3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
Just curious Jroot,
What are your outside temps during the day when you bring your pots out? I have started some inside and most have sprouted but haven't thought to bring them out yet. It's only in the 50s-60s during the day here right now. I feel like they would make more progress inside in my floor to ceiling south facing window. Now you have me thinking...should I bring them out or would that stall them?
-Katy
v1rtu0s1ty,
You said, "I don't mind bringing them outside in morning and bringing them in at night". That is exactly what I would do, if the temperature is warm enough. If you get a few cold days, leave them in the garage. A few days there won't hurt them. Just don't forget and leave them out, if there is the slightest danger of frost. They will not survive a frost.
nhdalialover,
50's - 60's is good during the day. Personally I DON'T want them to make too much progress until I can leave them out, but I DO want them started. You see, I don't want them to get too tall and lanky, otherwise when I put them outside into the elements, they will be blown over and break.
... my two cents worth ...
Yes, Hommy I have been using layers of newspaper with mulch on top for a weed barrier even since they started using soy ink. I still do this in the smaller garden areas
However, my neighbor works at a carpet mill, he gets huge rolls of the backing for carpet for free.
I can roll it out, garden staple that down alot faster and it works very well. He covered his entire garden last year, that was intresting.
I would think that you absolutely would get them to flower the first year. But, in some ways they are the perfect flower for you because they are very easy to dig up, store and transplant somewhere else!
I am not sure what Zone you are in. If you ground freezes they would need to be dug up and stored over winter. If it just gets cold, you may get away with leaving them in the ground, particularly with some extra mulch. If it is really warm, then I would look for some tips on getting them to go dorment, I am in Canada so I don't know much about warm weather places and their Dahlias!
I got some seed from Thompson and Morgan. It looks very much like the white ones pictures above. It will be interesting to see how close the seed comes to being true to the picture.
I planted them early, perhaps way way to early because I was excited! At the begining of February and they can't go out until mid May. But, they are underlights and doing really really well. They don't seem leggy at all. I really recommend getting a shop light for anyone that is serious about growing from seed. A sunny window just does not really cut it.
Oh, and one tip for storing over winter if you only have a few, and don't have a dry cool place to keep them, is your fridge crisper, or get a large ziplock and some sort of storing medium, I really like wood shavings, the kind that they used for small animal bedding and it sold in petstores. A big bag is dirt cheap and works really really well!!
It's my first time growing Dahlia from seed this year too :)
I've never grown Dahlia before at all and can't wait to see what I will get!
I sowed on 4/5 (2) different seed both received in separate trades:
1. 'Bishop's 'Grandchildren' (saved seed from 'Bishop's Children' rec'd in fall 2007
2. 'Early Bird Mix' rec'd winter 2009 (extra commercial)
By 4/10 I had (4) 'Bishop's Grandchildren' seedlings and (5) 'Early Bird' with (1) more by 4/12. Not bad since I sowed only 8 seeds of each! Didn't even expect germination so quickly :)
Although both germinated at the same time 'Early Bird' growth rate is ahead of 'Bishop's' and are already going on 1st true leaves while the 'Bishop's haven't even started forming yet.
Happy Gardening,
Vera
You can also root them in water. I have one favorite dahlia that I don't know the name of, so if I lose it I can't even buy a new one because I don't know what to buy. So this winter I brought it inside instead of storing it, and I've been taking cuttings every time it gets too leggy. I just cut off the top couple of leaf nodes (about 8" because of the legginess) and stick them in a bud vase. The ones I didn't add rooting hormone took about a month to root, but the ones I added rooting hormone to took only about 10 days. Then I just potted them and they are doing wonderfully. I now have LOTS of those little plants growing - maybe more than I know what to do with. =grin= I used half-gallon milk jugs with the tops cut out and slices in the bottom to plant them because they are so tall.
