3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
I'd go straight to the folks who know, at the link below.
Here is a link that might be useful: N Carolina link
Got some photos for you to check if your bugs are the same as mine.
Here is a link that might be useful: Cucumber beetles
Thank you for the photos - I recognized "mine" in the green ones with the black dots; I also have many beetles of a smaller size, also green, but without dots - not sure, may be they just youngsters. I also tried to pick them, but it does not seem to help a lot, even I tried to do it daily for some time. Insecticidial soap worked, but it was not as efficient as I would hope for What I DO NOT recommend is to use the Spray Oil (on the basis of petrolim oil). It may be OK for leaves, but it burned up the flowers. I am still looking for something more efficient. I will try your recommendtion Thanks again! Will let you know results
First of all- don't expect your dahlia seedlings to look anything like the parent plant- they won't- too many gene combinations for that to happen. The seeds themselves look kind of like flattened earwigs- complete w/ 2 "feelers" on one end-- must be all that time they spend with the little monsters as blooms!
You can see pictures of dahlia seeds in our "Seedlings" album at this site--
Here is a link that might be useful: Wynne's Dahlia Albums
And here I am wanting to print a copy of that great photo JRoot, because I MISS THE GREY SQUIRRELS! They have been driven out by an entire, growing colony of red squirrels who chirp incessantly, constantly raid the bird feeders. Thankfully they don't seem to do much more gardening than to plant pockets of sunflowers here and there (excllent germination rate BTW.) I have seen about one visit from one grey squirrel annually for several years. I saw one last week. It was like a T-rex ambled over it looked so huge compared to the red rodents, and equally rare.
Thanks for your great photo and save the dahlias!
Poochella, watch for a truck load of the &%#* grey rodents coming your way! I have your address! :-P I'll be happy to spring for the freight. Those varmints bite off everything by the fence. Last year, they even took ALL my peaches off the tree.
Jroot, great photo. How come I thought you were a woman all this time? Sorry about that.
Just five????? Well....Hmmmmmm.... I can tell you that I always plant Kelvin Floodlight and Thomas A. Edison. Like everyone else, I get new favorites every year. I am waiting for a few new ones to bloom so........ To be honest, I love them all!!!!!!!!!!!
Spike, Zorro, Edna C, Moonlight Sonata, Almand's Climax, Kidds Climax, Hamari Gold, Hamari Accord, Highlighter, Cinnabar, Bonaventure, Feisty Freda, (oh my gosh- you've got to be kidding-- dahlia growers can't count to just 5!)-- & all of the 6,000 seedlings in our Big Garden!
Oh my well you mentioned your first problem which is that it didnt have any sunshine and the fertilizer may have made them stems mushy but someone else could probably be more help in the department but my dahlias are being finicky this year and not doing well at all maybe its something in the air...
As you may know, dahlias love sun, they do not like wet feet, so fast draining soil is best. Also, if you want to grow the same variety that you bought...seed is not the way. You can propagate from root division, root cuttings and the like. Basically it is like cloning. If you grow from seed, there is no guarantee what type of flower you will get! I would place the plant in a warm sunny location. Give it a mild fetilizing of an organic liquid like Dr. Earth. Trim off the dead parts. Dahlia are pretty resilient..Good Luck...
It's been a real hodpodge of fertilizing here. Starting out with the usual compost in the hole, then 10-10-10 fertilizer that I didn't think was doing well enough so I just blasted many of my plants with a dose Osmocote. In between those was MorBloom 0-10-10.
I can't tell if it's been our very slow-to-arrive summer weather, or if it was the sluggish fertlizer, but many of my plants are shorter than usual. Other NW dahlia gardeners are reporting the same problem.
hehe. I've got at least 8 of them, I think I'VE been mass marketed.
A friend of mine took a look and wasn't sure if he liked it, he wasn't too keen on the color combo I guess. I like the blend of pink and yellow. Splash a little rum on it and you've got an exotic drink... no wait, it's not Friday yet...and the cactus(?) form is cool, but is it really a cactus? I guess a lacinated flower is a different group of dahlias than cactus.
I don't know, I like it anyway. Hopefully next year I can get a few complementary colors to go with it.
Lacinated is a different form than cactus- -- it used to be called fimbriated cactus- The only time it counts is if you're entering them in a show & then they have to go in the lacinated section not the cactus section. So-- who cares as long as you love 'em?!
Too much fertilizer and not enough sun perhaps??? It would be worth that price to me if the plants was already increasing under the soil AND if it was a named cultivar because then I could do some trading this Fall or next Spring. But since I am not familiar with 'Fred Meyer" I can't attest to the reliability of them as it relates to trueness of cultivars. My 2 cents.
The most I paid this year for a Named Dahlia tuber was $5.00. That was on-line from Danielles Dahlias-I've had good results buying from them. Most were priced well under that.
Poochella - you're too funny! I feel tall but unfortunately the skinny part escapes me. Guess I'm a snaccoon too.
I bought mostly 15" to 20" dahlias to start with. And they are getting full afternoon sun from about 12:30 to 2:30 or 3. They often wilt a bit and then recover later, even though they are not dry. I have to confess after seeing the prices, and having watched caladiums do so poorly here in containers (soil temps not high enough last couple years), I bought my dahlias for $8.49/9 tubers at Costco in February. They have names and they've bloomed true to the pictures but I'm sure these are run of the mill dahlias. Then again you never know, Costco does surprise sometimes. Anyway, they have flopped a bit out of the containers but have remained about 15" to 24" high and thick and green. I gots lots of green. I wants more flowers. I thought Bulbtone and tomato fertilizer would be the right thing to do. I will not fertilize again - I think they've had enough. What I was wondering is whether August will bring the blooms - are they just not quite in season yet? It's sure been HOT enough for tubers, just not sure they are getting the right sun requirements.
The ones that have really taken off are 2 small singles, a ruby red with yellow center and a very white with yellow center. I've cut a lot of them and they are behaving just like CCDahlias said they would - putting out more buds and blooms. I have enormous pots of Verbena Bonariensis towering over their heads and I rather like the combination. Very lush. The ones that are hanging back are Mum-type purples. I suppose I could go look up the names and I bet some dahlias are more prolific than others. If somebody can answer that I'll go hunt up the names.
But I was wondering, if dahlias are originally from Mexico, I wonder what part? Most of Mexico is beastly hot and sunny in the daytime, and often dry as well - think bougainvillea. I suppose around Mexico City where the elevations are higher they might moderate the temps. I would think a tuber would rot in the high humidity jungle areas along the Gulf Coasts. Well if anyone knows, I thought that might give a clue as to what environment to duplicate.
I have some doing the same thing. I'm not sure what causes it. The good news is that there will be more buds coming along.