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Dahlia disaster?

Tanty2Tanty2 Posts: 231
in Problem solving
Hi - I have Dahlia (in this case Bluesette and Edge of Joy, both from reputable growers) in a south facing bed with plenty of room. Everything else in the bed is doing great, the dahlia look great and are covered in buds and are flowering but on some of the flower stems is this filthy black gunk - 2 pics attached (sorry, windy day, first pic a bit fuzzy) - can anyone please help identify this?  Thanks!

Posts

  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    edited July 2021
    That's blackfly. You can squish them off with your fingers if you like, or leave them for the ladybirds to eat. 
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    As Jenny says, put a glove on and squish the black fly, you also need to dead head those spent flowers or it will stop flowering for you. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    Just adding, the spent flowers are the cone-shaped ones. They usually feel a bit soft if you squeeze them. The buds that haven't opened yet are the more round, firm ones. It's not always easy to tell at first glance. 
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    Keep the plants well fed and watered - they are hungry, thirsty plants. I cut off the worst aphid affected bits of plants if they are totally encrusted like that.
  • RoddersUKRoddersUK Posts: 537
    I've had more blackfly than ever this year.

  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    I was pretty vigilant with the fondle of death this spring, so I haven't had much trouble with aphids. The population explosion in the sparrow community has probably helped too 
    In London. Keen but lazy.
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