Hi Grace My answer may not help you at all but... I live in Sf and have grown dahlias out in the sunset for years (which is one of the worst environments for growing flowers) and in my opinion, you are causing more work than you need to for yourself. I NEVER have started my dahlias indoors, I never have dug them up for overwintering and I rarely even touch them after they bloom in year one. And I (just being honest) have a yard that is the envy of my friends and neighbors. Even in heavier rain years, I never worry about my tubers and in years like this, I find I have to go out and water in the winter in order for them to get ANY moisture. Do I lose dahlias? Sure do. But not often and usually only when I am lazy and allow the snails to have at em when they start sprouting. But if I lose a few (out of 90+ and counting), it gives me an excuse to buy more tubers the next year! You may well grow beautiful dahlias with all the dedication you are showing but for my money, it is much ado about nothing. Dahlias are hardy and once they get used to their environments, they last forever. And you know well in the sunset we get up to 2-3 months of NO SUN and heavy fog. So if I can grow beauties with little maintenance, I am sure you can also. If you prefer the high maintenance route, go for it. But I think you will find it a full time job because there will ALWAYS be something - mold, rot, lack of water, too much water, snails, too much heat (sun), not enough heat, freezing temps, long foggy months, staking, and maybe , just maybe, the tuber was no good from the get go DESPITE what you do! Good luck. And if you live in the sunset and want to see my yard some time, I have dahlias from May to November but the best month is August. Come on by!

I share your frustration--I have never had trouble with squirrels like this year. Here is what I have done: Bot and sprayed "RO-PEL. I spray in the evening because I do not want the squirrels to see me doing the spraying. I have no idea why the contents work, but I admit the next morning there was not a squirrel in sight. However, as the day wore on they did return. It has certainly helped. Deer Off Receipe: from letters from readers in Backyard Magazine. This has proven very helpful with squirrels. Beat together 1 eqq, 1/2 cup of milk,and 1 Tablespoonful of cooking oil. Add 1 tablespoonful of dish soap. then add enough water to make a gallon of liquid. NEVER SPRAY "DRY" PLANTS. Spray plants every two weeks or after rain. DO NOT SPRAY ON EDIBLES. Store any left over material in a closed jar. NOW MY SUGGESTIONS: To the above mixture, add 3 teaspoons of garlic, and 3 teaspoons of cayenne pepper. I have tried this, and am having excellent results deterring squirrels. WARNING: THIS LIQUID CONCOCTION HAS A VERY STRONG ODOR. MIX WITH THE WINDOWS OPEN. I have heard of adding mint to the mixture, and, I have also heard of adding mint plants in and arround your flowers but have not tried either. Another person suggested adding crushed Red Pepper in and around the plants. I will try this shortly. I wish you every success!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you try it, I'd like to hear how you made out. In your return message to me, in the subject area, kindly add the word "GardenWebber". This will keep your e-mail to me out of my junk pile. THANK YOU.

Hi Poochella! As the say seeing is believing! I hope my photos will be as impressive when I get around to posting? I wrote the below and was ready to paste before I saw your 2nd reply with photos. Jim Hi jroot and Poochella and of course All! Thanks for your replies. I sort of thought someone would think I was not serious about the 8' tall Dahlia plants because Ive never seen them before either. But it is the truth as Poochella said. I candidly thought I was doing something wrong. But I will say this; my wife thinks their beautiful and likes looking out the window at them, plus my next door neighbor told my daughter when she sits on her patio she feels like shes at a park. Im so happy we missed the frost of Sat morning 9/30, here in the Syracuse NY area as I have a brother from Binghamton NY, actually Conklin which is 90 miles S of Syracuse who will be visiting this coming weekend. He too has never seen 8'ers. Amazingly with a 1½ degree southerly latitude difference between his home and ours, his area is classified as Zone 4a/b where ours is Zone 5a. So that could possibly be a great deal to cause the tallness factor. Longer warmth and as much as a 2 to 3 week more of growing season can make a big difference Im sure. I gave him a tuber this Spring but his never materialized to that height. I just went out to measure what I think is the tallest and it does measure just shy of 8', and Im sure with the temps in the low 50's to middle and upper 70's on a couple of days this week they'll reach beyond that height. I will get a couple of photos, hopefully today. Another thing I would like to point out is without trying to embellish is, first, jroot like you this is a favorite Forum. The learning content is great and the photos are exhilarating, and Im envious of the photography. To be so gifted. Second, as to the tall growth. I learned after the fact that its not so good to fertilize or should I say over fertilize. I'm sure it came via this Forum. Well, for the past two years Ive taken fresh horse manure, mixed it in a 5-gal pail until it was broken down and then added more until I had the pail almost full of manure. I then put this in my six cu ft construction wheel barrel and added collected rainwater. I fill the barrel at least twice and get possibly as much as 50 gals of liquid that I strain back into 5 gal pails. I also add five tablespoons of Miracle Grow to each pail. (Talk about over fertilization!) Then with a watering can I pour at the base of each plant and generally have enough left over and pour over the plant itself. I did this three times during the growing season. One thing Ive recently noticed as I pass a few properties where Dahlias are visibly growing, is the leaf structure from the stem base ½ way up on many or most plants have already turned brown and crumbly dead looking. I have very little to no brown on my leaf structure. The same areas of growing but why the difference? Is it the soil PH or the rich mixture? I have not a phantom of an idea. And 3rdly I have to add I enjoy reading the posts from this Forums Group. As much as I hate the thought of being just a few weeks away from Winter where our average snowfall is over 100", I cant wait to get caught up on the Groups Tips and Success after blowing out the driveway. Believe me, Id rather be Gardening, and the Gardening Forum is the closest I can get :>) Jim

Hollyhill Spiderwoman is blessed with lots of eyes that you may not see. The tubers are bit small and a bit ugly but save them all and I bet you will find sprouts on many of them in the Spring. Even a small tuber of it will grow well. Aiming for places where there should be an eye is easy to say to the experienced dahlia grower but is difficult to explain to the beginner. Eyes occur where the tuber attaches to the stalk and if you cut them off of the tuber, the tuber will not sprout no matter how big it is. The eyes are actually in sets of three: a large one in the middle and a small one on each side. Any of the three can sprout but the middle one does so first. If it is lost one of the others takes over. On tree dahlias the tubers can be three feet long and are difficult to divide. Also,on a tree dahlia there are inter nodes on the stem that can be used in place of tubers. They can be planted and will grow into a full sized plant. This can be done with our dahlias once in a while. For example if you grow a dahlia in a very small pot to make a "pot tuber" the plants will make very small tubers. If you happen to cut off the stem a few inches above the pot, you sometimes leave a leaf node on the stem and it may sprout in the Spring before the eyes on the tubers below it sprout.