3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
We harvest seed pods when they turn straw color and are just starting to dry out. The key is in how ripe the seeds are: carefully open the pod while it is still on the plant and examine the seeds. If they are black, they are ripe. If they are dark brown they may be ripe. If they are green, they are definitely not ripe.
We shuck the seeds within a day of harvest as we have noticed that many pods will rot if you try to dry them out in the house. There may be a slight loss of germination percentage but rotten seeds never sprout.
I have my dahlia in a container and it was blooming when I got it home from the nursery but ever since then it had not bloomed again. Keeps growing taller but no blooms. I am thinking of digging it up and storing it for the winter. Any advice when I should do this? I love in Chicago.
Can you plant whatever it is over the top- if it has shallow roots? I do this every year w/ my tulips & daffs- plant the Impatiens & begonias on top of them for the summer.
50* is too warm for storage out of the ground- they'll either start sprouting or shrivel up to hard sticks & or both- sprout first & then shrivel up.
Certainly Dahlias can be grown in pots. Use a nice large pot 16 inches or more for pot size cause the plants will get rather large. Still need a stake for those growing 4 ft or more. I use Miracle Grow potting soil so that it will get continued feeding and also feed weekly with a water soluable fertlizer. Have to watch the plants with watering as they will dry quickly in the summer, but if you watch your plants like I do they will certainly tell you they need water. Potted Dahlias will still produce tubers.
Sue
Gee your artful summation of the season's approaching end makes me long for a Kleenex and my hopeful reply to you is: I hope you don't get a heavier frost and that your season again goes well into November.
You will know when you've had a killing frost. Nearly every molecule of water in those highly hydrated plants will freeze, discolor, and flop into a limp mass of upright,unappealing nothingness. A lighter frost won't do it, but you might notice some crunchiness and discoloration/fading to delicate petals in the case of 'near freeze.'
Re the cutting down and open holes on stalks. If you have no rain, I wouldn't worry about them at all. If rain looms or you can't get them all dug in 3 days, just put a little cap of aluminum foil over the open stalk cut. No need to worry about covering any more than that- just the hollow main/large stems.
Yes, they look so disgusting after the killing frost; you'll know it when you see it! Do you know what Impatiens look like after a frost? Dahlias are similar, but on a much larger scale. Drier annuals just look dead, shrivelled, or dried up; the fleshier/watery-stemmed ones look like cooked spinach or limp seaweed tied to a stalk. Doubly repellant when they were beautiful a day or two before. Like aliens passed through in the night and stole your lovely plants and substituted a disgusting underwater monstrosity from THEIR planet.
We have the snow today, Thursday, and the cold temperature as well. Oh, why did I plan a holiday in Chicago this coming week? LOL. Hopefully they have the heat on in the art institute or my wife will be quite upset. Maybe they have some nice paintings of dahlias. LOL
The cold and snow today in Chicago is a fluke. Normally we have a really nice fall season. Hopefully it will be better when you visit. I don't know about dahlia paintings at the Art Institure, but you could catch a Monet water lily or two, plus a couple of Georgia O'Keeffe flowers! More landscapes than flowers for the latter....
Have great trip!
Years ago my husband found some concrete wire at a yard sale that was cheap cheap cheap......he used some of it to make cages for his tomatoes....he made the rest of the wire into 4 ft cages for my dahlias....he cut the bottom horizontal wire off so there were vertical wires to stick into the ground....i used old wood stakes from my neighbor to tie the plants up initially and as the dahlias grew...the cages kept the plants contained as they grew taller....we use them every year now...works very well for us....
carol
I feel your pain. I always lost gorgeous dahlias each year myself until I found a product through Gardener's Supply Company. They sell tomato and vegetable ladders (one is tall, one is shorter). See the link below. They sell them in groups of 5. Your hubby has to realize that you must have some staking system with dahlias, but I know where he's coming from. I always felt that it looked like a graveyard in my beds until the plants grew up.
These ladders were the least obnoxious and most sturdy that I've yet to find. This was my first year with them and I can't recommend them highly enough. You can weave the plants through them as they grow or tie them onto the cage easily. These ladders are so much more stable than stakes or the usual tomato cages because of the way they are designed. The Achilles' heal of most staking systems is that the plant is a lot heavier than the stake that is used to support it - which is why they fall over. Not true with these ladders - they are substantial. Once you push them into the ground, they don't move. Plus the green coloring blends right into the plants; and you can attach your plant tags easily to the frame. I can only grow 10-12 dahlias in my yard, so for me they are worth the one-time investment. For people that grow more, it would probably be too expensive - it really depends on how many you need. We've had some large wind and rain storms recently and they have not budged. They're good with any plant that needs support, not just dahlias or vegetables, so they have multiple uses. I used one to grow a clematis against my birdfeeder pole and one for a morning glory vine, and you know how big and heavy those can get.
Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato and Vegetable Ladders
The advantage of the Saran Wrap method, or my recycled plastic grocery store bag method, is that it stops dehydrationi to a large extent. When tubers are stored in peat moss, or wood shavings, they do have extra insulation, but the media can absorb moisture from the tubers.
If I were you, I would not dry them too long, but rather after a day, now that they are cleaned etc, get them into the recycled grocery store bag with fungicide, or the saran wrap. Check out the other comments on this forum. I would NOT toss them. You never know, they may just make it.
Thanks, Anna. Our basement is about the same temp. They're pretty interesting plants and I was surprised and pleased with my first year results so I don't want to lose the precious tubers.
I pinch back my dahlias, and I have several that are in the 7-8' range as well. My Insipic is tall and VERY bushy - I can't even stake it up anymore, although I have to admit, it has done fine on its own - it is about 7' high and about the same wide! Doesn't make a great cut flower, but looks great on the cul-de-sac - tons of blooms all summer long.
I had my best year ever with dahlias - maybe because I planted so many, maybe because I planted them all in a quart of manure. Keeping fingers crossed for tonight and tomorrow nite - don't want to hear that "F" word (frost). If we make it through, we should have at least a week more which I need. Have way too many buds and some on plants that have yet to bloom!