3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias

What I have heard about dahlias and deer is that if a mother
deer doesn't know that they are edible she will not teach her fawn to eat them...but if she does know and eats them then she will teach all her children that that they are good food! It seems to me that she tells all her girlfriends too so they then tell their younguns that they can eat them!

When I lived at the central part of the island they did not bother my dahlias at all. I moved to the southern end and The only ones I can leave outside the fence are some around the driveway tucked into the lilacs. They did get a few nibbles last year but did not get eaten down to the roots.

THen my ducks discoverd that dahlias were good and ate all the fancy ones in my mixed perennial and rose garden by the front door..inside the deer fence.

This tells me that deer and ducks do communicate...and will gang up on you!

So far this year the deer have not discovered the dahlias growing in a parking strip bed that has lavender and cannas and alliums. Origonally it was to hold all my most special dahias but that idea did not last long!

Never trust any animal around your dahlias. If it does not eat them it will take a nap on them!

Like I said, the stinky stuff does work!

I always pinch off the lower leaves, as it allows for better air circulation, and hence there is less probability for mold to start. Do both,- add soil and pinch off the bottom leaves to about 6 inches above the soil when it is tall enough. The plants will love it.

Thanks jroot, that is what I'm going to do. I have a heavier container mix in my potted dahlias and I was reluctant to bury those leaves for fear of rot. The ones planted out in the garden still have a little way to go before I can pinch so maybe I'll experiment with some pinched and some buried.

Wood ashes are usually considered for potash content which help tubers to form. Check out the website below which discusses wood ashes.
You can use Mor-Bloom 0-10-10 which is an Alaska Corporation product at the rate of one quart a week per plant as a drench and this will stiffen your stems without giving the plants any nitrogen. The mixture rate is one tablespoon per gallon. You can also use it as a spray. You can find Mor-Bloom on the net or Lowe's and Home Depot now carry some Alaska products.

Here is a link that might be useful: UCONN IPM: Homegrounds: using wood ashes in the garden

Thanks for responding Huey and the website.

I couldn't stop myself and just poured a little ash in a semicircle around a number of my plants. We'll see. Meanwhile I will look for Mor-Bloom.

Patricia

Poochella - if you had seen how I mistreated my tubers.... I should have planted them out weeks before I got them in the ground. I also did something new with my container mix and I'm nervous that they won't like it. Last year I used straight Pro-Mix out of the bag for my containers and it stayed very wet all summer - has a lot of peat in it. My tuber production last year was really weak and the tubers didn't grow well - altho I had plenty of flowers, but I think we broke records for cloudy days and rain. So this year I mixed up container mix, Sweet Peet ( composted chips and cow manure ) and about 25% of a heavy shredded mulch for drainage. I put in 2 layers of Bulbtone - 1 way down in the pots and then one closer to the tubers. I use big 40 and 60 gallon containers on my deck for dahlias. Its going to be a very porous mix and of course this year is already a scorcher. It will be 95 tomorrow and we haven't had rain in 2 weeks.

I am trialing just 6 dahlias out in the garden to see if I can keep the critters off them. At least there are uninteresting perennials in front like peonies that the deer won't eat. This year of course I have my Otto's, and I decided to do screaming hot colors - orange Papageno, purple Thomas Edison, White Perfection, and pink Omega.

I also grow lilies in pots and I set a nice container of unknown asiatics that I forgot I planted last year till they sprouted.. out next to a bench. This morning my strongtoothed friends had nipped off the buds and left the pretty green stalks for me to enjoy. I sprayed pepper spray over my whole garden today. Blasted 4 legged rats.

I find that the direct planted dahlias catch up to the ones started in the greenhouse. The only benefit to starting early in my mind is with the late flowering varieties, and the tubors that don't look to good in early Spring. This gives them the benefit of not getting eaten by nasty little critters at soil level.

I agree with huey......strip off the bottom leaves and give the plants a shot of high nitrogen fertilizer. If they don't green up, try a fungicide.
DB

thanks to both of you. unfortunately, it's not just the bottom leaves and it seems limited to just one variety that i bought this year, so i'm pretty sure it's a bug or a fungus. i bought 2 kinds...one just a figaro mix, which are fine and "sunburst" which are beautiful, but yellowing on all the leaves. i'm going to try bayer's 3 in one rose and flower which is supposed to aid blooming (no real problem here), and control bugs and fungus. wish me luck. they will either be better when i get back from vacation or they will be near death........