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Dahlias - something dug them up

th77654th77654 Posts: 3
in Plants
Inspired by the lovely photos of dahlias, I planted my first dahlias this year. However I have woken up on several mornings to find holes and half my dahlia tubers have now gone. Has anyone else had this problem? What animal can sniff out and take the tubers? How can I stop them doing it?

Posts

  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    Foxes,  badgers,  squirrels,  they’re all desperate for food.
    Were  they blooming? 
    If not they were probably dead.  Or they grew and the slugs eat them. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    If you have the plants still and they have roots it's worth having a shot at replanting. Some photos would be helpful to help judge the situ.

    After the tubers start leafing I would keep a close eye on them every few days to watch if anything has started chewing on them. You can take the action needed.

    I only grow dahlias in pots because of the mollusc situ. Dahlias are mollusc caviar, near the top of their ideal menu. The higher off the ground you can get, the better the chance of success.

    Another option is to start the tubers (like other munchable plants) off in large pots and then, when they are chunky (a couple of feet) you could risk planting them out into beds.

    I hope that helps.
  • th77654th77654 Posts: 3
    Thanks for your comments. All the dahlias had started shooting when I planted them out and were all 10-20cm high when they were dug up. The holes were pretty big about 20cm wide and the growing plant, the tubers and roots had completely disappeared.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    I forgot to say, netting or chicken wire is good for covering beds or pots to stop critters from getting to them - foxes, birds, cats, dogs, rodents etc.
  • th77654th77654 Posts: 3
    Thanks. I’ll give that a try next year.
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