General Dahlia Chat - 2025

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

Justafewdahlias whew! Much better thanks! 😅

JessieC

SteveM
“The nightly dark period can not be interrupted - even the light from a garage or porch light can interrupt the dark photoperiod.”
So interesting! My primary patch with about 50 plants is directly under a city streetlight. I’ve often wondered what this might be doing to my dahlias. I live in the city, so nothing is truly dark. But I wonder if the streetlight has been making things harder than they need to be….

SteveM

JessieC But I wonder if the streetlight has been making things harder than they need to be….

If you notice a difference in the number/size/quality of your tubers when you dig (compared to those not near the light) then it is likely because of the streetlight. You would also notice that your double blooms do not go open centered and retain good form until they freeze. (or you dig) The amount of light needed to affect the photoperiod is only about 10 foot-candles at the plant level. I think the red spectrum is supposed to be more effective and I use warm LED bulbs (about 1500 lumens about 6 feet from plants) in the field, but I use cool LED bulbs for cuttings and both spectrums do the job. At my latitude I need about 2 hours of supplemental lighting to keep dahlias fully-double and salable in the winter.

JessieC

SteveM Fascinating! And thanks for the photo of your setup too. I do have plants of the same variety in separate locations, but I haven’t dug up too many this year. Now that we are looking at some below freezing temps, I’m regretting that, but I’ve got pot tubers as backups.
That said, once it’s digging weather again, I’ll be interested to see how the tubers near the streetlight compare.
Thanks!

MissyWeitzel

I have been working on a list of midwest hybridizers and their cultivars (with special thanks to @MIDahlias and Fred N. from MDS) and I keep having lots of mini epiphanies. I run across names of people I know from Dahlia Society functions in the Midwest and then realize cultivars I like are theirs. I discovered well-known varieties were Midwest varieties that I have grown in the past and had no idea they were from the Midwest and I could have shown them in the Midwest sections at shows! Oh, and the dahlia Bradley Aaron was introduced by Harvey Koop and Steve Meggos introduced the dahlia Harvey Koop. Dahlias are never boring!

MIDahlias

Teddahlia Easy who you say this to. 🙃 You said this to me a few years ago, so I staked none of mine and they did great..... until deer started to walk through my garden between the dahlias. They must have been good size deer for their hips broke the stalks of the plants they walked through. 🦌 Then mother nature decided to gift me some straight lined winds and sheared of the tops of two rows of my dahlias. 🎐 I will try anything to do more work, but the saying goes, "If it was easy, everyone would be doing it"

Teddahlia

Tying up the plants is something we do every year. Deer do visit our dahlia garden but do not eat them. Swan Island dahlias do not stake dahlias but mow(yes, mow like you mow your lawn but at 12 inches or more) them in July to keep them from growing too tall. They have little wind there and we have very little wind here.

Teddahlia

blown_dry

Teddahlia Thank you, Ted. I am eagerly awaiting the days beginning to lengthen. 🙂

MissyWeitzel

Merry Christmas! I had to settle for grocery store flowers but that's better than no flowers!

blown_dry

Trees with lights! The fam went on this path during a break in the rain on Thurs. Experience the Ewok life this holiday season.

Teddahlia

Those look like the tall Hollyhill varieties!🙃

blown_dry

Teddahlia Good thing I wasn't drinking anything.

Teddahlia

Margaret is busy in the kitchen!!!
Same old story: "Ted Likes" and "Margaret Likes" applies to what she bakes. I get to choose a couple of my favorites but since she is the baker, there are a lot more "Margaret likes."

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