Who’s growing Dahlias this year

[Onionbhajisandwich]

What varieties are you growing this year? I’ve got some Babylon Bronze and Kelvin Floodlight (among quite a few others) that I’m really looking forward to growing this year!

With dahlias come earwigs so that's a no from me.

Mine don't suffer from earwigs! No idea why.

Another shoot is peeping through, let the nightly snail cull begin!

Four have sprouted so far, fifteen more to go!

My bright pink Addison June from Woolmans has done nothing so I gingerly removed it from the pt and although it has made a few very wispy roots there are zero green shoots after about 6 weeks in there. I rang them and they are sending a free replacement. At the allotment my two dark ones are coming through but Happy Halloween looks to have died 😢. I notice the dark, Chat Noir coloured ones seem the most hardy and the brighter colours seem more fragile.

Three have sprouted, two no shows so far. One got reduced to a stump by slugs overnight but there is another sprout. The other two were untouched, but they were in pots with copper tape round them. I've now put some tape round the third. I'd stopped bothering because the RHS said it didn't work. Perhaps it was just coincidence but it's worth a punt.

Also got lots of dahlia seedlings (approx. 20) from an impulse bought mix.

No sign of agapanthus and zantad calla that I potted up at the same time as the dahlias.

All my purple gem have sprouted - even the tubers that were literally sawn in half. Not much difference between the tubers I dug up and the ones that stayed outside in a pot.

But no sign of the blue bayou which I planted new this year :( - just bought in a (good) local garden centre.

This year for the first time I'm restricting the number of stems to see what difference that makes - to 5-6. Normally I just let them do their thing (though I do pinch out stems to encourage bushiness).

I've re-homed about 50 snails from my garden to some plants in a public park about 2km from my house. They'll never find their way back!

(Will collect the jar later today)

I've put some newly arrived dahlia tuners (farmer Gracy) in pots today. Will they be ok outside tonight? Am in south of England.
I don't have a green house so would need to come in the house. Absolute beginner with gardening as just bought first place with a garden a few months ago :-)

I bought a bag of tubers from Lidl a few weeks ago and have put them in a boarder. Never grown them before and v new to it. Can't remember the name now (so stupid!) but they were hot pink and spiky looking. No signs of life yet though, I keep checking all the time!

They'll be fine now outside. Just keep an eye out for slugs. In the unlikely event there's a frost forecast throw a net curtain or some horticultural fleece over them. or just bunch them together against a sheltered house wall.

Mine have all been outside a week or two as I was running out of greenhouse space. Theyre mostly unnibbled but I still don't feel they're ready to go from pot to ground yet. I'd like a bit more top growth tbh.
Seedlings from cheap b and q seed need potting on again and bishops children are germinating.
Just the rooted cuttings from Halls to come

I captured another 30 snails last night and re-homed in the park again 😂

Any of the tubers I planted this year aren't showing shoots but those from previous years are coming along nicely and have been saved from the slugs with houses on their backs.

A couple of mine are slow but all the rest are at last showing leaves. I've never known dahlias with plump tubers not shoot eventually but gosh it's taken for ever for many.

I’ve been very disorganised this year. Is there any point in planting some tubers straight out now?

@Rainallnight inolanted some tubers in August past year and some got as far as flowering so I would plant some now.

Meant I planted

Oh brilliant! I might order some this week and whack them in the ground at the weekend. Thanks for the advice 🙂

I bought a mixture of Linda’s Baby, Crème de Cognac and Chat Noir from Farmer Gracy. Only three out of eight have sprouted so far and to be honest I’m surprised even they came up. The tubers were very shrivelled and dry when I potted them. Is there any hope?

My tubers that I’ve had for prob 10 years are completely rotten this year :(

I couldn't wait any longer and had a rummage for some tubers I planted earlier this year that are showing so above-ground signs of growing. They were also VERY shrivelled looking so I was surprised to see the startss of tiny shoots on them.

I've put them back and resolved to not give up hope until the end of June!

Just to add - my very shrivelled and poorly looking tubers also came from Farmer Gracy so I am going to avoid them in future, I think.

Oh no, ours are from Farmer Gracey, they didn't look too bad but haven't sprouted yet. You have me worried.

I find Farmer Gracy really good generally, I buy a lot from them and Ihavent had an issues. Dahlias sometimes take ages to get going, but unless they are soft and mushy they should sprout eventually.
I have a couple potted up with no signs of shoots yet but the tuber looks healthy so I am very hopeful that they will start to sprout soon.