Dahlia Talk
05-27-25
by Ted J. Kennedy
There were 32 of us on the Zoom meeting that was done the “old fashioned” way. There was no overall theme except to ask the one, most important question of every participant: How many dahlias have you planted so far? We are nearly at the end of May and the first of June for most of the growers is an artificial deadline and many of the people were scrambling to get the dahlias planted before June.
Of course, our Australian member talked about his progress digging and dividing of the tubers and all was going very well and he was thankful for having somewhat sandy soil.
It is very difficult to summarize 32 narratives and on dahlia planting progress. I was lucky and was the first one to answer the big question: “How many dahlias have you planted, Ted?” My mind raced. Is this the time for the “white lie” and should I say, “All planted boss and I am looking forward to our next club meeting when I can get even more dahlias to plant.” But of course, that is not true and we are well over half planted and our goal is to get the tubers into the ground by the first of next month and it looks like that will happen. The rooted cuttings and seedling plants will be planted soon after although we have planted a portion of them already. Plants are about two weeks ahead of tubers as far as blooming time so they can go in a bit later.
And so it went. One by one, each person gave a progress report. Some are “all” planted with just a few held back to replace the dead and sick ones. And the answer was dependent on the location of the planter. Here in the PNW most people were either “all” planted or mostly planted. In the Chicago area, they are struggling with cool weather and although one has planted the others were going to start soon. The same in New York where spring rains have held them back. In San Francisco, our new participant but long time grower is still planting the display garden at the Golden Gate Park. It is mostly planted and they use that as a training opportunity for new growers. They announced an “intern” program where one could learn how to grow dahlias and get some semi-official certification. This is a “win win” program as people can use it for educational credits. Part of the win is getting more strong bodies to plant the dahlias and the possibility that the person will grow dahlias the rest of their life and join the club and win best in show ribbons. I liked the “strong body” part as lots of help is good thing.
And so we went around the virtual room, Alaska reported. Atlanta, Georgia is nearly all planted. Those people in Idaho, are fighting early hot weather and if it cools down they will be finished soon.
Another question was how many are you planting. I did not keep notes as I was not a scorekeeper but from memory it varied from as few as less than a hundred to over 12,000- . On the way to the 12,000- winner there were several in the thousands. One person was coy and did not give a firm number as he was still planting and acquiring new stock(the gophers did in the old stock) but he is one of those well over a thousand people.
We did talk about other things. One of the subjects that popped up unexpectedly was the use of pre- emergent weed chemicals. Many of us had heard of products such as Preen. They are spread over the soil and create a chemical barrier to emerging weed seeds and as the weed sprout hits the barrier it dies. Of course, for many years we have been told that these chemicals should not be used on dahlias. It turns that a scientific study was done at a university and you can use some of these products on dahlias. In fact, the label for Preen lists dahlias as one of the crops. The 12,000- plant grower reports good success with a version of a pre-emergent chemical. There are different ones and one labeled for use on grapes is especially safe for the grapes and especially expensive. We will be following up on this revelation.
As usual, I am leaving out the great majority of what was discussed. This forum is one for your participation and not designed to create a written narrative. And I could write more but, I am still planting and off I go to the garden. Next Dahlia Talk is June 25.
