I suppose the place to start explaining about the art of growing anything is during the winter. Everything is at rest waiting for the sun to rise high enough in the sky to warm the earth. But this dormant season can be jolted in to life with the aid of artificial heat and a greenhouse, or similar structure. Dahlias as we know have a tuberous root system, place this on a heated surface; water and it will grow, even in the winter. From this tuber, shoots will emerge that the grower uses to increase his stock. True you can divide the tuber into as many parts that have growth eyes, but by far the most effective way of increasing stock is by taking cuttings. Nothing could be easier, but first realise that the location you live in will determine when you insert them. Down here in the South I put my tubers over the heating cables around mid February. A correction I must add, since starting this article as soon as I split my tubers they have a fungal dip. Three days after when the are dry I boxed them up, and they are left dry on the shelves of the greenhouse until the New Year.

This year 2006, I was even earlier switching on the propagator, as soon as Big Ben had finished striking out the new, I saturated the boxes with a water in which a systemic fungicide had been added. Twelve days later I had my first signs of new growth with the thermostat set at 25 C. The following week-end I rigged up strip lights underneath the bottom shelf, wanna gander? Photo.

	Tubers on heated cables cuttings just shooting.		Plenty of cutting material.

As soon as the first growths are long enough, I cut them off and discard them, surprised? The next flush of cuttings will be better, because they shouldn’t be hollow like the first, and they’ll root in two weeks if they are put over a heating cable with the thermostat set at around 20 degrees centigrade.

	Untrimmed and ready to insert.			Finished tray.

Make a habit of sterilizing your knife in mentholated spirits, as you go from one cultivar to another, this applies every time you use the knife, or secateurs, it’s a good habit to get in to. I try to take the bulk of my cuttings during the later half of April, this might seem late for some, but it is correct for me. Of course I take cuttings before that date but usually give them away, or use them as pot tubers, which I explain in another article.