3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
Do I deadhead the little ball that's under the bloom? I don't know if this is another bloom or what it is! They aren't doing anything since the bloom died. As you can tell, these are my first dahlias & they're planted in containers. 1 is Dalina-Midi Sumatra Dahlia, which is doing very poorly & the other is Dalina-Grande Hiva, which has the balls I was speaking of. Neither tag says whether to deadhead or not. HELP!
Go ahead and plant them. You can do a google search on your zone to see if you can leave them in the ground - that wouldn't work in my zone 5, but I just planted the last few tubers I had into containers for the deck. They must have just been waiting for a little soil and water because they were out of the soil in 3 days and coming along. The worst that can happen is they die, 2nd is they grow and stay alive for next yr and best - you get a few blooms off these neglected tubers.
I have purchased dahlia tubers this year, seven of them, I was waiting on beds to go in in my backyard and didn't get them in yet. It is now June 11 and I am wondering if I am too late to get them in. I know that some of the other posts asking the same question were posted in the beginning of July and I wondered since it is the beginning of June if I am still okay. I have never planted dahlias before and I have some beautiful varieties, some of the large dinner plate size, the Maki and others. I would love to see them bloom but am not sure if I am too late, if anyone has any direction they can offer, I would greatly appreciate any advice. Thank you in advance for your knowledge.
Did you dig up your tuber to review and see something that looks like a worm? Do you have pictures of the worm? Is the worm eating the whole tuber or just the sprout? What area of the country to you live in?
A neighbor told me that slugs bury their eggs under the ground, and when the slugglings hatch, if they find the dahlia sprout, it's toast. If that has happened to me, I never knew that was the problem. But several times now, I've planted a good tuber with a sprout and the sprout never made it up. When the tuber was dug, the sprout was long gone, so something got it.
You are in luck Tammy, or I think you are! Swan Island is having their close out sale, and they carry Emory Paul for $6.95. The sale is for 30% off, and to access the price, the code is flower3. Being one interested in family history as well as dahlias, I appreciate your quest! My father and mother always raised dahlias, and apparently they passed that down to me somehow. http://www.dahlias.com/aasize-over10blooms.aspx
The American Dahlia Society is considering a name change for what they call AA sized dahlias(over 10 inches in diameter). The letter system of AA, A, B, BB and so on can be confusing and they would go with names: AA= Giant, A = Large and so on. We will see if it happens.
Thanks much Ted. Leads to a 2nd question of course.
The context of last years post was about a/my non-flowering dahlia.
Is the use of ES just for that reason - to test the soil for less than stellar performance or for problem dahlias? Or is this general advice for use on any and all container dahlias? (Unless I'm the only one out there NOT using ES, I suspect many others might be interested as well.)
Thanks in advance
P.S. I ask because this year I have a WONDERFUL crop (about 28 so far) coming up. A couple will even bloom in the next few weeks. (Last year I had maybe 10 coming up by June 1 and some that are already up this year NEVER came up last year) I want to keep them as happy as they seem to be now.
Is the use of Epsom Salts just for that reason - to test the soil for less than stellar performance or for problem dahlias? Or is this general advice for use on any and all container dahlias? (Unless I'm the only one out there NOT using ES, I suspect many others might be interested as well.)
Epsom Salts has been call a "folk remedy" for gardeners for over a hundred years. One scientist at WSU believes that ES is effective only on plants that have a magnesium deficiency. My soil was tested and was deficient in Magnesium. In hanging pots, the use of liquid fertilizers can create excess salts and phosphorus in the planting mix and a decline in growth. Greenhouse plant growers use ES to "revive" the plants. I believe in this case the magnesium ties up the excess phosphorus and allows the plants to use nitrogen and iron to produce green leaves. It worked for my hanging pots last year. I had tried additional iron, additional nitrogen and the plants did not respond. When I used ES they turned green again and put on lots of new growth.
Zone 6 sounds a little chilly for leaving them in the ground over winter. Are you in the mountains or in Eastern Oregon? Here I have pretty good luck with deep planting and then mulching over the winter, but I usually loose a few each year.
On the other hand, with only 1 dahlia, its not that big of a deal to dig it if your soil is in good condition. Its fun to see how well it has reproduced under ground, and I like to pre-start my dahlias so I get more bloom time. Especially this year the ground has been so slow to warm up. I am just planting my potted dahlias out now, but some are 18" tall. I try to get my tuber down 6" to withstand our winter freezes.
The joy of having all that color in August into Nov makes it all worth while for me!
About 1/2 of my dahlias are unnamed ones that I grew from seed. If I like them, I save the tubers in the fall. Theoretically, it should be easy to mark what color they are, but fall time is hectic and so usually they all get tossed in a bag (except for the named ones) and I plant them out not knowing what color any of them are. Advantage to potting them so early? Most have started blooming already, and I just started planting them out a couple of days ago. So if I so choose, some will actually be color coordinated with the plants they are near.
So sorry I could not find one for you - of Fire and Ice. I may have it, but sadly a bunch of tags fell off some tubers and...you know the rest. If indeed some of my unknowns bloom Fire and Ice in my garden this summer - I will make extra EXTRA sure that you will get a tuber next season.
In the meantime - but again, only for next year, Canada's Botanus is offering Santa Claus, and let me tell you it looks much like F&I.
Here is a link that might be useful: Botanus - Santa Claus Dahlia
This is my first year for potting up tubers. Many of them dried out, while others were left in the winter storage bin. I'm not sure that in a lot of cases, the tubers potted up in the garage would have fared better had they been left in the winter storage. Too many dried out because the ground was soaking wet and cold for longer than anticipated. The ones left in storage still look fine!
In the past, I've always planted tubers outside, without verifying eyes or anything. And they've done reasonably well. Granted, I was planting them first week of May, not the 1st week of June. But I had flowers! Some may not bloom until fall, but at least you'll have more tubers to store in vermiculite for the 2012 growing season.
Diatomaceous earth used for pool filters has had an extra processing step. It makes it not as effective for insect control. The "Safer" brand DE that I find at any large home improvement store or gardening center works wonderfully.
I have had fantastic results so far this year with Neem oil.
http://www.discoverneem.com/
I sprayed in the early evening/very late afternoon at the first sign of insect damage 3 weeks ago and again yesterday for good measure. Last year I was overrun with small grasshoppers, cucumber beetles and god knows what else that were eating everything and spreading Rust and Bacterial Wilt. I had Dahlia blossoms embedded with beetles.
So far this year no rust, no wilt, no bad bugs! I purchased 100% Neem oil that I store in the fridge and mix as needed. There were some weeds at the edges of my yard that were being eaten by something so I made sure to spray those and not pull them so whatever it was would ingest the Neem.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the success so far will continue for the rest of the season.
The link is to a site that provides information only.
Here is a link that might be useful: Neem Oil
I too have used Sluggo Plus with success against earwigs that were ravaging my mulched bed of buddleia and roses. The only downside are the claims of Spinosad, the active ingredient, being deadly to bees. Spinosad, I hear, is the reason why Sluggo Plus isn't OMRI approved. The bees still come to feed on my buddleia and roses but I'm not sure I would want to risk using it again as I have seen some dead bees around my property.