3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias

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........

Shrivelled isn't ideal, but it's not the death knell either. Go ahead and plant them. Don't let them sit out in the air much longer. I looked at your photos and see a few candidate spots where eyes might be on several of the tubers. Look on the collar of the tuber for a small raised bump- perhaps pale yellow, pink, or very pale green, and plant that side up.

Or, if you want to make sure they have eyes, you can put the clumps in a gallon bag with barely moist potting soil, top of bag open. Keep them warm and light and within days those bumps should become visible. You don't need to bury them, just a few handsful of soil with a couple tbsp of water mushed around to give them a little moisture. Works like a charm here.

Good luck!

I am happy to report that my dahlias survived. I planted them soon after this post. Awhile back two popped up that i planted in a corner of the yard so wouldnt be disturbed.

As well, one came up where I originally dug them up, must have missed one. They are all about 8 inches high.

I am thrilled. So, I have one to share if anyone in OC wants one.

Thanks for all the help.

How interesting.

The viral diseases look similar to Rose Mosaic Virus. And Smut looks like watering leaves in the heat of the day.

I don't think I'll look to closely.

Carol

Is crown gall contagious to other dahlias?

Don't forget to check out the Gallery for pictures!

I am so excited having just picked 4 blooms from Dahlias started in pots then transplanted to my garden in May. I beleive these are all Orchid types if that is what the single ones with the rolled and pointed petals are. I saw a Display of these at Pt Defiance parks' dalia garden last year and just had to buy every one of them I culd find! I am in love with them even with their first bloom on small plants and can not wait until they get up to size and blooming at eye level or above like the ones at the park! I think 2 of these first ones were Northfield Sparkler and Amy's Star.