@Loxley I think timing for many people is a tricky thing. You need to keep them frost free. We in London had frost until the end of May last year. If you have a frost free greenhouse you'd be ok, but if you start them in the kitchen early, you may have yourself a forest of small trees by May and nowhere to put them.
I think it's like starting seeds for annuals very early. The exciting germination bit isn't a problem, but it can be a question of where to put all the small plants, once you have potted them up, no?
I guess if you're raising vast numbers it's an issue, but I managed to accommodate 9 on the windowsill (with some overflow onto an ironing board lol). It wouldn't have been possible without grow lights though.
"What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour".
If you keep them from year to year they get bigger and better and you get more plants for free, either from splitting or from loose tubers that you plant up. They also need bigger pots and take up more room. I know this because I have 2 bread trays full of overwintering tubers which will soon have to be potted up.
Despite this I bought 13 new varieties this year, simply because there is no other plant that would give me so many flowers, for so long, in its first year, for an outlay of £2.50!
The best results I got was a couple of years ago, doing Sarah ravens method.you can look it up on her site. Basically, plant the tubers in march,in pots, cover them to exclude light, for around 7 to 10 days,frost free place, uncover when shoots are showing.plant out either ground or in the pot after danger of frost has passed.
If you keep them from year to year they get bigger and better.
It would be interesting to know the optimum kind of size of tuber to get the most flowers. I split a lot last spring and it was successful; they all grew on to healthy plants. But I had much smaller plants from each part (and so many fewer flowers), which is kind of obvious - a third the size of the tuber giving a third the size of the plant. Growers often say that dahlias grown from seed or cuttings are much brighter in colour etc. I am hoping last year's splits will really bulk up this year and be much more floriferous.
Mine are in pots. Dahlias in the ground might bulk up faster.
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