Do Dahlia's have seeds to save?

I want to save seeds from my dahlia's but....was told that they don't all produce seeds... is that true or not? Any info will be appreciated... I'm new at growing dahlia's and I just have to know....thanks...Dottie

Not all plants will have been pollinated (double forms of flowers tend to have more difficulty pollinating because everything else is in the way) but Dahlia does produce seed and is easy to grow from seed. The seeds won't produce the same plant as the parents though unless they are of a species. if you want to produce Dahlias that look like the one you already have you will need to propagate from cuttings or tubers.

Thank you Baa... is it easy to propagate from cuttings? Do you start them in water or soil? Thanks...Dottie

Tuber division is the easiest although for all vegetative propagation of Dahlia you need to keep the tubers frost free over winter. Cuttings aren't quite so easy as they can succumb to a lot of different pests and diseases that creep into the greenhouse.

With the tubers you start them fairly early late winter/early spring in trays of compost in the greenhouse or indoors. The sprouts will appear on most of the tuber 'fingers' and you can seperate each 'finger' with a sharp knife for potting up. It's worth treating them with fungicide too.

For cuttings you need to start the tubers into growth and wait until the sprout has about 6 to 8 pairs of leaves. You then cut the cutting off, flush with the tuber, remove the bottom most leaves and pot in soil, again fungicide is a good idea.

You can take stem cutting although these can be quite difficult and weakly. In the spring when the sprouts have 6-8 pairs of leaves you make a cut just below the 2nd set of leaves from the tip. Remove the bottomost leaves and pot up in soil.

Cleanliness is a key part of successful propagation but even in very clean environments Dahlia can be unsuccessful but it's worth a go if you want to keep a specific plant.

Baa, thank you so much for the info....Dottie