3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
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.
If they are already blooming; they won't get much bigger than they are now. They might get a bit 'bushier'; but not much taller. As far as pinching; that is usually done before it blooms. Each time you remove a bloom that has finished; you are 'pinching' and it will have the same affect in that it will stimulate more laterals (branches) to form. Some bone meal in the ground would not hurt. Just keep them watered; but not too wet; and put some good compost in the soil.
They may need to be staked; but as I mentioned; they are probably at or near their full size now; so if they don't look like they need to be staked; they are probably a smaller variety.
Enjoy!!
Cadence,
You are in zone 8b.
I am in zone 8, so I will try to give you some pointers.
Dahlias are heavy feeders, which means they need composted manure in the soil while you plant them for additonal food.
Bone meal is also good.
In addition, I feed mine also with Miracle grow once every 10 days.
Is your climate humid?
I have humidity, and towards the end of summer they will develop a white fungus on them, you can try to avoid this by thinning them out some, cut the stems in the middle a bit so they aren't so dense.
ALso, water them more in August, it will be hot.
In the hot summer of the southeast, dahilas enjoy a little afternoon shade, so if at all possible, keep that in mind when you plant them.
Never water them at night, ever. If you do, they will rot and die. Always water in the morning. If you have to wait to water them, wait, til a morning that you can.
In the late fall, you will see the dahlias starting to loose leaves, just cut them down, leave about an inch stem, and mulch real good with at least 2-3 inches of mulch over the dahlia for winter sleep.
In the spring, when you see signs of life, just remove an inch of the mulch and start all over again, adding composted manure to the soil around the dahlia without disturbing roots. I just lay it on top of soil and put mulch back on.
I planted my dahlias about a foot apart.(reasonably small ones).
They will get bigger and fatter every year.
Good Luck to you, and by the way, dahlias are addictive!
I was given some dahlia tubers and some of them have mold on them. How should I take care of this? I would love to be able to plant them asap if possible. Or should I just chuck them? Please e-mail me your responses. marjorie.weikert@yahoo.com
The height of dahlias is affected by the latitude of the grower. The farther North you live, the taller the dahlias. At our latitude of 45 degrees, dahlias grow somewhat tall. The tallest in my garden in absolute full sun(shade makes a huge difference), the maximum height is about 8 feet for Kenora Clyde. It has reached 18 feet when grown in partial shade(not in my garden). If you use shadecloth, dahlias that grow normally 6 feet or so will reach 9 feet and sometimes even taller.
Ted, that was a relevation, but it makes a lot of sense. I wondered why that one plant grew so much taller than the other, but it was next to some overgrown Christmas trees and I guess it had to work a little harder to get to the sun. Thanks for the insight! I guess I just assumed that a plant wouldn't do as well if planted in less sun. Now I know it can work differently.
