Hi Thinman, I believe we had over 50 days when the temperature went over 90*F here in Baltimore County. I have dahlias about 4 ft. tall in full bloom and I have dahlias 18" tall not in bloom at this late date. Disappointing no? But be of good cheer there is always next year. Steve S.

Thanks, Steve, for the commiseration. It's good that we have next year to look forward to, when we will do everything right and the weather will be perfect.

TM

Well at my age waiting until next year can be scarey. I am in MA. and have at least 6 big bushes that have not opened yet. I may see a peek of the dahlia before frost but that is about it. On the other hand I have some that are almost 6ft so I can't see the flowers! Is there a way I can prevent that? Pinching more next year (if I make it)?

Last year was too much rain - this year, too much heat. I too have had a poor showing. Yes - next year!

I've never even had enough blooming at a time this year to bring in for a vase of flowers and I planted 80. It has been super depressing and I know it was the heat. We're on well water and with the big garden plus kids, laundry, baths etc. I just couldn't keep up with watering the gardens. I was afraid of running out of water. At this point I'm looking at the ones that never grew and show no signs of blooming and digging them to chuck into my burn pile. I think some of them may have had a virus that caused them not to bloom (buds that always stayed teeny and never grew), so I'd rather replace than take the risk of saving infected tubers.

So, yes, too much heat here too. At least I just have sad dahlias. My mother in law lost her perennial bed that she's been working on for 30 years. The sun burned it right up.

So glad to hear i'm not the only one without dahlia blooms. I hate to wait for next year but it looks like i'm not getting much this year either. boo hoo!!

And I'm glad to hear that I'M not the only one that had dahlia problems. Maybe it wasn't all me after all.

TM

I too was disappointed in my dahlias here in Minn. We had quite a warm summer & lots of rain. I planted a yellow "Grand Prix" that turned out to be purple/white & hardly any flowers but zillions of buds that never made it....HUGE stalks though! FYI "Rosella" was a good one. I can't seem to winter them in my basement either! Any advice on that? thanks!

My dahlia bushes are large and full of buds, but very few actual blossoms. The blossoms I did have for the most part have been attacked by bugs. However, I have two Kelvin Floodnight dahlias that are over 6ft tall and have been producing like crazy for quite a while. They are the only ones that I bought from a big box store and they had 6 inch eyes on large clumps of bulbs when planted. The rest I purchsed from my local dahlia society.

Hey, Irishgirl and Trustmissy, sorry your experiences were none too good either. Thanks for sharing, and here's to us all doing better next year.

TM

I stated mine early (April 1st inside) and I had a GREAT year. The two tubers I got from trades and planted out at the end of May just sent out the first buds. We have had a really rainy summer though. I will start mine from now on inside.... it really does pay off!

Keriann~

Me too - started mine early and they did great. It's possible that mine were helped by not having as much sun as one would ordinarily think ideal.

They did start producing even more after the worst heat was over.

Also, I don't grow the ones with huge flowers. I've got collarettes and a waterlily that are 3-4 inches. I never had any luck with the bigger flowers.

Here in georgia the summer was super hot and I had very few blooms. The heat would just fry the flower bud and plants. I have found out that dahlias are tough plants because as soon cool weather and rains came the plants started producing flowers and growing again. Next year we can start again.

Here is a link that might be useful: Check out the Barry Gardens

Dahlias do not like days over 90 degrees, especially when it does not cool down at night. I have noticed that if you get them into the ground as soon as possible in the Spring and grow them very fast with lots of water, sun, and fertilizer they will be about 2 feet tall when the hot weather hits in July-August. During the hot weather they do not grow very fast but they need lots of water and some fertilizer. They will then be ready for their blooming season when the weather cools down in late August and September. If you do not get them to the two foot height or so, they will really stop growing in the hot weather and will start growing when it cools but will not bloom until very late in the year. So the key is to get them growing fast in the Spring so that they can handle the dog days of summer.