Separation of dahlia tubers when plants have already emerged

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WonderWeasel Kansas City, KS(Zone 5a) May 10, 2011

Hello-

I have a pot of pink Unwin's dahlia tubers that I didn't dig up and separate last year. Now that the plants have begun to emerge, is it too late to separate the tubers and repot? I started off with one plant in this pot, and this year there are 8. Not a bad investment! Thanks for your help!

--Jordan

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pirl (Arlene) Southold, NY(Zone 7a) May 10, 2011

I love the Unwin dahlias.

It isn't too late but it will be rough to separate at this stage. Even if a stem breaks off it will/should send up new ones. Good luck, Jordan, and report back to let us know how it worked for you.

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WonderWeasel Kansas City, KS(Zone 5a) May 12, 2011

Sorry for the slow reply, pirl--

I've divided up my tubers and put them in individual pots, so hopefully I'll have 8 new plants that will create enough tubers to fill a garden bed next year! Thanks for the advice!

--Jordan

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pirl (Arlene) Southold, NY(Zone 7a) May 13, 2011

Great. I bought a bag of Unwins at Home Depot and we're looking forward to them.

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WeeNel Ayrshire Scotland, United Kingdom May 17, 2011

The best way to divide your Dahlias is when you find new shoot emerge, take a sharp knife and cut through the tubers, don't pull them apart or you will loose any roots needed to support the new cuttings, the cuttings will probably flower the same year but maybe last to flower, the best time to divide the dahlias is when you see the tiny little nods on the stem / tubers and this is the best time to separate by cutting up the tubers, you can give a dressing of flowers of sulpher bought at the drug store / pharmacist, put this powder in a paper bag, drop the cut tuber into the bag and gently shake the tuber, this yellow powder prevents any rot on the CUT parts of the tubers, tap off any excess, same powder can be used at the time of storing tulip bulbs or other types of bulbs / tubers etc.
Good luck. WeeNel.

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WonderWeasel Kansas City, KS(Zone 5a) May 22, 2011

WeeNel--

The plants had already started to form flower buds before I divided them. Luckily, none of them have dropped off, and look to be still growing. Hopefully I'll get lucky and the plants won't go into a "veg" mode drop their flowers! I'll put up pictures when I get a new digital camera this weekend (My old one succumbed to alcohol abuse at a Royals game; A line drive foul got hit near me and my Kodak took it's first drink of beer :( )

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