Dahlia leaf problems

Joy98 · June 2018

I am new to growing dahlias and noticed that 2 of my plants, that have been overwintered out of the ground, appear to have 2 different leaf problems. One of them looks to have a mosaic virus but I am not confident enough about destroying the plant.Not sure about the other but something is eating it and the leaves don’t look good.
A magnolia plant sharing the same bed is also looking very sad and hardly producing leaves after it flowered beautifully. Is this a clue or something different? I welcome any advice.

josine2302 · June 2018

I would shed tears of happiness if my dahlia’s looked like that. They are all eaten by slugs. The ones from last year, the ones that were freshly planted in may and, last but not least, the ones I gave the chance to grow bigger in pots before planting. Literally 1 night in the ground, and gone gone gone. I’m giving up. I’m sorry for this ranting and raving. You asked about your plants! Also I have no advice. Better ban me from this forum..

MuddyFork · June 2018

I'd try feeding them as they are very hungery plants. Mottling on leaves is often cause by lack of some part of the nutrient needs. I feed mine weekly with tomato food even when in the ground.

jlury8 · June 2018

They look good to me feed them up and make them strong. I feed mine with liquid nettle, borage and seaweed.

What do I know.

I usually do great with my dahlias but a combination of covered and left in the ground and brought into a usually warmish outhouse, none have survived the winter Thinking of plunge planting some, what do people think?

Joy98 · June 2018

MuddyFork said:

I'd try feeding them as they are very hungery plants. Mottling on leaves is often cause by lack of some part of the nutrient needs. I feed mine weekly with tomato food even when in the ground.

Thanks for the feedback. I was hoping it wasn’t too serious. Off to buy more food...

Dahlia leaf problems

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