3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
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.
Dahlia tuber are edible (even by us, they taste like watercress but may have a pleasant or unpleasant flavor depending on the variety). It's possible something nibbled at it.
Decay is unlikely as it would most likely have gone mushy.
From the late start, maybe it was a weak tuber that spent its energy on a late and small plant but couldn't sustain the growth past a very minor initial spurt?
It's probably too late now, but you can sometimes re-root a cutting from a problem dahlia and rescue a plant from it. The first year will be slow and mostly devoted to tuber development, but you might get lucky and have some flowers from it late in the season.
Are they the same dahlia type? I have several--ranging from a foot tall to four feet, and the taller types are definitely leggier.
It may require support if it's a taller type--tomato cages work well, or a stake if you can put it in without damaging the tuber (I usually drop stakes in at the same time as the tuber to avoid damage).
If it's the same type, it may be getting a little more shade than the sturdier one. You might be able to pinch it to encourage more bushiness and less legginess. There's tons of pinching instructions online.
Just a follow-up...
I used a hanging basket to cover up the plant, but within a few days it grew enough that the rabbit could - and did - nibble the leaves. So I mixed up some chili powder and garlic powder in water and dribbled it (it will clog a spray bottle, so don't even try it) all over the flower bed. It worked! Now even the tender young sprouts are left alone. We've had several major downpours since I sprayed a few weeks ago, and it seems to still be effective. My neighbor was just complaining about the bunny eating his broccoli crop, so maybe it just found something better to eat! Either way, my dahlias are finally able to grow. Thanks, y'all!
we have multiple cute little (and not so little) bunnies in our yard, they love to come and eat the grass and flowers in our grass I guess. I noticed a groundhog munching something in the bed and that afternoon I went to Lowe's and got some of their fencing to put around the bed where the rabbits can easily access from the forest. Lowe's has cheap cute white rounded top wire fencing, 3x18 feet for $4 and also they have the picket fencing wrapped in a ball for $20 (I think it's 3x30 or something like that). we have deer, rabbits, groundhogs, I don't know what they want to eat but I figure better safe than sorry. I know the deer can just step over if they really wanted to, but there's a lot to eat in the forest for them, so we haven't seen them in the yard in a while--but the bunnies and groundhogs are out there every day!
Also I have heard that Deer Off works for rabbits, it smells rank (has rancid eggs in it), you can make your own at home, just google for it but supposedly it works...you have to reapply after a particularly hard rain.
Firstly, Take them OUT of the water. They will rot in water and do not need watering until they have sprouted and grown at least 6 inches.
Since I (we) have no idea of your seasons, soil conditions, planting details, etc, this site from Swan island Dahlias will explain fully how to plant and grow dahlias.
http://www.dahlias.com/howtogrowdahlias.aspx
Good luck.
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.