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Dahlia

shell.p6016FAzlFkGWshell.p6016FAzlFkGW Posts: 16
in Problem solving
Hi can someone pleasetell me why my dahlia buds are so tiny and not flowering, they did flower before with beautiful heads, l have deadheaded regularly,  but now they just seem to be stunted. Thanks for any advice 
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Posts

  • RoddersUKRoddersUK Posts: 537
    Have you been feeding?
  • SalixGoldSalixGold Posts: 450
    If the weather has cooled off they can have a pause
  • shell.p6016FAzlFkGWshell.p6016FAzlFkGW Posts: 16
    Hi rodderRoddersUK said:
    Have you been feeding?
    Yes i have , tried some diluted tomato feed , but they seem to have got worse .
  • shell.p6016FAzlFkGWshell.p6016FAzlFkGW Posts: 16
    Please forgive my replies, hope i am doing it right, not quite sure how to use this site yet,  :/
  • shell.p6016FAzlFkGWshell.p6016FAzlFkGW Posts: 16
    Quite agree big change in weather, maybe eh, thanks
  • shell.p6016FAzlFkGWshell.p6016FAzlFkGW Posts: 16
    Must admit seem to have got worse since used tom food,  but that could be coincidence. 
  • SalixGoldSalixGold Posts: 450
    edited July 2023
    Personally, I would stop feeding until the buds break and start up again in blooming waves. Mine get stuck sometimes for  weeks in bud - it's frustrating. 

    If the plant is getting overshadowed by other, taller plants, consider pruning those back a bit. Dahlias like full sun.
  • shell.p6016FAzlFkGWshell.p6016FAzlFkGW Posts: 16
    Thank you  i wont give any more feed yet, just keep fingers crossed they will come out, as for the "sun" well this is britain, lol say no more.  B)
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    What variety is it @shell.p6016FAzlFkGW? Some are slower than others, and some can have a gap between flowering spells, especially if they flowered earlier in the year. I have one which is like that, but there are lots of new buds again, so I'm sure yours will come away again soon. Plenty of them also don't mind some shade, so that isn't necessarily any problem either.  :)
    The tomato food is ideal for them, so that isn't causing a problem if it's being used at the correct dilution. Don't overdo it though - once every ten days or so is plenty. 
    The problem with liquid feeds is that they can wash through quite quickly though if you have lots of wet weather. I tend to use granular food for anything heavy flowering, and that's especially useful in a pot when they first get planted. The tomato food gets used later in the year for those, as a back up. I do the same with my sweet peas as they're also greedy plants. 
    In the ground, the granular food for heavy flowerers is also ideal for the same reason - it doesn't get washed through so readily   :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • Alfie_Alfie_ Posts: 456
    I have this problem also with some Dahlias where the number of buds far outweighs the number of open flowers. It definitely is frustrating. @Fairygirl what is a reasonable number of open flowers to have on a dahlia to have open at one time? I have ones like these with tons of buds but only a handful are in flower:





    Whereas others there are quite a few in flower all the time:


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