Forum home› Plants
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Dahlias 2022 🌼

1246731

Posts

  • ButtercupdaysButtercupdays Posts: 4,546
    I go down to the next leaf node and hope for a side shoot. :)
     Leaving the bare stems sticking up looks untidy in a border, though in a cutting bed it might not matter.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    I have all mine in a cutting bed in the veg plot and dead head or cut flowers down to the next node.   I left them all out this winter for the first time and nearly all have survived tho i think I may have lost my outrageously blousy fiery orange ones.


    The Bishop's Children are already flowering and so are the red and black spidery ones whose names I have long forgotten.   Monty planted one a couple of weeks ago on GW.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    Biglad said:

    Do you prefer snipping off the head only or as far down the stalk as you can go?

    I find that snipping further down means it will take longer to rebloom as it has to regrow a whole new stem. Towards the end of autumn, when it's clear certain stems are over, I take off the whole.
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    I deadhead by cutting off the flower stem just above the leaf node. Nothing new will grow from the old flower stem above the node so there's no point in snipping off just the old flower head and leaving the stem.

    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • PlantmindedPlantminded Posts: 3,580
    My Dahlia Totally Tangerine has opened its first bud today, despite the lack of sun and cool temperature.  The colour is quite remarkable - watch out Waltzing Matilda, you have competition!


    Wirral. Sandy, free draining soil.


  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    JennyJ said:
     Nothing new will grow from the old flower stem above the node so there's no point in snipping off just the old flower head and leaving the stem.

    I dunno. I often get clusters of heads together so am careful to cut oly where I think a new part of the cluster might come. I have the decision with roses. I'm never quite sure if more of the cluster might sprout later on or if they all form together. I'm a bit more cautious these days. I'll try and find a photos to demo what I'm on about.

  • AthelasAthelas Posts: 946
    Fire said:
    If people are feeding their dahlias - what methods are you using? 🌱
    I’m planning to use Richard Jackson Flower Power once a week on my dahlias (in pots). Noticed a few buds on Cornel so gave it its first feed of Flower Power yesterday.
    Cambridgeshire, UK
  • ButtercupdaysButtercupdays Posts: 4,546
     I mulch the borders with a thick layer of well rotted manure -from our sheep shed :)
     My dahlias  were planted out towards the end of May. The old ones have regrown well and are about to flower, though they haven't grown very tall yet, as it's been so dry.
    The new ones are ok, but several had only one shoot so look a bit skinny. I pinched out some, but not all and I am leaving the first flower so I can see how they look. They can bush out and fatten up after that is removed :)
     'Old' Totally Tangerine has flowers already, but I don't like them! The colour  (muddy pale yellow) and shape (reflexed petals with a muddled orange centre) look nothing like the catalogue picture that tempted me to buy it, or like the one that @Plantminded posted.
     'New' Happy Single Juliet has a flower but has a lot of growing to do. It was the first of all the new ones to start growing, but grew really slowly thereafter. Nuit d'ete has a flower about to open and others have buds in the offing.
     I still have some David Howards and a Karma Naomi in pots. They grow so well on the muck that I have split them several times, but then I need to find new places to plant them. They were huge plants last year! I will probably make a cutting area in the veg garden next year so I can have more flowers for the house without robbing the borders.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    edited June 2022
    My first dahlia is out - Mexican Star - always to the first to get going.  I've been pinching out, so the other .... five or so varieties will be delayed.



  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    I was listening to an interesting podcast discussing whether tree dahlias will soon be able to last year round in sheltered, warm spots. I have three going and it will be fascinating to see how they deal with frost and  slugs. The garden is sheltered and potentially warm enough on a mild winter to last through. 
Sign In or Register to comment.