General Dahlia Chat - 2025

Juliarugula · 2025-01-01T13:30:33+00:00

Justafewdahlias whew! Much better thanks! 😅

MIDahlias

Teddahlia That's amazing the Mark is doing cuttings for clubs other than the ones he belongs to. You are very generous too Ted to donate to other societies too.

I'm busy trying to get ready for the Michigan Dahlia Society auction on Saturday. We have just over 40 that were donated. I'm really hoping for a nice show of members and that everyone has a good time. I have to admit, I'm really nervous.

bloomhjelm

The PSDA tuber sale for members was tonight. Great fun and a table of cookies and other refreshments were available. I saw and bought Normandy Promise which maybe wouldn't have caught my eye without this forum.

Teddahlia

Normandy Promise: Wow!!! I met it's breeder but once when I judged with him. He was very old and the other judge was even older but was more "frisky" (full of energy ,specifically verbal energy) . I did not get a word in edge wise.

Teddahlia

My ancient picture of Normandy Promise. It was taken so long ago, I can guarantee it was not taken with a cell phone.

bloomhjelm

Teddahlia Thanks for the photo. I will have to go back to the photo provided by the Society and what it looked like for that donor. Happy to send you my extra if you would like. I have somehat um ... Over-purchased. I should prioritize keeping some good stock going instead of my usual gambling on pretty pictures.

Today I am traveling abroad. Writing this on my phone from a pizza place in Switzerland. I don't think they have any tubers here for quick and customs-friendly acquisition. But a friend over here is already sending me a Germanic dahlia I am excited about. "Hildepuppe" is allegedly 3 cm across, or just over one inch.

LoveLanguageDahlias

bloomhjelm She's just lovely! So wee! What customs/ag paperwork is required for importing/mailing a few tubers from Europe? I've read both phytosanitary certificate and p.cert. waiver. (I have potentially enabling friends in Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the UK).

bloomhjelm

LoveLanguageDahlias The best of my knowledge is that 12 or fewer tubers requires no soil and the country's own phytosanitary certificate form. 12+ requires an import permit from the US. Or take your chances without phyto. (For legal purposes I did not recommend that.)

LoveLanguageDahlias

I'd like to thank everyone for sharing so much wisdom and sane, constructive discussion on this forum. I was under the weather for a few days and read most of the previous posts...since 2023...

LoveLanguageDahlias

bloomhjelm thank you! I'm a rule follower. 🙂

Teddahlia

Dahlia Talk is tonight at 7pm Pacific time. There is lots going on in our new dahlia season and I am still potting up tubers or re-potting pot tubers to take cuttings. I wonder what interesting topics will be covered in the Zoom meeting? Virus resistance vs. eliminating virus from your garden may be a topic too hot to handle. Nitrogen fertilizer will be re-visited.
Sprouting dahlia seeds is ongoing for many people. I watched an interesting short video on Floret Farms cleaning their dahlia seeds that they offer for sale. He unloaded a giant dump truck full of dried seed pods into a pit with a hole at the bottom and an auger moved the seeds into a giant "mixing" bowl that had a beater to knock the seeds out of their pods. The mixture of seeds, chaff and bits of the pods were off loaded to a sifting apparatus where three different sized screens were employed to sift the seeds from the chaff and debris. The seeds were then placed into 2 cubic foot bags and labeled with the variety that produced the seeds. The bags were placed on a pallet and 40 bags fit on the pallet.
If you believe all of this , you are very gullible.
Actually, he had only about 2 or 3 gallons of seeds cleaned in the batch shown in the video. He used hand tools and screens to get the seed cleaned. And it was all generic seeds they collect from their fields of mostly open center dahlias.

calico20hill

Teddahlia

Teddahlia I wasn't able to collect as many seeds last year and I am not seeing as many germinate when I do start them. I sure hope this is a better year for making seeds. So far I have had 3 seeds sprout from the little envelope of River's Dahlia seeds that I got at the club meeting. I hope there will be a few more!

LoveLanguageDahlias

calico20hill I don't know if the seeds from your meeting are the same as what I purchased from River's this year, but I had excellent germination with mine. At least 80%.

Krista

When do you start your dahlia seeds indoors?

I hung some alpaca wool out for the nesting birdies last weekend.

Bessie

Krista last year I started my seeds in late January. This year I started seeds on February 23rd. Starting indoors requires good lighting and warmth( approximately above 65 degrees). This year I had good lighting but my lights were in a cold area under my house where I store my tubers. The dahlias were not happy with 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Also, I went on a trip and the dahlias didn't like the cold wet soil I left them with.
This year I've installed a bunch of LED lights(Costco Feit brand) that don't throw much heat, so I'll need to get more heating mats before I grow Dahlia seedlings in rainy cold weather again.
At least these lights should work well for taking cuttings and growing vegetable starts.

Teddahlia

Dahlia seed sprouting: 6 weeks before planting date.

Krista

Teddahlia Thank you — appreciate the hard and fast rule.

Bessie Good to know about the importance of temperature, thanks!

calico20hill Yay, more seedlings, Noni!

calico20hill

I've got about 100 seedlings but I started a lot more seeds than that. Some of those were from when I was first learning about collecting seeds. I suppose I might get a few more germinating from that last batch. I would like another hundred seedlings.

LoveLanguageDahlias

I started these babies MUCH to early for my area, I just read Ted's 6 week limit...but I'll take care of them. These are the River's seedlings.

calico20hill

7 out of my 10 RIver's Seeds have germinated as of this morning...So curious to see what I get!

calico20hill

I see a lot of red stems on those seedlings...wonder what the plants will be like!

LoveLanguageDahlias

calico20hill I have lots of red stems too, and a few with dark leaves and stems!

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