3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
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
Plant it on it's side, wait a week or so & if it's still not showing a sprout, gently dig it up & check it for sprouts. Sometimes the sprout will be headed down & you can just turn it over & it'll be so happy that it didn't have to grow all the way around the tuber neck & back up that it will give you lots of nice blooms all summer long >:)
Thanx Willow & plantLady...
this was helpful to me too.
First timer nervousness hit when setting in my first few yeasterday. I wanted a picture of exactly how a happy tuber should look in it's initial growing space. Good that I can come back here to clarify a areas of uncertainty.
You all are the best - thanx for sharing!
We dig the hole 6" deep but only cover the tuber with 1-2" of soil to start. Then you can fill in the hole as the shoot gets above the ground. This way you don't have the water run off when irrigating, as it does when the tuber is planted shallow & then hilled up.
In New Brunswick, I'd be waiting until the first frost in the fall. The leaves will turn black after that. Then, I'd dig the whole plant up, and cut off the top. Clean them up; let them dry; separate if you can; dust with a fungicide, label them as to variety; wrap in saran wrap or recycled plastic shopping bags; put into paper bags; put into a cardboard box covered with newspaper; and store in the cold cellar for next April.
Then in April, you lay them out slightly covered with a growing media;
pot them up once they've started to sprout;
give them some light outside, but be prepared to take them indoors when it is cold;
and plant after ALL danger of frost has passed. Did I miss a step?
Seems like a lot of work, doesn't it. However, the reward is definitely there.
We just put them in berry flats full of potting soil--tubers so close together they touch -- to get them started. Then it's out into the garden with them after they have shoots & the weather is right. It doesn't hurt them to be close together at that stage as they're not growing tubers, they're growing some feeder roots but not enough to get all tangled up or anything. The berry flats are lined w/ newspaper so the soil doesn't all fall out!
34 degrees won't hurt your dahlias whether then are inside a cold frame of out in the open. However, forecasts can be a bit off target if you get a clear still night.
My own cold frame protection method is to throw old bed comforters over the cold frames on suspect nights. I have picked up a few comforters at fleamarkets and thrift stores for a couple of dollars and have found in side by side temperature observations that the covered cold frames stay 5-7 degrees warmer then uncovered frames.
However, on nights when the weatherman is actually predicting temperatures below 30 degrees I still tend to chicken out and get everything indoors for the night.
Wow - Willow what a great price for Vermiculite! And I've been buying the skimpy bags at the garden centers for the same price. Thanx for the tip! I love all my fresh compost too - Yesterday I turned 2 big piles and started a new one.
The last 2 I dug in and spread around was a marvelous experience! I bet a health study would show positive benefit form inhaling fresh compost aroma.
Preparing soil today - for planting my *first-ever*
FOUR Dahlia beds - with Tubers sent by Poochella!
This is so exciting. Quite a few are showing sprouts already - so I'm really eager to get 'em in the ground.
I'm mixing soft crumbly peat (NO gukky clumps)
into mixed sterile steer compost today - that looks and feels really good: dark with light texture,
so I couldn't resist mulching a bunch of transplants
with it - so i needed to make even more.
Then will dig that in this week - to new lasagna beds
that were turned under in last few weeks,
after having been covered with cardboard,
coffee-grounds & mounded leaves all winter.
The lasagna soil gets broken up to a crumbly state,
then a spade of fresh home-made compost goes in -
with the steer-peat mix for each wide planting hole - mixed well into the origional average dirt that formerly hosted grass. Then planting time - will be irresistable -
Should I wait for planting till I buy more Perlite - (or that vermiculite) or is the 1/3 peat, 1/3 dirt, with the 2 kinds of compost mix good enough to keep soil both light and free from baking/compacting in summer?
I'm leaning toward adding perlite or vermiculite first -
so tubers can form more easily for sharing.
(In Oregon it gets VERY wet sometimes, and also so HOT that the ground can bake into near concrete...)
Besides STAKES,
Can you think of anything else
that should be added for better bloom,
stronger stems, disease resistance, etc?
