3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
A lot of people buy (or make) wooden steaks and hammer them into the ground when they plant thier tuber. (they put it in when they pant thier tuber because they dont want to put a steak through the tuber :o) ) You can get steaks like that at a hardware store. I think that even a plastic or metal treated pole or a tomatoe cage whatever you have will do the trick. :o)
Wooden stakes, pvc or rebar lengths are all easy to store in the off season. Tomato cages, fencing posts and strings or wires are other options.
Here is a link that might be useful: Supporting Dahlias
Bedding dahlias can be planted in mixed pots quite close together- I've put them in 10-12" pots with lots of other plants & they do very well so I would guess that you would be just fine putting 2 or 3 in a 10-12" pot. You don't have to pinch them back but be sure to dead-head all summer to keep them blooming. They will even grow some little tubers for you to dig up & store in the fall.
I'm in Zone 7 and last year I experimented with some cheap dahlias to see what happens when I left them out over winter. I left 5 in native soil (clay ammended with compost) I left 5 in a raised bed - compost and bagged topsoil. I put 5 in a ziplock with some peat and put it in an attached garage.
Of the 5 in native soil, only one survived. The rest completely rotted away. In the raised bed, all 5 survived. In the ziplock, all 5 survived.
For people in different zones, we got a few days of snow this year but our ground never freezes. It was a fairly wet winter overall which probably didn't help the ones in the ground. In the future, I will be lifting all of them except those in raised beds. If I were farther north, I would lift them all.
Hi Dapper Dahlia!
Thanks for the info...I'm sure I'll have tons more questions when my "Blue Bell" arrives.
I received email confirmation today that my Dahlia Blue Bell has been shipped. I should get it this weekend. I can't wait! My very first. Boy, I hope it grows.
Thanks again!
Don't count on it being blue as there aren't any blue dahlias. No blue genes in dahlias-- hence-- no blue dahlias! Really ticks me of when companies advertise so-called blue dahlias, sell them to people who are then disappointed when the flowers aren't blue at all. A pox on them!!
The Mid-Island Dahlia Society on Long Island has a well illustrated article on how to top and otherwise control dahlia growth at the link included below.
Here is a link that might be useful: Controlling Plant Growth
What a great link for info, UpWithDahlias! Thanks!
Now, is that recommended only for dinner plate and other big dahlias, or all of them?
Also, can I use the same theory on my gardenia cuttings that are busy building away at strong roots?
Thanks!
I also leave mine wrapped until ready to pot up. The area mine are in now is 60 degrees and the tubers I still have wrapped up are just fine. Some may have a 2 or so inch sprout already and some are just starting to eye up. If you unwrap them and leave them unwrapped they will dry out.
Hey!!!I thought everyone yelled at their plants one time or another. Maybe that's why my kids keep asking me if I'm ready for "assisted living", they hear me talking to my plants and sometimes I get downright cranky with them! I guess the kids think I've lost it, but then I remind them how they talk to their own kids sometimes. Not very nice maybe, but oh so effective!
Well, I figured I was missing out on something; planted my new babies (all 39 of them) and have them under glass in a cold frame. So, today since you all were taking a peek, I dug into 11 or 12 of the pots and found a shoot or shoots coming on all but one of them. The mix seemed so nice and warm I was surprised with our weather having a chill factor and below freezing temperatures the past 4 nights and no sun during the daylight hours.
I told them "see you later when you have a flower" and put them back to sleep. Am I now an official dahlia watcher? He he he.
I didn't tell dh what I was up to___ he'd say in their own sweet time_____when they are ready, they'll be up!!!
I would wait to plant in MI for a bit yet. I would also watch the tuber to make sure it has some viable eye. If so, planting at a 4 inch depth covering with 2 inches of soil and filling in as it grows should work well- just protect it from frosty nights, and slugs if you have them.
"loose clump connected by strings" is a total mystery to me, could be a small clump of tubers surrounded by old roots? Do you see any signs of growth near the old stems?
There are alot of good dahlia growers out there who back up their product, but perhaps you got a good deal. I hope they work out for you.
The following is a link to the dahlia seed selections in the 2005 Thompson & Morgan USA catalog
Here is a link that might be useful: Thompson & Morgan
It sure sounds like your stored dahlias have come out of the closet in good shape and the ones with green sprouts are ready to go in the ground as soon the threat of frost goes away.
There is nothing crazy about it. This is how you overwinter dahlias, and you could likely divide them to get more plants. That's when the crazy part comes in.
For the ones without sprouts showing, look for small obvious swellings in possibly dark pink, purple, or even green colors on the stem end of the tuber, right near last year's stem. Those are the eyes and will go on to produce plants.
The ones without visible eyes are worth saving for now. Expose them to some bright light, be careful they don't dry out, mist them with a spritz of water every few days if they do. Give them time to "eye up" and prove that they have life left in them. Some varieties are VERY slow to show eyes. Pathetically slow, really. Hideously slow.
If they are mushy, rotten, moldy or dried up like mummies toss them.
Good luck with your plants.
Here is a link that might be useful: dividing tubers-Colorado Dahlia Society
Great...thanks for the info! I appreciate it!
Jodi