Dahlias Summer 2015

It is pouring here right now! Yay! Let it rain, Let it rain...as the song says, lol. First time in what seems like forever. It has been coming down for at least 20 minutes, so maybe I won't have to water tonight. And the flowers have got to be loving it!

Wow Dan, what were they smoking when they put out that forecast? I guess they were wrong too...LOL

Sorry to hear you got no rain. I haven't gotten any yet either. I thought for sure we'd get some overnight but it didn't happen. We'll see what happens today although on TWC future radar it showed all the rain missing us. I sure hope that doesn't happen.

Yeah, they're not too good at forecasting. They excel at telling you what the weather is doing right now and when it's actually raining. That's because they hire tall, bald men for field reporters and they're the first to know when it's raining. In other shocking news, the fair weather for Fri.-Mon. has now become four days with a 50-60% chance of rain. Who would have guessed?? It's amazing what can change in a few hours. I'll continue to water unless I see a 150% chance of rain.

I watered this morning and saw that I have quite a few plants that look like they're done for the year. There are still a lot blooming but the blooms are much smaller and more dull colored than before. Hopefully the cooler weather will help. I'm also seeing some that have what appears to be powdery mildew like Nanny mentioned. I'll wait a bit and decide whether to spray or give them a foliar feeding.

Haha...I'm a bald man! I shave my head though and I'm not tall, more like average. We are working our way to 2" by the time it's all done. I thank God for that. It was a little shaky there in the beginning as I thought for sure we were getting shafted but then the rain complex expanded a little to the east and we got in on the good stuff.

It rained again last night. I am now ready for some days of clear sunshine, which is supposed to happen this weekend.

2.49" here today. I'm super happy about that...and so are the plants :-)

Gorgeous day. 82 sunny low humidity. Got the lawn mowed and some other yard chores done too. It got down to 47 last night kind of cool.still lots of blooms and buds.

We had rain from Friday afternoon until sometime last night. Praise the Lord! I was beginning to think it would never come. No idea of the amount but the garden feels a little soggy. We dipped into the 50's last night with a high today of 65. These are my kinds of temps. We're supposed to dry out for most of this coming week.

The sad part of this is seeing all the broken flower stems. The bigger dahlias are already heavy enough, but add on the extra weight with the rain along with the winds and the stems can't possibly hold them up. Just one of the downsides of growing the bigger ones. Fortunately, there are still a lot of buds.

The lawn is really starting to grow again. The drying out this coming week will give me an opportunity to catch up on that. Darn it! lol

We got 1.5" of rain on Saturday. That puts us at 4.09" for last week. I'll take that after being so dry. Looks to be a dry week for us but we're good on rain for at least a week now. These temps are too cold for me. I had the heat on in the car on the way to work this morning. I'm looking forward to the end of the week when things are back into the low 80s. Too bad about your broken stems Dan. That is a sad sight to see indeed.

I noticed several comments about cooler weather, rain, and powdery mildew. Nanny 23 even wanted to know what sprays/treatments are best with dahlias. I found that reading through a section of the on-line version of the Pacific NW Handbook was very informative on fungicide sprays, common names, and trade names of all these different products. Alot of the mystery and confusion was removed. Good reading for anyone who wants to get the straight scoop. I stumbled onto this source when I was researching info for a presentation on using fungicides. The URL is posted below. Hope this is helpful.

PNW Plant Disease Management Handbook
Printed page URL: pnwhandbooks.org/plantdisease/node/1840

Very hard rains the last two days! It has been humid but after the rains the temps and humidity have dropped. Trees have not been stressed by lack of rain this year so they still look great. Local meteorologists are predicting great Fall color. If it is as windy as the last two days they won't last long. Need to get out and deadhead and restake the dahlias.

Thanks for the info skalan.

Alan's post reminded me of a problem I had a few years ago with mildew on my peonies. The local extension office confirmed it was mildew caused by poor air circulation due to the mass of stems in each group. It had been a hot and humid summer. I sprayed them with a mixture of baking soda and water and the following spring I thinned out the plants. I can't say for sure what fixed the problem but they've looked great ever since.

