General Dahlia Chat 2024

Krista · 2024-01-05T01:50:48+00:00

When do we grow up and stop ordering more tubers than we can possibly fit into the space we have, for the next season? Is that something I can look forward t...

MIDahlias

At the end of last week I was feeling defeated. It has either rained or been in the 90's near me. Mostly rain. During the first week of August, the community garden where I plant reported almost 3" of rain just for August. my garden aisles had 6" of standing water in them. Today I went to tend to the insane amount of weeds the rain brought, and I the dahlias are finally growing. No buds, but the plants have definitely decided it's time for them to grow. Some are 18" tall. I haven't put down any pesticides or fungicides and the plants look great. No mildew and no bug damage. I don't think it's possible to have blooms for any shows in August, but maybe.... just maybe September.

bloomhjelm

My bloom rate is only about 5% right now. But this whole week will be partly cloudy and cool and I'm hoping for more growth.

I'm wondering if there's any positives to the ducks having eaten some of my dahlias down to the ground TWICE. They are only about 8-12" tall now because of this. Maybe their root/tuber growth will be more impressive for having nothing else to do for months? I hope so.

Teddahlia

Too late now: The dahlias we planted first, around Mothers Day are all blooming. It took 5 weeks to plant the dahlias and the ones we planted in the last week of the five weeks
are not blooming. However they are more than 4 or 5 weeks behind the first planted ones. Perhaps 6-7 weeks behind. Something tells me that dahlias need to be planted early enough to take advantage of the lower temps in the Spring and do not want grow when planted later when it is hotter. So the best method is to grow the tubers in gallon pots 30 days before that last frost date. Do lots of that and plant the others ASAP. I am too old to take my own advice. I can live with some things blooming later. Our growing season extends into mid October and beyond. Everything will bloom.

Teddahlia

There are waterlilies and there are "waterlilies". Margaret always gets her feathers ruffled if I call a poorly formed waterlily, a waterlily. Having said that there are some of the prettiest seedling flowers in the garden that are "almost waterlilies". She does seem to agree that we should save them and perhaps sell them but she does not want to call them waterlilies. This is really not much of an issue but it leads me to what I want to say next.

What do you all think of waterlilies that are quite a bit larger than the average WL? We have sort of a "matched set" of 6-7 inch in diameter WLs in three colors: Pure white, Very yellow and a nice purple. I made the comment to Margaret that if we brought in triple entries to a show of these three seedlings, they would dwarf all the other triple entries. So what do you think of big WLs? I have been told to clear all pictures with her before I post them, and so no pictures until they have been approved by the "boss". Picture of HH Honeygold that is not quite as big but al[most.

MissyWeitzel

Teddahlia I personally love the large ones! Hollyhill Pandora grows very large for me, as do this trio:
Taratahi Ruby, Hollyhill Snowfire, and Maks Royal Ruby

SteveM

Teddahlia What do you all think of waterlilies that are quite a bit larger than the average WL?

I believe WLs should be given the same size designations as other forms. So there would be M WL, BB WL, B WL, A WL and AA WL. (there is already a micro WL class). There should also be a separate "cupped WL" class.

However, the ADS is not known for their creativity or willingness to make changes, so, at least for the near future, the larger WLs will be useful cut dahlias and make stunning garden display varieties.

Teddahlia

People do not realize how attractive waterlilies look in arrangements and bouquets. They have a pleasing shape and the upwards cupping keeps the color facing the viewer.
I posted this picture before but it demonstrate how you see the color of the flowers. Second years seedlings.

magucci

Teddahlia These are gorgeous! My HH varieties aren't blooming yet, but my Sandia Bliss is going crazy. It's amazing to see so many together at once.

Juliarugula

Ted promised Hollyhill Carefree would be tall…. About 8-9 feet so far.

Flowernut

I'm sorry this may be in the wrong thread, but I couldn't find the fertilizer thread. My dahlias have just started blooming well due to my late planting. Can I use Fox Farm Big Bloom (0-0.5-0.7) to soil feed my dahlias? I'm now in zone 5 which could means my season could end next month. Thank you.

Teddahlia

I remember the guidance given by an international fertilizer company. They said that both phosphorus and potassium can be added in the very first round of fertilizer on the garden and if given in proper amounts no additional amounts need be applied the entire season. Do you know the plants are deficient in phosphorus and potassium? I have been trying to get out the news that phosphorus can go from being a needed fertilizer to a toxic chemical in larger amounts. You are proposing to add phosphorus to the dahlias and if they need it(I highly doubt it) that is just fine. If you have not done a soil test you do not know if the plants need it or not. So what to do? Most people are not fertilizing at all this late in the season. If you first frost date is in November, you could do your final application of fertilizer now. If you are a small grower and have some Miracle Gro, put on some of that and that will give them enough of a boost for the rest of the season. The reason, people say not to fertilize late in the season is that it negatively affects tuber storage. That has been said for many years but never have I seen a scientific study that supports that conclusion. It may be true or not true but I err on the true side.

Flowernut

Teddahlia Thanks, Ted. My dahlias look healthy so I will err on the side of caution and do nothing.

MissyWeitzel

My memory is shot and I can't remember if I posted about this here already, so please forgive me if I'm repeating myself. A few weeks ago I ordered a Seminole Delivery System and I absolutely love it! I just ordered the half kit, which is perfect for the entire back hatch of my SUV. The individual grid pieces can be configured in a lot of different ways and the system comes with a bunch of different heights of pegs. It's a breeze to make my deliveries now, as I can comfortably fit 12 or so buckets where the flowers aren't touching anything and the buckets don't slide around. I mainly sell buckets of dahlias to florists, but it's so great for holding all different shapes and sizes of arrangements too. It really came in handy for the dahlia show this weekend. Anyway, the half kit was $206 with tax and shipping and it might be the best 200 bucks I've ever spent! I wanted to show you all in case you travel with a lot of buckets and/or arrangements and struggle with how to transport.

SteveM

MissyWeitzel Somebody had a good idea! Are those pegs the same size as 1/2" PVC pipe? That would ne nice, just in case you run out of pegs.

DarcyD

MissyWeitzel Oh that looks amazing! I’ve heard about this system. So glad you’re liking it! 🥳

Krista

MissyWeitzel Thank you for posting - this system looks very cool!

magucci

MissyWeitzel BRILLIANT!!

Teddahlia

I love new things that appear to work well. Hauling entries to our shows is a packing nightmare and this system appears to be a really good solution.

MissyWeitzel

Teddahlia it's great and it comes in really handy for other things too. I stopped at a farm this morning and picked up a half peck bag of apples and normally it would be a challenge getting them home without the apples rolling all over getting bruised, but I just put the tall pegs all around the bag and they stayed put.

MissyWeitzel

SteveM I didn't measure them but it definitely looks to be standard PVC pipe. They also sell bud vase clips and giant vase holders that can be ordered extra. It does look like they have a patent and the grid pieces are very sturdy and well-made. I think this company has been around for quite a while. I think a lot of professional florists use it in their delivery vehicles.

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