3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
Happy New Year everyone! So glad the holidays are over. Now I can get on to the important stuff -- growing dahlias(just kidding!)
I grow over five hundred cuttings every year and will do over a thousand this year. I love planting and it looks like something is there. My plants from cuttings produce flowers much earlier than the tubers, but I do start some in January. True, some don't make many tubers, but others do very well in the tuber arena. One thing to remember when planting is to be sure at least one leaf node is buried, and a pair of tubers will form there.
I plant a display garden at our local grocery store. All the plants there are from cuttings and I leave them in 4" pots in the ground. They grow into beautiful plants -- people can't believe they are in 4" pots. When the frost comes it is so easy to pop them out of the ground and put them away. In the spring when they sprout again I cut them into sections to plant.
Taking cuttings is the best way to save varieties that don't store well, or make many tubers.
Teresa
this is good news to me. I wanted to give a dear friend a tuber of Wheels a couple years ago but my Wheels only produced one viable tuber and this one didn't survive the winter storage. I reordered Wheels from a different grower and hopefully this year I can take a cutting from it to give to her so she can have her own this year and from here on in.
Was it just my tuber or plant or does anyone else find Wheels to be not a huge producer of blooms (wonderful though they are) and not many tubers either?
Chilsons Pride  early and constant bloom, medium stems, verrrrry productive. Couldn't fill vases fast enough to keep up with it. Lovely too - and I'm sooo not a pink person!
Chilsons Pride is probably the best cut flower of all time. Nearly everybody who sells cut flower dahlias has grown it. In some years, it has been the top selling dahlia at Swan Island Dahlias. There is a very interesting story about how it came to be named Chilson's Pride even though it was bred by Nick Gitts of Swan Island Dahlias. It seems that Carl Chilson(a commercial dahlia grower in Washington State) was visiting Swan Island Dahlias and he spotted a bright pink seedling in the seedling patch. He pointed it out to Nick Gitts and Nick said "if you want that one you can have it, we have plenty of pink dahlias." Thus Mr. Chilson released Chilson's Pride and Swan Island eventually acquired it to sell also. Sort of like the big fish that got away.
In my area, to show at local fall fairs, most charge a membership or exhibitor fee, then you get the pass. They get the money one way or the other. You should find out what classes are offered (size, type, single or triple). With miniature dahlias, timing isn't so important. They give lots of blooms. The most important item for you to know, is how to pick the winning bloom, how to display it, and have it in the right class. Do another post with the classes, and then maybe someone can offer the names of dahlias that would be appropriate for you to grow.
the exhibitor fee is in place of course but it is still less than the admission and it is for the entire event, all 5 days (Rodeo included). As for picking my winner(s) I believe the entrance forms come out in June or so. I'll be back...(sez Aaaahhhnald)
I grew wheels two summers ago and it was the one everyone wanted. Unfortunately the tuber didn't reproduce well and the one that I did get didn't survive winter storage. However I ordered it again for this year, but from a different grower. HAD to have it again! This will also be my first year with Honka. Looking forward to that wierd little dude too.
Here's to hoping a different source gives me more to store and share next year. SHARE THE LOVE!!
The point being that the agreement, when you join the dahlia forum is that if you sell dahlias you are NOT allowed to say so or advertize or send people to your site on pain of banishment. The plantlady was mearly answering a question that was answerable by sending the questioner to her "Seedlings" album-- where they DO NOT sell dahlias but it was construed as advertising & she was dropped from the forum by the powers that run the forum- how fair is that when others flat out say they are selling from their site & send people to said site??
The American Dahlia Society is working on providing more information on dahlias for different purposes including cut flowers, garden flowers and container dahlias and extra dwarf dahlias. One of the articles coming up in their bulletin will be a list of the best cut flowers taken from an informal survey of several growers(not me though). I believe there is a distinction between a cut flower and a garden flower. Many dahlias do not look all that good in the garden but make good cut flowers and vice versa.
I use liquid kelp as a foliar spray every couple of weeks after the plants are a couple of feet tall. This seems to help in their growth and here in the South it helps them to withstand the heat. I find they will also bloom earlier using kelp.
I don't feel it will be to rich for your plants either by mixing it in the soil or as a foliar spray if you follow the directions. Maxicrop seems to be the most popular brand so just Google it to see where you can purchase it.
Try white sticky traps. I have found these are best for attracting the most of the bad bugs, aphids etc. I use white foam (meat trays from the grocery store work good) 2" by 6" stapled on a garden stake and then take Tangle Foot spread on lightly and place every 10'. I know most of the bugs like my white and pink dalhia or I can just see them better so place the stake right next to the plant. Do this real early in the season when they just start to hatch.
Lucky me, I've never had whiteflies attack my Dahlias but they do love my Hibiscus and lemon trees here in SoCal. For me, what has worked best is a good systemic poison (although I am now having trouble locating these!) or simply blasting them off the leaves using my hose regularly. I've read that they like humidity so I don't do this in the evening. Morning through mid afternoon only.
If I get in the mood and the infestation is large, I get out my sprayer gizmo and use soapy water. A little dishsoap and water does the trick. Probably not very organic but it works.
As for slugs, I have them too. Constant battle with them, but like whiteflies, they leave my Dahlias alone. I do have one variety where the slugs climb up and eat the flowers though. Odd behavior in my book! All of the usual slug baits work well here.