Some of my dahlias have gone downhill recently. A few look like they have mildew and some just look old and tired with yellow leaves. I gave some a good foliar feeding with Miracle Gro. I waiting to see if it helps. I don't usually fertilize after mid-August but didn't think I had anything to lose with these. Many haven't looked good since Labor Day weekend when we had the humid 90 degree temps and no rain.

We had a lot of rain last weekend and at 3 AM this morning it was raining so hard it woke me up. Better late than never.

I'm still getting a lot of new blooms but many are much, much smaller than before and some have gone through a color change. I'll post some photos when I figure out why I can no longer export them from my camera to my photo file. It just happened all at once. Time to bring in a six year old expert to show the old dog a new trick. lol

Lol Dan, call in the expert! I have similar issues with my Dahlias. Still waiting on Hawaii to produce the first bloom, just now budding out. It is way behind the rest, hopefully it will make it before the frost.

I too feel like my dahlias have gone downhill. A few are still blooming but I really screwed up when I didn't water them through the drought until it was too late. My blooms are smaller and one has experienced a washout of color. I will say though, that my Boogie Nights is still doing great.

Over the years I've come to expect changes in the blooms when fall approaches. The colors sometimes change and the blooms are often times much smaller. These photos are from the same Alfred C. plant. The first is from several weeks ago and the other two are from this past week. What's that about "variety being the spice of life"?

I don't know if I can blame the weather for this one. This AC Paint has been a little confused all year. The first photo is from a year ago. It was basically white with red streaking. The second photo is from several weeks ago and is lavender with the red streaking. The last two photos are from this past week. One bloom is almost all white and the other half dozen blooms are all lavender. Apparently it has sported and is reverting back to it's "parents."

I haven't checked for new blooms in a few days. These are from last week. The yellow one came from a 3-pak labeled "Akita." I've heard there is a yellow version called Cambridge. I don't have any others like it or any of the normal Akita color. I bought six and gave a couple away. So I'm assuming the others turned out to be some of the NOID's I've found in the beds. The orange bloom is Belle of Barmeara and was the only bloom on the plant. I was waiting to see it fill out but the deer walked through the bed and broke off the stem it was on. I don't think there's another bud on the plant. Gosh, I love those animals!!!

1) Akita ?
2) Belle of Barmeara
3) Ferncliff Illusion
4) Group shot of Lilac Time.

Stupid deer, if they aren't eating, they're trampling. Interesting the color changes as the season goes on. that Lilac Time is quite lovely.


Question: Is it possible for dahlia tubers to become crowded and result in lower flowering, much like perennials? A couple of my older ones are really being duds this year in the flower department. So I was wondering.

Jeff, have you ever divided the clumps? From what I've read, it's recommended they be divided at least every two years, preferably yearly. The clumps can get so big that the tubers are fighting over the available nutrients and little or no energy is going to flower production. You could say they eat themselves out of house and home. I have dug clumps that were so big, I couldn't imagine what they would have looked like in another year if I hadn't divided.

I deadheaded dozens of old blooms this morning and the beds look a little bare. I was surprised to see so many new buds. Some are on plants I thought were done for the year. There is even a bud opening on the plant the deer broke a few days ago.

The bloom in the photo is from a pack of clumps labeled as Ice Cube. I've read that IC is nothing more than a Cafe Au Lait with a different name. I've never grown it so I don't know what it should look like, but it doesn't look like any of the photos I've seen. As everyone knows, buying packaged tubers can be an exercise in confusion and frustration, especially when they come from places like Van Bourgondien. If I decide to keep any tubers it might make, maybe I'll just make up a name of my own. lol

Haha, I like the name of your own thing!

You're probably right Dan. I think my mega clump from last year that was super floriforous needs dividing really bad. I'm concerned I really don't know how to divide tubers. Hopefully I'll get lucky and it will be blatantly obvious. I watered them again tonight. Hopefully they will push a bunch of more blooms before the frost.

