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Started tubers indoors

19 years ago

This is my first year having dahlias. I starte tubers from Walmart in planters that were given to me. They were planted almost 2 weeks ago. Two of them have gotten huge. Will these planters be large enough to keep them in? I have some other tubers coming from Michigan bulb, that I plan to plant outside.

I had read somewhere to pinch off part of the plant, what part?

Here are 2 pictures of the larger plants.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y72/myztorie/DSC00128.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y72/myztorie/DSC00127.jpg

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Comments (2)

Poochella
19 years ago
Hi Tori,
Your pots look big enough to me, if they're about a foot tall and foot or so wide? I have never grown a full size dahlia in a pot before and would worry about it falling over, how to support it in a pot etc. Or are they short dahlias?

Topping is interesting. All the leaf counting drives me nuts though. I just wait til the plant is about 15-18 inches tall and carefully pinch out the center growth tip up top. Most of the time I carefully peel back the two little tiny leaves forming over that growth tip and then pinch out the very center mass (because I don't know if it's important to leave those little side leaves or not.) I've never had a plant fail yet that was treated this way. No open hollow stem to let rain water in, no failure of laterals to develop. No lack of flowers.

Maybe someone else who's grown in big pots will chime in on dahlia support in a container.
Good luck, it's nice to see your photos and I really adore that white door and doorhandle!

Here is a link that might be useful: Topping Dahlias Tutorial with photos
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plantlady2
19 years ago
If you put a tomato cage in the pot it will provide support for bigger dahlias & the plant will totally cover the cage so you hardly know it's there.
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I don't think in my zone I would be confident putting them in the ground yet, not until Mid May. A Dahlia grower in my neighoburhoood told me not until June!! I am just outside of Toronto, straddling a Zone 5/6. I potted mine up early. I layed the tubers on top of some soil in flats, just like they show on dahilas.net. They did great!! They eyed up, and then sprouted, you can take sprout cuttings too if they throw off more then one shoot. that is really fun, and will get you more plants! However, I had mine in flats since February, and needed to get them into a little deeper soil, so I have them potted up in the pots that are a size down from 1 gallon. I water them very rarely, only when the leaves start to droop, and I water from bottom up, to make sure the soil is saturated when I do. If they are going out into containers, the main thing will be to make sure it does not drop below freezing overnight. If they are going into the ground though, you will have to wait a few weeks I figure to actually plant outside.
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