3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
Congratulations Linnea! You're going to have a long and early dahlia season! I am just potting up now and was happy to have one be 6 inches tall LOL. If you saw the condition of our foul, cold, completely soggy soil you would know I am in no hurry to plant outdoors.
I would "hold your horses" until danger of frost is past. I am in zone 5 also, and won't plant in the ground until the end of next month, since we usually have frost then. It has been a strange spring though, so it is anyone's guess.
I have planted a whole lot of things in the ground so far over the past 2 weeks. Earlier this week, I planted some ornamental grasses, one of them being a 9ft variety.
Things you can plant now:
Generally the following plants CAN be planted NOW:
All Nursery stock including:
Trees
Flowering Shrubs
Evergreens
Roses
Vines
Perennials including:
Grasses
Groundcovers
Many vegetables like onions, cabbage and lettuce (but not tomatoes and peppers)
Many herbs
Annuals like pansies
I am in Zone 5b. My giant colocasia and alocasia tubers are doing well in pots though
Most definitely. They need to be in a separate pot and in sun. I have mine outside on my driveway in the sun right now. If it gets cold, I will bring them back into the garage. The natural sun light is preferable to artificial lighting, as they don't tend to get too tall and lanky with natural light.
Ted,
In every case I believed I was cutting as close as you suggested. There were two very small triangular shaped leaves (cotyledon leaves?) near the base of the cut stem. In most cases, they fell off themselves, but if they didn't I took them off.
I did not, however, take any additional leaves off unless leaves were very close to the end of the cutting. For the vast majority, I didn't have to take any additional leaves.
So I suppose I'm unsure whether or not I have left a node, as you say is needed. I thought that as long as my cut was very close to the tuber, that was sufficient. In some cases, the sprout grew from an under side of a crown and ended up rather "J" shaped. When this happened I cut off the curved part at the bottom but left the rest. Maybe this is where I'm running into trouble??
Of the nearly 300 cuttings I have now, I know that 73 of them have definitely rooted because they have added considerable growth. I have another 42 which have not added growth but should have because they are of the same varieties and taken roughly the same time as the 73 which have added growth. Then there's another 190 that haven't been growing long enough to know for sure.
I am worried that there may be more that are just staying green and not rooting. So I thought to transfer each from where they are to new cells. The soil is loose enough that it will fall off the plant, unless there are roots. So any that have not yet developed roots, I plan to put into rooting hormone (Roots.)
If there are no roots I plan to cut the lowest set of leaves off the cutting and, after dipping in the rooting hormone, replant.
My theory is that if I do not have a node already at the bottom of the stem then the node where I've removed the leaves should form roots instead.
Hopefully this is a plan.
Cheers,
Russ
Thanks Russ....I haven't watered them any more than just to moisten the peat moss a little once a week, some have roots some don't. The soft ones have no roots and not much of an eye....and one "ala mode" is rotted one the inside but has some great new shoots! I am worried that I may be doing something wrong...Could it be that there is too much heat from the cables?
Janice
Can't help with the heat cables Janice, I don't use them. I suppose its a possibility. I would think the tubers are rotting if they're getting soft, can't think of another reason they'd get soft. So something's off, and if it isn't water, then heat and light are your only other options to adjust.
Cheers,
Russ
I haven't grown Dahlia yet, but got some seed going :D
This is what I do for earwigs though.
1. Most important IMHO is completely raking away all winter mulch by March. Eliminating this nice day time moist hiding place for these guys works wonders! Ones that do crawl out and into beds on cloudy rainy days are more susceptible to being snatched up by birds.
2. Lay out cut pieces old garden hose here and there and each morning dump contents out into soapy bucket of water.
3. Crumple up moist newspaper in evening and place in paper bags around garden...grab it up in morning and discard in garbage sack; sealed tightly. I did this for the first time around the base of Datura plants after I caught them red-handed eating up blooms before they could open.
4. Use lettuce as trap crops....I learned this by accident! I've pulled heads with literally 20+ hiding within. Even more if you can get good aphid attack on the lettuce; earwigs love to dine on them too as they are opportunistic feeders!
