3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
There is a technique called 'stopping' or 'topping' that growers do with dahlias that would help you in your shady area next year... You pinch out the top sprout after 3-4 sets of leaves form on your plant. This forces it to put energy into growing lateral branches, and will result in more flowers on a shorter plant.
In addition, I see that you are growing in pots. I have never had much success in pot growing with dahlias, as I am really bad at watering individual plants every day. They require more water then an in-ground dahlia, as the feeder roots can't reach down into the soil for extra moisture if it needs it. Lack of adequate watering might be why the pots further from your door seem to be smaller.
You might consider increasing your amount of fertilizer by feeding weekly, since the plants are confined to the soil you provided. The type of fertilizer isn't as important as the consistency and quantity. Nitrogen is not a bad thing, as long as you stop feeding late August, after the plants have gotten off to a good start.
Good luck!
CC
Ah! Okay, so you are keeping the clump intact, then, and only cut the clump into pieces every few years... I would imagine it hard to separate the individual tubers if I did that multiple years in my beds, as my clumps often are massive with just one growing season, but I have never tried growing clumps from spring.
I've heard that growth from clumps are quite vigorous, and folks in the
UK make all their cuttings in spring from last year's clump, throwing out the 'mother' clump after it is spent or they don't have need of more plants.
If that is what Morpheus was referring to, that makes more sense.
For an active trader/seller like me, I wouldn't dream of 'wasting' tubers by throwing them all in the ground for just one plant. However, that is exactly what I was suggesting to some older folk I was just helping earlier today. They only want one plant of each variety, and don't have the dexterity required to splice out a dozen individual tubers from each clump they have. I was showing them how to cut down the clump of any extra broken tubers and squishy mother tuber, so it would store better and they would be assured of spring growth.
>>I've heard that growth from clumps are quite vigorous, and folks in the
UK make all their cuttings in spring from last year's clump, throwing out the 'mother' clump after it is spent or they don't have need of more plants.
>>If that is what Morpheus was referring to, that makes more sense.
Pretty much. I remove the mother tuber(s) from the clump at the end of the season. They're clearly spent and not in great condition, but...well...
OK, I'll admit it. With 2,000 square feet of garden, I'm too lazy to split everything that gets lifted every year. My Sky Angel had seven or eight mothers, and I don't have room for another seven or eight Sky Angel dahlia. They're nice, truly gorgeous, but would take space from the zinnia and salvia and marigold and Easter eggplant and...
So instead I have two absolutely enormous, jungle-like clumps of those, plus (at this point) eleven other enormous, jungle-like clumps of other dahlias.
When I do split, I immediately start looking for people to adopt them, but I rarely do more than divide the clump in two.
Again, time. My dexterity and vision are up to the task, the amount of time I have during the window of frost to freeze is not up to the task.
Older clumps sprout earlier (of course, some of those eyes are more active than others and sprout first), produce huge "bushes" of greenery, and bloom profusely on many branches at once...so of course some blooms appear earlier.
Care of larger clumps differs, including keeping a close eye out for fungus, and they do seem to like a heavier feeding than a smaller single-tuber dahlia would. That's fortunate as I don't isolate them from the rest of the (demanding) garden.
Large clump dahlia perform well--I've included a link to my garden images, which get updated about once a month or so at worst.
I like to use them as central showpiece items with smaller plants around them for accent and color contrast. We should point out that I never met a saturated flower color I don't like, nor do I approve of blank space in a garden!
Here is a link that might be useful: Garden and Lawn Photos
It should have no effect on the tubers at all. And since one normally rinses the tubers to clean them and hydrate them before storage, any lingering PM spores will be washed off (PM cannot survive in water).
It certainly won't hurt to dust with cinnamon or sulfur before storage but probably not necessary.
You have some nice blooms and growth. I do definitely like to buy the packages when they first come out, to make sure they are in relatively good condition. But then when that 50-75% sale comes around, I pick up any additional ones that I liked or just want more of.
It's a good bargain.
I would agree about that too.
The only logic thing could be that a badly stored, half shriveled tuber (from a big store) would probably need a little bit longer than a healthy well-kept one of the same cultivars.
And about different climates:
If a Dahlia cultivar is bred in a much warmer climate and is adapted to it, then it is fixed in its genom.
And then it could be that it ALWAYS perfoms poorly in colder regions: flowers very late or hardly at all.
That seems to be the case with some Hemerocallis cultivars from the US which don't do well in cooler parts of Europe. But that is permanent.
Very interesting point, so let's hear about it,
Bye, Lin
Lin, he's new to dahlias, and already has 500 varieties? Now that is insanity (but in a good way)!
Looks like he's using the netting trellis for support... Did you see how many layers? Does he wrap the outside of the rows with twine?
Sadly, the season has come to an end in my garden.
Hi CC, yea, slightly crazy.
