For the past several years, Erik and Gerda Juul, and Lou Paradise  have cultivated thousands of dahlia cuttings at the Golden Gate Park greenhouse.
These cuttings are donated for sale at the Dahlia Society of California's Annual Dahlia Sale
the first Saturday in April.

The following series of photos were recorded by Gerda during their 2003 season.
On January 11, 2003,
after digging out the tuber root and collecting together the pot tubers,
 they started doing their magic.

Please click on any picture to see a bigger image

January 11, 2003:
All  tubers are in place.

January 23, 2003:
New shoots started to sprout on a few of them.

January 28, 2003:
Many more started to show signs of life.

January 31, 2003:
Nearly all the tubers have new growth already.

February 10, 2003:
Quite a few now have four nodes and are ready for cutting.

February 10, 2003:
After dipping the cutting in growth hormone, they are placed in 4" pots and taken to the misting room.

February 18, 2003:
One month after placing them in the greenhouse, all the tubers are sprouting new growth fast and furious and "begged" to be transformed into new cuttings.

February 18, 2003:
Close up of one that is quite ready for cutting

Careful labeling is essential to ensure accurate identification

March 24, 2003:
After each cutting is made, four new growth sprouted out from next to the cut stem. And, soon they are ready to become four more new cuttings

April 5, 2003:
The proud parents getting the cuttings organized for sale.

April 5, 2003:
Early eager customers get the best picks. By 10 AM, they are all gone. Another great crop of Dahlias!