3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
Good information is at the link below. Plantlady and crdahlia can offer up more firsthand info, among others. Do a google search of dahlia cuttings for many more links available.
Here is a link that might be useful: Dahlias.net link
Thanks; I forgot about that site.
It has been a week since I planted up many of my sister tubers to these plants, they are starting to sprout! I am so excited! I am going to have to grow them on indoors for about another 4 months, no easy task, however they where so small last year I was sure I could not keep them viable for too much longer in storage...
So... i may end up just using the sprout method with many of the extra sprouts.... I want to have a huge greenhouse next year, but alas, I only have a south facing picture window this year!!
I have a suspicion you're going to convert your neighborhood from Ford Escorts to Cadillacs one day soon Viking. I hope your dahlias grow as planned. I had to pull a couple rotters out when checking tubers and was suprised to find sprouts already: in total darkness, in the chilly tuber room. They are amazing!
Cosmos can be lovely and reseed freely here too. Marigolds: I think a big silent siren sounds and every slug from a mile radius slithers over to eat them down to the stems overnight. I had to give up on those years ago unless planting in a rail-rider planter high on a deck.
Continued luck with your early starts.
Glad to here that Marigolds attract slugs. I will plant some just a little bit away from my dahlias. May be this year I won't have to go out in the middle of the night with a flashlight and a spray bottle. The neighbors must think I am some kind of nut running around with a flaslight in the middle of the night. Of course they would never say any thing to me because they all get bouquets.
I haven't paid $24.95 for a dahlia for some time, and won't this year either, because I haven't found any that I absolutely have to have to pay that price. However, I have in the past, once I learned how to take cuttings. Once I found I could get 5, 6 or more plants from one tuber, it became much easier to justify that price.
Teresa
Wynnes AA & A dahlias don't flop- they breed them with broomstick strong stems! They also have about 20 BB & B sized dahlias.
I ordered from Swan Island once- 10 tubers-- 6 of them didn't eye up & 2 weren't what I ordered- the remaining 2 the blooms were of poor quality & bad form so....never again!
Ferncliff is Ok but they're in Canada so there's the extra expense of the phyto certificate.
Dan's is OK & Connell's is Ok... sometimes.
Check the Big List on the Colorado Dahlia society website and you will find a great selection of reputable suppliers to buy from.
Here is a link that might be useful: Colorado Dahlia Society
Unless I've been fooled by my senses, the Dalia Blue Bell is quite close to a Royal Blue. I must admit that in nature, very few flowers are really blue, all of them will be closer to lavender or purple or even black; so when it comes to look for blue flowers we shall be a bit tolerant on this approach. Words from a Brit that is still working on a blue theme garden!
In Britain, Thompson & Morgan have them in Catalogue. Once they flower I'll let you know how blue they are.
First I live on Long Island so I can only say what I would do here. I first grew Arabian nights back in 1985. We loved it. We grow black satin now because it looks like our old Arabian night. If you love the real dark red almost black color that dahlia is for you. I would plant it in a planter with at least a 12 inch opening. Because you are in Texas you might think about getting an umbrella to cover it. Make sure you water every day. Maybe twice a day if the soil dries out.
I was on Marco Island and I don't think Dahlias would grow there for long. It gets very hot and muggy in the summer.
This is going to be very interesting in the Spring. I am ordering tubers because I don't trust that mine will pull through the winter. IF they do, than I am going to be planting dahlias along the roadside. OR, I could give them to the garden club.
Thank you jroot--I did a double check on the bulbs and they seem firm. Except one of them looks more like a chopped onion on one side. Did I break it digging it up? I'll tell you one thing, I don't know what happens down under but they don't look the same from what I planted in May. Now 40 degrees will be the cue on when to replant them next spring? I may buy some more bulbs. I just want to be conservative with costs on gardening. With a new vegetable garden, I can see how costs escallate on these things. I worked with seedlings and buying flats is so much easier but 10 times the cost.
Good luck Linnea56. I think you may wind up with a white holiday. My husband is from Chicago. I love the Sears tower.
Do you mean Hillcrest Amour? Tubers are available at Seatac Dahlias out of Seattle,
http://pages.prodigy.net/patheck/stock2/330hilcr.jpg
or Betty's Amazing dahlias SE of Seattle.
http://www.bettysamazingdahlias.com/hillcrest_amour.htm
Do you intend to grow them yourself? If so, you'd need to inquire about their average time to bloom and plan accordingly. If not, the only grower in the US I know that ships cut dahlias is Swan Island. They don't carry H.Amour, but they do have "Bride to be." Congratulations on your pending marriage. It will be off to a great start with dahlias in attendance!
