Dahlia Hybridizing
I started looking into dahlia breeding a few years ago after I found a dahlia seed packet for sale from Floret. I knew you could grow dahlias from tubers, but had no idea you could grow all new varieties from seed! I was hooked. I started doing all the research I could online, however to my dismay, there was not a lot of content about dahlia breeding at the time, certainly not a book all about hybridizing dahlias for ;home gardeners. Fast forward a few years, and now there are multiple books from seasoned growers outlining step by step, how to grow your own dahlia varieties! So I read all that I could, watched videos, read posts on Instagram, and came up with a plan.
In my first year of growing dahlias, I took my Dahlia Bee's Choice Mix that I ordered from Floret, and grew about 8 seedlings. All of them were single varieties, while they were cute and the bees loved them, they were not exactly what I was hoping for.
Example of a 2020 Dahlia Seedling Grown from Seed
Knowing that I didn’t want to keep any of these to grow again, I used them to practice my dahlia tuber diving skills, and tried out some storage methods. I wanted to make sure I had tried my hand at diving and storing before I invested in some dahlia tuber of established varieties.
That winter, I made a list of all the varieties I wanted to grow (it was superrrr long) and then started finding different small growers who offered the varieties that I wanted for sale (Ill make a future post with all the suppliers I use). Once I had all my orders placed for my tubers, I started looking for a source to order more dahlia seeds. I knew that I wouldn’t have any seed of my own yet, but still wanted to grow some seedlings, and was able to procure some seeds from Triple Wren and Floret. Fast forward to this year, I added some more garden beds, and started my 2021 growing season!
Because I have limited space I decided to grow out my seedlings in 4in sink pots. This involves you planting your seedling in a 4in pot, burying it up to the rim in your garden and leaving it like that until you decide to take it out, or its the end of the season. This method allowed me to optimize my space while still having tuber producing plants that I could save to grow again next year if I wanted. So far it has been working out great, and I am loving all the surprise seedlings in my garden! However, I still want to try my hand at collecting my own dahlia seeds , and creating crosses to try and make a new fully double dahlia variety.
This year once my established varieties, like Cafe Au Lait, Jowey Winnie, and Bloomquist Tory P start blooming I am going to try out some hybridizing techniques, collect the seed and then try to grow them out next season!
Throughout the process I will keep you all updated, take detailed notes on each method I try, and we will see how it goes! I hope you will follow along with me!