3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
I believe those pictures reflect cutting the tuber off both to save space and avoid a lazy tuber the next spring when they're planted. With long, or plump tubers they will sometimes take their sweet time kicking out a plant. That can be avoided by giving the dahlia less tuber to nourish itself and prompt it to put out foliage and roots to get its nutrients.
Something to that effect. Bernie might give you his answer as I think you refer to his photos.
`I read this somewhere and it works well for me. After digging your tubers in the fall take time to replenish the soil with whatever amendments you need. when spring comes you are ready to plant. Where I live you don't have to dig dahlias, but I can never leave them more than 2 years or they get so big I can't even lift them out of the ground.
I personally get almost all of my dahlias through the spring tuber sale put on by our local dahlia society (Puget Sound Dahlia Association); they will replace tubers which don't grow or are not true to type. If you get in on the first day of the sale, there are loads of varieties you won't find through the big suppliers.
For those in different areas of the country, now is a good time to find out who your local dahlias societies are (they should be having dahlia shows soon) and ask about spring tuber sales. Also, if you go to one of their shows, you will see all the beautiful blooms in person.
I also get some dahlias in trade on this board...
Christine
LOL My friend survived the wrath of the Dahlia lover, and Inland Dynasty has one little bud. I'm hoping it'll produce at least ONE good bloom.
I posted in the gallery of what has bloomed. So far it's been all my dwarfs (accept one Ellen Houston)
FOR SURE I'll be posting pics of the beauts that come. So far this has been an awsome summer and I figure I'm about 2-3 weeks ahead of prior years.
*Jumps with Glee*
Nikki~
Hmmm,
I should have searched before I posted a new message. I have the same problem. Just as one of my dinnerplates was about to bloom, we got a huge storm yesterday and even though the dahlias are all against the house, one of them (and some balsam) got absolutely beaten down and the trunk broke from the root.
The plus is, if I do get this portion to root, I will have two of this multi-colored one (it's pale pink, white, yellow, and purple...all in one.)
Do you want to move them this season? You don't say how tall they are, but if you do move them: dig up well around the stalk- at least 6-8 inches on any side of it and as deep as your shovel. If you lift as much dirt as possible with the tuber/s and have a helper hold the stalk you should be able to move it without any problem. You might not even need a helper if it's a shorter plant, or your shovel weilding arm is strong.
Just try to do the moving in early a.m. or evening. Helps to have its new home all ready so you can just plop it in, water, tidy up the soil, and pretend it never happened.
If you mean to leave them as is for this season, I would think to move them in the winter after you cut off the foliage. The risk being if you wait for spring, you have a better chance of breaking off new growth started underground by then. Could probably do just about anything and it would work.
georgiagardener, I have had one bloom so far. The first bloom looked exactly like the photo at the Flower Scent Gardens site but didn't have a fragrance other than the usual dahlia scent. I have another bloom on it now but it looks like a regular single dahlia. There are lots of buds so we shall see. I'm hopeful. Are you growing it as well?
That's because the photo was taken back in June. The leaves are now covered with the white spots. It was the best photo I had at the time. With the heavy rains, I couldn't go outside to take newer photos.
They do still bloom and grow, though. But still... I'd like to find out what that is in the even it is contagious.
Thanks!
They should be winter hardy for you then. And you have extended period to grow them compared to zone 4. So plant them now, they should be fine!
I personally took an advice from this forum. Since they should be planted 6" deep I planted them so, but covered only with 1" of dirt, putting the rest of the soil aside. As they will grow taller, I will add this soil. I planted them on July 14th, and they are about 2-3" now.
Growing Dahlia
Hope it helps.
Bayer makes a fert. with insecticide in it [granule form]. This works really well for me. The plant soak up the insecticide just as they do the fert. Dahlias love the stuff -- as do all the plants and shrubs I've used it on. Really does cut down on pests without the worries of spraying. Bought it from HD. Rose & flowering plant specific but have used it on other plants with the same great results.
I don't think it was the full sun issue. Where I have my dahlias now is even more sun than in my front window which gets a fair amount.
As for the Miricle Grow....it seems to work for mine, like I said in a prior post, I'm way ahead of the game in the bud situation.
Maybe it wasn't ment for me.....*shrugs* I dunno lol So long as they're doing well now though ;o)
Nikki~
Well, I sort of have the answer here =] My Dahlias were attacked earlier in the bloom cycle by some bugs [grrr!] that ate the flowers completely [double grrrr!] The end result was having to cut off the remnants of the flowers because they looked terrible. Within two weeks they put out 3x the number of buds [determined to bloom, I guess].
Also found that pruning damaged leaves and promptly removing wilted flowers causes better growth and more flowering.
Hope that helps.
Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm tempted to try it with some of my seed-grown cactus-flowering dahlias (sown last year and flowering now for the first time). They are growing a bit sparsely and putting up just a few tall flowering stems (but with lovely blooms!), so I've got nothing to lose. And if I get more flowers later in the season, it'll be worth it.
Oh Good grief.....yes....Floodlight...not headlight. (and yes.....they just glow bright in the evenings. I know I just LOVED it! (and still do)
And don't worry JRoot....I won't forget to remind you. Do prefer to divide in the spring, or in the fall?
I'll be keeping my eyes on what you have ;)
Nikki~
Well - they're simply not blooming, or blooming very little and very slowly. Unlike the special dahlia bed that DH dug for me this year - (this is the first time they have been in the ground, and I know he put a ton of home-made compost there). Maybe that's the key - more compost in the potted ones? I was reluctant to put too much as my compost is rather on the raw side - not fine - tiny worms, etc.
Is it true that the more you cut the blooms, the more blooms will appear?
Well I'm right there with you on the SLOW thing. I didn't get many in the ground until June I guess, but it seems really pathetically slow this year. Our weather has been wonderful so I don't know the answer.
When I prepared my pots for dahlias I had a big pile of my wormy compost, some topsoil comprised of about 1/3 sand and good potting soil. I mixed those 3 things together along with Soil Moist crystals and planted in that. They were the first or near the first flowers to bloom, but the pots are black and soak up sun/heat like crazy. Maybe more compost next year? I don't think it could hurt if mixed in well and worms are good! The only tubers I've seen worms bother are already rotting ones.