Here is a link that might be useful: Swan Island ships cut dahlias
You are very right!! Last night I went into the garage and startled some of my nasty problem. I saw a couple field mice running out as I turned on the light. I'm going to set some traps to try to catch them but we live near the Ohio River and I'm sure there are lots more of them. Should I do anything to the tubers? Mine looks a lot like what you have in your picture. How do I keep the mice out? It's going to be very hard figuring I don't know how they are getting in. What should I do with the tubers to keep them safe? Could I store them in plastic food containers you think or would they not survive in them? I know mice can eat through almost anything and I'm scared for my beautiful flowers because the boxes I have them in aren't doing a good job keeping them out...
Thank you!
Heather
Traps or some sort of rodent control device would be good. The colder it gets, the more tempting your garage will become. I like the Rat Zapper as it seems more humane and less dangerous for my valuable fingers than those blasted traps!
What do you with your dahlias: I'd decide what is too chewed to save and cut off or discard those. If anything is lightly chewed, and you really want to try and save it, you could
1) Spray the chewed zone with Lysol. I don't think rodents like the pungent smell. Let it and the tissue dry.
2) Decide if you want to use sulfur or other bulb dust prior to storage and apply it. I don't think mice like it either.
3) Store in bags or boxes of vermiculite, or try the Saran wrap method. (Google "no fuss dahlias") Just do a search of "storing dahlia tubers" and you'll come up with 100 different practices and endorsements of each method.
I use styrofoam coolers for tuber protection from mice as well as frost if our power fails. They work well and are really inexpensive or free. Another idea I saw and liked was drilling a series of air holes in a rubbermaid type bin with lid to allow air flow, but no mouse passage. Nice.
I like vermiculite because it is non-drying like peatmoss has been for many, it absorbs excess moisture put off by the tubers, it's inexpensive. Others use wood shavings or even layers of newsprint. You just have to experiment with what works in your area; just keep them from freezing and you've got a good chance you'll save them over winter.
I harvested my (few) dahlias just before freezing here in Maryland. The Husband was working on the basement stairs and I couldn't get down there. So I put my dahlias in the veg drawer in the refrigerator - CLEARLY LABELED! Well, you guessed it - The Husband asked me how to "fix" dahlias. He was ready to eat them. I should add that this is the man I have to take by the hand to show him the 20 foot lilac bush right in the front yard!
Florrie
I think I saw some "green thing" oddities at the Snohomish Co. show a couple years ago, Cory. Perhaps at the National Show earlier than that down in Seatac. They were not unattractive: just flowerless.
Cheese sauce! Perfect. I may save the tubers and consider the progeny a source of vitamin A, Granny. They had really great stems too LOL.
It was probably at the ADS show. I think Angus Hunter took some there that year. All the big-wigs were appalled & all the cool, funky people went-- "WOW-- what's THAT!!"
That was the same year we entered it on the ADS bench in Vancouver just for fun. We got the first & last DO-NOT Award-- the judges there had a sense of humor & hung a do-nut on it. (Someone stole our do-nut the next morning!)
Your pots are big enough for dahlias. Hawaii is 4 ft tall for me, so a stake would be recommended when you plant it, or plant it next to some kind of support- fence, deck uprights, etc. I hated the crosswires in the pot and found them unnecessary.
Don't know cactus soil mix. It sounds sandy. In pots in a sunny location, one enemy will be moisture loss. I used Soil Moistening polymers in 1/3 compost, 1/3 topsoil (with more compost in it) and 1/3 potting mix. Still, on the hottest days in black pots they needed water daily, once up and growing.
They should grow well and the tubers do nearly as well in a pot as in the garden. On the taller (4ft) varieties the foliage was more sparse, but the flowers were fine. I might have missed topping those, though. 3 footers are great in pots.
My opinion would be to only put one Hawaii in each pot rather than crowd the tubers. Three would be too many, two would look funny. How tall is 'Yellow Eye?' If it's shorter, maybe you could do one Hawaii and two yellow eye in a triangle.
Do a search on growing dahlias in pots and you'll find more links that may help.
Here is a link that might be useful: Growing Dahlias in Pots from ADS site