Waking Up Dahlia Tubers for Cuttings

This year I am trying something new to wake up my dahlia tubers so I can take cuttings. In the past, I've placed tubers in individual containers, in vermiculite, under lights with the crown exposed. It works...okay-ish. My cuttings propagation area is inside our very small home, very close to the woodstove, so while they are warm enough, it can be a challenge to keep them humid enough to get good growth from the sprouts. This year, I am trying the "baggie" method that so many people swear by. This should allow the tubers to stay at a more correct and consistent humidity, as well as freeing up a ton of flat space by hanging them all from a wire rack. That means I can have more cuttings rooting at one time before they get the boot to the greenhouse or annex growing room.

Lots of folks use laundry drying racks for their baggie setup, but I wanted something that was sturdy, has wheels, and could be repurposed if I end up not liking this method. Enter the trusty rolling wire rack! I use different sizes and brands of these everywhere, I LOVE them! This is the one I went with for this use: Rolling Wire Rack

I opted for these awesome boot clips to hang the bags and I love that they are study, easily hold a bag full of soil+tuber, and are still easy for my crummy grip to open and close when needed. Boot Clips

Following the recommendation of other growers that have used this method, I went with half gallon baggies, and I chose the slide zip type to make it easy to open and close. I like the bottom gusset in these as it allows the tuber to sit pretty well in bag and it hold a ton of soil (and those longer tubers). So far, I am leaving them about 1/3 of the way open, so they get some air, but don't dry out too fast. Half Gallon Zip Bags 

Ocean Forest Soil from Fox Farm is what pretty much anything in a pot is growing in here at our farm, so I am using that as the medium in the bags. Using soil allows for the feeder roots to get nutrition as they grow which I think will allow them to produce more, healthier sprouts/cuttings. The risk with using a "living" soil is it does introduce more variables that can increase the chance of things like fungus gnats, damping off, etc. I am seeing some fungal growth in some of the bags, so I will be keeping an eye on that to see if it is negatively impacting the sprouts or is just a bit unsightly. We find our soil at a local grow shop and many farm stores carry it as well.

The spot where I am keeping the rack is pretty far from a natural light source and right next to an outlet, so I added in a set of the Barrina lights I use everywhere else in my indoor grow areas. These are 3foot long, but they are available in other lengths if your rack is a different size than mine. I love that these can daisy chain together and have an easy on/off switch as well. 

Another change I've made in my cuttings plan this year is I am using individual scalpels to take the cuttings. Each tuber bag has its own labeled scalpel which will allow me to take cuttings without having to stop and sanitize between each cut. I've labeled both the blade cover and the handle, so they can't get mixed up and cross contaminate. Scalpels are apparently an excluded product, so no link here, but they are available on Amazon as well.

I am enjoying experimenting and trying something new, thanks for coming along with me!

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