Hi John,

first of all, thank you for your tips on overwintering dahlias. With exception of a couple of bulbs, I managed to save my plants, And they've started to sprout over a month ago leaving no choice but to start them earlier. I now have a tall dahlia waiting to be planted outside... At this time, it's in a bucket with other bulbs just biding their time until the weather gets warmer.

By the way, neat indoor lighting contraptions. I just expanded my seed germination area with a new shop light. Should have began a tiered system a long time ago.

Jroot,

I posted to the main forum, but perhaps you have an answer or two for me...

My Dahlia plants are suffering from the bottom most leaves turning yellow then brown (decidedly dead) and falling off. It starts around the tip of the leaf, basically the leaf looks bruised, has brown spots in it, and then just gets more and more yellow / brown and dead.

I am about 90% sure it is not mites or another insect. Could this be from overwatering?

It could be, homemommy. Dahlias like to have good drainage.

I note that you are from Canada also. Are the dahlias potted? Be sure that there is good air flow around the plants. In fact, when I plant mine, and they have developed several sets of leaves, I tend to pinch off the lower leaves, so that they get good air flow around the soil, as I do not want mold to set in.

It is hard to say without seeing the plant.

I am just back from wintering in Florida

This note reminds me to get working on the Dahlias

What I have been doing with some of the Dahlias, is potting them up in the fall , rather than having them dried and stored as most people do

It seemed to work okay and means I just need to bring the pots up into light and start watering.

Each plant in a smallish pot

Good to be home but it is cold

How are the Brugmansia, John?

Good to have you back, Diane V 44. The brugs that I have left are doing well. Some are stil in dormancy, while others are reaching for the ceiling. I don't believe that I lost any of the mother plants, so that is a good thing. Last fall, I did compost some of the ones I had, as they were not performing as well as those I kept. My wife still is after me to "reduce the herd". LOL We'll see. ;)

John,

If the mrs is asking you to get rid of some, I'll kindly take them off you. So if that happens, you know how to reach me here or at the other place. LOL

My potted dahlias have started poking their heads out of the soil. I have them in big containers along with cannas

Mick

John,

Just out of curiousity, why do some dahlias like the one I overwintered, sprout early? If you're just starting now and your bulbs are just beginning to produce growith, why did my bulbs bud out a month early (too early in my opinion). I didn't do anything to force the bulbs to bud out. These weren't exposed to lights and I didn't water the bulbs through out winter. I'm perplexed. I now have a large plant growing in my basement. It's going to be somewhat of a challenge setting these things in the ground.

Any thoughts on this?

Ianna

Ianna,

Mine have been in the cold cellar all winter with temperatures above freezing, but just barely. Since I pulled mine out recently, a lot have started sprouting. I assume it is because of the warmth, and moisture around them.

I am thinking that maybe yours sprouted earlier was because they weren't kept as cool as mine. I found that the cannas don't like the cold, but the dahlias don't keep as well if they are kept in temperatures in the 50- 60 F. Mine are somewhere between 36F - 50F. In fact, my cold cellar right now ( with many ins and outs of my wife and myself in the past week ) is still in the 50's. That is the only thing that I can suggest, without seeing where you are keeping them, Ianna.

John

Thanks. That answers my question. I have one of those homes with no cold cellars and so the option I had was to keep them in my basement which is cool but not that cool. My garage is unsuitable as well because things do freeze in there... Oh well I'll have to continue having to deal with early growth next season. For now, because of the growth (now 2 feet), could I cut these off without sacrifing blooms?

Ianna

My dahlias have poked their heads out the soil in the container and are now over 5" tall under growlights

Good work, Glaswegian. Yours are ahead of mine. Some of mine are really slow this year, but they will come. Maybe they sense the cold weather we are going to be getting early next week. ;)

John, I decided to chop off the tops of the plants as it got too large. I took a risk I know. I thought that since I do take dahlia bloom cuttings when these are the ground, it would not do harm to remove the stems (but not all the way down to the root) anyway. I also thought that because the foliage had gotten too large, this would put tremendous strain on the roots. Plus I have maybe 3 more weeks to go I can set the bulbs in the ground.

My dahlias and cannas in same pot today apr 25th 2009

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Glaswegian,

I don't understand why one would plant cannas and dahlias in the same pot. Both need ROOM to expand. Perhaps you will be separating and replanting later. I would strongly suggest that, otherwise, my thinking is that they will both suffer and not perform as well. Both want food, and light, and unfortunately the canna will grow much taller and suffocate the beautiful dahlias. Actually, the first shot almost looks like you have dahlia and brugmansia together. I tried that last year in my garden, and I was disappointed with the effect, so won't repeat it this year. At least those are my thoughts on the situation.

The dahlias are looking good, but I sense that IF you are not going to be showing them in a local fair, that they need to be pinched back before they become hollow. I often pinch them back when they have 3 or 4 sets of adult leaves. This forces the plant to grow laterally, and then I get more blooms from one plant. Win! Win!

That Fire and Ice looks cool. :)

I will keep you in mind about extras. We often have a yard sale, and last year, I gave a free dahlia to folks that bought more than $20 worth of goods. Worked like a charm. Good sales .... got rid of extra dahlias. LOL

Jroot,

Tried the powder thing as you suggested after cleaning them last fall and it works great. I just took them out yesterday and all are doing well. (Don't have light in the basement and such so mine have to go in pots or in the ground directly outside, hence the reason I do this later.)

I did forget some tubers on the basement floor behind a box. They made it too!! Those hadn't been 'powdered' as the others and yesterday I planted 6 tubers with good eyes and potted six others. Out of this bunch, another dozen were given to members of our garden club.

Here's a photo of my favourite. It has a blend of peach and old rose colours which I truly love. Don't know the name but she sure is pretty.

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It's drizzling heavy today so those will be staying in their bags in the box until nicer weather next week. I also just bought a pretty orange one. :O)

If I recall, you plant them with powder and all, right? Can you tell me how deep you plant the eyes? I usually go about one inch.

Looks like I'm getting into Dahlias again...