3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
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.
Thanks jroot. I will have to do this in stages as I don't have much sun yet. I might be able to rig something up in the cellar under the flourescent lights. I will have to get something high and than put the tubers on it to get them closer to the lights?
Good for you now they should come up bigger and stronger with more blooms, If your leaving them in the pots with the same soil then don't forget to fertilize after growth starts.They have formed tubers now so they tubers will be crowded in a pot.
Bill 77 years gardening.
Do not divide the clump unless you see another eye beginning to sprout. Some varieties do not have as many eyes as others and commercial growers leave the three or so smaller tubers together with the one eye because the grower will do better with the additional tuber mass. Those tubers are probably somewhat small and one tuber may shrivel.
I've not tried any of those but if you're in the UK then T&M are probably your best bet.
Good luck,
Here is a link that might be useful: T&M Dahlias
Dahlias don't like to be really "wet" or really "dry".
I find with mine, I water them so that the water pours out of the bottom of the pots, then I let them dry, even when the top of the soil looks dry, it is often not time to water again, I stick a finger tip in the soil and if it feels damp I leave it. Usually a dry top means it will need to be watered within 1-3 days...
If the tubers feel firm and solid, then chances are they did not freeze.
Since Cory can't- the Garden Web considers that advertising-- let me direct you to the Wynne's Dahlias website where you can find weddings where Cory has used dahlias. I especially like the one where she used a single huge dahlia for each of the wedding party bouquets- a very inexpensive boquet for the bride & her bride's maids. She also made centerpieces using one dahlia & in one of the weddings she made dahlia topiaries using those strong-stemmed Wynne dahlias!
Ellie
Here is a link that might be useful: Dahlia Albums
thanks for all the tips, poochella & sturgeon, i truly appreciate it! and thanks, too, for the link to cory's album, ellie. i also love how simple the single dinnerplate dahlia is as a bouquet! it's such a great idea and very budget friendly.
i am off to go order some tubers now!
Take a deep breath, in.. out.. relax.
It is possible that you did them in, it is possible that they are going to be just fine!
I have a tuber from last year that some of the stem was left on, and the stem is sprouting like crazy. However, most of the time, the eyes come out of the tuber itself, very close to where the old stem was located. Some people call this area the "neck" of the tuber.
So... it is going to depend on just how you sliced and diced. If you completely cut the "neck" off all the tubers, then you may indeed be up creek without a paddle. However, it is more likely that at least some of your tubers have some area from which they can eye up.
This site has some great photos of the slicing and dicing of tubers, usually done prior to winter storage, but I separated all my tubers this spring.
http://dahlias.net/dahwebpg/TuberStor/TuberStor2.htm
Fortunately Dahlias are very hardy plants with a very strong will to survive, so it is not too likely that you killed them all, (if any at all.)
People use many terms, and often they don't mean the same thing to different people who use them.
I grew all my Dahlias last year (~200) in 4" pots. They started indoors, and were planted in the beds that way (~4" below the surface of the soil.)
The result was a lot of difficult to separate tuber clumps. Granted, they were much easier to lift in the fall, and all plants grew to expected sizes.
The idea, as I read it, was to store the tubers in their pots over the winter, and in the spring bring them out to have them start sprouting. The sprouts would then be taken as cuttings and an entirely new plant started (or many.) The original pot tuber could be planted, thrown away, eaten, etc...
Separating tubers is needed if you don't want to take cuttings, but do want more plants next year from those you grow this year. If you learn how to take cuttings, the tubers themselves will be redundant when you come to plant out.
Cheers,
Russ
Thanks so much for the further info.
Russ, that is a very interesting point about the cuttings. I actually am growing some cuttings this year and having really good luck with them! I don't know if you have been following my saga with some tubers I recieved from my mother in law last year, but to make a long story short, they where very badly mistreated and did not store very well overwinter. I was very fortunate to have 4 tubers out of about 15 sprout, 3 of which provided viable sprouts that could be harvested. I have taken 7 cuttings so far, all have rooted, and just tonight I was able to take another 5, keeping my fingers crossed ;-)
I like the idea of taking cuttings, I suppose next winter I will do my best to harvest the tubers, but definately cuttings will be something I do next spring! It seems to me an easy way to get many plants out of only one or two tubers!
I will second Plantlady I use it all the time and farmer john loves it he is out of the ground by 6inches under lights.
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.