3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
I think I watered right before 10am (we are allowed to water between midnight and 10am every other day here).
Dahlias looked droopy from the night before (usually they perk up by the morning, but not this time). So, I have decided to give them a drink. It was hard not to wet the foliage. I guess the leaves got burned.
Thank you Jroot for answering.
The good news is new foliage is coming up, so I did not kill it completely, as I thought.
The lesson is learned!
~Natalie
Oh yes ! that´s how spider mite damage looks like. Like explained, permetrin or pirethrin based insecticide gets rid of the problem if applied correctly and frequently, once or twice a week for the first two weeks and then weekly for the next three or four weeks.
Insecticides do not spread it Pdshop, they simply don´t kill them, they seem impervious to anything you throw at them.
Down here it´s the never ending story with dahlias, since they begin to grow as early as mid march ( when it´s hot and dry ) then your plants get spider mites, then it begins to rain, it gets warm and moist so slugs and snail come out and if it´s not slugs and snails then it´s powdery mildew ( too much moisture ), oh well, if it wasn´t that way then it wouldn´t be fun to grow them.
I would argue it depends on the variety. For example, if I had a small low growing variety like China Doll (18" tall, 4" diameter flowers) I think it would be fine to have multiple main stems. On the other hand, if its a 4+ foot variety or one with large flowers, I wouldn't want two that close together as they'd be competing for the light/water and lots of flowers would end up being mushed between them.
Of course your blooms may be a bit smaller because of the competition, but it won't really matter unless you're showing.
Cheers,
Russ
Well Lizalilly, I've just learned more about voles then I thought existed. Apparently they leave visible above-ground evidence of their activities.
If its not voles, then it could be chipmunk. They typically have 30'runs with many exits and that run was in one of my garden beds a few years back. They didn't actually eat my plants but some plants died from having their roots exposted to the frost and snow. As unkind as it was, I resorted to sticking ammonia soaked rags in their 'doorways' and that solved the problem.
Here is a link that might be useful: Voles and pest management
HMMM,I had not thought of CHipmunks! I know we have squirrels so that is a possiblity. From the damage I found today I think I am going to be at least lifting and saving one tuber off of each as back up this winter. And making sure the rest is buried deep and mulched. It could be that these were not planted deep enough last time.
Anyhow, the potted dahlias are all in now! Now about the rest of the big glad order....
It is an almost overwhelming job to catch up after taking so long off gardening. Maybe I am glad this summer is the coldest on record since sometime in the 1800's here! Then no one will know that things actually never got planted!
But I expect to have enough dahlias no one will notice the missing zinnias and sunflowers! Dahlias sell better anyhow at my flower stand!
They look great and healthy. Might want to give them more room, but I know I've crammed plants close together and suffered no ill that I could see. For me, some plants just grow like gangbusters into broad, bushy specimens. Some are leaner. You might get away with that spacing, time will tell.
Are those woodchips mulching the surrounding area? I raked up most of mine after having more visits by petal-eating earwigs last year having made paths of woodchips through the garden. Have read from one grower that he/she has no or little 'debris' for the earwigs to hide in at the base of their dahlias. Just one thought, but a thought I took to heart.
Last year I had a dog run through my new dahlia plants so I had to put some up in plastic storage containers. Had great results. I also build my own wood containers. They are on the large size. I have four dahlias in one wood container that is 2foot high by 6foot long and two foot wide. I hope that helps.
Hi A,
I have none in containers this year but did last year and they do fine. The taller (4 ft) dahlias are perhaps a bit less productive in flowers than garden-grown, but they do just fine and produce as many tubers. The containers I used are ~14" diam x 14" tall. I used 1/3 potting soil, 1/3 compost and 1/3 veggie soil mix which is a high % sand, compost, topsoil mix. I used Soil Moist granules. Watering more often as the pots are black, was the only difference in care.
I believe that I have replaced about 6 so far this week which have turned to mush around the stem dirt level. The plant just falls over. The tuber is solid. Some of those I had just purchased as well. I feel your pain, pdshop.
Not all dahlia varieties need topping, only the larger varieties, when it should be done depends on how you want the plant to grow, if you want to grow a single then you remove the remaining sprouts as they emerge from the soil. When it´s time to top ? when the plant has grown tall enough but not yet hollow inside ( around 10-12" ) that´s when you remove the top, the process can be repeated again on the branches for a bushier plant.
Pinching the buds does produce larger blooms, significantly is a matter of interpretation because depends a lot on the variety, is some varieties ( like dinner plates ) it is really significant, in other varieties is not that significant. One stem has three buds, a main one in the center ( the largest ) and two secondary buds, one to each side of the main, you pinch the secondary buds as soon as you can spot them, that means as close as you can to the main buds stem.
Topping is done to make a fuller plant on any sized dahlia. It will also keep some of the taller ones a bit shorter.
You want to disbud not just for showing but so you get a long enough stem to have a nice cut flower-- not a bloom on a 3" stem.
Ellie
Not too late to plant, and frankly with your east coast heatwave I think you're sane to avoid exertion in that heat. You might get late blooms, depending on variety and length to bloom, but what of it? Plant them when it cools down enough to dig. You can always save the tubers for an earlier start next year.
What a lucky soul you are to have incoming dahlias from all directions! I don't know about D.E. and grasshoppers, have no experience there.
I had always thought diatomacious earth was for softer-bodied insects. Grasshoppers are extremely hard to control. I'm hoping all the rain we've had this spring will do a natural job of it.
I think that you can get 'em with Sevin when they are small but after they are grown, I'm not sure anything will do it.
pd, whatever you use to fight the slugs snails and critters, it will pay off if you do it consistently. Diatomaceaous earth, crushed baked eggshells, slug baits, whatever: just use them.
I never had much luck with the beer traps though. I think they got too diluted by our frecuent spring rainfalls. They'd only catch one or two overnight.
Years ago to entertain a young nephew, I promised him a new video game if he and his sibs could pick 100, 200 or 300 slugs (I forgot the number now, but it was a lot.) They were done with the task and home with a slithering, disgusting 5 gallon bucket crawling with slugs in about 45 minutes! So much for entertaining youth in Western WA.
But the population has dwindled to completely manageable since those days with seasonal baiting, and occasional slug-icide. It's really quite rare to find anything but new slug hatchlings and the big banana slugs in the woods these days. Three cheers.
Raul, ah yes,I remember hurricane season now. I think I'd prefer hot and cloudy to cold and rainy, except for the fire ants! Every climate has its own pests and set of challenges, doesn't it?
I'm starting to trim off the bottom leaves now, so that the air can circulate around the stem. That seems to be helping. I had one sulking, and I thought that I would lose it, but after trimming the bottom leaves off ( up to 4 inches - depending upon the size of the plant - one has to leave enough to sustain the plant), the sulking has stopped, and it is doing better now.
I have heard "trim off the bottom four inches" so many times from new dahlia lovers I just know they are researching your old posts and listening to you, jroot. You (and a few others here) are gifted instructors!
Glad shes has stopped sulking. But what I would like, more than anything, is a picture sometime in August, of what your happy dahlia and tropical plantings. Promise?