Category: Dahlias

Planted about 30 last Friday, 5/10/24. The really big one (bottom right), came up on it’s own from last year.

Have around 40 leftover. About eight duds.

About 40 have sprouted as of 4/25/2024.

Still growing very slowly this year. All are still not blooming. I did put the ones closest to the sidewalk in late, maybe not until close to June. Still, they are all growing fairly slow.

As of 7/16/23.

As of 7/1/23.

I gave a neighbor this week around 30 extras.

All the ones I’ve planted so far seem healthy. I wish I had gotten them in the ground a couple weeks earlier.

I put some in the Commons, in front of the sign. They started out growing fast, but seemed to have slowed a lot.

Below is a list of all the dahlias I have as of today.

Classification data from https://www.dahlia.org/docsinfo/ocg/

Cultivar	Class	Size	Form	Color	Comments
purple pompom
AC ATM	0207	AA	SC	DR
AC Ben	0210	AA	SC	LB
AC Casper	1101	A	ID	W
Bloomquist Laura	2208	B	SC	L
Bloomquist Sweet Dark Blend	9013	n/a	CO	DB
Born Sty	7002	n/a	ST	Y
Cornel	6007	n/a	BA	DR
Crazy Legs	7603	n/a	NX	OR
Elsie Huston	1105	A	ID	DP
GFF MS Flame	9706	n/a	MS	R
Hollyhill Black Beauty	3107	BB	ID	DR
Hulu
Kelvin Floodlight	0002	AA	FD	Y
Pooh	9015	n/a	CO	BI
Windhaven Blush	1202	A	SC	Y
Wyn’s Red Stiletto	1206	A	SC	R

Giant (AA)  over 10 inches

Large (A)   8-10 Inches

Medium (B) 6-8 inches

Small (BB) 4-6 inches

Miniature (M) up to 4 inches 

Micros (MC) up to 2 inches

As of today, about 75 have sprouted. Many are still very small.

Another 45 have not sprouted. Many of these 45 may not ever. I’m think I will get a much higher failure rate this year, mostly, I think, because I cut them much smaller this year.

About 30 of the dahlias I potted have sprouted. At least 50 have not.

About 17 dahlias have sprouted as of today, April 19 2023.

Potted about 100 dahlias. Most, but certainly not all, had eyes. Based on previous years, I’m confident that the ones without eyes will still sprout.

We’ve already had two frost-watches since I planted them. I covered them with tarps.

Almost all have finished flowering. There are still a lot of blooms on one of the Poohs. But the rest have none, or just one or two.

Show in Brookside.

Heat. Inch per week. water at the base of the plant. Don’t want the foliage wet. Can burn leaves. Get white spots on flowers. Use lots of mulch. Insulates from heat.

Preeen – nobody has a problem it seems.

24d is bad.

Why look wilted after rain. Means lack of nitrogen. Spray with fertiler with nitrogen. Spray and Grow is good. Bill Perfect fertilizer. Fish based. Spay on foliage.

Mites. got to spray. Telstar. Avid works. Use oil at night!

Notes on the meeting…..

Dept of Crop and Soil Science

Penn State

Soil microbiology

need oxygen in soil. roots need it. too soggy no oxygen.

think in terms of ecosystem. compared to coral reef; or a savanah; or a rain forest.
who is at home in our soil? all sorts of stuff growing.
can buy perdatory nematodes to eat bad stuff (like maggots etc)

slime mold – fruiting…looks like throw up on mulch (a fungi)

water bear (he say google them, interesting)

can find 5,000 species in a tablespoon of soil

don’t put no woody material in soil

rought 20 to 1 carbon to nitrogen is best

don’t till soil often

ph 6 or 7

add some manure is good. but don’t go crazy.

leafs…grass clipping is good.

I bought several new varieties from the club this year.

Name		Stephen Lescure
Classification Name – 2019	Class #	# Tuber Ordered
20TH AVE ESTRELLA	9207	1
20TH AVE INGRID	6108	1
BLOOMQUIST SWEET	9013	1
SKIPLEY MELLO YELLO	2402	1
VICKI	1202	1
		5

I planted this year’s crop on 5/6. Some are very small because i was late potting them (I think around mid-April) and I purchased a few from the club on 4/26.

I planted them closer together this year. About two feet apart. I think they will look a lot better. However, they could be too crowded. We’ll see.

from the Oct 2020 Dahliagram

Back to tubers. Dividing clumps is
scary for many new growers. Those
uncertain whether they will recognize
where to find the eyes on the crown can cut
off the tops of the plants a few days before
digging. The eyes will emerge after one
cuts the tops of the plants, so it is easier to
divide the clumps at this time. I strongly
recommend cutting off tops and digging
only as many plants as you expect to be
able to wash, divide, and mark in one day.
As the tubers dry, the eyes start
disappearing, and the tubers become very
hard – difficult to divide.

