Beginner dahlia plants?
kurchian
5 years ago
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popmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
5 years agoRelated Discussions
Beginner's questions on spring bulb and seed planting
Comments (1)Sunflowers are easy--plant from seeds, and put them in the ground now. The dahlias are also ready to go in the ground now, plus this is the best time for getting them at places like Costco or Sam's Club. You don't say where you are in LA, but your sun situation should be fine, unless you live near the coast, where it might not get sunny enough due to morning clouds. Carla in Sac...See MoreDahlias for beginners
Comments (6)STL_novice, some of the mail order companies are indeed good and I've had good results ordering from Swan Island, but mail order in general tends to be expensive and can be hit or miss on quality depending on the company. For a novice I would actually recommend just going to Walmart or Lowes and getting whatever they have in packages. Often the packages are transparent and you can sometimes find tubers that are already sprouting in the package so you know they are viable. The varieties will be very limited but for a novice this isn't such a big deal. I've had great success with Arabian Night, Kelvin Floodlight, Akita, and Onesta from chain stores. Plus if they don't sprout the chains are good about giving you replacements or refunds. Once you get hooked you can always explore the near limitless varieties in the catalogs....See MoreBeginner question about bare root plants, can they be saved?
Comments (55)3 plants that seem to be growing inflorescence have better color in newest leaves too - so they could be recovering well. Fungus gnats like moist soil, that has some organic material in it. I mentioned before that plants you showed in post about air roots looked like they are too wet. Keeping top dryer by using some grit helps, since they like laying eggs in moist soil. Just watch that soil under it doesn't stay wet for too long. I would also make sure that top dressing is just gravel; if there are any finer materials mixed in (like sand or peat) or some areas not covered by it, fungus gnats will 'wiggle' in there. Once you repot into well draining gritty mix, you probably won't need any top-dressing. I keep it on because I use lots of perlite; and it tends to float to the top slowly. Gravel will prevent it from flying around if bit windy. There are ppl that are against using top-dressing. If soil below is water retaining, it probably won't help at all and I would agree about not using it. I am not sure how long before new growth - some plants take really long time. But it could be good idea to keep leaves on, even if broken or scratched- they will help makin more food. I would take off any that are mushy - rotting - waterlogged. Otherwise, they will eventually start drying up and shrivelling when old enough. Hopefully someone with much more experience with growing many different Haworthias will chime in....I have only few, and I did kill few with overwatering......See MorePlant ID and advice for a beginner?
Comments (2)Grab a plastic pot saucer and pot plus a small bag of perlite. Seive the perlite and use the bigger bits, mix them 50/50 with good quality c/s mix. If you can’t go to expense of the new c/s mix try to get off as much as you can from the roots and mix that with the perlite, then repot. Likewise an old china saucer will do. Use a regular plastic plant pot so it will have holes for drainage. Don’t use a tight fitting outer pot as you can’t see any run off water as succs don’t like wet feet, they positively hate them! Mix the perlite throuought the mix, no layers please and defo no pebbles in the bottom of the pot as you may have read elsewhere! When you water, water thoroughly, drain on drying board perhaps and sit on saucer when no more runs out. Hope it thrives for you and good luck at uni :-) Gill...See Moremad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY)
5 years agocloud_9
5 years agopopmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
5 years agonancylouise5me
5 years agopopmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
5 years agocloud_9
5 years agodonna_in_sask
5 years ago
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