3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias

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

Seems to me that where there is life there is hope.

I am waiting too for the warmer weather,as I think I killed my sunflower's.They are too weak in the stem now and one snapped this morning. Gardening really is exciting.

Adair, LOL! Yes, it's exciting, frustrating, disappointing, wonderful, satisfying, exhausting, and a lot of other things too!

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

wow, get me a rod, I'm going fishing. Bringing the beer too...for myself.

(kay, now I am really grossed out)

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

Thanks poochella. Btw, Your garden is gorgeous.

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.

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

When I got my order from Ferncliff, they were so plump and healthy looking it made me think of making some baked yams.

Well I e-mailed the place where I had the order and told them about my problem. They responded that they had had trouble with the tuber eyeing up, but surprise, they have found one for me. Yeah. Nice people thanks, Pooch, I am all set.

Some suppliers sell out very early on - like in late December so it depends on when YOU consider early in the ordering process. Taratahi Ruby is always popular and sells out quickly almost everywhere.

Russ, you described your goals perfectly and made 'China Doll' sound very intriguing indeed. I guess the reason I find dahlia foliage plain, is that I cut off all the flowers and see nothing but green foliage, buds and stems, and short-lived flowers before the shears comes along to harvest them. I have had some short varieties full of blooms as you describe and found them quite pleasant, just not my goal.

I wonder if the mass of main branches on Matchmaker were multiple main stalks or just wildly branched off one main stalk? Mine last year was very average in flower production. I would like it to go nuts with long stems as you describe!

Do you disbud: remove the two inferior buds, (or more,) alongside the main bud on a branch? If not, that would account for a more massive flower display per plant.

I'm getting kind of itchy to see some of these dahlias of which we speak. Too bad it's only April.

Poochella,

I think my Matchmaker stems were all off a single main stem. I had started them inside and knew there was only one main stalk when planted out. As I said, I did pinch it, which I assumed accounted for all the large stems at the bottom. I did the same thing to a Cabana Banana and its large stems broke off at the bottom after a storm, despite being fairly well trussed up.

I did not disbud last year, but I am definitely thinking about it this year. Particularly for something like Purple Taiheijo, which I found had very short stems that the flowers were on. It made it such that the flowers were almost buried in the foilage. Gregory Stephen sorta did the same thing. I recognize now that it was probably because I wasn't tending to their needs as good as I could've (e.g. disbudding.)

China Doll was definitely my favorite from last year, so this year I've made a place for 6 of them...;-]

Cheers,
Russ

Poochella, thank you - that helps a lot. I'll repot them into milk cartons as I'd planned, and water them sparingly. They're all coming up and the leaves look really good, so I can't have screwed things up too badly yet. :-)

I have a heater in the greenhouse - it never falls below 50 (normally it stays around 58-60 at night and on cold days, but if it drops into the teens at night, it gets down around 50 or so). So freezing isn't an issue at all. I have veggies and annuals growing out there right now that I started from seed - a freeze in the greenhouse would be a complete disaster for our gardens this year.

Russ, I did say 13 hours of "daylight", not "sunlight". My greenhouse is situated where the sun hits it very early in the morning, and is on it all day, no trees or anything shading it at all (doors and vents stay open all day on warm, sunny days to keep the heat managable between 70 and 85 or so, and there are fans running in there 24/7). There are about three microclimate zones in my yard - the greenhouse is in the warmest, full sun microclimate, where I have roses (my favorite flowers) starting to leaf out already. I have all manner of annuals and veggies growing out there in the greenhouse, and none are getting leggy at all, so I'd think that if there's enough light for tomatoes, there's probably enough light for the dahlias to get started. They're coming up fine, as I said, the leaves look good, so I think they're getting plenty for now. Obviously as the days get longer, they'll have light longer. I'm not on the "mountain side" of the state - south-central Montana (where I live) is closer to a desert than the cooler mountain regions in the western parts of the state.

And I never said I didn't like dahlias...I said my husband loves them (which he does). I like the flowers, but I have more of a passion for roses personally (don't have to dig them up in the fall). Maybe I'll fall in love with dahlias after growing them for a season or so - but I won't know if I don't try! My hubby doesn't care much for typing or forums, and he would never "make" me ask anything, anywhere "for him" (he wouldn't have asked for himself either...he'd just throw them in a pot and let them grow or not, as his dad does). I asked of my own free will, because I was interested in how to get them the best start possible. It's my nature to jump into whatever I decide to do with both feet. I am interested because I love my husband, he loves dahlias, and that makes me want to have some in the garden for him, regardless of some extra work in spring and fall. Have you never grown something just because someone in your family really likes it?

In any case, thanks for the advice. I'm sure we can get the dahlias off to a good start this year now.

Here I am in mud zone 7 and all you Canadians and Montanans are lightyears ahead on dahlia growth. Congratulations!

Your set up sounds very good Jamie, and I hope you'll be won over by the versatile, variable, and vivacious dahlia in 2008. There are so many to choose from: each with their own merits. I gave my roses away- too disease prone for this locale. I did like their scent and delicate petals, but dahlias are also most amazing in their fantastic petal formation, wide array of colors and color combinations and various forms and sizes. You can't beat 'em!
I can hardly wait to see my new ones and the old favorites!