3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
Very common question for gardeners that live in areas where dahlias do not freeze. If they have not frozen, most people wait until sprouts appear above the ground(they may not because of slugs and snails) and then decide whether to dig and divide the clumps or just let them grow another year. Each year they are left in the garden without dividing means a larger clump forms that is more difficult to divide. Since you are in new house you may have lots of other chores and leaving them in the ground another year sounds tempting.
The lack of response is because there are so many dahlia varieties that meet your needs. There are over 50,000 named varieties and 4-5000 that are still being sold. Some nurseries specialize in varieties for cut flowers. It very late in the season to be ordering as many of he varieties are sold out. Two of the largest vendors are Swan Island Dahlias and Dan's Dahlias. Both have web sites and they do tell you if a variety is a good cut flower.
Some recommendations:
White: Bride to Be
Pink: Chilson's Pride
Grace
Of my 90 some dahlias, at least 20-25 are in containers. I had a Rip City rot in a container a couple years ago and found the holes draining the water were plugged. It is something you have to watch for. Most of the time it can 'seem' dry on top or a few inches down but go 7-8 inches down and it is ALL WATER.
As for snails, don't get me started. When I first cleared my weed invested yard, I found everything living back there - rats, ants, even a small white mouse - but especially snails. Sluggo will NOT work (IMHO) and even though many people disdain using Deadline, it is the only product I found that would kill the snails. And I had hundreds. Now, I find or see 5-6 per year in the whole yard.
What I also noticed was when you put a ring of deadline within the container edges, those particular dahlias do not do as well as others or in ground dahlias. Despite what deadline says about it being safe for plants, that has not been my experience. But it's a catch-22: if I DON'T use it, the snails will eat the shoots right away and if I do use it, I might get blooms that look half strength.
(I think the only answer is to stand guard every night once the sprouts break ground and grab'em before they make it to the plant!)
Ants I have never had a problem with but if you PLANT a tuber within an ant colony, it makes sense they would be all over the tuber. If you planted the tuber where NO ANTS were, I'm not sure what to say - I've never heard of ants being a problem for dahlias or attracted to them. Earwigs, yes. Ants, no.
The vast majority of my callas are straight species white Zantedeschia albomaculata. I have propagated them over the years by both division and from seeds. Growing them from seed will get you nice disease free rhizomes but you can't count on getting blooming sized bulbs until the third season. I've tried some of the miniature colored hybrids but they seem to be more susceptible to both rot and frost damage. Picasso and Blackstar have done pretty good for me. The rhizomes cannot be allowed to freeze and must be protected by heavy mulch in a borderline climate or by lifting them out of the ground for the winter and storing them in a cool basement or root cellar. Storing callas in sawdust in my unheated basement has worked well for me.
I am not quite ready to un box my stored tubers yet, but what I do is place each tuber in a sandwich sized baggie. with some moist - not soaking wet - peat moss. It allows me to have 20-40 tubers in a standard tray. I keep the baggie mostly closed until I see sprouts, then open it so the sprout doesnt rot. I keep some in a south facing window, and others under fluorescent lights. The baggies take up a lot less room than pots do. The fast growers end up getting moved into pots, but space is at a premium in my growing area, so pots are on an "as needed" basis.
Thanks for your responses! For some reason I'm not getting the email notifications, or I would acknowledged them sooner.
I shall combine techniques and bag up the small tubers from the hybridizer since the eyes are just minuscule nubs, and leave the bag open. The others that have 2" sprouted eyes I'll pot up.
Thanks again!
Thank you Steve and Beverly!
I did water once and put in cool dry place. Well, acouple days as I was moving pots around I discovered it had grown about 7 inches tall! I was surprised!
We are still getting cold weather and nite time freezing temps. Winter seems to just want to hold on!
Is it okay to trim back now or wait for establishment in the ground? (probably near end of April)
Kind Regards
Most of the problems related in these posts are caused by trying to store tubers that have not been properly dried before being put into storage. Air drying for a few days works quite well. One commercial grower uses a box fan to dry them. Caution: We are talking about growers who dig in wet conditions, not growers in a dry climate. But erring on too dry is better than too wet.
Mistee,
You don't have enough dahlia varieties to tempt anyone to trade with you. If you would start out by buying 10 newer cultivars from a reputable dahlia specialist (i.e. Swan Island, Corralitos, etc.) and propagating by dividing the tubers in the off season then next spring you will have a much more attractive collection which you can trade to increase the variety of your own collection. By the way, later in the season (May) there are sometimes people who end up with too many tubers to plant and they may be willing to send the extras to you simply for the cost of postage.
The outdoor temps here dipped to right around 20F last night. Inside my unheated greenhouse it was a tender plant damaging 29F and a small freeze testing bowl of water froze a 1/4 inch thick. But happily under my protection zone of water jugs and blankets the temperature stayed at an acceptable 41F degrees. :) Many of my early start dahlias have leaves out already and would likely have been badly setback without the extra protection.
Thanks,
I have potted them up to see if they break dormancy.
I contacted the seller and she said Sadie is a dark purple and is sending me the peppermint colored one.
I do not care about named cultivars. I like Dinner Plate dahlias in unusual colors and shapes.
Oh yeah, I see you said you planted them back in January not right now. They probably froze and are now mush. You might as well dig them up and see for yourself what condition they are in. January is kind of early for Walmart to be selling dahlias but then again some people (like me) start them in pots indoors and then transplant them out around the last frost date to get a head start. The easiest and safest way to grow them is to plant the tuber outside after the last frost date but then you get flowers much later in the summer.
Be patient with the slow tubers. Put them somewhere warm planted in slightly moist loose potting mix if you want to encourage them to start sprouting now. Are you planning on propagating them from sprout cuttings? This isn't really a task for a beginner but if you want to try there is good info on the web.
Some nurseries use chemicals the make plants grow shorter and bloom earlier. This is done because plants in bloom sell much better than plants not in bloom. The chemicals do wear off and the plant will eventually grow to it's normal height.
At my nursery 6" dahlias could refer to dahlias in a 6" pot. Just a thought.
Beverly