Jeff, not to worry about dividing the clumps, it isn't so hard. I had never divided any til this Spring. I waited until I could see where the sprouts were and almost every one I did came up. So if I can do it, with my unorthodox approach to Dahlias, I am sure you can too!. lol I was really nervous about doing it at first.
btw, I practiced on a few that had a lot of so if I messed up it wouldn't be such a big deal.

Yeah that's probably a good idea. Thanks for the support :)

Jeff, if you want advice on dividing, go the the sticky at the top of the dahlia forum page. Scroll down to the Members Favorite Threads and click the link to "Poochellas Digging and Dividing." She has photos showing where and how to cut. Very good info and easier to understand than someone just trying to explain. There are also a lot of excellent sources on-line if you google "dividing dahlias", including videos. The only thing I disagree with is where they tell you not to keep tubers without visible eyes. Sometimes the eyes are not easy to see in the fall but will pop out in the spring. I save all healthy tubers with a piece of the collar. They're just as easy to throw away in the spring if they don't eye up. I've had many without a visible eye in the fall that eyed up in the spring.

Is it okay to just divide in the spring when the 'eye up'?

Digging time is fast-approaching...seems like only yesterday we were complaining because we couldn't get them in the ground yet. I think there are a couple of different schools of thought on when to divide, I couldn't do mine in the Fall, so I stored them in clumps and divided them in the Spring, I didn't have a lot of the Issues that some complained about with storing. I have no idea if storing them intact had any impact on that. But it is interesting to note that most of my Dahlias did survive storage. Maybe they dehydrate faster when you divide them, I really don't have a clue. It might have been the consistency of the temps where they are stored, any numbers of factors could contribute, and Lord knows I am no expert when it comes to Dahlias. I tried to do the research and come up with the most workable plan for my situation, and luckily it has worked for me so far. (Knock on wood)

This message was edited Sep 22, 2015 5:01 PM

Like Nanny, I'm inclined to believe the divided tubers dehydrate faster than the clumps. I know several people who store clumps in plastic grocery bags after digging. Some wash them and some don't. They seem to have less problems than I've had the past two years. I don't have an storage area with ideal temps. I've always used the attic. Never had a shriveling problem until the last couple years. I believe humidity levels are much more critical than temps. The attic worked fine before, but the extremely cold dry air the past two winters has done a number on the tubers. I stored five clumps in plastic bags last year and four of them looked good this spring with minimal shriveling. I would probably store more of mine that way but hate to make room for 150+ clumps. I'm not going to put all my eggs in one basket this year and will store using several methods including some in saran wrap.

Dan it should be interesting to hear which method works best for you.It would be lovely to have a humidity and temp controlled storage area wouldn't it?While mine is somewhat temp controlled, it is NOT anywhere near a constant humidity. , although I really haven't checked it, I imagine that it is pretty much the same as the outdoors except when we run the heat in the extreme cold temps.
I may get one of those indoor weather stations that gives all that ifo just for the heck of it

I'm newer to dahlias and have always stored them as clumps. I know I will neeed to do some dividing this Spring. I watch for developing eyes and then divide according to that. I started a number of them inside in gallon pots as they showed eyes developing. It wasn't overwhelming to do a few at a time.

That said between dividing and always seeing more I like, when is enough enough? lol They are still the highlight of gardens probably until a hard frost. Kelvin Floodlight and a relly bright medium sized bright true red are really looking good. I have the name of the red but just not popping into my mind right now. Some of the flowers on Kelvin must be 7' high. It is hard not to see them.

Kelvin Floodlight is one of the first Dahlias I ever bought, but it remains one of my favorites, tried and true,it has never failed to put on a grand show in the garden. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves Dinnerplate Dahlias. I assure you will not be disappointed.

I'm wondering if my garage will still be a favorable storage area this winter. We got a new, more efficient, garage door this summer so I wonder if it will keep the garage too warm this winter. I got the least efficient one I could...LOL. There might be an area I can clear right next to the opening where it is the coldest. We'll see, I have a thermometer in there. My car warms the garage because it have a half hour drive home from work. I might have to leave it outside for and hour to cool down first.

