Doodlebug

I first bought this variety from Swan Island Dahlia in 2022. This was one of my earliest varieties to bloom, was a larger producer, and had versatile salmon pink/coral formal decorative blooms that go with every color scheme. Blooms are 3" on shorter 42" plants. The stems are long and these make great cut flowers. This is an ideal dahlia for a cut flower garden.
 
When I dug tuber clumps in 2022, the tubers had this lumpy formation. I was concerned this was a nematode infection, and despite assurance they were acceptable from experts in the dahlia field, I chose to dispose of these (when in doubt throw it out :~). I have since moved my dahlia beds and two years later in 2024 ordered new tubers.. New beds, seperate locations and new tubers and I saw the same lumpy formation. See last photo. This tuber form is only found in this variety in my field (with over 1000 plants) and occurs in each plant regardless of the bed  in our field. These are healthy tubers on healthy plants and likely a persistent variation in the tuber morphology.