Potting up your Tubers.

There’s a few ways of starting your dahlias. Prepotting and straight in the ground are the two most used.

Work out your last frost date and count back around 6 – 8 weeks before to pot up.

Two things that drive me mad about a garden display we’ve done, are a mis-labelled new tuber, so you have a huge great highlighter yellow dahlia in the middle of the red bed or a gaping big hole where a tuber hasn’t woken up!

Presprouting is great for that reason. It also allows you to check the tuber has no nasties, like gall or virus before planting.

Plus slugs can eat the new shoots as they come up through the soil, leaving you wondering why your dahlia has disappeared!

Its so easy to do.

You’ll need a good quality compost, a pot, some secateurs, your tuber and the label.

Fill you pot 3/4 full with your compost.

Trim your tuber of old roots and any broken necks. 

Plunge the tuber into the compost and firm in.

Top up your pot, leaving the bottom part of the neck clear from compost and a cm clear from the top.

Pop it in a frost free, warm, light home.

It can take anywhere from 3 – 8 weeks before your tuber shows life. So just be patient.

Give a little water, but remember when you first plant your tuber it has no roots to suck up water!

Do the wiggle test to see if rooted.