Propagating Dahlias: Growing & Taking Cuttings from Tubers

Propagating dahlias from cuttings is, in my opinion, the best way to multiply your plants! You get both earlier blooms and more value from each individual tuber. This is especially valuable when it comes to those hard-to-get or pricier varieties. 

This guide walks through the why, when, and how; sharing my experience.

This is by no means the only way to do this. Growers find success with all sorts of techniques. But my approach here at ‘Together We Bloom’ has never been to tell you how to do things; it is instead to share how I do things ( and I am always learning and experimenting.)

My hope is that this post helps you feel more confident and empowered to give it a shot. I also hope that you become a part of this post too by sharing your experience in the comment section at the bottom of the page. While this blog post acts more as a tactical guide, I have an additional post where you can explore the specifics of my 2025-2026 Dahlia Cuttings. This is where I’m documenting the dahlia varieties, timelines, counts, losses, notes, and data for the year, and a chance see this guide put into action.

I’ll have a link to all of the supplies that are mentioned at the bottom of the page for you to reference. Happy reading and happy propagating!

About Me & My Experience With Dahlias

If you’re landing here without knowing me, welcome, I am Taylor, and I am the voice behind Together We Bloom.

I’m a commercial cut-flower grower in Northern Utah with over five years of experience growing dahlias for cut-flower production. I have grown thousands of dahlias over the years, primarily from tubers, and they are one of my all-time favorite flowers.

I used to operate my own flower farm (which was called Together We Bloom), where I was farming dahlias at a larger scale (read the whole story here.) Now, I manage the cut flower program at another farm where we focus less on dahlia production. 

Now that I’m no longer growing dahlias on a large scale, I finally have the space to experiment with dahlia-related projects that genuinely excite me. Propagating dahlias from cuttings is one of those projects.

I had taken dahlia cuttings before, mostly to understand how easy or difficult the process is (spoiler- it is quite easy with the right supplies!) 

So this is the guide I have put together after working out some of the kinks and getting 100% success rate on my cuttings. But, I am always learning, so I hope to refine and experiment each year, this guide is likely something that will evolve as time goes on.

So Why Grow Dahlias From Cuttings?

Cuttings flower earlier than tubers

Dahlias grown from cuttings typically flower earlier than those grown from tubers. For cut-flower growers, this often means earlier harvests and a longer production window.

This happens because cuttings are already actively growing when planted out and establish quickly.

Cuttings still produce tubers their first year

Dahlia cuttings will form tubers during their first season. First-year tuber clumps are generally going to be smaller than those of mature plants. Smaller tubers still store and grow just fine, but you will be able to continue to grow the cuttings that you take in future seasons from the tubers.

You get more plants from one tuber

Cuttings are the best way to get more value from a single tuber. Traditionally, when you plant your tuber in the ground, you get one plant from the tuber. But one viable tuber can produce many cuttings, each of which becomes an independent plant.

If you’ve been debating about investing in hard-to-find or more expensive varieties, taking cuttings allows you to multiply that investment into more plants without needing to purchase additional tubers. How many cuttings that you get from one tuber can really vary- it seems that it can be anywhere from a couple of cuttings to 10+ cuttings (see some of my actual results in my 2025-2026 Dahlia Cuttings Post). Some varieties are more vigorous than others, while timing and condition can certainly play a role in count as well.

Note: The tuber pictured below now has many shoots thanks to repeated cutting. While it may resemble gall to an untrained eye, this clustered growth is a normal and productive response.

Sourcing Your Tubers for Cuttings

Purchasing fall tubers

You can purchase tubers specifically for taking winter cuttings in the fall. There are not as many sellers that offer tuber sales in the fall as in the spring, but they do exist. 

If you’re ordering tubers in fall or winter,  weather and shipping conditions do matter. If dahlia tubers are exposed to freezing temperatures, they suffer cell damage. When this happens, they may appear fine, but freeze-damaged tubers are prone to rot once planted (and I speak from experience on this one.)

If you plan to purchase tubers in the fall/winter

• Consider finding tubers in your local community to avoid shipping
• Choose sellers that ship with the weather or protect tubers from the weather during shipping 
• Choose sellers that provide tracking numbers so that your tubers are not spending extended periods of time in your mailbox
• Expect that losses are possible
• Decide whether the risk makes sense for your goals and budget

You can also use tubers that you dug from last season

You don’t need newly purchased tubers to take cuttings; any dahlia tubers that you already have work great.

