3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
Hey, just today I moved 7 large clumps of my favorites from last year out of cold storage and into place beside my woodstove! :) I plan to propagate these varieties from cuttings so I'm getting an extra early start. I also now have a 12x16 foot greenhouse so I'll be potting up lots of tubers at the beginning of March.
Hi there
could be caused by bacteria, and called crown gall. I hope the link works. If your Dahlias have that stuff, it seems necessary to destroy diseased tubers.
Hope that helps, best luck, Lin
Here is a link that might be useful: Crown gall
The tubers were not eaten they rotted after the shoots were eaten off. I guess I should have explained better. One of the tubers was in a planter over three feet off the ground. I had sprayed at 11 o'clock at night. When I got up in the morning the shoot was gone.
Thanks to both of you. Collie - that is exactly what I needed to hear. It (maybe) wasn't something I did to it to cause it to grow so small.
Honnat - thanks also for the reply. I grow close to 100 dahlias now and have ordered from maybe 8-10 different AMERICAN vendors over the years. In all honesty, many of them have never sprouted or bloomed (maybe 25%) so I don't see USA growers being that much better. More accurate yes but not necessarily fool-proof bloomers.
And the reason I even fall for the box store varieties is because you can plant them right now! As it is, unless I want to pay extra, the 15 tubers i ordered this year won't arrive until early to mid April and some of my dahlias start blooming in May, so I hate to plant in late April or even early May. Hence, the box stores blues!
Its really simple, seperate the tubers, I put them in a 1 part bleach water for a couple min., dry them really good, then take one tuber and wrap it twice untill you have wraped about ten. Store them in a cool place. I only lose about 5% with this storage :)
Verwer Dahlias in Holland are the originators of the Karma Dahlias. They are protected (breeder's patent), so some countries have few stockists, depending on whether paying plant royalties is common there or not.
Here is a link that might be useful: The Karma range on the Verwer site.
Good place to look first PDSHOP. http://www.dahlias.net/dbiglist.htm
I ive in the PUget Sound area of Washington state and I mostly leave mine in the ground over winter. The 3 big problems that one might encounter are (1)freezing--turns the tuber to mush, no chance of future use (2) rotting in soggy soil...soil must be well drained (3) damage by underground rodents (Hungry mice) and Insects like slugs that will eat emerging growth off them and even down into the tuber, sometimes leading to rot. If you have a pile of tubers from more then a years growth since dividing, often the top ones will freeze but the bottom ones remain intact and growth will come from them.
IN your climate, David, they should be fine. You should divide the clump of tubers ever two or 3 years through to keep your plant strong. I dig them in the spring, divide and repot into my greenhouse to speed them up and get some good growth before the soil warms in the garden. You can even take an axe to the clump and simply quarter it and cut off the cut surfaced ones and plant the rest of the quarters into 4 different locations or give them away.I second the idea of covering your plant's space with plastic over the ground.
They died back to just nothing, but I have to see if they will began to sprout again. I have bad luck with bulbs rotting when I dig them up and usually better with leaving them in the ground. They get this white moldy stuff and then they shrivel up and turn black and mushy.
Hi LizaLily, yes it is a bit early to be concerned with Dalias at this time of the year on the U.S. Pacific north coast. However I have transplanted to the mid north east coast of Australia. It's pretty warm here right now and the region is engulfed in huge bush fires, some on a 150 Km front.
However, my Dalias are now fully grown, about four feet high, have a few small flowers, and lots of foliage. I added blood and bone plus a small amount of Rooster Booster weathered chicken fertilizer in the planting holes
which may be the problem. Next year I'll leave the roosters out of it.
Cheers and Thanks for your comments.
I would say, definitely Lady Darlene. I haven't had much experience with making cuttings but that's on my slate to learn this year. I think I have been told that Lady Darlene is a hard one to get tubers from...ordered it once and none of that person's LD's Provided good tubers when it was time to fill orders. That has kind of made me shy away from it, much as i Love the appearance of it! We need to learn to grow "pot tubers".
Nice! Looking it up, I think you guys are right. Would it hurt my tubers to start them growing in a windowsill now, and try to get cuttings off of them? What do I do with the tubers once I have taken the cuttings, should I try to make them go back into dormancy, or let them grow in the window until it is time to plant them outside?
I can see viable eyes in the picture. Stem has rotted down to crown where eyes are located. Do not wash tuber clumps and if you are not experienced at dividing clumps, do not do so as they will store better whole. Place entire clump into a plastic bag, one per bag, to keep the moisture level as it is now. Do not add any water or wash clumps. They are bit dry looking but in a plastic bage they will not loose any more moisture. Store anywhere where it will not freeze, even if that area is a bit warm.
Hi David,
I am interested in Dahlia tubers. I had bought few tubers last year and I didn't realize that I need to dig them up to save them. I have left them in the ground. I have to wait and see, whether they come or not.
I live in charlotte, NC. I don't mind paying you shipping charges.
my email id k_kosaraju@yahoo.com
Thanks,
Bunti.
Hi Bunti
first, the good news. You do NOT have to necessarily dig up your dahlias to save them. I rarely dig mine up at all and if so, only because they get 'reedy' or I am giving some tubers away, like to Duke. Most dahlias do fine when left in the ground.
The bad news is I do not have time to get into digging and dividing and packaging and shipping. That's why I asked Duke where he lived - so he could pick them up if he wanted.
There are others here who trade and will ship but I do not. I apologize but with long lines in San Francisco at the post offices, I just don't have the time to ship tubers.