Dahlias

Must confess to being esp fond of Honka Yellow too. A simple, open delightful flower

 

Growing Bishop of L, York & Canterbury this year. Will try to get my hands on Oxford too, very high on my shopping list. Will try After Eight next year perhaps

 

The three tubers have sprouted!!!! One happy camper here!

The "traditional" method when dealing with earwigs in your dahlias is to stuff a small flowerpot with some hay/straw and up-end it on a bamboo cane (or stick/whatever) next to your dahlias. The theory being that the earwigs will then crawl into your up-ended pot which you can then dispose of at your leisure, somewhere else! I do admit that I have not had the need to do this, but I am assured it works. Perhaps worth a try?

No idea, in all honesty! What I *can* tell you is this: I planted my tubers a couple of weeks ago and put the pots on my north facing windowsill in my dining room (ergo no direct sunlight but, being a windowsill, gets light throughout the day) and they are sprouting very well indeed. The room is not heated throughout the day, just 5am - 8am and then again at 6pm - 8pm (basically, shower/bath times ). I'm quite impressed at the new shoots. Naturally, these won't be going into my grow-house until at least May and won't be planted out until June. Why those times? Well, the very first dahlia I had (see earlier post) I bought at the end of May and planted the beginning of June. How it was grown prior to that I have no idea, but what I did after purchase seemed to have been the right thing because it flourished. With that in mind, I'm going to try to keep these babies going for as long as I can.

Today, I did notice a little bit of white fuzz on the compost ... I read somewhere that cinnamon is good for bacteria, so I have sprinkled some cinnamon grounds on the top of the compost just to see if it has any affect.

 

I have just got my Dahlia corms out of their winter quarters to start them in the greenhouse. I had forgotten just how enormous they were when I lifted them last autumn. They must be at least 2 ft + in circumference and weigh a tonne despite having dried out a bit over winter. I have split corms up before when they have been easy to split and they seemed to naturally separate. These massive jobs are solid and I am going to have to split them somehow.What is the best way? Like Hostas with 2 forks back to back (seems a bit brutal but needs must) or just get a knife out and start cutting!? Also the growing points are only just beginning to show. Would I be best to wait a couple of weeks until I can make sure each portion has growing points? I am going to end up with far too many corms AGAIN. I gave a fair amount to a GC member last year. If anybody who lives near me (Fife) would like some very nice red Dahlias which grow about 4 ft you'd be more than welcome to some... a lot of corms. For years I used to plant a Dahlia hedge every spring about 25 ft long but have enough to do these days without doing that as well. Photos taken at the very end of the season as someone wanted to copy my hedge and needed a comparison for colour. In reality the flowers are actually more red if anybody wanted some corms.

 

Yes, only split down the centre with a growth eye on each.
Lose tubers without a part of the crown will often form roots but they cannot grow stems

 

Hi,
are your Dahlias going in ground already? I have previously only grown them in large containers but have now my first batch intended to go in borders. Mr. Google says that soil should be around 60F, which I doubt it will ever be up here...

I probably overdid things (again) and bought 6 dinnerplate Cotton Candy Dahlias and 2 pretentious looking (I'm determined they are very Art Deco. Or at least funny) Franz Kafkas and they have all sprouted rather... vigorously... on windowsills.

It would be pleasant to see out from the windows again so I'm tempted to put them out at least for a bit of hardening this weekend.

When do you usually dig yours in? How do you harden them off?

 

Dahlias here have been growing for 4 weeks or so ....in the ground and in pots

I divide by pulling stems apart....every set of tubers must have a stem. I do this mostly in autumn but in spring too. Dahlias do grow enormously and I give plenty away most years. Dahlias here last year reached 9'

Never convinced by Mr. Google or Youtube for that matter. I'm sure the soil wasnt 60 degrees a month ago yet dahlias shooted!

 

I live in Scotland and started my huge Dahlia tubers into growth in my unheated greenhouse about 3 weeks ago. With the gorgeous spell of weather we are having the tubers have grown about 1ft from zero in that time. Having seen our forecast is very good for the next fortnight mine are now in situ planted out in the garden for the season. Not the faintest idea what the temperature of the soil is but having had the same tubers for good god nearly 30 years come to think of it ,I must be doing something right for them to be still going more than strong!

 

Perhaps more folk should try leaving their dahlias in the ground! Prob more damage ....rotting, etc....caused by digging up tubers and exposing them to the elements!