He didn't start completely unprepared, has grown cutflowers with Dahlias among them for some years.
And he inherited a collection of a fellow geek who wanted to cut back his work load at 75+ and got about 150 cultivars, if I remember correctly from an article.
They are still learning, I reckon, had used netting but did not move it up with the Dahlias growing ( isn't that the point?), and put in a second layer of twine. I heard that they were slightly overwhelmed by the workload and have struggled to keep their show garden permanently in good condition, cutting off spent flowers.
But I hope that they stick to it, it is so difficult for farmers to make a living and I think it is very smart to grow something else then not-too-well-paid-for crops.
And personally I think it is great that he tries to offer such a wide range of cultivars, some not even listed in THE German Dahlia list,
Well fingers crossed.
The last days were rainy, but no frost yet, so my plants keep churning out flowers, such a great time of year. I cut flowers as often as I can feeling that I need to soak up the color for those winter months to come.
Good sorting and storing,
Bye, Lin
I grew Platinum Blonde this year, it's supposed to be an anemone but mine doesn't have the tubular centers so it's more like a single, it's white with a yellowish center, and the stems are very long, almost 1.5 feet when I cut a bloom. I got mine from Swan Island.
Yes, Platinum Blond is spectacular! I can't remember how tall mine grew but up there where it could be seen. The creamy yellow anemone center is very pretty on it and it has a large flower. Another white single I am enjoying is "Star Baby" It is not real tall, maybe 30" but so pure and pretty.
I got mine this year at EasytoGrow...they were great tubers and are blooming. Funny mine are a bit more on the buff side than the pinky side, I've seen both locally in the same garden, so hoping to get some of those tubers and see if the blooms differ in my garden.
Also I believe Banner Flower Farm is selling Cafe au Lait for $3 a tuber if you order more than a few, and they are taking pre-orders, I just put mine in for a bunch of other tubers.
www.bannerflowerfarm.com
but I also emailed them from fieldofdahlias.com. Ask them if you see something as sold out because not sure they've updated their lists yet, I had them send me a list of everything available via email.
Your info says you are in zone 7, so your dahlias are going to be done blooming soon. I would suggest trying to pot one of your smaller plants, bringing it inside during nights to avoid frost and transport it, being sure to fertilize and water in Florida very often. I wouldn't plant it in sandy soil, unless you amend the area around the tubers VERY well, and water often.
You most likely will be able to extend bloom time, depending on how bloomed out your plant already is. Choose one that has just started blooming, as a July bloomer might be disappointing.
For the rest of the plants, I'd dig and divide the tubers, and take them for the ride.
I extended blooms in a plant transplanted into a pot on the porch for a month past frost one year, but the blooms were small, weak and colorless as I couldn't water as much as I should have, and the fall light was too diffused through the porch window. I finally chopped it down, dried it up, and threw it in the basement still in the pot.
There seem to be less posts in this forum area than in recent years, and I am surprised that nobody has answered this 4 day old question yet, especially considering this is prime blooming season for dahlias.
Anyway, dahlias are native to Mexico so I don't see why they wouldn't grow in Florida. Certainly the climate in south Fl is warmer than north central Fl, but I would assume dahlias should do well in S Fl.
I would find a more secure way to stake your dahlias to prevent breakage. I grew in 2011, and we had 2 hurricanes blow through, and one of them dumped around 12-14 inches of very heavy rain over a period of almost 2 days, and both included lots of wind. I managed to stake them well enough to prevent all but a few lateral branches from breaking. I spoke with a grower at a dahlia festival yesterday who recommended using tomato fencing that you buy at garden centers with 6 inch square holes and about 5 feet tall. Buy it in rolls and wrap it loosely around the plants and drive a long metal stake or 2 just inside or just outside the fencing to stabilize it. This grower said he uses re bar as stakes because it's cheap, durable and last forever, plus you can just leave them in the ground year around.
In south Florida you shouldn't have to worry about digging up and storing the tubers over winter like you would here in the mid Atlantic.
"I was told I could just dig them up and plant them in large pots if I want to keep them for next year. Is this true? "
Yup, that would work. One of the easiest ways if you only have a few. Just don't water them until you want them to grow.
"I also heard that Dahlias need to be trimmed in order to grow properly. Mine seem to be growing fine - outwards and upwards, and have 3 or 4 blooms on them each. Should I still trim them?"
Nope, don't trim now! They were probably referring to 'stopping' the plant, which is done by pinching out the middle sprout after 3-5 leaf sets are formed. This encourages the lateral branches to form at each 'armpit' of the leaf sets. No worries, you are good to go!
Your dahlia looks like mum buds, Steve? My dahlias have not been killed by frost but flowering quality on them is no longer good. The plants look pretty bad.
My dahlias are like Kousa's dahlias no frost but the dahlia party is over in my garden. Oh but what a party it was this summer, gives me something to dream about during the winter months.