3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
If the dahlias have not been dug and divided, the yield of blooms will decrease. I'll bet if you dig and divide them, you'll find a mass of tubers-separate and keep the best ones (make sure each one has an eye) and toss the rest-although I sometimes find my best dahlias in the compost pile.
Christine
Liza...I live in Vancouver, Wash and it is true we have had amuch cooler summer this year, nothing in the way as to shade them, I think my Dahlia's are just plain tired, I geuss I'll just dig them up and divide and replant, at my other place I never had good luck with Dahlia's, maybe I jinx them somehow, oh well we'll see what happens....
Gary,
I would love to make a trade with you. Haven't started digging them yet, as I'm putting off that huge job (1500 plants) as long as possible. If you are interested, e-mail me privately and I'll give you my website so you can see some of what I grow.
Teresa
I'd love some of your less common hydrangeas; here's the URL of my dahlia photos
http://groups.msn.com/ChristineTomRobertsonfamily/dahlias2004.msnw?albumlist=2
I won't know until early spring what I have to trade (I have some that I don't have photos of) and would like to wait until spring for a trade-if you don't mind waiting.
Christine
If you have a dahlia that is not vigorous, I would cull it. Put it on the compost pile, and don't give away. Most likely, the tubers from it will not be vigorous, either, and you don't want that to carry on. I cull anything that doesn't grow the way it should, or shows sign of any disease. Mildew, however, is not an internal disease and they shouldn't be culled because of this, if that's the only thing wrong with them (response to an earlier post).
Teresa
Not necessarily. My guess is that there is something going on with the leaves. Mildew or some other fungal things. This year I stripped the bottom leaves off my plants, the bottom 6" or so, as suggested by some others on the forum. It was to promote better air circulation. It seemed to make a difference. Several plants were bothered by mildew this year, they were dusted with sulpher.
Were the stem(s) healthy? Did you cut off ALL the leaves or just the affected ones.?
IMHO, don't give up on the tubers. At least until you get a good look at them.
Freezing- 32 degrees or freezing & thawing a number of times during the winter will rot them. Also standing water- when the ground freezes, gets ice on it & won't let the ground drain will rot them. You've been lucky if you haven't lost them at 19 or 29 degrees- it depends how deep they are planted as well- maybe since your cold spell was short-lived the ground didn't get a chance to freeze deeply enough to get the tubers.
I LIKE that one. But every new Dahlia that blooms becomes my new favorite. Thanx for Posting Jackie-O. Great Photo's - and you gave me my first smile of the day.
Now, time to git out thar - to water dahlias,
& block out a couple new planting beds for Spring!
I like the excitement of suprise - so I'm collecting seed-heads from my first-year Dahlias, and hopefully, I'll get around to starting them. The floor of my sunroom absorbs sun - enough to provide free Bottom-heat for seed-flats, I think.
I can't wait to have too many, so I can do more sharing of Tubers. I gave half of my first box to a neighbor already!
I always dead-head, so I don't get seeds. I dead-head so that the plant puts its energy into the creation of good strong tubers. As well, I can be sure of the colour and shape of the flowers.
.... different stroke for different folks.
Well, I should have read this last night! Happy Belated Birthday Anna. Your plant gave you a wonderful gift. I am really loving the reds this year, including your Babylon.
I haven't grown dahlias in any size pot, so I can't answer your question.
We had a tremendous wind yesterday that sent everything flying and felled a huge old tree. Happily DH forsaw to reinforce the support for my Babylon and so it was still intact when I returned home. But that tree - oh boy - what a sight!
Anna (Thanks again Sharon for the virtual bouquet at WS, and to Poochella for the virtual cake!! No calories in that!)
Cheers
Anna
Hi Karen - I live in NJ and have quite a number of my dahlias with the same problem - I believe it is from lack of rain (ones that weren't getting sprinkled seem to have more dead leaves), although I have a few that are right in the path of the sprinklers and they have the leaves dying as well. It doesn't seem to necessarily affect the blooms though, and I have noticed new growth coming out after I have trimmed off the dead leaves.
Nothing like a good rain (not just water and sprinklers) to make the dahlias thrive - maybe the acid in the rain?? Not really sure - but we got totally drenched yesterday and today the flowers are blooming like crazy!