If you grew a variety that you liked and want to multiply it

• You can divide the tuber clump
• Wake the tubers
• Take cuttings from your own stock

This is an excellent option for increasing plants you already know perform well and love.

When to Start

The ideal time to start this process (to maximize the number of cuttings that you can take) is December or January. This gives tubers time to wake up and produce plenty of strong cuttings well before outdoor planting time.

Of course, you can still take cuttings later than these months, even from tubers received in the spring, but this will shift the timeline, meaning plants will likely flower later in the season or you may not get as many cuttings. Especially for those more specialty varieties, it is still worth doing!

Waking Up the Dahlia Tubers

The term ‘waking up’ refers to breaking the dormancy in dahlia tubers. This is primarily triggered by warming temperatures. Generally, exposing tubers to 60–70° encourages the plant to start to grow.

The easiest way to expose your tubers to these temperatures is by using a warmer place in your house, but you can also use a heat mat to achieve this (and a heat mat thermostat is helpful to control the temperature if you plan to use a heat mat. More on this under the supplies at the bottom of the page.)

There are different approaches to waking up tubers with different pros and cons to each,  but here are the two simplest options:

1. Planting tubers directly into potting soil in pots
2. Waking up the tubers in other mediums and then potting them once they wake up

Planting tubers in pots to wake them up:

For my 2025-2026 Dahlia Cuttings. I primarily used this technique to wake up my dahlia tubers because it seemed that it would allow me to save some time by not having to do two separate steps. Let me outline how I used this technique:

• I prepared nursery pots and a well-draining potting mix 
• When planting the tuber for cuttings, you will want to plant it different than you do in the ground. The goal is to position it more diagonal or vertical than horizontal.
• You want the crown exposed above the soil line with the eye(s) (if visible) facing upward
• Make sure to bury the rest of the tuber in the soil and label the pot
• Keep the pots in a warm place, monitoring the soil moisture and until they begin growing

In this method, managing soil moisture is extremely important; (see the section below on moisture and rot for more on this.) Honestly, I would suggest reading about my 2025-2026 Dahlia Cuttings because I think in the future I won’t use this method as much because I did have some issues with it that are easily preventable by using the other method.

Alternate options to wake up your tubers

These alternative methods involve breaking the dormancy of the tuber in a different medium, and then potting them into soil once they are ready to grow. 

I feel that this may be a little more foolproof. In future trials, I plan to experiment with these methods more.

1. Warmer Dry Storage: Tubers can be left in the dry storage medium that you use to store them in during winter. You will simply move that storage container into a warmer place and monitor them over the course of a couple of weeks. When they break dormancy, it is time to pot them up for growing your cuttings. You will still plant them in the same way that I listed above (in pots.)
2. Slightly Moist Medium: (pictured below) I have used this method to wake my tubers up as well-  arranging the tubers in lightly moistened coco coir. For this, I suggest writing the variety of the tuber on the tuber with a permanent marker so that you can combine them all together. I like to use a 1020 tray (with no drainage holes) for this- so that I can fit many tubers and put a humidity dome on top if needed to lock in moisture. Rot risk is low in this method, and moisture levels can easily be observed and mitigated by opening or closing the humidity dome. Again, potting them up in the same way that I listed above (in pots) once they have broken dormancy.

How to tell if the tuber has broken dormancy or ‘woken up’

The visible sign that you are looking for, is for the ‘eye’ or ‘eyes’ on the tuber to swell. 

The eye is the growth point, where the shoot will grow out of (and where you will take your cuttings)

Eyes can be difficult to spot for an untrained eye, especially when dormant. As they break dormancy, they will become more puffy and obvious. 

 Important things to note:

• Eyes always emerge from the crown, where it was previously attached to the tuber clump. 
• Not every tuber will have an eye. When dividing dahlia clumps, you divide it so that each eye has a tuber instead of the other way around, since there are generally more tubers than eyes. 
• The tuber is the energy storage for the plant; it allows the eye to grow. You need both.
• A tuber without an eye will never grow a plant
• Tubers can grow roots without having a viable eye. Don’t purely rely on root growth.

How long does it take for dahlia tubers to wake up?

Waking the tubers up is not immediate; tubers vary in response time:

• Some take 1-2 weeks
• Others can take up to 6 weeks
• Occasionally, viable tubers may take even longer

Patience is essential; some tubers simply lag more than others.

Growing Your Tubers for Cuttings

Once you have your tubers in soil, it is time to start growing your cuttings. 

Important: moisture and rot in soil

The tuber itself will be the energy sourcethat fuels the early growth that you see. Until the roots can from, dahlia tubers are extremely prone to rot because the tubers cannot actually absorb moisture from the soil. 

