General Dahlia Chat 2024

NCDahlia
I would love to share some, all its doing here is raining. Here is the update from the community garden this morning.

SteveM I use almost the same system except I use old drip tape (drip tape too holy to repair) instead of twine

Clever reuse of materials!

I use that hortnova netting stuff. I was worried it might be difficult to reuse, but I’ve found it surprisingly easy to roll up at the end of the season and then unroll again for use the next year. I actually just finished getting last of it up today.

(So really just another variation of a grid system on 6’ t-posts)

Steve, I imagine you get a lot more years out of old drip tape then I do with my twine!

There are lots of dahlia activities discussed here but one that dose not have a thread is weeding dahlias. This is the time of the year when I doing lots of weeding . I do not have a Hori Hori knife. I do use a knife to do close weeding while the weeds are very small. Yes, I do have several hoes too and also have my trusty stirrup hoe. The knife I bought at the bargain bin at our "Bi-Mart" store for $3.00 is doing a wonderful job of weeding . It is a Farberware stainless steel knife with a 4.5 inch long blade and the handle is nearly as long at 4.25 inches. It does not have a serrated edge. It comes with plastic sheath that fits into my pocket next to my bonsai scissors. The sheath has a sharpening device built in that is a good idea but does not work well on a weeding knife. https://www.amazon.com/Farberware-Edgekeeper-Self-Sharpening-Carbon-Stainless-Razor-Sharp/dp/B0CB71C5LL/ref=sr_1_33?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.qobN88utj5SznBmoZz-eUd3BtoUUF7QzHp9jGhMqe_dH3XUXUyjVLWbpjy_YzxWNgNu36GQdeg7v2HbNsmoEBuj75HAfgPRy0eRe7frTKFivkDdH868sUZZFCl5zcQ0zXwupzFF6uHljOOItKwbcmAzPS4BhTy5gq4WwQgKJmxyy-ABrdcGFc04xBil_-DCkAWkSmKgfqkzs66Rcdyu813TD1RpfiVnayLyYw6QHkTyXHuKCaERtFrnKeG5HT5iHJ_NueITcrMRPS0-PwLcBvOzhU4yZc-Ov5kJfusVtdOk.Sc-wpSxCCLD6V5hlkz9_zUfrfKXWv39WZi7Fk9cuCCA&dib_tag=se&hvadid=570430656366&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9032862&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=8261188936525144235&hvtargid=kwd-1974996281&hydadcr=13933_13379050&keywords=farberware+knives&qid=1720039678&sr=8-33

I have a hori hori knife, but this is the tool I reach for most often when weeding:

I also love my stirrup hoe.

I keep a fairly thick layer of leaf mulch around my dahlias which goes a long way towards keeping weeds down, but some come through of course, and there are always a few areas where it turns out I didn’t mulch as well as I’d thought.

I am looking forward to our next dahlia club meeting when the speaker will be a high end garden tool maker. he will be bringing some items to sell at the meeting.

I'm trying to clean up my tuber mess. My garden was too wet to plant and then it was too hot. Everything of mine is planted. (Mom's this weekend) I did not organize myself properly and I don't like parting with tubers that don't have a very visible eye or sprout. What does this mean for me? I still have crates of tubers - sprouted tubers. I need to learn how to part with tubers earlier. It's embarrassing. How many tubers do you think I have? multiply that by 5. What happens to them will be decided next week. Time to at least clean up and enjoy some lake time.

I've sold
I've traded
I've donated

Last year I had all the tubers I was planning to plant in paper bags by rows. I will be doing something like that again next year so I'm not sorting while planting.

Please let me know how you organize and get rid of tubers, so you don't have so many tubers and so much clean up in July.

I used to toss out lots of tubers too. Too late for others to plant.
Most were from the varieties that make lots of tubers. Just do not dig as many of them and let the rest freeze. Donate some to the clubs.
Many were leftover seedling tubers and we do not give them away.
I am still replacing the "did not grow" tubers with plants from cuttings and ran out of tubers for this purpose.
Cut flower grower must have restraint when they dig the varieties that make lots of tubers. They need only so many and generally they are hard to sell as everyone has too many.
You will get better at this.

I would break the rule of burying the sprout and cut it off just past the second node and plant it with about .5inches of it above the soil. Sunlight on sprouts gets them going earlier and it is late for most of us to be planting. Your location is not on your profile . I assume you are not located like in Hawaii or somewhere where it is not an issue to plant late.

Dahlia club meeting last night. I sat at a table after it started as I recognized a couple of people. The person next to me was unknown to me but of course I introduced myself and it turns out she lives 1.5 miles from us(that is almost next door in the "country".) She is our closest dahlia neighbor.

Meeting room was theoretically air conditioned but perhaps it was installed in 1906 when the building was erected.
I thought the Red Pig Tool man was on the agenda but there was no guest speaker.

I got invited to "work crew" at the trial garden(11 miles away) despite my proclivity to do more talking than working.
One subject was how to stage show flowers. I went to the concession stand(volunteers bring cookies) instead.

If you are show person a hot subject is the fact that the only manufacturer of the floral foam we use at the shows has decided that they want to just re-cycle the scraps of foam instead of shredding it and selling to the tiny number of dahlia show exhibitors. I asked whether Styrofoam was the same and it is not. A committee(from several clubs) has found new manufacturer that will sell us un-shredded foam and clubs are going to buy shredding machines($400- or less) . Non show people must find this a bit over the top.

Gotta go, Margaret is calling.

I am glad I did not miss much, LOL. Mainly what I miss is meeting and talking to others who love dahlias like I do....or just meeting and talking to someone who does not live in my house!

Speaking of which, hubby is off for another effort at replacing his knee this next week. Then he can get the other one done in a few weeks. Then he will be out of excuses (grin).

I picked my first seedling bloom today. It is pretty but needs a better center/

Hollyhill Daydream is blooming like crazy. It's my favorite waterlily, so far.

Teddahlia Once the flower foam is shredded, where do you mail it? is it expensive to mail?

"...where do you mail it? is it expensive to mail?"
They have not made the first test batch and the foam may be the wrong one. Shipping a 4 foot tall by 2 feet wide bag that weighs 10 pounds would be more than a little bit expensive. I am sure they are planning on delivering the foam to the club meetings for distribution.
Meanwhile, many of the shows use oasis bricks that cost quite a bit. Many things have been tried without success and most suggestions are too heavy.

Teddahlia

We use oasis bricks at the Northeast shows and are pleased with the results. Hardest part is removing the oasis from the vases after the shows conclude.