3,226 Garden Web Discussions | Dahlias
Buying named tubers is not my thing, since I don't have the proper space and sunlight. Too staid for me as well. I rather experiment with what is in the seed mix. Yes, starting with Unwins is 'lower rent', but I now have blooming for the third year: three semi-double whites, and single purple/white/yellow-green, double apricot, large rosy single, and a single yellow, a single scarlet. If I had the space, I'd plant collected seeds, and evaluate the results. I'm a propagator; it's my safe s**. Enjoy a Sudoku puzzle on the shaded porch, watching the bumble bees, butterflies, and flies, flit and fly!! Gotta love the gardening, eh? Happy growing, ya'll!
Tricia, As I posted above ,earlier in the week I was killing a hundred or so each night. I have seen diminishing numbers for the last five nights. Last night in twenty minutes of "hunting" I only found one. Most of the damage to my dahlias was done before I found this culprit. A couple of plants have probably 25-35% of the leaves eaten off. Not being a dahlia expert, I don't know how much damage a plant can sustain. They are still growing and the new growth is looking good. A neighbor told me that Milky Spore might work if everyone in the area would use it,otherwise you'll just get someone else's beetles. Good luck hunting. unc
For the past 5 or 6 years, we have been planting a cover crop on our garden after we dig the tubers. Here in Oregon, there is just enough warmth in the soil in late October and early November to get the cover crop started. I do a quick, one pass till with my tractor and spread the seeds(by hand) over the soil and rake them in with a garden rake. They sprout and by Christmas it is usually 2-3 inches tall. The cover crop seed mix is sold by our local farm co-op and is not very expensive. I plant 1/2 acre for about $35- in seed cost. The mix contains: Annual ryegrass, vetch, crimson clover, austrian peas(leaves are edible in the Spring!), buckwheat(does not over winter). The cover crop grows to a height of 4-5 feet by May 1st. My wife is 5 feet tall and in a typical year some of it is taller than her. We mow it down with a riding lawn mower and immediately till the soil. Dahlias are planted right away. I am going to cut sown the cover crop at 3 feet tall next year because it was so thick this year it was hard to cut down with the mower. No spray is used to kill the cover crop and since nothing has gone to seed, it all disappears. Legumes add some nitrogen to soil and soil is full of excellent organic material. Another benefit is weed reduction as they cannot compete with cover crop in the Spring.
I would keep it in the ground until it frosts, cut off the foliage, then a week later dig it up, wash it, dry it, and store it in peat moss in a cool place. Some people do fungicide. I didn't last year do fungicide last year, but may this year.
Good luck!
Bleck...
I dug them up. Totally rotted and gross!!
Two others were looking wilty so I dug them up, one was fine but the other was rotted too. I cut out the rotted stuff, let it dry for a few hours... Now it looks eve worse! but we will see! Thanks for your help
Some of my plants are so hard to pinch. There is always a mass of more leaves around the area that I need to pinch out.
On the subject, I had some tubers with about 4 inches of growth so I cut it back to one inch as I read to do. Tubers haven't grown an ince since than!?
After reading the way redmond_phyllis deals with their extra shoots I tried it about 2 weeks ago with 2 shoots. I was amazed to find that they took in this horrible hot and dry weather! I did not treat them differently than the mother plant and they got watered only when all the other plants got watered. I have been watering more often than usual so possibly that helped.
Thanks so much for posting this!
I believe you are saying that the tuber sprouted in the ground but is not growing because there are no feeder roots. Some tubers are slow to send out feeder roots and an old timer said to cut off about 1/2 inch off the end of the tuber and re-plant. That stimulates the plant to grow roots. Alternatively, there could be an insect that is eating the roots and you would have to treat the soil with some insecticide.
I'm jealous! Not one bloom yet. Not even a bud big enough to be close! Best estimate of ETA of first bloom is maybe 10 days. It will be at least a month before I have a significant number of dahlias. But where I live, August - Sept are my best months.
Most of my plants are shorter than I would expect. A few bug problems which I'm trying to correct with organically friendly methods. I think I'll be okay, but I'll second the comment about weird weather. Last year was strange too.
Same here. Also more rotted tubers than usual even in hot dry soil??? I feel sorry for them in this heat.
I have several potted Dahlias on my deck. I began to notice that all of sudden a few of them severly wilted in the sun. (I keep everything well watered) So these I moved into the shade of my off-set umbrella. Not much improvment. Then I began to notice they looked like they're dying, off color leaves, totally wilting in sections, but still flowering. Now all but one has this illness. I have sprayed with Agway orchard spray, which has never failed to cure any sickness, but still it keeps progressing. I hate to get rid of them. Help!!