5. If you gonna use a beer trap for earwigs and or slugs; make a slurry containing extra yeast and sugar. You can add pieces of rotting fruits (more for the earwigs). Sink completely open ended cans (like soup cans)with the mixture in the soil so that rim is flush; making sure the slurry is no more than half-way filling the can.
Last summer I used the weed eater one day and got busy with something else. Well I laid up against the side of the house and when I finally got back to it about 8 days later and next of earwigs had moved into the string compartment! They will seek out ANY place out of the hot dry sun!
For slugs...a few more things. I lay pieces of flat board around bed perimeters. Every day pick it up and flip over; pick off the slugs. Make sure to check the ground where they laid in case they are on the soil rather than attached to the board.
Though I know it may be ugly for a minute, crush up dried eggshells into itsy bity sharp pieces and encircle plants and or sprinkle over the entire area.
Anyway, hope some of these tricks you find helpful :D
Vera
You're welcome, but sorry for the loss of your dahlia.
My planted areas look like a mess to me: never will be lovely formal gardens, more like basic cultivated planting areas. But that's how it goes when you live on rock-filled clay soil.
Here's the new dahlia bed coming along. It's hard to envision grass surrounding rows of lovely flowers, but that's my hope, once the soil dries out,the mud goes away and all that soil gets put in place.
New veggie mix soil hauled in by machine! Saved me hours of hard labor loading and unloading it myself.
I can't say how many kitty litter buckets I've loaded and hauled with rocks sifted from this bed, but I'd wager it's easily in the 200 range and more to go...
Close up of the "soil" but I must say this was one of the worst areas: couldn't even shovel here without bouncing off rocks. I'm very appreciative of the fine wonderful stuff that emerges when the rocks get taken out.
I will never, ever do this again. I have enough planting room now if not for dahlias for veggies which have taken a back seat to flowers.
When you put them outside did you put them in the sun? If so, try putting them in the shade for a while first to get them used to the brighter light. Even in the shade the light has much more intensity than indoors.
Last weekend I put some dahlias outside for a few hours as well, and the largest one looked a little wilty - but then perked up once in the house. I was wondering if it was because I started the plants too soon and it is a bit on the big side of ideal. I read somewhere that the ideal height of a transplant was 12 inches high, and the one wilty plant I have is over that height. The shorter, less advanced plants did not seem to have the same problem.
Good luck with your hardening off, at least you can plant yours out soon - this weekend we are having a snow storm!
Janet
I had some of Plantlady2's dahlia bread at her garden one year. (Oh, heaven!! That gazebo! Those thousands of dahlias! That Garden!! Swoon!!)
The bread was interesting- as plantlady2 said-- lots of cinnamon will make anything edible!! But before you start noshing on dahlia tubers be sure they haven't been sprayed with a systemic when growing or dipped in something nasty (bleach? Sulfur?) before storing.
Ellie
Okay Linda, here starts the debate. I do happen to mist mine and I keep a loose sheet of plastic on top just to keep the moisure in so I don't have to be around every day. The theory is that as homes have heat, home air is drying (as it is drying to our skin) and a little dampness for your tubers, as long as they have ventilation, is 'a good thing'.
Everyone says to get your tubers eyed up by putting them halfway in a tray of barely damp potting soil. If you can get your potting soil 'barely damp' I would say this is also 'a good thing'.
However, I do not find it necessary. Last year I stuck two tubers into an EMPTY bag of Miracle Gro, loosely closed the top, dumped it on a shelf in the laundry room and three weeks later I had 8" sprouts. I have also used dry potting medium in a tray with success and lastly, I threw one really stubborn tuber buck naked into an emptly cooler (closed the top) and that too finally sprouted.
IMHO it's all about the heat of the room (and damp soil in a cool room doesn't always work that well).
Frost will kill them. You can harden them off in pots outside before all chance of frost is gone, but make sure they do not get exposed to any frost. Plant in the ground when all chance of frost is gone.
Cheers,
Russ
hI
Russ says froat will kill them. I grew collarette and pompom from seed. They came back up two years in a row. Then we had a year with a horrible cold and wet week which did kill them, but some known hardy plants were done in too. I am in zone seven and they were planted on the south side of the house. I guess they are half hardy?