It seems so innocuous. It’s just water. Inert. Harmless. But water and I battled a lot this spring, and I’ve come to realize that there’s more to water than I originally thought! Water can be an enemy to plants if not used judiciously.

The quantities are important. Of course I know that… But sometimes the exact quantity needs to be honed in. Even a little too much can be a problem with certain plants. And the mediums that the water is ADDED TO needs careful consideration.

My initial water fiasco was with seeds. I think it related both to the potting soil I chose/made and the fact that the soil itself held water a little too well. Of many trays, not a single seed germinated. I finally broke down and purchased plain ol’ germinating mix, super light and fluffy. It holds water, but not too much. And it isn’t bulky. Plus, there aren’t any amendments, which I’m afraid may have burnt out the delicate, dust-like seeds.

My second water problem was tuber-related. I carefully separated all those dahlia tuber and kept them safely all through the winter, and nearly killed them off when I began to wake them up!

I thought the potting soil was “damp to the touch” when I bagged up tubers one day, but I soon realized I’d overshot it! Turns out different people have different interpretations about the wetness of “a wrung out damp sponge.” And certain potting soil seems to hold water better than others. I had to rescue dozens of tubers from the evils of over watering. Fortunately I noticed the mold beginning to form and was able to un-bag them, brush off the mold, let them dry and return them to drier soil. There were no permanent casualties!

By that time, you would have thought I’d learned my lesson about overwatering, but NOOOOOOO. I did the same thing a THIRD time, this time after the plants were rooted, potted, and growing green leaves.

At this stage I’d read that they should be treated as normal plants, and since dahlias in the field like to be deep watered, then allowed to dry fully before being watered again…well, that’s what I did.

Everything appeared to be going fine. Thankfully I randomly poked at an exposed tuber (I don’t know why I did this!) of one of my highly-anticipated new varieties and amber-colored goo rushed out!

I was shocked. I’d somehow managed to avoid rot up to this point, so I didn’t even recognize it, but thanks to an online dahlia group, the issue was quickly diagnosed and they flooded me with sage advice.

In the end, I chopped off most of the tuber to get rid of the rot (and sadly, the roots) and started over. They also advised me to take cuttings from the two sprouts. People in the group had been in similar situations and the tuber didn’t always survive after rot distress and follow up surgery!

Thankfully, I’d read about making cuttings and I’d already gathered the necessary supplies, but I wasn’t quite prepared to make the jump. I planned to go that route when I pinched the dahlias later, to give those throw away stems a growth opportunity without chancing the health of the tube: A low risk experiment.

But I didn’t want the possibility of losing this variety entirely. I’ve been excited about Rock Run Ashley for the past six months, and did’t want to risk losing her if the tuber failed to recover. So I took the plunge!

I wiggled the stems out of the damaged tuber, dipped them in rooting gel, trimmed back large leaves, and slipped the stems into moist potting soil under a plastic dome to keep things humid.

And now I wait. It’s been several days and the stems still look green and healthy, but I don’t know if they’ve begun to root or not. In a few days I’ll give them a gentle tug to see if there’s any resistance. That should be a pretty good indicator. If it works, and the tuber also survives, I’ll end up with three plants in the place of one!

I guess more than one good thing came out of my third overwatering mishap. After getting that initial tuber settled, I went back and emptied all the other dahlias that might be living in overly wet soil. I made sure they were still firm, let them dry if needed, and repotted them in barely damp soil. I’m going to water them sparingly, as requested by the plants (via wilting leaves). That probably saved some others from the same rotten fate.

Hopefully, this will be the end of rotting tubers and the beginning of cuttings. I’m a bit torn. I certainly don’t need any more dahlias this year! My garden isn’t going to be able to hold them all, as is. But it’s so tempting to learn a new skill and try to increase the stock of my new varieties. I suspect they’re going to be in bigger demand by florists than most of my current stock.

Maybe I’ll have to shuffle a few things around…

Anyway, I’ve certainly had a real life course in WATER this spring, and I’ve developed a healthier appreciation for its twin powers of life and death. Sometimes the simple things are the big things.

This weekend I’m going to start the majority of my seeds. I’ve already got snapdragons, strawflowers, yarrow, and several varieties of black eyed Susans growing. It took me longer than I’d hoped to get them going, but they are doing well now! Next will be cosmos (four darling varieties!), celosia, basil, amaranth, and zinnias! Time to start getting creative with where to put these guys!

Have you started any seeds/plants yet? I’d love to hear about them!

Happy growing and happy learning!

-Angela