3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
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
Morning,
Haven't been back for awhile. Dahlia plant is slowly doing better and now getting taller but it is quite a bit behind the other dahlias in the bed. I don't know what critter dug it up but could be rabbit, chippey or deer. Usually the deer leave all the dahlia's alone. I'll have to check which dahlia it was. Will go out and do that now. It's "Micks Peppermint" SC RW A. One that I ordered new for this year. It is so far behind the other dahlias growing in the dahlia bed. Oh, well, will wait and see how it grows..
Thanks for all your help DB and Poochella..
Later,
Sue
I would say that they are probably still in shock and drooping is normal for that.
could also be too much water..do they droop after you water, or do you water because they are drooping?
you shouldnt water from overhead with a hose, best thing to do is to use a watering can and just water the dirt around the base of the plants. good luck!
I have 46 dahlias planted and about 15 have buds. 2 have just opened their first flower. They were planted the first 2 weeks in May. We had lots of rain in June and it was 60 degrees. July is very hot at about 90 degrees. Not much was happening until the warm weather came.
Happy Growing!!!
If you have a patch of ground 'out back' that has reasonable soil and good drainage, then all you need to do is dig out a patch for the Dahlias and plant them like a row of potatoes.
If you know you have any particular insect pests then take precautions but they should 'over winter' in the ground with no problems. (I'm zone 9a. I get heavy winter rain and frosts to -5C. Bedding Dahlias are fine in the ground for me and return the following season with no problems. I don't grow for the show bench but 'ordinary' Dahlias will come through easily - particularly if they are fed with good compost.)
If you can't do this then you might want to use gro-bags with some potting mix and divide the clump/s for replanting as you need.
How cold does it get where you are? How deep does the ground freeze? If the tubers freeze at all they will rot. I leave mine in the ground here but I cover them with about 6"of straw. We had an abnormal cold spell with temperatures in the low 20's, maybe down to 18 degrees last winter. I lost some of the ones I had moved in the autumn, because there was no pile of tubers on the top to protect lower ones. The ones I left in place, I lost only a few and that could have been voles eating the tubers from the evidence.
I think you will get atleast a few blooms from your new dahlias before frost...enough to see how you like them.
Thanks for the feedback.
But please understand I still don't know what, precisely, you mean by water them well. As in how much -- 1 cup? 2 gallons? or what?
As an example of how much detail a long-distance diagnosis requires, consider this when I tried to troubleshoot a veggie problem over the phone. The description sounded like a water shortage but the gardener said that "It can't be; I water daily." Then, after further questions from me, I learned it was with a drip system. Then, after still more questions, I found out the drip system was on for just 5 minutes a day. (Yikes!)
The diagnosis: insufficient water in spite of daily watering.
Okay, back to your dahlias. Here are some things to consider.
Are these new or established plants?
If new, the original rootball is most likely drying out,this because it is "missed" when you water. The water would have to be applied directly on top of the rootball, possibly drizzled rather than poured from a can or hose.
If established, perhaps you aren't adding enough water.
On the other hand, the roots might be drowning. Have you checked just how moist the soil is? (To tell the truth, I doubt they're drowning because the leaves don't show the correct symptoms.)
How hot and/or dry has it been recently? Also currently is?
Do you have burrowing critters? Moles can tunnel under plants, thereby redirecting water away from roots. And gophers just plain eat roots/plants
I suggest a water shortage from whatever cause because of the dried leaf edges and tips.
You will need to be our on-site detective.
Check the soil moisture content.
Perhaps even sacrifice a plant by digging it up so that you can see what's going on in the rootball.
Let us know what you find.
Sorry to hear about your bad experience. All my dahlias are from tubers.
It is probably too late to order for this year, but keep this list in mind for next year.
Here is a link that might be useful: The Big List
Lovely flowers and so early!!!
Sierra
Beautiful flowers Savona. I am a sucker for that yellow one, and even more for the delicate drop preparing to fall from the bud in that photo. Tsuki Yori no Shisha is really a wonderful white fluff isn't it? Very nice!