Dahlias for Beginners 2015

Ah. Five hours behind you.   Apparently, Americans aren't very happy followers. That ego thing. 

I suppose Nationality is more and more a state of mind, as bloodlines cross and counter cross. I myself am half Irish with a dash of English, German and Croatian for good measure, but it was my many great great grandparents that made the long boat ride. Never heard someone call themselves 'half-American,' as we are so mixed in this American melting pot but still hanging on to our fore-father's birth places. Diversity is the spice of life! It was a joy to walk the path my grands walked in Northern
Ireland, seeing the small towns they lived in many decades before.

Do you have any pull to visit America as a homeland, Cat? And if you come, be sure to make one of the big dahlia shows a destination stop! You will have instant friends that would love to show you around! One gentleman is both a UK and a US dahlia judge, which is pretty impressive with the distance between us!

No, just a touch of warmth and moisture is all they need to get started. I typically stack the sealed bags on different trays that balance ON the pair of lights, as I have them dropped down low when just starting out anyways. The heat from the fluorescents is enough to encourage sprouting without cooking the meristem material (done that, too, when experimenting with human heating pads!)

I go through the sealed bags weekly, checking for life, and sorting each of them into new piled-up trays labeled 'roots only,' and 'sprouts only,' with the slow pokes thrown back on the started tray. The tubers are deemed fully viable with both roots AND sprouts, placed properly in trays with a just-moist mix of vermiculite and peatmoss, and bag openings rolled back. I fire up each set of lights as the trays require it, and eventually run out of room. Then, I rotate the trays on the dark floor into the light every time I water.

I only stopped the plant when they reach a foot high, not at the second or third leaf set. Reason why is that I try to plant as deep as I am able, taking off leaf sets under the soil line so the nodes will produce more tubers at the end of the season. A few I stopped last year while still under the lights ended up being planted so that the two branches split right at the soil line. Way too low. Some growers here say to plant shallow to keep from slowing the growth with too-cool soil, and I do have to say that planting deep stops growth for a couple weeks after planting out.

Here's a tip that saved my skin with a box of badly-molded tubers this winter-- if the mold forms just on the surface, and the inside is still crisp-white, you can use Lysol or an off-brand disinfectant spray to kill the surface mold. It doesn't seem to injure the eyes, though active sprouts don't seem to appreciate it.

If the actual tuber flesh is darkened in any way when sliced with a knife, the disinfectant spray is useless ( I try to slice off all the discoloration I can, and get a cutting off quick!). But the spray works great with surface mold. I think you had been talking about stem rot or mold with this variety... Might be a good idea if it had been exposed to mold to give it a quick spritz and allowing to dry before sealing up in a ziplock bag with a just-moist cotton ball.

For the record, I don't think my tuber-starting technique is superior to any other way, except in saving space and amount of potting mix used. Oh, and that you can tell if the tuber is a dud before you waste time, space and materials on it.

cici with the Stillwater brilliant it was stem rot and was  . It was very soft when I got it. It hardened up when stored in vermiculite but I knew it was going I split it into chicken legs one has two tubers attached and one single I cut of as much dark flesh as possible I will see if I missed any. Let it dry a bit as you suggest. 

I did post a minute ago I do have a tuber looking healthy but white fluffy mould starting to come on it At the crown. Will try you spray technique . 

ian what UK disinfectant would you suggest ? Milton ? 

Raymond, any bleach is fine to use Milton is a mild one I use normal household bleach at a weak strength. If you dip your tubers in a mild solution of bleach this I find works well.