 The challenge with moisture and dahlia tubers is this:

• If the medium is too dry, tubers may not wake up or grow roots
• If the medium is too wet, the tubers may rot

From both research and experience, here is what I have found

• Tubers can grow both shoots and roots with very little moisture
• Root growth does require some levels of moisture, but too much will rot the tubers
• Less is more when it comes to moisture

This is why it is more difficult to wake the tubers up in the potting soil, keeping the moisture at ‘goldilocks’ levels is difficult and even I, an experienced grower, struggled with it.

Moving your plants to grow lights

I am growing my plants in my basement, so I use grow lights. 

Light is not required to wake up dahlia tubers, but once shoots begin to grow, they do need light.

I use linkable shop lights on a metal shelving unit. I have my lights on a timer that is 16 hours of light and 8 hours of dark each day. 

Feeding and Watering 

Once your tubers have actively started growing, you can begin to treat them more of a potted plant.

I suggest that you still ease them into watering since they still have small root systems in the beginning. I find that it is best to allow the medium to become slightly dry before you water it again. 

The more they grow, the more moisture they will want and the more frequently you will be watering. 

You can begin to lightly feed the plants with a fertilizer of your choice as well, once the plants have some vigor.

Time to Take Dahlia Cuttings

You are ready to start taking cuttings when:

• Shoots are a few inches tall
• The second set of true leaves has formed this (not including the tiny juvenile leaves at the base of the shoot)

My method for taking cuttings

• Sterilize a sharp pairing knife with rubbing alcohol. 
• Gently slice the base of the cutting, as close to the crown as possible, trying to include a small sliver of tissue from the crown if possible.
• Remove the tiny basal leaves at the base of the shoot 
• Prepare a humidity dome pot (with drainage holes) – humidity is the key to easy success
• Add a couple of inches of slightly moist, well-draining soil 
• Use your finger to create a hole in the center of the soil where the cutting will go
• Dip the cut end of the cutting into a powdered rooting hormone
• Insert the cutting  into the hole and gently pull soil around the cutting to secure it in place (you can remove additional leaves if needed- if they sit too low or are too large. As long as you have some leaf left, it will work. I even cut the leaves in half sometimes if they are too big.)
• Put the humidity dome on. 
• Label the pot with blue painters tape and a permanent marker with the variety and date
• Place it under grow lights.

*Make sure that you sanitize the knife between each cutting.

Caring for the Cuttings

You should not need to water your dahlia cuttings at all while they are in the humidity domes. 

Roots typically form within 2–3 weeks, and that initial moisture should be enough.

*It is beneficial to use clear containers for cuttings so that you can observe the roots and know what is happening under the soil.

Once you can visibly see roots, it is time to remove the humidity dome top and treat it like a potted plant, keeping it under the grow lights.

Potting Up the Rooted Cuttings

Let the cuttings establish in their pots a bit. Once the roots are filling out the container, it is time to move the cuttings into a larger nursery pot before they get root-bound. This pot is where they will live until they are planted outside.

I aim to plant them into nursery pots that are 4–5 inches wide and 5–6 inches deep, but I have lots of pots that I have saved for reuse over the years, so I use what I have on hand in this range.

Don’t forget to relabel your new pot too! I like to use the same technique of blue tape and permanent marker, but I also add a popsicle stick label as well at this time. (I speak from experience that it really sucks when your label disappears and you don’t know what your plant is- so I like to double-label!)

Feeding and Watering Your Potted Cuttings

Again, these potted cuttings are going to be treated like potted plants once they have their root systems. You will want to allow the medium to become slightly dry before you water it again, avoiding overwatering.

At this time, you can also ease them into a gentle fertilization schedule with the fertilizer of your choice.

Controlling plant size & taking cuttings of your cuttings? 

So if your plants are getting large, you may need to utilize a greenhouse or south-facing windows instead of grow lights. But to control the size, you can also pinch the plants.

This is a common technique used in the cut-flower industry to cue the plant to send side shoots from the lower leaf nodes instead of focusing on vertical growth from the main stem. Ultimately, this leads to a more productive and bushy plant, but it also provides you with more cuttings.

Once the plant is approximately 12” tall, you’ll need to decide where to pinch the stem back to. You can pinch above the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th set of true leaves. Generally, larger flowers are pinched at the 2nd set (dinnerplates), mediums are pinched at the 3rd, and small flowers are pinched at 4. Wherever you choose, cut the stem just above that leaf node.