My first thought was overwatering, but, mine, which are being rooted hydroponically, are beginning to show similar signs. I looked in Bill McClaren's book and it sounds like it might be a fungal disease. You could try 5T. Baking Soda to 1 gallon of water. Plantlady recommended Garden Safe Fungicide3 (includes fungicide, miticide and insecticide) in a recent post regarding fungal disease. Cut off and discard the infected parts. They may look "rough" for a few days, but should rebound.
Thanks Monet for the reply.
They seemed to stabalize over the last couple days, in the end I decided to do nothing, including not water them any further. I think it really is the watering. However... I had to go away for the weekend and leave my plant babies! So I had to water many of them that did not need it yet, because I did not think they would hold over 4-5 days! I am sick with what they will look like when I get home!
I am going to try the baking soda idea, and see if I can find that Fungicide product around here...
I've never tried spraying the plant with Lysol- just the tubers. We use Garden Safe Fungicide3 in the greenhouse. It's rated for Organic Gardening. It's a fungicide, miticide & insecticide. We use as a preventative- about once a week I hold my breath, spray quickly all around the greenhouse, on the started tubers & new seedling babies & then get out! It seems to work as we've never had any insect or fungus problems in the greenhouse.
I don't think it's too late to order this year. Some varieties may be sold out and some suppliers have stopped taking orders, but not all. I would call to make sure they have the ones that you want, as they donÂt all keep their web sites updated.
Plantlady2008 - the above respondent represents Wynnes's and they're still taking orders.
I did place an order from Redhawk (for the first time) mid-February and received it last week  about half were sold out. Some of the tubers werenÂt as large as others I have gotten, but all were plump and all were showing evidence of an eye.
You're in zone 5 so you probably won't be planting out until the end of next month. If you do order now and request immediate shipping you can start them indoors to get a head start. Go for it, besides I'm in MI, too and we could potentially do an easy trade next year! If you do choose to wait - yes, about Sept or Oct is when the suppliers begin taking orders.
Here is a link that might be useful: The Big List
Go Viking! You got Farmer John to wake up early- he's usually lazy around here & doesn't put out an eye until May or so! (We think it's because John had to get up at 4 am to milk cows all those years & his namesake is making up for it ;) I think Farmer J is the one Ellie was referring to last week when she said some are noted for being late at eyeing up.
I purposely did not list my zone because I wanted the substance of the question answered regarding the temperatures, so that I could make judgments based on the weather forecasts and local micro-climates.
Otherwise you end up with pat answered based on zones that lack the underlying rationale for the answer.
Thanks for the information.
Tubers need heat (>60 degrees) to get going. Once the dahlias are up they need light and heat. Water sparingly, if at all, until they're up. Be careful of too much water before planting outside otherwise they may rot. Once the heat of summer kicks in they will need a fair amount of water.
Don't worry about the shoot not being dark green. It'll green up in no time after it's planted.
viking-- we're over 50 miles away from Mt. Baker & have sandy loam & river-bottom peat soil on the farm. The only thing the volcano left around here was Volkswagon-sized rocks- & that was apparently over 30,000 years ago. We do use the peat soil in the planting hole though- we think it makes the dahlia's color richer.
Cory 50 miles , valcano flows go for hundreds of miles. If you have big rocks ask yourself how the rocks got there. The soil and flow that pushed it there has broken down into that sand. Now on long Island it is all sand from the glacher. Your sand is better than my sand.LOL I put a hand full of bulb booster in the hole that I dig for my tubers. I do use bone meal and have not compared what is better.
I'm with you, Viking. My tuber wasn't blessed or kissed by the Plantlady, but is by far more robust than the others that I've started this spring.
Hey, now- I'm NOT into kissing the tubers!!!! Farmer Walt, sure, but NOT Farmer John!! hummmm...maybe I should check into what Farmer Walt's doing down in the cold room when he's packing up those orders :)
I'm really glad to hear that Farmer J is doing well for you both- it's always good to hear when our dahlias do well in places other than in Dahlia Heaven here on the left coast.