For Powdery Mildew prevention - I am considering using an early Comfrey foliar spray. And I've realized realize I've got borage in the garden - not comfrey - and I bet that would work *equally* well - but to my knowledge has not been thru the formal studies. Any opinion/experience?
I'm SO ready to go on this!
I sorted alot of tubers into groups today
and added the individual markers to each set
so none get lost once planted.
I plan to add groups if some mystery glads,
Lucifer Crocosmia,
and Canary Yellow Crocosmia (also from Poochella),
with Liatris (the spiky Purple GayFeather) to the beds
for foliage contrast, near existing Roses and Peonies that have nice bronzy leaves.
I expect to remove lower leaves from most Dahlias - and I don't really want their bare legs to show. So on borders I'll also plant some smaller flowers and add contrasting foliage plants.
Who needs grass in the Front yard anyway?!
Mine will be reduced nearly to just a wide path
for flower-bed access. I'm mulling how to best do the watering - I think by hand, slow with an aerating wand on the hose, so I can watch everything develop and spot weeds before they compete.
Another quick question - I have a free source for
Hemlock Bark Dust, that I'm thinking of using it in front just as an edge between grass and the Flowers. Is this OK?
I assume Hemlock is too acidic to use more widely as mulch. In back it's being used just for soft walking paths in full sun areas where grass does not do well and only weeds (and my cookng Amaranth) tend to flourish.
I look forward to finished planting,
& seeing pix of everyone's gardens!
Thanx so much for sharing info -
I've learned alot already.
Jules, If I were a plant, I'd want to end up in your yard! Your excitement and enthusiasm is clear and contagious.
I haven't had to add perlite or vermiculite per se, have done okay with just compost and (formerly) peat moss added to each dahlia hole. If you have heavy clay soil vermiculite might be a great additive. I throw my clay away into an usused part of the property, but others swear it can be turned into workable soil. (I am unconvinced having hand-chiselled through it with a poker hit with a rock and bending a pitchfork tine trying to get a cut into it- hideous stuff.)
If you have fairly decent soil, I'd just go with compost every year and mulch with more when the plants are up a foot or two. I have only the occasional weed directly around dahlias- whether that's from mulching or not, I don't know. The buttercups on the edge of the garden are a totally different story. Your tubers will form clumps easily enough in decent soil. Your yard will soon be the talk of Portland!
Watch your glads for signs of thrips- nearly invisible black streaks ~1/16 inch long. The first sign is foliage damage, then mis-shaped sad flower stalks. Potential disaster if they get into your dahlias. I still haven't planted my thrippy glads from last year and am thinking of burning them instead. Think I got one or two blooms out of 50 bulbs or corms, whatever they are. The pits.
I love watering by hand (please remind me of this in late July and August) It gives you a chance to see how the plants are doing, pluck a stray weed and disbud the dahlias as you go. I will sing a different tune if I ever have more than 150 plants, however. I think I sang that different tune last summer.
Good luck with your garden ventures PDX Jules.
Dutch Gardens at: http://www.dutchgardens.com/ is offering Claudette. Now at sale prices!
Here is a link that might be useful: Claudette by Verwer Dahlias
LOL! I've created a monster. It wasn't exactly advice Dapper- it was more of a silly thing I do because of lack of patience. But if it gave you some measure of satisfaction to yell at the tuber, then all's well.
I also do this to see if the slow tubers do indeed have eyes/sprouts or if they are rotting. It's not a lot, but a few get the 'dig-em-up' treatment each season. You don't have to yell at them, you can gently say "What's wrong? Are you shy?" "Having problems?" then yell "Get with the program! I don't have all year."
We have another glorious sunny day in store and my shovel's at the ready. All this talk about planting has my trigger finger itchy, but I know it's too early to plant here.... sigh
Great shot, Bernie. My problem is keeping the temperature low. Already my "cold cellar" is 58*, and yet it is about 40* outside today. Unfortunately, the sun hits one wall of my "cold cellar".
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.