3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
It has been three months since I planted my Karma Dahlia about 6" below the current soil line (see picture below). At planting time, the tuber was only covered by an inch of soil. As the plant grew, I added soil to finally reach the current soil line.
It seems to me that the plant has stopped growing for the last three to four weeks even though I have been fertilizing it every two weeks.
Any idea to what I should do to "restart" the growing process. Thanks for your input.
I was given several dahlia tubers today. Here in NY they are already blooming. I don't think I should plant them because they need to be lifted in the fall. I don't know what to do with them or how to store them Will they survive till next spring?
Also, I got some canna, same story.
Help!
Yes the colors change, the flowers are smaller and fewer flowers as the daylight dwindles. If you have the least bit of frost it will kill the foliage and that will be it for the year. My friend's house is in zone 9 area and she has had a few blooms on Cafe au Lait into December. They are hadly recognizable but still welcome addithons to the Christmas greenery we use starting after Thanksgiving. Note that I Am not talking about all the others she raises, cafe au lait seems to be our lateness winner. Mine are always wiped out by frost in an 8b area by late November, at which time I may loose a few pale, half opened blooms.
Thank you for the reply.
This spring I planted out some 'Figaro' dahlias that I had grown from seed. Since we'd been having summer droughts the past couple of years, I decided to plant them in a low-lying area. But this year we had rain and more rain, and that area stayed waterlogged far too long. Some of the dahlias died. A few have made it, but don't look nearly as nice as they did before the rains started.
I wanted to start some more seeds now and have them ready to go out (in a different area of course) when the weather begins to cool. Based on your post, I think it just may work. No harm in trying. I can always replace them with pansies if they don't make it.
No don't dig in there to separate it - the stalks are coming up from a potato-like tuber. You can't separate them at this point. In the fall when they die back after your first hard frost, you can lift the whole mass of tubers and clean/divide/store them. There are detailed instructions and pictures at dahlia.com or in the archives of this forum.
You can increase the size of blooms by disbudding or disbranching - removing some of the buds or branches to put more energy toward the remaining buds, but that is something more usually done by those who want to take their flowers to a competition. I'd say keep it watered, and make sure you are using a fertilizer low in nitrogen, like a tomato fertilizer, bone meal, or I use Bulbtone. There are lots of opinions on this also, some people use Miracle-Gro for example, but most dahlia websites recommend using a fertilizer that is lower in N than P and K. Good for you, I hope you got a super deal on the price too!
I didn't hear anything that would indicate an insect infestation. Sounds more like chlorosis to me, or too heavy soil, poor root development, too much water, etc.
I'd make sure the site drains well for the tubers and feed with bone meal, tomato fertilizer or Espoma's Bulbtone.
Nitrogen promotes foliage development and you do want that, but in a bulb or tuber, you don't want a high N fertilizer - it will rot them out. You want a fertilizer that promotes root and flower production - a higher Phosphorous and Potassium level than Nitrogen.
This year I'm trying something new, in the garden I amended with Sweet Peet and composted wood chips to improve drainage and porosity and double layered Bulbtone down in the planting holes. I also grow 60 gallon containers of dahlias on the deck where my mix is very porous this year - I'm using 40% composted wood mulch, 40% Sweet Peet and the remainder is ProMix - a peat based soil-less container mix that holds water. I double layered the Bulbtone in there also to give the roots something to grow to. And just getting ready for first extra fertilizer application - I will use Mighty Plant 2 times, July and August then stop because it has a lot of N. According to Dahlias.org, you stop the high N fertilizers in August because a tuber that has been over-fertilized will have a greater tendency to rot over the winter. I've done this in the past with good results.
One of the real easy ways is to place some vermiculite in a brown paper bag. Wash the newly dug tuber and while still damp put it in the paper bag and cover with vermiculite. Leave the bag open. Sprinkle with a little water occasionally during the winter. If you have a nice cool place to store it should be raring to go come springtime. Steve in Baltimore County.
I would leave them in the tub and move the tub into a garage or area that stays cool but doesn't freeze. Plant your poppy seeds somewhere else and then transplant them into the tub after hard freezes are over and the tub is back outside. The dahlias should take light freezes if no top growth is showing.
This solution is easier for the novice dahlia grower than trying to keep the tubers inside after digging them.
FERN RIDGE PAINTED LADY DanÂs Dahlias
FERN RIDGE PAINTED LADY Mingus Dahlias
FERN RIDGE PAINTED LADY Parks Dahlias
Those 3 vendors have them according to the Big List of dahlia varieties/sellers. I can recommend Dan's Dahlias from experience, but don't know the others (yet.)
The 'Big List' is another great feature of the Colorado Dahlia Society website and one that everyone serious about dahlias should have bookmarked, for all kinds of helpful information.
Here is a link that might be useful: www.dahlias.net just bookmark it
Poochella posted this link some time ago. Hope it helps. BTW Plantlady, if you are there, I found 9 pages of Dahlia seedlings on your site but wasn't able to find your pictures showing the collection process...Are they still there?
Here is a link that might be useful: Dahlia seedlings
Some take longer than others to get going. I have a couple that are only about 7 inches tall, right beside others that are about 2.5 feet tall...and they are all the 4 foot varieties.
If you want bushy plants with lots of blooms, leave them as they are. If you are growing for show, and want fewer but taller and bigger, then you can select the best stem, and cut the others off. It is your call. Personally, I like bushy plants with lots of flowers, so I leave them.
Trim them off. Once the plant is about a foot tall, you can start to trim off the lower leaves, bearing in mind that the plant needs its leaves for nurture. If the plant is tall though, I always trim off the lower leaves to about 4-6 inches depending on the size of the plant. This helps with air circulation, and helps to avoid the development of mold on the leaves. It also makes it easier to water the plant without getting so much water on the leaves,- again helping to reduce the chance of mold.
If they are brown, cut them off. The aren't doing the plant any good anymore.
Are any other parts of the plant visibly hurting?
It sounds like it might be botrytis. Cut off and dispose of or destroy affected parts and perhaps you can control it. I have one little dahlia in a planter box that is doing this: browning dry petals on not-even-open bud. I cut it off.
There are also tips for other common pests that plague the dahlia. I've already squished a couple crops of black aphids.
See the link below for anything of help.
Here is a link that might be useful: Scroll down for Cultural problems/tips
I am very new to planting dahlias. I just planted 8-12 inch plants with one or two blooms in a place that gets full sunlight. i used good organic soil and fertilizer. the plant seems to have taken and the leaves look green and healthy. the blooms are all turning dry and brown though! can you please help!!
thanks
sangita
Mack, The 1' foot bed will work but the roots will be constrained somewhat and will just grow in a linear way instead of going out in all directions. The feeder roots are about 1" below the surface and can go out in all directions up to 2' in gathering nutrients. Dahlias can grow well while being crowded so it should work but 2' wide would be better.
The ideal raised bed for dahlias is a width of four feet and as long as you would like. This allows tending of the plants from both sides of the bed without walking in the beds. 10" or 12" wide boards are best. 8" boards will work but most articles I have read recommend the higher boards.
I grow in raised beds 8'x 12' with some 8" and some 10" boards. If I had to do it over I would have 4' wide beds.
Check out the Growing Guide on the DS of GA website if you haven't already, under the menu item Dahlias That Grow Well in the South.
Here is a link that might be useful: Dahlia Society of Georgia