KNOW YOUR TUBER ANATOMY
Knowing the anatomy of a tuber will help you locate where the eyes are - the future stems. All parts of the tuber are important and serve a function. The crown will be where you find the eyes. The body is the food storage to power the tuber's eye into growth.
- The crown will be where you find the eyes. The eye is the growth point, meaning, this is the future stem. No eye, no stem, no flower. Some tubers have very prominent crowns, some not so much. When looking for eyes, the crown is the only place you are going to find them.
- The neck connects the body to the crown. Think of it as the pathway of food storage to the growth point. If the neck is broken, the tuber is no longer viable and should be tossed.
- The body is the food source that will power the tuber into growth. If the body is damaged, you can often cut off or out the damaged parts and the tuber will still establish roots and grow. It does not need to be perfect, but it needs to be healthy, meaning, free of rot. I trim the bottom of the tuber off and inspect the bottom. If there is brown on the inside of the tuber instead of it looking white and firm, it is rotting. Keep taking slices off until you are only cutting into white firm material. I often cut very large tubers in half (Ferncliff Copper and Cafe au Lait are examples of a massive tuber producer. All of that stored food, aka carbohydrates, are not needed.
Now, there's not going to be a pop quiz, but if you are new to dahlias, knowing the parts of a tuber will definitely increase your success in dividing accurately.