3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
wilt points to bacterial or fungal disease or
heavy, sudden root damage (which IMO is more unlikely).
That bug looks like an infant woodlouse or something, perhaps it just happened to crawl along and was not the cause.
Otherwise I would expect to see some damage on the leaves.
Thanks y'all!! It prob is a dinner plate but not sure which one. I ordered a bunch this year and never try to keep up with the names. May be one of the many Cafe Au Lait I ordered. I put them in the ground as bulbs after our last frost date which is April 15. They are healthy looking but I do have a few burnt leaves that I am assuming they get from the hot afternoon sun. Not really sure though. It's my only spot left to grow them so I gotta put up with the hot afternoons. Judy
You clearly have a cat infestation. Just saying.
I'm presuming you watered? They should pop up in a few hours if water was the issue, and with two in a pot they'd be more demanding of water (and all other resources).
You could transplant that second dahlia to another pot if you want, but you're likely to shock both a little bit when you do. Keep the soil moist in both pots until the plants don't wilt in full sun any longer, which usually takes about a week (if they even shock at all).
It's hard to tell but I have had some insect damage which can result in curling/black leaves. I pinch them off and inspect the plants. I've had thrips and also mealybugs, so I'm spraying homemade insecticidal soap for now. I just don't want them on the buds.
+1 on the nitrogen, I never met a flower that didn't like at least some.
I tend to apply Miracle Gro to the gardens weekly (Milorganite monthly), although I apply the Miracle Gro at half rate or a little below via my injection feeder.
Between the two, I maintain a grand total of 750 flowering plants in 2,000 square feet, in heavy bloom throughout the season.
Right now, 75 of those are Harlequin dahlia which have been blooming like troopers since late May. One Sky Angel is just coming into bloom now, but will continue heavy and constant bloom through October.
15 new dahlia friends are growing and will bloom in late August; I planted those very, very late.
Most or all plants exceed their specified heights, to the point that my Harlequins are two feet tall right now, and the Sky Angel will reach five to six feet.
I agree it MAY be Seattle - especially if it has faint pink lines that trace the yellow in the bud.
Though my Seattle got nowhere near 5 ft, it did do something odd this year. As I said, most of mine have the pink outline around the yellow. The ones I have THIS year have little to NO pink tracings AND as opposed to last year, one of the blooms came out almost all white with little yellow!
Common to bi and tri colors - I had just never seen that on my Seattle(s) and I have had them for 3 years. So if other buds have more white than yellow, it might well be Seattle.
i am also having a problem with thrips.. i am in the process of trimming down all my dahlias so there is not many leaves left on them, and sprayed them all down with dish soap/ water solution. Good luck to you, maybe someone will come on with a solution.
I deadhead my Harlequin (a small, seed-grown decorative dahlia) whenever the blooms fade. Production of new blooms is constant, so it always has buds, fresh flowers, fading flowers, and things I really should dead-head and promise to get around to shortly.
As far as I've noted, my medium-sized semi-formal dahlia are the same, and I've never seen an exception on any dahlia type I've grown. Most seem to constantly produce buds. But I feed a lot.
If you were--let's say--to remove every bud, it would probably be 2 to 3 weeks for the next set to develop.
I tried growing many larger sized dahlia plants in 16-18" pots 2 years ago, without good luck. They simply became dwarfed. The plants grew much shorter than they would have in the ground. They grew thinner and less healthy looking, and the flowers were 1/2 the size they had been the year before grown in the ground. I think you can get away with growing dahliettas in pots, and maybe small dahlia plants, but the larger plants that get to 4 feet tall or taller will not do well in pots....
Many plants dont do well in pots, in spite of claims made by many people.
I do notice that my Harlequin (also small, bushy, decorative dahlia) tend to act like that early on. Later, the flowers seem to grow more at the branch tips and show off more. For me, that's now--but I feed a lot.
I'm not sure of the variety you use, so that may differ.
You can prune buds to get larger flowers if you want to, but I don't bother. The 2" flowers on decorative dahlia look about right. It doesn't do much for taller stems, though.
And if you can't resist pruning a few leaves, go ahead--but don't go overboard on that. The leaves are producing energy.
Aggierose,
I am in South Carolina, zone 8, and the afternoon hot sun really scorched my dahlias.
I moved them to the front of my house where they get relief from the hot afternoon sun, and they are doing much better.
