3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
Well the little bums! Steel wool or a layer of small mesh hardware cloth (1/2 inch mesh) might help. We have our old kitchen cabinets in the tuber room in the garage and there isn't one drawer that doesn't have sunflower seeds or peanut husks in them LOL! I store in styrofoam coolers and to date have had no trespassers.
I hope you can trim the chewed tubers and still use them. Aside from the rodent attack, did the Saran wrap work for you?
Actually the Saran wrap did work. There was no freezing or drying out and the chewed tubers were otherwise firm. When I discovered the destruction I didn't have the heart to look to see if any eyes remained. I'll have a look tomorrow.
Sharon
The only way to know for sure is to watch the clump for additional eyes/sprouts to form. You might want to place the clumps ( and long tubers fallen from the clumps) into some damp peat or soil and keep an eye on them for a couple weeks. If nothing else, plant the clumps with the known eyes.
If you see other sprouts, there is a long thread on dividing tubers from last October/November or so.
Good luck.
Oh no!!!......
I have never had a problem with my dahlias getting eaten........but I do have a problem with columbines......its tiny green worms that attack the columbines and last year they were found on some of my roses.
Now I don't know if this will work or not for your dahlias but when I sprayed the roses last year with a solution of 1 part whole milk and 2 parts water....for mildew....the little green worms disappeared as well. I plan on trying that on my columbines this year. Who knows??? but if it does work, it will be a safe spray to use...
Good Luck,
Sierra
I had lots of very dry shrivelled looking tubers. Just as an experiment, I stuck them into some damp vermiculite (crown end up), and amazingly, almost all of them showed eyes within a couple of weeks and are producing a rather healthy looking root system.
Anna
It would appear that what you are doing is correct.
You read to cut the tuber off with a piece of the stem attached and put it in soil and just cover the bottom half. This is what I do. You also mentioned that the end with the piece of stem just stick out above the soil. This is correct. Lastly you mentioned that some tubers are just feeder tubers and they won't sprout. This is definitely correct. Just yesterday, I threw out a tuber that was firm and plump, looked like it "should" have had eyes on its stem, but alas just sat there growing huge roots. It is hard to tell sometimes, which ones will sprout. Others, that I thought would have one sprout, have many.
Emory Paul is indeed a beautiful dahlia. My sister has it, and has had good success in keeping it.
I suppose that depends on how many you have, and how diligent you are, but most importantly if the soil has good drainage.
I don't think the temperature should be a real issue. I've had mine outdoors ( in pots ) for the past month, and our weather conditions are similar at this point. The only reason I have not planted them is because I know that we can get frost up to the end of May.
While the weather is not ideal, it is not the death knoll, unless the soil gets too wet, and then rot can occur.
Hi,
Well I planted my dinner plates a week ago when it was warm, but now we have had a low pressure system hovering over us for 4-5 days of low to high 40's and rain all the time! Should I dig them up or wait it out?
Good day...
intercessor
This is my first dahlias or gardening year for that matter...
I wouldn't call 6" tall and 6-8 pairs of leaves leggy. More like bushy already. Best to nip at 2 or 3 sets of true leaves, and this happens at 4"-6" for my non-leggy rooted cuttings. If you wait too much later, the stems get hollow and can gather/hold water and rot the plant. I pinch some of mine a second time if started early enough. Serves the double purpose of making them bushier and keeping the early growth in check. Good Luck.
Clay
Ususlly the "stopping" (pinching out of the growing tip) is done at about 1' tall. When you plant your potted dahlias out you can take off a pair or 2 of the leaves & plant them deeper like you would a tomato plant if you think they're too tall & floppy.
But isn't a new snowfall clean and pretty. We had 4 inches and got 2 more.
Besides, I was ready for a gardening break.
First inspection of tubers found 4 or 5 with sprouts. I didn't break them off___just hustled them back in the cooler and told them it was too early. Just nestle down in your saran wrap and sleep for another month or so.
Rabbits do this in our garden if we don't put chicken wire around the whole field. They do it in the rose garden, too-- & look you right in the eye while they bite off a stem & leave it there, then hop away! I tried blood meal in the rose garden & that worked until the first rain & then they were right back at it but the big garden is just too big to do that so the husband puts 3' high chicken wire around it until the plants get a couple of feet high. They don't seem to like the plants after they get big-- too tough I suppose.
I'll bet you're right! I've seen cutworms (I've always called them roly poly's) in my garden before, but I have never had a problem with them destroying my plants. They didn't touch my zinnias that I had planted last year.
Now off to research cutworm control!
Thanks so much, this is a great forum!
Happy gardening! BTW- my windowbox dahlias are FULL of buds, I can't wait to see what my first dahlias ever look like. I feel like an expectant mother!