Some helpful (?) tips I want to remember from the newsletter.

I ordered Milstop Fungicide, a new organic approved treatment for powdery mildew that is supposed to be extremely effective. (Seed World had the best price I could find.)

https://fairfaxfernsgardenclub.weebly.com/dahlias.html

The seem to be growing much slower this year. It’s now well into July, and they are just now starting to bloom steadily. I got them in the ground a bit later than usual, but I don’t that that explains it all.

The picture below show the current height, which I’m pretty sure is way shorter than previous years. For the first time, the potted plants seem to be doing better than the ones in the yard. That makes me think the soil is the issue. I’ll compost for next year.

I potted the plant in mid-April this year. The vast majority sprouted. About six did not.

We had an unusually cold spring. I had to bring the inside the garage about five times. The last time was on (or about) May 12th. !

I bought one new one this year from Breck’s. Purple. Kenora Macob. We’ll see how it does. It sprouted quickly, good sign.

One of the experts said if tubers are dug after first frost, then should leave bags open for a few days in order to let moisture escape.
Makes sense. Opened all the bags. Will let air for a couple days, then  retie.
 

It’s been raining literally for days. Several of my dahlias were on the ground or close to it. Spent an hour or so tieing them.
Overall,  tying them once a week has worked well.
Most of them have bloomed at this point.
 
 
 

Applied Miracle Grow pellets.

Planted the last of  them on the hill  in the backyard. Not really very confident they will grow well, but we’ll see.

I dug-up a few tubers that didn’t sprout. I found a couple that would  have, but the eye was trapped between the tuber and the side of the pot.  The tuber was too big for the pot so I had to cram them in.
Need to get some bigger pots for next year.

It seems to me  that very roughly 70% WILL sprout. Not a bad percentage, higher than I would have thought.  I only planted tubers that seemed solid. I threw out the ones that were mushy or moldy.
 

I assume it’s the chipmunks that have been living hear for years that are digging up my tubers. Ran away with one. Others completely out of the dirt. I spread some type of powder that was suppose to irritate them so they go away. So much for that.

Some of the tubers with no eye, or at least no obvious one, are sprouting.
My conclusion… It seems that tubers with no eye do sprout, but not always. It’s hit and miss.  Remains to be seen how robust they  will  grow.
Some animal, probably a squirrel, dug out and took one tuber. 🙁
 

The ones with the best eyes starting sprouting approximately three or four days ago.

Another freeze warning.
 
 

Had to bring them all into the  garage last night. Freeze warning.

Potted all my Dahlias.  Took a long time, guessing eight hours or more.
Lost at least 20% to rot.  I was surprised, since last time I check they almost all looked healthy. Maybe I should pot them earlier next  year.  Or give them more air.
Most did not have eyes, although the tuber seemed very healthy.  Went ahead and potted them. I believe – could be wrong – that I had the  same conundrum last year. I believe most sprouted.  Well see.

I can use these measurements to figure out the right size stakes for next year.
Dahlias in pots
Sandia Suncatcher – 3 ft current too long needs two
JS Dorthy Rose – 3 ft current too long needs two
Ava Grace – 3 ft current too long needs two
Hulu Island – 3 ft current too long needs two
Stoneleigh Joyce – 4 ft current too long needs two
Yellow Costco – 5 ft current length good – not thick enough (needs two)
In Ground
Red Stiletto – 7 ft current too short – not thick enough needs two
Elise Huston – 7 ft current too short – not thick enough needs two
Born Sty – 6 ft height good – not thick enough needs two
AC Abby – 7 ft current too short – not thick enough needs two
MS Scarlett – 5 ft height good – not thick enough needs two
Holyhill – 5 ft height good – not thick enough needs two
Winkie Colonel – height good – needs two
Miranda – height good – needs two

Bought two more, a white “single” and a medium (B) variegated variety. Met more dahlia freaks and got a lot of good tips.
I should have a good crop this year. Almost twenty plants.

A list of the dahlias I got this year from the National Capital Dahlia Society.

Potted this year’s dahlias on April 16th. With any luck, I’ll have about 15 plants of various shapes, colors, and sizes. I’ll transfer them to the yard next week sometime.

 
 

Bought six more dahlia tubers (six for thirty bucks). That makes twelve, plus whatever survived from last year; should be enough. Tried to buy a bunch of different styles. They are so beautiful.

Went to my first National Capital Dahlia Society meeting tonight. Pretty awesome. A member did a detailed demonstration of potting dahlias, very informative. Bought six tubers of various types, plus some fertilizer. Lot of people at the meeting, many were really into it. I’ll go again.