3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
You will have much fun trying to get the Dahlia tree to bloom before frost. Great idea to get an early start. I grew mine in half barrels of topsoil, sand and compost mixed. Fertilize as you would a garden dahlia, keep watered well and protect from slugs. The more sun and heat, the better.
In Zone 7 it's a real challenge to get long enough days and heat to get them to bloom, but I've had buds well formed before frost in October. Never a bloom this far north though.
Good luck trying! It's a marvelous, awe-inspiring plant to watch grow by leaps and bounds.
I agree gladzoe, great photo especially of the peach/yellow color change one. Very sharp focus. The large red dahlia is pretty nice too, to me. I've never tried to start 1/2" shoots, but the worst that can happen is that it will compost before your eyes.
In England most people buy rooted cuttings instead of tubers. Here in the USA plants are available from a few commercial sources. Many dahlia societies sell rooted cuttings and I believe San Francisco only sells rooted cuttings at it's sales. Dahlias frown from rooted cuttings do just as well as those grown from tubers. They do make tubers but not as many as a tuber grown plant.
Proudgm, you have some beautiful choices there. I just reordered Wanda's Capella after having lost it a couple years ago. Big beautiful yellow. And I adore Weston Spanish Dancer- really a great bloomer along with Pam Howden. Hope you have lots of garden space!
I saw those too and if I remember correctly they were a Gardeners Supply exclusive - meaning that they were the only company carrying them. I did an internet search to see if I could find them elsewhere (and cheaper) with no luck. I peruse garden centers quite frequently during the season and the only place I saw anything similar last year was at Walmarts. They were quite strong, but I don't think as tall.
Welcome, Allie. Good news: depending on where you ordered your tubers they will likely be single dahlia tubers with no dividing necessary. Or they might be similar to what you get at Walmart, a little multi-fingered conglomerate known as potroots. Those are generally smaller they're usually not easily divided. Grow just as well as regular tubers though.
I usually wait to see little nubs of growth on any dahlias to make sure they've got some life in them. It's easy to encourage them to sprout. Just place them with the central stem area exposed, and the rooty parts buried in a pot of barely damp soil or potting mix. Put them in a bright room and you should see growth in a few days, sometimes longer, depending on the variety.
The biggest thing to avoid is planting in cold, wet soil. Put them in pots or flats or whatever until your garden area is warmed up. Using paper-lined pots is a very easy way to get them started and then just slip them into the garden when ready. See the link below for photos.
Good luck!
Here is a link that might be useful: Jroot's thread on dividing & making paper pots
Did you look on the Big List at the Colorado Dahlia Society site?
Here is a link that might be useful: The Big List
Storing tubers in a refrigerator is probably not a good idea. I suppose that if it were devoted only to tuber storage and the temperature was adjusted higher, about 42 degrees, it may work. But refrigerators have uneven cooling and some areas can easily freeze. Also, they have dehumidifiers in them to remove moisture. Not a good thing.
I have had very good luck with the fridge, I do agree you take a small risk of freezing the tubers, as nearly happened when My 4 year old found the controls!! Luckally I caught it and no harm no foul!
I store them in a ziplock bag with fine wood shavings. Because they are sealed, they don't loose moisture too badly. The only reason why I could not long term do it this year was that the tubers where struggling in the first place, some where just not very big, others (my Mother in Laws) where rotting the day I got them. but, even still, they managed 3 months in the fridge crisper rather nicely. For those that don't have other options, like a cool room / attic or garage, it may be the only way they can even attempt to overwinter!
I lost some plants in my unheated greenhouse when the temperature went down to about to about 23 degrees one night.
The plants were very close to the green house film and the cold went right through to the plants. All plants a foot or so away were fine.
Thanks for posting about your experiance, I am planning on bringing them in when the weather is bad and at night prior to the temps dropping off too much.
They are all back in the window today (large south facing, just don't have the ability to get more shop lights this year, DH said NO!!)
I did get some good news though; I have about 35 pots that are all Lilac Time and Moms Special, they seem pretty stable. I also have 3 pots that are from my Mother in Law last year, they where very abused going into storage because she dug them up and let them sit for days outside prior to handing them off to me because "they need to be 100% dry before storage you know?? ;-( Anyway, I had about 15 trays from hers I tried to get going, and now I have 3 that took off. Had 5 at one point, but 2 died off, just could not keep going. The good news is, I took sprout cuttings off two of them, and after 3 weeks, one is rooting!! The other looks just like the day I cut it, full, strong, lush and green, but no roots! So, I just added more rooting hormone and replanted it. Hopefully it will have roots soon! Even better news though, is within a week, these tubers are going to give me at last 4 more cuttings, and they still are producing more eyes past that!
It is amazing just how much will to live these remarkable flowers have!
I sell all my extra tubers at the farmers market every year. I have always sold all that I have to offer. Some of the more showy varietys go faster but they all seem to go by the end. I just have some posters with pictures I have taken of the flowers. My wife and I always have a great time.
I did not dig up my tubers last year and forgot to pinch back and had tall skinny plants, not attractive! I was told that if I keep doing this, not digging up-eventually they may not come back.
Does anyone know if it is too late for me to dig them up and divide them now?
Second the motion that Plantlady is a doll; always helpful with her vast dahlia knowledge.
Monet you answered a question I had about two plants per one stake, something I am going to try this year in places. To answer yours: corral all the plants' branches with a gentle hug of a tie. Especially when laden with a heavy large, or many smaller blooms, those branches are very prone to break in a wind or wet weather. Best to give all limbs some support to prevent needless loss by breakage.
Some of the really robust growers get two stakes here, at distances apart where I can assure I'm not stabbing into tubers of a neighboring plant, but that can still anchor athe very large dahlia from blowing over in a rain/wind storm. Thankfully we don't get those very often. A 6 foot 1-2 inch bamboo pole has worked really well for some of the bigger plants here, or 5 ft steel fenceposts. Very secure if pounded in well and last a long time.
I'd welcome any helpful hints on growing two plants per one stake. I know I've seen it online in someone's garden: at the ADS or Colorado Dahlia Society site perhaps.
WOW-- you ladies are going to give me a swelled head! We grow the dahlias in the show gardens- aka- the Greenhouse Garden & the Sheep Pen Garden, 2 per stake. We use the 6' steel farm fence posts. Dig your hole- 4-6" deep, put in any ammendments you use- we use 10-20-20 fertilizer & peat soil from the bottom of the farm, pound the stake in the middle of the hole, plant the tubers with their neck end right up against the post-- one on either side, cover w/ about 1" of soil. When the plant starts to grow & push through the soil, just keep filling in the hole until you have a bit of a mound over the tuber. Tie the plants individually to the pole as they grow. Tie all the laterals of one plant together-- ie. go around each plant with one loop of twine, do a figure 8 tie around the post & tie at the back. Do this about every 12-18" We use Christmas Tree twine to tie up all the dahlias whether we do them at posts or in rows.