3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
No, you probably did not kill them. This is an essential step. Plant them with the eye facing upward, and you will soon have more plants. If you can't see the eye, then plant it horizontally until the eye appears and you see a small shoot, then replant properly. Check out some of the other posts here in the forum for some good advice on planting and/or setting in trays to wait for the eyes to develop.
Be aware, that many tubers don't develop eyes, and thus won't grow plants. I have at least 4 trays full of tubers that I am waiting to have develop shoots. These tubers are mainly a storage house for food for the plant.
Good luck.
I was planing on selling them in cut flower shops with coolers and boquets or puting a sign along the road with something along the lines of cut flowers for sale or cut your own fresh flowers. There are a large number of tourists in my area and i figured that might be a rather large market. :o) i have 3 summers until i would be in college and that is plenty of time to see what works and
what people buy. My main plant is going to be dahlias but i have some zinnias and others too. This should be fun!
Carrie
You don't NEED to do the splitting if you don't want more plants. What you can do is pinch off the smaller shoots that come up, saving the strongest.
For example, I would keep the tallest here, and pinch off the smaller ones.
However, if you wanted MORE plants, then they could be split as indicated in the other posting.
I hope that helps.
I recently waslike you and bought some tubers froma seed store. I had them for about a week and they started to sprout in the warm weather so i split them up. I started with 7 plants(or bunches or whatever they are called) and came out with 16. If you want more split them up when you see sprouts...if you dont want more dont. :o)
Hi aspringer,
I imagine you'll have to wait a while in your zone before it's warm enough to plant outside safely. You can go the link below and read "pre-season" and "growing season" tips, or even submit your question giving your specific location and temps.
Lots of good info there for the NE USA.
Here is a link that might be useful: Mid Island Dahlia Society in Long Island NY
We tie all the seedlings - thousands of them-- up in rows with stakes -- (don't try steaks or you will attract all the dogs in the neighborhood >;) ) & Christmas tree twine. The twine is available at your local feed store - it works better than sisal because it doesn't stretch in the wet & regular string for beans or sweetpeas isn't heavy enough. See pictures in our "Seedlings" album- page 5. If the plant gets heavy & wants to fall over you just have to tie to the twine on either side of the plant
Here is a link that might be useful: Wynne's albums
Nice photos, Poochella. I use a similar method with the wooden stakes. You certainly have a LOT of dahlia plants. I tend to give a lot away to friends, or the local garden club. You'll be setting up a busines soon, ( if you haven't already)
Oh, BTW, nice pooch, too.
Look for Black Night at this ip address http://dahlias.net/dahwebpg/Gallery/GalleryHtms/BlackNight.htm
I don't know about Andy D. Hope this helps.
You will get one large bloom at the top of the plant & then later the side branches will put out blooms as well. We hardly ever top our AA sized dahlias as the first bloom is the biggest & best for gathering seed & gets longer to dry on the plant in our wet NW weather.
Great choices. They look really good.
By the way on that link I see 'snow country' is on it. I had great satisfaction and success with those last summer. They produce a great 'dinner plate' sized double bloom flowers that thrived in sun and part shade. Lots of cut flowers proveided and what I found was that when the blooms began to fade, the plant very obligingly allowed you to pull out the outer layer of petals so that each flower looked perfect for ages. The double blooms had so many layers you couldn't tell that anything had been removed. I've set a tuber up a while ago which is sprouting cuttings for me right now for this summer.
What a great tip to remove some of the outer fading petals...it might even work on some of the smaller types. Your mention of dinner-plate sizes reminded me of another British writer, Margery Fish, and her hilarious tales of her husband's love for huge dahlias (they weren't her favorites). Guess you can tell I love garden books...and those I read back in the 60'-70's when I first started gardening are still favorites. I'm still working through my long lists of plants I first met then and said "I must try that someday." Finally got arond to Dahlias (to end on-topic). josh
P.S. I didn't move from GA to AL overnight..just finally updated my Member Page. josh
Turns out the plant sale was a madhouse and the lady buying me the plants couldn't even get near them. Which is fine. I'm trying some Karma dahlias for the first time, just split an order w/ a friend, and have my transplants in the ground.
Can't wait to see how they do!
Susi.
'Ralph's Rainbow' was actually a one time fault of nature which was exhibited at a dahlia show. The photo is real with no alteration.
The explanation was a cell division failure EARLY on in the development of the bloom. During this cell division one of the two split cells lost its color gene for yellow.
The back part of the picture shows the natural color of the bloom which is a Light Orange and Yellow blend. The front part of the bloom lacks this yellow gene and Light Orange minus Yellow equals Pink while Yellow minus Yellow equals White.
I suppose it's practice, practice, practice which you would get in a day if you worked for a dahlia grower. Jroot's pictures are still available,but it's still a challenge. I finally potted up my new babies and chopped into several old clumps. Surprisingly I still have a few pieces of each to plant, but like the dumb-dumb that I am___ had the names all written on the newspaper around the roots__and after stirring through the cooler several times over winter, most of the papers are in the bottom of the cooler and which is which, __I haven't a clue. Garden club exchange is today!!! Alas, all is not lost___ these ladies will take anything__well, almost anything.
Yes, what Plantlady said. I had about two glad blooms last year out of 50 or more. Total infestation with thrips and I spent a good deal of time hovering over the nearby dahlias waiting for the little suckers to show up. thankfully they never did.
That was my first experience with thrips and I hope the last.
The roots will come from where the leaf node is, so yes, that must be put in the bedding mixture. I will put mine about 3/4 to an inch or so below the surface, thus preventing the drying out process. If I get a day off work soon, I will try to show some photos on stem cuttings.
Meanwhile add some rooting hormone, and stick it in. Keep it moist but not wet. I would also keep it out of the direct light at this point, preferring heavy a shaded area outdoors or a light system indoors. Don't let it get too hot either.