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Dahlia dilemma

sunitsunit Posts: 8
in Problem solving
Hello all, 

I was wondering if I could get some ideas on why my dahlias are behaving the way they are? I have about 25 of them most of which were purchased in Feb/March this year with about 10 being from last year. 

I potted them all in the second week of March in the greenhouse any they grew into pretty healthy plants. Being in the South I started moving them to live in a cold frame around the beginning of May. And there they remained in their pots for about 10 days. I then potted them up into large containers (38cm rim, about 50cm deep) or into the borders. The perplexing thing is that they are all behaving slightly differently and some have even begun to bud without putting on any real height. Last year my dahlias were all about 70/80cm high before showing any signs of budding. This year, they have all stayed lower (some don't look like they've grown at all since planting them) and started showing signs of buds last week. 

I'm confused why they might be behaving this way. As I followed the same process last year. They are all being fed twice weekly with a seaweed feed. 

Does anyone know if this is normal/will they recover and grow taller? To say I am upset is an understatement as the dahlia display was meant to be a little bit of a centre piece this year

Any help will be really appreciated. 


Posts

  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    I doubt it is the cause, but feeding twice a week is a lot. Once a week to once a fortnight would be more normal.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    By feeding small plants you’ve encouraged them to flower before they’re ready, sizewise,  I would suggest stop feeding for a while pick of those buds and let the plants grow up a bit more. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • bcpathomebcpathome Posts: 1,313
    I agree you are over feeding them it’s making them want to produce flowers instead of height .Put them on a diet for a week or two ,water only. 
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    Pinch them back and maybe stop feeding until they start to flower. Just give lots of water.
  • sunitsunit Posts: 8
    Cracking, thank you all. I will reduce to water only for now. I was just confused because they had the same treatment last year. Fed twice a week and one or 2 of them turned into monsters whilst the others grew well. That being said the weather last year was also a little warmer so they may have got a boost from that too. 
    I will try and feed back here. 
  • PosyPosy Posts: 3,601
    I think people often see plant food rather like human food - it looks a bit peaky, I'll give it a good meal. But plant food is designed to stimulate specific growth. It might be leaves for veg, flowers for ornamentals, fruit formation for fruit... You may well have been stimulating your dahlias to produce flowers as quickly as possible when really they need time to grow and leaf up. Just let them get on with growing, they don't need feeding at all yet, especially the ones in the ground.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    Dahlias will flower pretty well without any extra liquid feed at all, so the idea to give them a little lift rather than force growth. I would just enjoy them and appreciate what they offer. Good luck. Keep us posted.
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    I think they do need feeding, just not as much as you are giving them.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
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