I don't really collect seed so can't help there.

Gee, can't help much with overwintering/storing either, lol. I don't have great luck - okay luck, but not great luck, lol. I dig mine up, clean them off, let them dry a few days and then put them in plastic bags with peat moss. I put the plastic bags in a big cardboard box and put it in the basement.

I've tried to do the saran wrap method, which many people swear by, but I can never see the eyes to cut the tubers in fall. I did try wrapping the whole clump of tubers in plastic wrap, but that didn't work.

I also once tried storing them (in plastic bags with peat moss) inside a styrofoam cooler, which was a recommended method, but I had better luck with the cardboard box.

I'm sure if you google you can find a method that would work for you.

Good luck!
:)
Dee

Heidi,
I started growing Dahlias a couple of years ago and may be becoming obsessed with them for the second time in my life. Years ago I had over 30 varieties, but my lower back suffered one autumn and I couldn't get them out of the ground...

Someone gave me a couple of tubers in 2007, and now my basement is full of them. I just place on newpapers in open boxes and don't look at them until April when I start potting them up to 'start' them. The conditions in the basement must be just right.

There is a person at the Dahlia Forum who has great knowledge and is friendly to boot who instructed me to use some antifungal powder on them, then store in plastic bags. I tried that too and it works great, but when the tubers I forgot on the basement floor the first year did just fine, well, I kept up with that practice. :O) Jroot is the name if you want to do a search for this person. He has some postings with pictures which are easy to follow.

I will be trying Dahlias from seed this year for the first time. I have seed from an orange cactus dahlia which was next to a peach/old rose coloured dahlia. I'm anxious to see the results!! (Hopefully I can find the seeds. I know I put them in a special spot so I wouldn't forget, but somehow that doesn't work too well for me these days.)

Thanks for the tip on when to plant Piti.:O)

How big do the tubers get in the first year???

I've been WS dahlia seeds for quite a few years now and my germination rate has always been near 100%. After a the first few years, I learned to cut way back on the number of seeds I sow.

I'm zone 5, about 20 minutes from the southern NH border so I don't sow them till around 4/23 every year and they start to germinate between 5/4 and by 5/10 they are all germinated.

I keep them covered at night until mid May, just incase of a late freeze an have been fine doing them, even with late freezes.

I sow diablo, fireworks, and colorettee dandy and have done unwin in the past but they where not a favorite so don't so them any more.

I usually collect the seeds from my own plants and sow more from comm packets in an attempt to keep getting more colors.

2008 was my first year at saving the tubers though, and it was about 90% successful, and I had so many tubers growing last spring, I gave most of them away.

I didn't do anything fancy with them, but it worked so here's what I did.

I waited till the plants where mostly died back. Then dug up the tuber 1 by 1. shook off most of the soil and cut back what was left of the stem, but left just enough to be sure where the main stem came out of the main tuber.

Each tuber was placed inside a brown lunch bag, cheapest store brand I could find, labeled with what was in it, crushed down the top of the bag and put it inside one of the plastic grocery bags to bring in the house.

I left the grocery bags full of paper bags with the tubers in the hall by the front door for about a week.

Then i put them all inside a plastic cooler, still in the bags and put the cooler down in the cellar. cold cellar with some heat and where my wash machine and dryer are.

I did not separate any of the individual tubers from each other. The entire thing went into the bags.

Towards the end of February, I brought the coolers upstairs to the kitchen and checked each bag, one at a time to be sure they where still a little bit moist. If any where a bit dried out, I turned on the faucet and took the tubers and did a quick run under the water, shook the tubers and put them right back in the bag and then in the cooler.

Since we had such a terribly cold spring and I don't have room to pot up any of the tubers and keep them in the house, I didn't pot them up until mid may.

At that point, i brought the tubers up and one by one, I separated all the tubers from the main plant tuber, 1 type at a time, and potted them up in 4 inch or larger pots. I just used miracle grow potting mix (didn't use the one with moisture control), then put them all outside.

I would say that 90% of the tubers survived and grew to healthy plants.

I've done the same thing this year, and just hope that I have the same success this year as I had last year.

Fran

I tried saranwrap method one year, but most of the tubers rotted. So enough of that method.
The reason was I could not find any place cold enough to store them without freezing.

So now I wash them up in the fall, divide them and store them in 5 gallon buckets & cover them with slightly moist sawdust or peat moss.
I place a lid on each bucket and keep them in my unheated but insulated attic.
In March I take them out of storage and pot them up.

I get more and more tubers each year. Last spring I planted about 150 tubers and gave nearly 100 away.
Some varieties store better than others.
Some are more generous in making new tubers too.

Thanks for all the great information. I love Dahlias and I hope that I can grow some nice ones. The seeds I have are collarette and harlequin.

When do you suggest starting the seeds? Do you start them inside or outside?

Heidi

I don't do any seed starting inside.
I will start sowing my Dahlia a few days before Mother's Day the WS method then set them outside.

Mone, when do your WSown dahlias bloom? Anybody else? I've never tried them, and I probably should.

Karen