Dahlias #4 Seeds and New varieties
Dahlia seeds are the way New varieties are created. Unlike Dahlia Tubers and Cuttings, which are clones of the original plant, Dahlia Seeds are a whole new variety. But not all dahlia seedlings are good enough to be kept and grown on as a New variety. Careful selection of various desirable traits of each seedlings determines which one to keep or not. This is where all the information of various standards for each dahlia form become important in determining what is desirable and what is not. As an ex purebred dog breeder, I understand that importance of adhering to the Breed Standard or in this case the Dahlia Society Standards as the guidelines to follow. So growing Dahlias from seed is a crap shoot! And it can be a lot of fun!!
When growing Dahlias we always want as many blooms for as long as we can get them. We deadhead each plant so dahlias will keep on blooming.. But when growing Dahlias for breeding purposes or seed production, deadheading is a no no! You see when you leave a blossom on the plant, it signals to the plant to make a seed heads not tubers. The whole point of producing blooms is for propagation - natural course of events. Cutting blooms or deadheading forces the plant to keep generating new blooms to achieve that ultimate goal.
I selected a couple of varieties I happened to have a lot of and chose a couple of each variety for seed production only. I let the blooms come and left them alone to die back after the Bees had their way with them. This is what dahlia seed heads look like.
Collected Dahlia Seeds
Dahlia Seed Sorting - Looking for plump slight avocado shaped seeds
Dahlia Seed Head
Allow the seed heads to remain on the plant to mature and almost ry out. I brought them in to finish drying for a several weeks with labels on the stems, and eventually pulled them open to expose the seeds. These were then stored in paper bags by variety, but I put them all together as a mix. These seed heard must be very dry before you open them. I have mine near a wood stove to help dry them out. especially if they have some liquid oozing from them when you first pick them. opening the seed hearts up is a great January project.
Dahlia Seeds showing white growing tip (sprouting)
Bunch of Dried Dahlia seeds ready for sprouting. Notice then thin slight avocado shape. If the main body of the seed doesn’t already feel a bit plump it kid unlikely to be viable. But placing seeds into moist paper towel then placing in a sealed plastic bag and placing that in a warm spot will bring on Sprouting in a couple of few days. Don’t despair if they all don’t sprout at once. I have waited some out for a week and been rewarded with more sprouts.
Sprouted Dahlia Seeds on Moist Paper Towels - only take about 2 days!
Sprouting Dahlia seeds between two sheets of moist (not soaking) paper towels and placing them in a warm low sunny spot in a sealed plastic bag is a great way to start seeds. Select the dry seeds that have to slow avocado shape. These tend to be easiest to sprout. It is a quick process of a few days maybe two and they begin sprouting. From there I plant them out into 72 Cell seed trays and allow them to grow on with bottom heat and Grow lights until they are ready to bump up to a larger pot. Once they are a good size I begin hardening them off for outdoor planting in Mid May (here) and possibly covering them if I have to. But these young plants are well on their way. Label each with a code number for future Identification, and grow on for a couple of years to make sure that the growing & blooming habits are stable and consistent.
Now sit back and wait for blooms to see what you get!!
A Dahlia seedling from 2025. She is #25-11. I will growing her on to see how a second year growth goes.