In the spring you will see eyes or growing points coming from area of the stem. there will be more than a few tubers attached to the stem at this point. Don't split the tuber but separate the tubers so each one has a eye in the area of the stem. Best to wait till there is few growing stems from the tuber and then separate the growing areas or eyes with at least one tuber attached to it. Vijay On Oct 14, 2012, at 7:49 PM, J. Denys Bourque wrote: > I've taken to gardening as an excellent exercise for my worn out neurons. > > > Although I am progressing well as an amateur horticulturist I still am a neophyte in many respects. Last spring year I bought a very nice dahlia from a Canadian supplier. The flowers are huge and truly beautiful. So I hope to split it in two or three, and plant a new one of a different colour among them. I've been searching Internet on separating dahlias, but I'm not sure I fully understand what I read. > > > All sites recommend to extract the plant, cut the stem off, keeping 6 in. = 15 cm of the stem; then, either in the or spring to split the tuber keeping a bit of the stem + at least one of the eyes with each resulting clone(?). > > > I suppose this means cutting the stem vertically, because if I'm to keep a bit of the stem with at least one eye I see no other way how to do this. Am I reading this right? If so, I figure I should preferably wait until spring and use an Exacto-type knife or other very sharp instrument and proceed from the stem down through the lump of tubers. I will be thankful for any advice on whether or not this is the right way to split the tuber. > > Sincerely, > > > J. Denys Bourque > Saint-Jacques, NB CANADA > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/