3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
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.
Pinch off the lower leaves & plant deeper & you will get more tubers in the fall from where all the leaves were pinched off. When we plant the new seedling babies out in the field Walt always takes off at least 2 sets of leaves & plants deep- just like tomatoes.
BTW-- 189 new "seedling babies" as of yesterday!! Love SPRING!!
Deep Breathe and relax- OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHMMMMMMMM.
You can't hurt it, much. I bet if you ran a mower over the whole growth, it would revisit you in a few weeks and go on to produce beautiful flowers. I could be wrong, but my hope springs eternal.
The plant will find a way to get around whatever you have done to it. Pretend you're a big juicy slug, just for moment, that slithered up and chewed off the part you pinched... The plant will try its best to survive the assault, and I bet it will.
I usually wait til they're about 12-18 inches tall and pinch out the center growth because I don't have time to count leaf pairs and don't have good enough vision to see cotyledons. Cotyledons, Schmotyledons is my motto. Although I reserve the right to change my mind about them....
Just don't worry. I bet you'll get some good laterals showing up in a few days' or weeks' time and they will go on to produce a decent plant.
I bought similar bag from Wal-mart, the lady in garden center told me, they are about the same height and size, just follow instruction on the bag (smaller variety in one bag, larger ones in one bage, they don't mix them together). She showed me a bag of lily (35 bulbs), they will be differnt in size, nothing to worry about that either, instruction gives mimnum distance between bulbs; some do not need so much space, plant it like it says anyway. How did your tulip come out? I'd assume although some tall, some short, they should be fine.
I am in Zone 5 and start all my dahlias in pots and I have good sized plants to put out in the garden at planting time.They bloom earlier, that way you can enjoy them in bloom longer.
The assorted varieties meaning,dinnerplates,decorative,cactus etc.They all grow the same height,just the flower size is different.
If you are positive your frost is over, then go for planting it in the bed. If there is a chance of frost, I'd put it in a pot, and then plant outdoors when there will be no frost. Alternately, you may be able to tarp the plant if a frost does come. You know your area better than most of us, weatherwise. We only use pots because we get frost so late. Here, sometimes in early June. Oh, how we envy you at this time of year.
Oh you're fine if you want to plant them in beds now. I've left mine in the ground over winter here and they were fine. One advantage to starting in the pots though, is that if there are multiple sprouts from one tuber, you can cut it making two plants instead of one big one. Probably will grow better too...
I got it! I got it! A way to alphabetize and number. Am changing my name to Super Excel Geek...LOL
Glad you figured it out-I was about to send you my Excel list again as an example. When do you want your tubers and how many did you finally decide on? It's obviously too wet and cold to plant yet.
Christine