You can then take what you pinched and turn it into a cutting or cuttings.  The only thing that will be different this time (compared to cuttings from tubers) is that you will need to make an additional cut on the stem, just below the lowest leaf node. This is where the roots will emerge from. Remove those bottom leaves and continue as you did before.

Planting Your Cuttings Outdoors

Hardening off your plants

When planting dahlia tubers directly in the ground, hardening off isn’t necessary. However, any plant with green growth that has been grown indoors needs to be gradually exposed to outdoor conditions. This process is called hardening off, and it helps plants adjust to sun, wind, and temperature fluctuations.

I like to start hardening off plants at least 7 days before planting, though if the weather is mild, you can begin earlier and allow plants to spend most of their time outdoors. I aim start on a calm day by placing plants in the shade for about half the day before bringing them back inside to the grow lights. The following day, I introduce one hour of direct sun, then return them to shade for a few hours before bringing them back indoors. Each day, I gradually increase direct sun exposure: one hour, then two, then alternating sun and shade until plants can tolerate being outside all day. 

During this hardening off process, avoid strong winds at first and bring plants indoors if temperatures dip too low. Temperatures below 45°F can be stressful for dahlias, and anything below 40°F should be avoided.

If nights are warm enough, you can keep the plants outside overnight as well.

Frost Danger and Planting

The foliage on cuttings is tender and should be protected from cool temperatures.

Cuttings do not have a tuber to fall back on for stored energy. 

Unlike tuber-planted dahlias, frost-damaged cuttings will NOT regrow  if the foliage is exposed to frost

This means that you need to wait until all risks of frost have passed before you plant, or you need to be prepared to cover your plants with frost cloth if the temps drop below 45 degrees (day or night)

Final Details:

My Dahlia Cutting Supply List :

Below is my supply list, along with links to supplies I have actually used and purchased myself. Some links are Amazon affiliate links; if you purchase through them, it helps support this blog at no extra cost to you. That said, I always encourage buying from whatever source is right for you.

• Potting Soil: I like to stock up on bags at Costco when in season, but I am not fussy about potting soil.
• Perlite: I always keep perlite on hand to amend potting soil for better drainage.
• Wool pellets: I always use these for dahlias. I put them in my planting holes when planting outdoors and in the pots for cuttings as well. The company linked is local to me in Northern Utah, and I love to support local. But to my knowledge, it is the only organic fertilizer that is immediately available to plants- it also still acts sas slow-release fertilizer and feeds for the whole season. A little goes a long way at a 1:20 ratio. 
• Nursery Pots: I save and reuse pots from the nursery, but you are looking for 4-6” wide and tall.
• Pairing Knives: For taking cuttings, but I also use them for dividing dahlia tuber clumps as well.
• Rubbing alcohol: for sterilizing the knife between cuttings
• Tool Sharpener: I use this to sharpen my dahlia knives and to sharpen my garden shears.
• Rooting Hormone: For the cuttings
• Clear Containers with humidity dome: for cuttings, I have mostly used this size but after having some cuttings that were taller this year, I also purchased this larger size.
• Popsicle Sticks and/or Blue Painter’s Tape: for labels
• Permanent Marker: for labels
• Coco coir: A medium option for waking up tubers
• 1020 Trays (with no drainage holes): Option for waking up tubers. I use these shallow trays. They cost more but will last you forever compared to the cheap ones that crack in a single season. Plus, you can actually carry plants on them.
• Humidity Dome for 1020 trays: Pair with the 1020 trays above if waking tubers this way
• Heat Mats and Heat Mat Thermostat: For warming the medium to wake up tubers if needed. Note- I start lots of seeds, so I use this commercial heat mat that is linkable to their other heat mats, but you can also get a single tray size – this one comes with a thermostat. I prefer to use thermostats with heat mats- they tend to add 20 degrees, which is sometimes too much. So being able to set the temperature is the benefit to the heat mats.
• Grow Lights: I use LED shop lights that are linkable for the dahlias and all of my seed starting.
• Shelving Unit: I put my grow lights on a shelving unit like this (2 per shelf)
• Frost Cloth (for outdoor planting)- I have purchased cheap frost cloth and it did not hold up very well. So now I only buy agribon brand which comes in different weights. I like AG50 for frost protection and always keep it on hand (you can cut it to size.)

Let’s Keep the Conversation Going

If you’ve taken dahlia cuttings before, I’d love to hear:

• What worked
• What didn’t
• What you’d do differently

Feel free to leave a comment or ask questions below. This is one of those topics where growers learn best from each other, and I’m very much still learning too!