Is this gall?

Hi loves,

It's my first year with dahlia's and this is a Bishop of Dover. After scouring the internet and analysing all the photos I can find, I'm almost pretty sure this is gall

But with it being my first year could I trouble the experts amongst us for a second opinion?

I'm worried about disposing of a perfectly healthy plant or planting an infected plant simply because I'm not 100% certain.

Thank you in advance

 

@Aries - first of all, welcome to the forum. That’s a very cute looking dog.

Sadly, it does look your tuber has gall. Sometimes, nibbling by slugs and snails can cause an over-enthusiastic development of ‘eyes’ but I can’t see any evidence of that from the picture. A lot of fused shoots together is always a concern and in non-dark leaved varieties, if it looks like cauliflower, it’s probably not good news.

Is your tuber new this year? Some suppliers like Parker’s and Nyssens are good at refunding if you send them photos.

I grow a lot of dahlias and my policy is generally, if in doubt, throw it out. If you are still unsure and want to see what happens, plant it in a large pot separately from anything else. Plants with gall often don’t bloom well but by the end of the season, it will be much more obvious if it is gall.

If you decide to ditch it, throw everything away to landfill rather than council recycling and wash the pot well. I was in a garden centre yesterday and they still had dahlia tubers so it might not be too late to start again.