3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
Well, a few years back, my wife and I had a sucessful experience transporting dahlias from Denver to Minneapolis for a Nationl Show.
What we did was to get some balloons, fill them with a little conditioned water, pull them over ends of the stems and wrap them with rubber bands as insurance against leaking. On the stems that were too large for standard balloons, we solved the problem by getting a package of condoms and using them just like the ballons.
As an additional challenge our 7:00am flight was canceled, and we spent about nine hours in the Denver terminal with two boxes of dahlias following us everywhere we went.
When we arrived at our hotel in Minneapolis at about 8:00pm, the dahlias looked great and won their fair share of awards the next day.
Here is a link that might be useful: 2007 North American Dahlia Shows
I wonder if the new restrictions on carrying on water would make this difficult. Maybe the balloon trick? Probably should call the airlines and check. I would sure like to take a bouquet of my dahlias to my daughter in Maine in a couple of weeks!
Go for the 4 foot + varieties. In a border, where they need to fight for light, they will very likely shoot up higher.
Do they grow taller each year? I can't really say that is the case. I had some dinner plates that were huge last year, but not so tall this year. Others are much taller this year. I think the preparation of the bed with good nutricious soil makes the most difference.
Hey jroot and red-
I would like to hear more about this. My 3-4 year old "Babylon Bronze's" have shot to about 7 feet this year and its not for a lack of light as I have full sun in that location and no one is crowded. The new guys, ones I did not pinch back are at a maximum of maybe, at best, 5 feet.
Anyone else care to comment?
I doubt you could get the soil in the pots dry enough to keep the tuber without killing the dahlia. I wouldn't try it. As for the one you want to bring inside, it will probably get very leggy and not bloom much, but you could keep it trimmed when it does get leggy and keep it alive. Be sure to "harden" it off gradually when you take it back outside in the spring.
Finally found out the name, I looking at the companies website that supplies the nursery where i got the bulbs. Then I found it, its name is Caballero, at least that is what it is called in Canada
Here is a link that might be useful: Van noort bulbs
Beautiful, beautiful! Your photos are as good or better than a lot of online catalog photos! What a fantastic garden you must have! I love Castle Drive and Robin Hood. Does Castle Drive remind you of Hillcrest Kismet? Just curious, how many dahlia plants do you grow? It seems your arsenal is tremendous--and lovely.
Annabeth
Thanks Annabeth. It is a labor of love for sure. I do not know how many plants I have, I'm too tired to count. Between 325 and 350, I would guess. There have been deaths and there have been suprise tubers or plants planted and I have no time to take a full count recently.
Nothing in the world reminds me of Hillcrest Kismet. That is one orangey pink beauty to behold. Castle Drive is nice, but smaller in size and pink and yellow; although nice enough in itself.
No problem!
You can of course disbud those oppposite of that and remove just the middle one, but I think you get stronger stems the other way. Depending on how much time I have I will nip off those buds that will form flowers never to be seen.
Beautiful, indeed. I have been feeding mine with miracle grow as well. Today was the last feeding for the year. From now on, I want them to grow more naturally, in preparation for a long winter. I will continue to water as needed though.
I read somewhere (on this forum, perhaps!) that using a fertilizer that is high in nitrogen will produce tubers that will not store well. So I use one with a low first number and higher others on my dahlias (as opposed to my roses, which really like the high-nitro stuff).
Many of the giant dahlias are good tuber makers. Kidd's Climax makes a moderate number of tubers for me. I continue to grow it because it is a beautiful dahlia and the first giant one my dear, sweet Mother ever grew. There may be a deficiency in your soil that is causing not to produce any tubers. Even though some people say it is too much trouble, I would have my soil tested. Another thing you can do to insure a tuber the following year is plant the tuber in a pot and then sink the pot in the ground. You will get a normal sized plant and blooms. Then, when the season is over, dig the pot and store pot and all where it won't freeze. When the tuber sprouts, you can separate into several pieces, or take cuttings. But that is another whole subject. Good luck and don't give up.
Teresa
bigcityal,
Have you had better luck with cuttings than with the tubers? I've checked out that supplier's website earlier this year and do plan to try cuttings next year. Just wanted to get feedback from others who've tried before first though. Did you have any problems "hardening them off to the sun"? Did the plants perform better overall, compared to those of tubers?
I didn't have any problem with them hardening off, they will still start out kind of slow early in the year. The rest of my dahlias are from tubers that are started 6 weeks before planting outside. I don't have any problem with Corralitos, they might be better for people who have problems direct planting tubers or for varities only they carry.
This is one of theirs this year.
Here is a link that might be useful: 
just a thought, white flies? this year has been particularly bad in my area, I have sprayed 4 times.
I do know that the symptoms described can be attributed to these tiny insects and the growth hormone regulators they inject into their host. I have, first hand, seen the dwarfing and yellows to death that white flies can cause.
FWIW
Thanks everyone- next year is always the one of hope- this fall I am going to add aged manure and peat to the soil and stock up on some pesticide -good advice on the white flies I seem to recall that they thrive in dry conditions(even though I hate spraying). Will also mulch to improve water retention- we had floods up here about two weeks ago (here in MN that is) and things bounced back. I think it was just such a hot nasty summer. chalk it up to that I guess!