Nothing new happening here. The deer are still walking through the backyard bed and I found at least a half dozen broken stems or stalks this morning. This is getting old. I chased nine out of the yard a few nights ago. It's getting worse every year. The temps have cooled nicely but we're in bad need of rain. I gave everything a thorough soaking again this morning.

These photos are varieties I've posted before but the colors look much better now that the temps are lower.

1) Zorro. This one is almost 10".
2) Vancouver
3) Vera's Elma. Supposed to be VE but I'm not sure.
4) Elma Elizabeth
5) Alpen Pauline. Getting bigger every day.

The first photo is Shiloh Noelle. It was the only SN tuber that survived storage this past winter. Hopefully, it's making more new ones. The second photo is Belle of Barmeara. The deer broke off the only bloom a week or so ago. I was happy to see two new buds open and bloom. Last night the !%$*&/?#@!* things walked through and broke off the bloom on the left. Grrrrr!!! I don't know whether to opt for a 30-.06 or my compound bow. lol

1) Shiloh Noelle
2) Belle of Barmeara
3) LaLuna

Just a couple of thoughts on dividing and storage. Humidity level seems to be more important than temperature ( as long as it is above freezing) for successful winter storage ( keep them from desication/drying out and getting too moist/rot. Garages are always a problem because the modern house-attached garages are too dry and usually cause the tubers to dry out in the middle of winter. Hang a wet rag in the garage and it is dry in several days. We all have different circumstances so the important thing is to do whatever works to keep the tubers moist but not too moist. Mold, mildew, and just plain rotting(from excessive moisture) cause as much grief as seeing them shriveled up. During winter storage, I check my tubers about every two weeks just to make adjustments for how they look.

After dividing all the tubers, I wash them to get rid of insects, then dip them in a bleach/water bath (kill bacteria, fungus spores, etc), then dip them in a powdered fungicide bath. The stored tubers have a slight coating of fungicide powder to ward off diseases. I like to use copper sulphate as a fungicide treatment because it is an organic compound.

I store some big clumps and they seem to have a higher survival rate when the moisture factor is an issue. I dig and divide my tubers in the fall and wind up with about 3,000+ tubers. I have found that the eyes are very visible in the 1st two-three days after being dug. Cutting into the crown to remove a tuber is much easier in the fall. The fibrous tissue in the crown is hard but really hard in the spring. I knew a guy who actually used a band saw to cut through the crown area in the spring.

Alan

Alan, from my limited experience storing tubers, I absolutely agree that humidity levels seem to be more important than temps. I store in the corner of the attic where the temp is probably never below 55-60 and never had problems with shriveling until the past two cold, dry winters. We normally have at least a few days of warm rainy weather during winter. That hasn't really been the case lately. I guess we have to hope for El Nino. I plan to use a few different storage methods this year.

I normally dust my tubers with garden sulphur before storing them in coarse vermiculite. This past year I used cinnamon to avoid the smell of the sulphur.

Toward the end of winter, I get nervous and check my tubers every two or three days. It's such a shame to have them all winter only to see them shrivel just before spring.

Thomas Edison was one of the first to bloom(new to me this year) and is currently blooming like crazy. I purchased a package of 3 and they are all doing well. Kelvin is still opening huge flowers.

My Ice Cube/Cafe Au Lait is getting bigger and filling out. I'm still not certain what it is for sure. I'm going to make up my own name for it. Since Cafe Au Lait is French for coffee with milk, I'm going to call this bloom "Iced Coffee With Milk." Works for me! The second photo is "not very Bodacious" since the blooms are only around 5". Normally, they're at least 8".

I saw FROST in low lying areas on my way home this morning. I fear the end is near.

I can see it coming, too. Right now it is cold, rainy, and just generally miserable. My poor Dahlias are heavy and bedraggled with the rain. I hope they recover some of their stately elegance before the frost comes.