Dahlia Breeding. Growing Dahlias from Seed. (2024)

FAQs

Dahlia Breeding. Growing Dahlias from Seed.? ›

Soil/Planting

Your Dahlia plants grown from seed will produce tubers, which once mature can be lifted and separated at the end of the growing season. These tubers will grow identical flowers to what that plant produced. Essentially, you have just created your own unique variety of Dahlia!

Direct sowing dahlia seeds

Delay sowing until about a week or two before the date of the last frost and make sure the plants do not go short of water. Flowers should appear about 10 weeks after sowing, when the plants are still quite small, depending on the weather.

Whether you opt for tubers, cuttings or seeds, if you take care and look after your dahlias properly, then they will flower in the first year.

Use a seed starting mix and plant dahlia seeds 1/4” deep in individual cells. This will help with spacing and transplanting. Keep the soil moist but not water-logged. Seeds should germinate in 7 to 10 days.

A tuber from a 'Café au Lait' dahlia would always grow into another 'Café au Lait', each flower a perfect replica of the ones before. They are clones. Dahlia seeds, however, are storytellers of diversity. Each seed carries a mosaic of genes, a blend of traits from its parents, and even from their ancestors.

From 1 dahlia tuber (also named dahlia bulb) grows a large plant that produces as many as dozens of flowers. The more flowers you cut from the plant, the more new buds develop and thus the more flowers will bloom.

The dahlias we commonly cultivate in gardens today naturally reproduce themselves in two ways at once. They produce abundant flowers that (when pollinated and properly ripened) make beautiful seeds, and they also produce abundant tubers when grown well.

It germinates within 7-14 days. And the flowering takes 12 weeks. (The speed of germination is associated with lots of environmental factors and proper care). The best time or season to sow dahlia seeds is in spring or early summer.

Let's start with timing, as you may be wondering when to plant dahlia bulbs. The best time to plant dahlia tubers is in the spring, after the danger of the last frost has passed. In many regions, the perfect time to plant dahlia bulbs falls between mid-April and early June.

Do dahlia seeds turn into bulbs? ›

Yes! Dahlias grown from seed will produce tubers by the end of the summer. If you live in a climate where you can overwinter them in the ground, it's as simple as cutting the stocks down to the soil level. Mulching them will give them added protection through the winter.

Dahlias - Key Growing Information

To maintain healthy seedlings, do not allow plants to become root bound and do not disturb roots. Direct seed - After last frost when soil is 65-70°F (18-21°C), sow thinly, 2 seeds/ft, 1/4" deep.

Dahlia seeds do not require any treatment (eg soaking, stratification) before sowing. Dahlia seeds can be sown directly into the garden OR seedlings can be raised in trays or other containers and transplanted to the garden once established.

When you are planting dahlia tubers, you may or may not see a sprout. Often, the tubers don't sprout until they have been in the ground (or in a pot) for 4 to 6 weeks. It takes tubers longer to come out of dormancy when they are planted early in the season and the weather is cool.

Some varieties produce clumps with lots of tubers and others produce very few tubers.

To summarize: Use a rooting hormone and a sterile rooting medium, keep the humidity high enough to prevent wilting and the temperature between 65-75 and provide daylights of 14 hours or greater. Most dahlia varieties should form roots within 10-14 days when the proper environmental conditions are provided.

One of the best ways to multiply your stock is to dig up your tubers at the end of the growing season and divide them. One healthy dahlia plant will typically give you anywhere from 5-20 new tubers for the following season! Just imagine how many dahlias you can grow the following season if you divide your tubers!