3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias

FWIW, I bought predatory mites. I'm going to say it worked, despite the fact that most of the growing part of the cannas I put them on have more or less died. That I blamed myself for...leaving things too late to save what had already grown.

New shoots are growing well, however, and are mite free.

I purchased 4000 of them based on a conversation with the owner of the company who supplied them. She was great!

My tubers and cuttings are all mite-free for now.

Cheers,
Russ

Russ, where did you get them from?

The odds aren't great that you would get a white one even if you could find someone willing to part with seeds from large dahlias. Dahlias have one of the most complex gene structures in the plant kingdom so the odds of getting anything like the parent are similar to the odds of a human child being just like it's parent! Large dahlias are the hardest to hybridize & set fewer seeds than any other sizes, consequently, most people who do get seed from AA or A sized dahlias use them all themselves- I know we do!

Well, I hope some generous person would help me out a bit, and trade with me.
A few seeds arent much to spare.
I hope someone has some seeds they would like to trade with me :)

Thanks, I feel better now. I tend to get overwhelmed in the fall with life in general (kids starting school, new schedules, plus all the fall cleanup) that I get lazy with some gardening chores. I won't let that happen again this year, though, those dahlias are gorgeous! I don't know why it took me so many years to appreciate their beauty.

I think at this point I will plant the clumps as they are. I'm afraid to try to divide them since they have new growth. Our growing season is short enough without setting the plants back because of a mistake. We seem to be in a little arctic microclimate at our house. Flowers that have faded in some parts of town have barely begun to bud at my house.

And just for fun, I think we'll label the tubers this year. My husband dug them all up and stored them as I said above, but didn't think about labeling at least for color. Like I said, too much to do, too little time to do it well!

If anyone has any links that are especially good for a newbie regarding dahlias, especially dividing, or even links to threads here, I'd appreciate it. I do searches but get so many hits I don't know where to look first. Thanks!

One of the best places to learn about dahlia care & culture is the Colorado Dahlia Society site. It's full of great info for all stages of dahlia life.

Here is a link that might be useful: Colorado Dahlia Society

Weaver decribed the edible dahlia as a double-flowering red variety cultivated by the Nanticoke Indians of Maryland, 100 or so years ago.

Beth Hanson in the book "Buried Treasures: Tasty Tubers of
the World" pages 38-39 lists all 30 species of the
Dahlia family as edible. She does state that Dahlia
imperialis, the Imperial or Tree Dahlia, is used as
food in its native Central America. It grows to 15 feet?
Wow! How many tubers can such a large plant produce?

Poochella is right- sounds like your tuber is rotting before the plant has enough feeder roots to sustain it. If you did a cutting at least you wouldn't be out a plant- & if the plant recovers, you'll then have an extra Zorro. Do the cutting so you have 1 set of leaves to nip off & put underground & one set of leaves above ground. That'll leave a couple of sets of leaves to keep the poor thing going - sort of like you've topped it.

I did take a cutting before going in to investigate. I cut the tuber at the root end as you suggested, Pouchella, and the darn thing looked good with some very healthy feeder roots at both ends! I ended up "dissecting" it, so I lost that tuber. But in the end I think it was a good learning exercise.
The cutting was taken over 12 hours ago and still looks poorly. However, the cut turned out to be at a hollow node. IÂll cut it up further as you suggested, Plantlady, and hope for the best.

I planted my first dahlia tuber with the eye pointing down. Poor soul found its way up after many days. We had a good laugh considering what a fool I was.

That said, I planted all my dahlias in 16"x14" square planters. They are already staked.

Here is a link that might be useful: ADS Growing Dahlia in Pots

You can plant them either way but some are really long so you don't have to dig as deep a hole if you plant them laying on their side. We have a friend who uses a large auger & electric drill to dig her holes straight down, pops in the tuber & covers it up. She gets kidded that her dahlias are going to get tired standing up all summer- but they grow well & don't look tired to me!

You've got it, elle. The base of the new growth planted 4-6" under the top of the soil would be good enough, regardless if some green sticks out above ground. I usually mulch another couple inches on top of the soil once the plants get a foot or more tall.

Would like to add the word NOT to 'horribly wet' in the last paragraph of my previous post. As in 'not horribly wet' like my beds are now, and the rain begins yet again. Too bad they don't offer an edit feature here.

Good luck with your dahlias! They should do fine considering they can grow forgotten in a compost pile or garbage can for weeks on end.

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