Dahlia disaster

[Mrhwbin]

I started putting my dahlias out in the day to harden off and they've only bloody been knocked by a door and the main stem has broken off both plants.

Is there any saving them? Will they continue to grow or should I give them up and start again?

They'll put up new shoots. There's a lot of energy stored in the tubers.

Can’t you pot up the stems? I’ve seen videos where people snip a bit of the stem off and it creates a new dahlia plant?

Thanks both.

Honestly I could have cried. They were doing so well and were safe on a sunny windowsill. The first day out and this happens.

I shall leave them to see if they recover

It might even do you a favour long term as will most likely encourage them to bush out giving you more flowering shoots that the tuber will now send up, upsetting though after you have nurtured something.

Still early yet, I only recently planted the last of mine.

They will be fine, very likely to throw more shoots up and if they don’t the remaining ones should be bigger and stronger (Sarah Raven recommends no more than 5 shoots per tuber). And definitely have a go at striking cuttings from the bits knocked off, just pop them in a pot of gritty compost - if they are very leafy take off a few of the lower leaves - if they dont take no loss, if they do bonus free plants.