There is this on going debate about what 'composts' offer. The nutrition add essentially added in. If water retension is the key, there are ways to beef that up. Otherwise the growing media is just a matrix to hold the roots. So goes the debate....Â
I added quite a bit of muck to my pots this year and I certainly have the height that I was after, but I'm not sure if it's just made bigger trees and not so much flower. Too much nitrogen? Don't know.
It's quite hard to stake (my) dahlias properly in pots when they get towards six ft. Pretty much all mine fell over at some point (despite best attempts) and I now have complicated pallisades surrounding the plants to stop collapse. Maybe a fence post in the pot from the beginning might help. It has to be sturdy enough to hold up a tree. A tree not covered in blooms is disappointing.
I’ve grown dahlias for many years but this year they’ve been the poorest ( NE England) and many were ravaged by slugs/snails despite being pot raised and planted out when we’ll grown. Last season I ordered new tubers, Creme de cassis…they flowered bright orange and a forum member identified them as Motto which I thought was correct. I’ve grown lo love it. I re bought Creme de cassis this year and raised in pots. They were reduced to bare stems in the border. One disappeared all together. The other two I lifted a few weeks ago and planted into large pots, they have made new growth so hopefully the tubers might be ok. I don’t usually grow any in large pots but that’s what I’m going to do next season even though that means growing many less. I don’t usually do mixed pots but this year I did using up three sparetubers of My Love, a white cactus variety for height. They have been tremendous. I’ve come to the conclusion that in two beds the soil is shallow, which I knew, but has also become impoverished and it’s the area where the molluscs hang out so next year no dahlias there.Â
It has been a difficult season all round for many folk.
@Bilje I'm sorry it's been so hard this year. Why do you think the molluscs were so bad for you? Is it your approach that improverished soil made for weak plants and weak plants are more likely to be eaten? I'm glad Dahlia My Love was a success.
everything was looking good with my dahlias when I left France three weeks ago, however with the watering ban hubby has had to stop watering and apparently most have shriveled up! I’m kind of dreading seeing what they are like when I get back.Â
I did fall completely in love with the small ones grown from seed and especially the anticipation of seeing how each one turned out. I think I will definitely grow from seed again next year.
for those from tubers I don’t think I’ll keep the lemon and white as they are very insipid, hopefully the others survived as I would definitely like to try to keep for next year.
Worst year ever for my dahlias, it's a shame as they are the show stoppers.
My mystic illusion, not sure if something else is wrong. All were attacked by slugs a lot, but they all picked up. Bar this one, it grew to about 1ft, really spindly. It either was out competed for light by other plants (should have been taller faster if not eaten by slugs) and would have been ok, or something else has gone wrong. There's a few flowers, but it doesn't look good! Might have to replace next year. It's certainly left a big gap, as this is a big dahlia.
My bishop of York is just starting to flower ok, it's not great.
I have a pink/white petal one, can't remember name off top of head. That's grown well, but not flowering well. Annoying it doesn't do white and pink petals on each flower head too. Guess that's a 1 year thing, now it's just pink each year.
I have another cutting from last year, that's struggled as out competed due to slugs stunting it's growth, but has a few flower buds now. I don't know the name of this one, as just given to me.
The aphid attacked one, I gave up on and cut back. It was so ugly and brown/dead looking, although some flowers. It's putting in healthy growth and should flower in the next few weeks. I will have to keep a close eye on it for aphids, the ants are over it already, so no doubt the aphids will be there soon.
I'll certainly deal with the slugs next year quicker and hopefully have a better show!
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When you don't even know who's in the team
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I don’t usually grow any in large pots but that’s what I’m going to do next season even though that means growing many less. I don’t usually do mixed pots but this year I did using up three sparetubers of My Love, a white cactus variety for height. They have been tremendous. I’ve come to the conclusion that in two beds the soil is shallow, which I knew, but has also become impoverished and it’s the area where the molluscs hang out so next year no dahlias there.Â
for those from tubers I don’t think I’ll keep the lemon and white as they are very insipid, hopefully the others survived as I would definitely like to try to keep for next year.
My mystic illusion, not sure if something else is wrong. All were attacked by slugs a lot, but they all picked up. Bar this one, it grew to about 1ft, really spindly. It either was out competed for light by other plants (should have been taller faster if not eaten by slugs) and would have been ok, or something else has gone wrong. There's a few flowers, but it doesn't look good! Might have to replace next year. It's certainly left a big gap, as this is a big dahlia.
My bishop of York is just starting to flower ok, it's not great.
I have a pink/white petal one, can't remember name off top of head. That's grown well, but not flowering well. Annoying it doesn't do white and pink petals on each flower head too. Guess that's a 1 year thing, now it's just pink each year.
I have another cutting from last year, that's struggled as out competed due to slugs stunting it's growth, but has a few flower buds now.
I don't know the name of this one, as just given to me.
The aphid attacked one, I gave up on and cut back. It was so ugly and brown/dead looking, although some flowers. It's putting in healthy growth and should flower in the next few weeks. I will have to keep a close eye on it for aphids, the ants are over it already, so no doubt the aphids will be there soon.
I'll certainly deal with the slugs next year quicker and hopefully have a better show!
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border