3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
I don't think that starting dahlias in zone 4 in April is late. Actually dahlias are native to Mexico, so they aren't cold weather plants and this season has been even cooler than average in the northeast if not everywhere, and dahlias don't grow very fast when it's cool outside. Plus in zone 4 you probably wouldn't want to plant them outside til late may anyway. I started mine in late April in Delaware, zone 7, and it was so cool here that they have still only grown to 5" tall so far! That and the crazy amount if rain has caused some tubers to rot and die. I tried growing mine in pots then transplanting them in the ground once they were over a foot tall and found that they don't seem to like being transplanted after establishing their roots in a pot, and the ones left in pots faired even worse. I Start my tubers either in the ground in mid to late May or let them sprout in pots them put them in the ground.
As far as whether your tubers will come back, I've had a few sprouting stems rot due to excessive rain this spring, but then I pulled the tubers from the ground and dried them off and replanted in drier soil and a few grew new stems.
Those who are exceedingly curious about the status of their tubers can use their trowel and carefully lift the soil around the planted tuber. As soon as you see any growth, stop lifting and pat down the soil. The process will not damage the sprouting tuber if you are careful. Of course, I assume that you placed the plant tag exactly on top of the planted tuber so that you know where the tuber sprout will occur. You will find that most will have sprouted but have not yet reached soil level. You may find a totally rotted tuber too and their is no hope for that one.
Hi lizalily,
Thanks for confirming my guess, bugger, but at least chucking is easier now with the tubers still sitting in a container. And with all this horrible cold wet weather I haven't seen a single aphid/ blackfly yet, so probably no spreading of those viruses.
Well, better luck next time, bye Lin
It always hurts to throw away a dahlia you were ready to love. If there is just a subtle sign of virus I would feed it up and try to get it to be healthy enough to over come it, but since I often sell my extra tubers I want to make sure I am not passing on virused stock. I would try to obtain that one from a different supplier if they can not provide you with a healthier one where you bought it.
I have no direct experience with this but would think if you're soil is dense/heavy, you'd run the risk of rotting out your tuber if you plant them deep. Have you pinched them back after 4 leaf sets tall? This may help them get more stout but you have to get them to the light! If no one else gives you a definitive answer, experiment, plant some deep, some others not. When i plant tomatoes and sunflower starts deep i do not remove the leaves. Good luck!
I just leave them in the ground. Both the orange and the purple dahlias are from last year. When the foliage came up for Brian's Sun, I put a tomato cage over it because I thought it was Purple Splash, which was super tall last year. I was wrong, and now Purple Splash is coming up behind Brian's Sun without a cage. Hmph. I might try to lift the one, but not if it's going to break anything. I'm super impressed with Brian's Sun, very full and bushy.
The small, red dahlia in the picture above is potted and from two years ago. I have to be really careful not to water it too much so that the tuber doesn't rot. We get 50+ inches of rain a year here, so that's a real worry. :/
Brittie, looks like you have success with Dahlias. I am in New Orleans area, almost identical climate to you in Houston. I have heard dahlias don't work here in the heat and humidity. Do you find that to be a fallacy? I bought some called Sky Angel from Lowe's to try in pots because I was afraid to put in the ground as I'd heard they don't like it here. Any tricks/tips for us in the hot humid South?
Tubers quite often sprout while in storage. Most vendors cut off the sprout before shipping. They do this because the sprout will often fall off during shipping. When this happens, customers get worried that the tuber is now dead and contact the vendor for new one. Dahlias almost always sprout again from the same eye or another eye and this is a good picture of that process.
Thanks for your helpful answers.
I guess I am slightly paranoid because I kind of started a collection this season (picked about 20 new cultivars which is a big leap for me) and I was just worried that this wasn`t an early stage of crown gall or something nasty.
And yes, it did sprout, I marked the pott and it sent up two nice shoots.
So a great Dahlia season to you, bye, Lin
I've been taking cuttings off almost anything that has more then one sprout, simply cutting them off and sticking the cutting into the same pot as the tuber. I've been amazed at the results! These were in a nice humid greenhouse so maybe that is why they have done so well, but it sure gives you respect for nature!
Today a duck ate my Hollyhills Santa Baby plant while I was working on planting. Sure glad I had taken a cutting and it had rooted! I would have been devastated if I had lost this one... it is so cute!
I've even rooted cuttings of my new $25 Swan Island Introduction tubers...now that makes you feel good when those root. I get 2 or more for the price of 1.
David, some of mine are still pretty short but are at 3-6 nodes already and are ready to be pinched. I've pinched a few already, but they seem so short to be topping off(only 8 inches tall or so). What do you think? If you are looking to get rid of any of your purple flower tubers when you divide this year let me know;-).
Not sure what to tell you Grace. I would only pinch them back to the 3rd set of leaves when they are 3 times the size of yours - meaning 1 1/2 to 2 feet tall.
However, other than severely delaying their blooming, you will likely end up with a much bushier plant with lots of blooms.
I'll let you know when I divide the O'Condah. It won't be before 2014 however but I'll save you some tubers.
Did you just plant them directly in the ground? Or are you starting them in pots inside?
I usually dont plant tubers in the ground until they are sprouted and growing, especially soft tubers, they can rot pretty easily.
If you place them in an open baggie with moist peatmoss or potting soil, and stick them somewhere warm (as mentioned above) you can keep an eye on them and make sure they are going to be productive before you commit garden space to them.
You might want to do a search on this forum about storing tubers. There are several different ways to do it.
I would have, but we are actually removing what I think was insulating them. There is a wood platform that extra siding for the house was stored and and they were popping out from under there. But we are removing the platform soon because it's an eye sore. I dug up about 10 bulbs and I went back out there this morning and found more plants popping up. There are probably another 10-20 more bulbs under there! Crazy! My father in law is the one who told me that it's not possible to keep them alive in the ground here, but we did have a pretty hard snow pack this year.
Hmmmm - over wintering in the ground in zone 4 is really unexpected. I sure wouldnt count on it happening again.
There is certainly time for them to bloom for you this year. From what I have heard, those exceedingly long daylight hours make up for such a short growing season in Alaska.