Not to say that you can't grow them in full sun all day long, but mine do better out of the hot afternoon sun.
Dahlias should be watered if they need it, in the early morning, a little like roses,so the water on the leaves dry during the day.
If you don't water them enough,they will get the powdery mildew, and you'll have to water more frequently.
Don't be surprised if they get the powdery mildew by August, for some reason no matter what I do, they seem to get it then, probably because their foliage is so large by then.
Good luck, I hope they grow well for you.
I am experimenting here in Lahaina (z.11) Maui with dahlias, as you will seldom find a dahlia in these parts, especially dinner plate size! I guess it's because of our high temperatures and salty sea air.( I live a block from the beach) I planted approx. 60-70 tubers in May and early June, some in big pots and most in ground. Full sun 9:00a till 4:00p. I have been counting every day and have 31 plants ranging a foot to 3ft. tall, as of today! ( I only planted large size) I water them in the morning, (10:30am), and again in the evenings. I fertilized them with bone meal (once) and they seem to be doing fine. The leaves on bigger plants, in pots, wilt a little in afternoon, but water perks them up again. Good luck to youâ¦aloha!
I always lift and store my dahlias - zone 5b, but accidentally left a couple in my sister's raised bed in downtown Hamilton - zone 6b. Last Winter in Southern Ontario was quite harsh, but both clumps of tubers had lovely new sprouts by June 11. I may leave some in the ground at her place and mine next winter - to see what happens.
The answer to your question is yes......And no...
I am in 6b, I dug all my tubers up, cleaned them, separated them, and stored them for winter. But I forgot to dig up the tubers from 1 plant. So just days after planting my tubers this year in late April to early May, I noticed new stems popping up from where the dahlia that I forgot to dig up had grown. Well, that plant actually grew much faster than the tubers I dug up last fall and planted again this fall. In fact, that plant is now 5.5 feet tall right now, with its first flowers starting to open yesterday. It only took about 65-68 days to get there! Thats faster than any year when I previously transplanted tubers from that same variety in the spring. Also, we had a fairly rough winter with lots of snow and cold temperatures, and this dahlia still survived with no added mulch over the soil it was buried in.
I am going to try leaving many tubers in the ground over winter from now on. I will probably dig up and separate some, then store half over winter, and leave half in the spot where I want them to grow next year, but make sure they are about 6-7" deep with mulch over top of that 6-7" of soil for extra protection.
I discovered this variety earlier today online, but when I did a google images search, my fears came true when I saw major variance in the appearance from picture to picture. Some, like the one above looked good, but many looked bad. There seem to be several dahlia varieties that look great in some adverts and for some growers, but other people have trouble getting them to look anything like the advert pictures. There are many dahlias that look unbelievably good on the growers' sites, but they look terrible in many pictures posted by other growers.
I bought Crazy Legs years ago from SI, and the ad pictures look great, but in reality very few flowers look that nice. Many/most end up looking kinda sloppy with colors smeared around.
If you can see a bit of the old stem, that goes upward. If not, I'm sure somebody will be along who can explain it better than I can.
Dahlia don't need a lot of water to sprout, so if your soil is damp that should be sufficient. I can't see the tuber so I'm not sure exactly how dry they are, but if they're really, really dry an hour soak in tepid water (call it 75 degrees) before planting wouldn't be a terrible idea.
Also, if they're really badly off and you're going to lift them promptly around the time you get frost, I tend to dislike planting them too deeply. I just did the same thing and planted my tubers about 2 inches deep. Next year I'll plant them at more normal depths when they haven't sat in unknown conditions until far too late in the season.
Well-drained soil is key for dahlia. Mine are in raised beds, with the majority on the southern face where it's very warm.
Don't water the tubers when you plant, the soil is damp enough unless it's bone dry. Dahlia won't generally require any watering at all until they're six inches tall or so.
Planting before frost ends isn't necessarily a no-no, but dahlia dislike sprouting until the soil temperature reaches 60. As long as the plant hasn't sprouted and the soil doesn't freeze, they won't be harmed by frost (but it'll slow them down).
Here in eastern PA, my target date is usually between May 1 and May 10th--which is a touch early as there's still some chance of frost here at that time (but a small chance). I do it early because my annuals have to go starting May 10th-May 15th, and that's a lot of work. The dahlia don't mind.