3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
You SHOULD be growing it, it has lots of blooms. If I have an extra tuber, I'll save one just for you.
Spike is opening! It is hidden behind this towering 8 ft dahlia- so unpredictable. Last year the towering one was 4 ft...sigh. Spike is a robust plant for sure.
I'm thinking now that they aren't actually asking me what variety I'm entering, only which classes I'm entering. I've sent them an email to confirm. My entry fee covers as many class entries in a division (e.g. Cut Flowers is one division, Displays is another.) I want to enter into 4 cut flowers classes, so that will cost me $5 total. I believe I can just not show up with an entry if that's how it turns out.
I'll take all links you can give me if they'll help me figure out how to meet "Publication 34 Judging Standards," which is what the judges are apparently using. I've no idea what these are and can't find them on the web anywhere. Anyone know?
The Hamilton show is 3 hours from me. I may go, but honestly, at this point all I really want to find is pictures of show winners to get ideas about how to display them.
Any tips on when to disbud? Do you simply disbud the side buds on every main bud on your plants that you're intending on showing? I don't want to strip all of mine off as I'd have nothing to display in the garden until after the show. Maybe that's not such a big deal, but I really love looking at my flowers on the plants. I didn't plant any intending on showing, so I don't have any that are out of sight to strip. Suggestions?
Thanks again everyone!
Cheers,
Russ
Russ- I have never heard of Publication 34 Judging Standards. All our shows are American Dahlia Society shows & go by the judging standards of the ADS. I would imagine that if your blooms are in top shape & well presented they should do well under any rules. If you want to see the ADS judging standards look at the ADS site & look for the Seedling Judging page- you use about the same kind of point system to judge on the Hort. bench as you do for seedlings.
We have an album of shows at this link - there's 9 pages so look around. If you want to see something close-up just click on the picture & it'll come up bigger. You'll get some idea of how the blooms are entered to their best advantage in an ADS show.
Then, in your spare time check out our other albums- there's some nice dahlia arrangements in the wedding album & lots & lots of other dahlias everywhere.
RE- disbudding-- yes, we disbud every bloom -- the side buds are removed down to the length you want the stem to be. Try doing this on around 7,000 plants!! Gives you some idea of what Walt & I have been doing in our "spare" time! We had to dead-head all the plants this week too because we got about 2" of rain the other night & it made "mush" of all the big dahlias.
Here is a link that might be useful: Dahlia Show Pictures
Quite frankly, thegeez, my first year with Dahlias completely sold me on becoming a gardener. I had, for years, believed that any plant I touched died. Dahlias completely changed that for me.
That isn't to say there aren't failures, of the 181 Dahlias I planted this spring, 40 have died. There's lots of reasons for such a high failure rate, not the least of which has been spider mites this season. Last year, I only had 2 of 28 that didn't bloom.
I don't know your region very well, but Dahlias do require significant water, especially once they've started blooming. I read that 2" per week is a good amount. This might be one reason your friend had problems. The other is predators...insects, mammals, virii. They're an extremely succulent plant. People often compare them to tomatoes. If you can have success with tomatoes, you shouldn't have any problems with Dahlias.
As for how long they take, they go from tuber to bloom in ~130-150 days. They'll then bloom until frost, or dormancy due to less sun (they're native to Mexico.) A single sprout can produce 100 blooms or more, depending on the variety. Each will produce a full bushy plant.
Since you likely don't have to lift them in the fall where you are, the bush could be even bigger next year. For myself, I'd rather have individual plants. Some of my larger varieties have 5 or more main stems, each producing sets of blooms. I wouldn't want them any bushier.
If you started tubers today outside in pots, and put them under grow-lights inside when it was too cool or too rainy, you'd likely have blooms in January (perhaps even by Christmas!)
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Russ
Thanks Russ, that is what I was hoping to hear. Maybe next year I can drool over some of my own instead of going to your website to drool. I will have to plant them in the backyard instead of showing them off in front due to deer, which for some reason haven't bothered the roses this year.
Again Thanks
gary
sonora,ca
FWIW, all of mine were planted from cuttings this year. They are planted in basically the same soil conditions, get equal water and sun, yet some grow faster than others. I have several that were listed as early bloomers which have not yet bloomed, while others not listed as such are in full bloom.
IOWs, its not necessarily the tuber. It may be the variety, conditions, etc...
When I started my tubers this year to take cuttings, some sprouted, others didn't. Any that did grew...so if you've got growth, planted them at roughly the right time of the year (for you that'd be late May early June), and have given them sufficient water and sun...they'll likely bloom.
FWIW, I have noticed that most of mine are not as tall as I expected them to be (and not as tall as they were last year) but are blooming never-the-less. I attribute this to the excess rainfall we've had this summer (and the equal lack of sunshine.)
Next year you might want to try putting your tubers in a flat under a grow-light for a week or two to get the eyes to pop and start sprouting. It could be that you planted some tubers upside-down, which would have made them slower than others with visible eyes.
Cheers,
Russ
Everyone stores their dahlias for the winter differently or have their own method so you will find many ways for storing them.
I recommend that you store them in boxes using coarse vermiculite, not the small vermiculite. Coarse vermiculite holds just enough moisture to keep your tubers firm & plump during the winter where other mediums tend to dry out your tubers.
This transfer of moisture is most important during storage and coarse vermiculite does it the best. Small vermiculite holds too much moisture and sticks to the tubers and can cause them to rot.
Store your tubers in the coolest (not freezing) area you have available below 55%. Check each month to see how they are getting along.
FWIW, I used the saran method (search google with "saran dahlias"). Basically, you just wrap up the tubers in saran wrap, put them in bags that keep out the light (I used eco-friendly cloth grocery bags with newspaper over the top.)
I stored mine in a beer fridge I have in the garage. I didn't check them until I took them out in January to start them.
None rotted.
Cheers,
Russ
Here is a link that might be useful: Saran Wrap Method Of Storing Dahlia Tubers
My neighbor is calling me farmer Brown, so now that I know he is jelous I have started taking cuttings from my Dahlias. I will over winter them in my indoor green house. Then next spring I will line both sides of my drive way with pots of Dahlias.
If you want to grow dahlias from seed take your own seedheads and let them mature and shuck them in January and plant them inside in March/April and transplant them after frost. You will have all brand new dahlias, some bad some good, but they will be yours and if you get a really good one you could even put it in a trial garden.
Xanadu is correct in rooting shoots coming out of the ground. That is how I start many of my pot roots for the next season. Just pull them off the planted tuber carefully or you will jerk the entire plant out of the ground, put them in damp potting soil and in bright shade until they stand up. Harden them off in the sun and grow as pot roots.
Usually you want your tubers to stay reasonably dry so they'll promote root growth and avoid tuber rot. Self watering can be fine, but keep the water to a minimum until buds start to appear.
As far as which way is up, there should be some crown material left where the sprouts are. Crown material is where last year's stalk was cut off the tuber. The sprouts go up, and should be considerably thicker than roots. The tuber should be planted on its side.
As far as bringing them in goes, you're likely going to need to augment the sunlight to get blooms. A grow light would definitely help. Otherwise, you're likely to have a lot of foliage and few blooms.
Good luck!
Cheers,
Russ
Lucky lady to have such a nice neighbour who allows her to raid his garden. LOL
I've got one, too. If only I could catch her. ;)
She also picked the plants she wants me to grow for her.