Life of the Dahlia: Chapter 2-February

The countdown to the 2023 dahlia season continues. Although we are 2 to 3 months from planting, there are several things the dahlia hobbyist can do to prepare. Once the weather warms a little and melts away the snow, you can perform a little garden cleanup pulling weeds and clearing garden debris that are hiding places for slugs, snails, and earwigs. You can also apply baits, such as Sluggo Plus, to eliminate early emerging pests, especially around established plants, and perennials!

Winter is a good time for early weeding in the raised beds, retaining walls and fences before weeds and grasses get established will make the weeding easier come spring. Clean up yard debris, old plant stocks, and pruned branches. This will help eliminate some of the place’s insect have laid eggs. It’s not to early to lay slug bait out to protect the new growth of your perennials. Sluggo-2 is now available at Costco for a good price! It’s also a good time to repair, replace and/or sharpen your favorite garden tools, sharpen pruners and scissors, and tune up the rototiller!

As we prepare for the new gardening season, we should also look at getting our body ready for all the physical tasks ahead of us. If you have been laying around, drinking coffee, ordering dahlia tubers and reading the latest greatest articles on growing dahlias, it’s time to get off your duff and exercise! Walking is a good start. I recently Googled “exercises for gardeners” and found all sorts of different programs to prepare for Spring. Garden Therapy.ca offered these 5 simple stretches that address the legs, back and shoulders. Check out this link or look for other exercises. https://gardentherapy.ca/5-simple-stretches-for-gardeners/

February is the time to wake up any of the dahlia tubers you may want to take cutting. Taking a cutting is a common practice to increase the quantity of stock for dahlias that may not make lots of tubers, or with new, especially expensive tubers. Successful cuttings can make a $20 to $30 new introduction more tolerable. If you get 4 to 6 cuttings now the price is $4 to $5! Tubers and pot tubers are planted in a good potting soil and grown in temperatures around 68⁰ to 70⁰ s with sufficient light. In my greenhouse I have some a heat mat that regulate the temperature ideal growing conditions. You can also grow your tubers indoors using a grow light or bright window. The grow light will prevent the new shoots from getting too leggy.

In about 3 weeks new shoot will be close to harvesting once the shoot has two sets of leaves. With a sharp knife carefully cut about 1/8” from the tuber. Place the cutting in water over night to allow the cutting to become fully hydrated. Dave and Leona Smith shared this tip and will improve cutting success rate survival! Remove the first pair of leaves and place the cutting in quality potting soil. I use a propagation mix that drains well and keeps tender young shoots moist. Sterilize your knife after taking each cutting with isopropyl alcohol or a bleach solution to prevent spread of virus. In about 3 weeks you should notice the cutting with new growth. This is a very abbreviated explanation. If you purchased the new Dahlias-A monthly guide published by the Puget Sound Dahlia Association, Appendix A has excellent information on taking cuttings.