- Sown dahlias are not always of the same variety
- collect seeds
- How to sow dahlias
- What to do with the sown dahlias in autumn?
- tips and tricks
Dahlias must be overwintered indoors, because the beautiful summer flowers are not frost hardy. If you do not have a suitable basement to overwinter the tubers, simply sow the flowers, also known as georgines. Dahlia seeds can be obtained from plants in your own garden.
After flowering, the dahlia produces seeds
Sown dahlias are not always of the same variety
The biggest disadvantage of sowing georgines is that you never know exactly what colors and shapes the plants will flower. Through the pollination of insects and wind, different varieties are mixed with each other, so that completely new breeds can arise.
collect seeds
Collecting the dahlia seeds requires some finesse. Only seeds collected at the right time are germinable. Observe the dahlia flowers carefully when they have finished blooming.
Dahlia seeds are ready to be harvested when the protective covering that surrounds them ruptures. Now you should immediately collect the seed that you intend to sow next spring.
Allow the seed to dry in a warm place for three to four weeks, then place in small paper or parchment bags. Matchboxes are also suitable.
How to sow dahlias
- Prepare seed trays from early to late March
- scatter seeds
- Spread a thin layer of soil
- keep moist
- Set up bright at 18 to 20 degrees
- Separate after emergence
- Plant out from the end of May
The first tips of the leaves appear after about ten days. After three weeks, the plantlets are isolated and planted out in the garden or bucket from the end of May.
What to do with the sown dahlias in autumn?
Sown dahlias are usually kept as an annual. If you do want to overwinter them because the georgines have developed particularly beautiful flowers, dig up the tubers and preferably overwinter them in the basement or somewhere else.
Dispose of georgines that you do not want to continue cultivating because the flowers are not so beautiful or because you simply do not have a suitable place for overwintering, on the compost.
tips and tricks
You can harvest particularly large quantities of germinable seeds from unfilled dahlias. It matures best and produces strong plants with very different flowers the next year.