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!

My second year trying them. Last year none of my tubers sprouted

This year all new ones -3 as I have a teeny garden and no space. one of them has tiny buds which have stayed the same size for about a month. I've brought them into the warm house to see if that accelerates the growth.

I'm still confused re watering the tubers though - some people say once only, others say sparingly and occasionally. Which is it ? 😳

Sparingly. But yes inside should help them along- but very few of mine are beyond the eyes stage. They're out in the cold frame though as I don't have space in the house for 60 odd...;

@Harrysmummy246 60!!!!!'

Wowza.

My garden is so packed that I'm sorting where my 3 will go if they ever do bloom

So, dahlia experts, I've potted mine up and some are growing fast. Should i pinch out? At what point? And will they REALLY be fine in an unheated coldframe?

In other exciting dahlia news, by 2pm the last of my Farmer Gracy tubers should be here. Huzzah!

Yes pinch out. Mine seem to be ok in the cold frame but are mostly not shooting yet.
@catwomando yeah bit of over-excitement. I've got about another 40 in the garden where I work too

@Harrysmummy246

Yes pinch out. Mine seem to be ok in the cold frame but are mostly not shooting yet. *@catwomando* yeah bit of over-excitement. I've got about another 40 in the garden where I work too

Ok I'll 2oman up and pinch. To how many leaves?

Are you a pro gardener (

Umm literally just the top pair of leaves and growing tip

Guess I am now a pro yes as someone pays me to do it and I've taken my RHS exams (still waiting on results!)

Oooh ooh oooh.

We have shoots !!!!!

Yay shoots!
I love it when things suddenly prove they are alive!

@Harrysmummy246

Umm literally just the top pair of leaves and growing tip

Guess I am now a pro yes as someone pays me to do it and I've taken my RHS exams (still waiting on results!)

Sounds like a pro to me Good luck with your exams.

Results next week

I have got seedlings! I did two seeds in each little fibre pot.

• Should I take the smaller seedling of each pot out and if so when?

• Is it okay to then just pot the whole fibre seed pot into my big pots? Ie will the fibre pot biodegrade in time?

These are my four babies

@meloncolic I would wait til true leaves appear and see which seedling seems stronger before thinning

But yes then the fibre plant pops straight into the bigger pot

How are everyone's dahlias doing?

I'm so overprotective of my babies, I've only just put some of my potted-up ones out in the grow house thing. Has anyone planted out potted-up dahlias?

I've been pinching mine out. A revelation! The plant bushes SO quickly afterwards. And I use the pinched out bit to make cuttings, and they all seem to take

Ps do I need any more? It's another farmer Gracy free shipping (until midnight). I've held off all week...

Mine are quite big now and 100% pot bound so dithering back and forth as to when they could go out in the ground. I might risk two at the weekend

Mine are all shooting but not yet pot bound. THey're all out in the cold frame though and that's not even being closed at night any more.

Work ones are in the shed at night this week but will be left out overnight between work days next week etc. But I'm paid to coddle those more....

I'm regrowing some tubers from last year, burgundy/purple cactus type ones, and then a mix of two packets of dwarf double seeds. There's definitely some different colours in there as half of the stems are purple. They grow really well at the side of my house, East facing. I've put all the purple dwarf doubles in my front garden border to go with echinacea, Salvia, fennel and stipa tenuissima. Excited! Was really quite thrilled to plant out so many I'd grown from seed. They germinated so well. I've pinched them out so they are growing side shoots well now.

I planted dahlia tubers this year, mostly bought from Wilko - most have already sprouted.

l’m looking forward to seeing if they flower and seeing everyone else’s too!

My old ones that I leave in the ground are just sprouting up, the new ones much slower. I always lose the faith each year though and mostly they come up so we'll see!

Mine only arrived in April - I ordered late, inspired by this thread! They're potted up in the unheated greenhouse and showing sprouts of varying enthusiasm - longest only about 5cm, some only buds still. I'm hovering nervously and covering the pot surfaces with coffee grounds to ward off slugs...

I forgot to pinch mine.Does that matter? 1 has a bud so is it too late?I’m growing Totally Tangerine and Single Happy Kiss.

Also do the plants tolerate a frost ie should I wait to plant out until all risk of frost is gone?

They're considered tender and the foliage will not tolerate frost, but they're less and less likely now and most of us are running out of patience/ space so theyre going out!