Dahlia from seed
party_music50
9 months ago
This was a fun and successful experiment! The seed was Redskin mix, started in April, and this is the first of my plants to flower. It's a nicer color in person than the camera captured. :)
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socalgal_gw Zone USDA 10b Sunset 24
9 months agoparty_music50 thanked socalgal_gw Zone USDA 10b Sunset 24Related Discussions
Growing Dahlia from seed
Comments (3)I would think that you absolutely would get them to flower the first year. But, in some ways they are the perfect flower for you because they are very easy to dig up, store and transplant somewhere else! I am not sure what Zone you are in. If you ground freezes they would need to be dug up and stored over winter. If it just gets cold, you may get away with leaving them in the ground, particularly with some extra mulch. If it is really warm, then I would look for some tips on getting them to go dorment, I am in Canada so I don't know much about warm weather places and their Dahlias! I got some seed from Thompson and Morgan. It looks very much like the white ones pictures above. It will be interesting to see how close the seed comes to being true to the picture. I planted them early, perhaps way way to early because I was excited! At the begining of February and they can't go out until mid May. But, they are underlights and doing really really well. They don't seem leggy at all. I really recommend getting a shop light for anyone that is serious about growing from seed. A sunny window just does not really cut it. Oh, and one tip for storing over winter if you only have a few, and don't have a dry cool place to keep them, is your fridge crisper, or get a large ziplock and some sort of storing medium, I really like wood shavings, the kind that they used for small animal bedding and it sold in petstores. A big bag is dirt cheap and works really really well!!...See MoreQuestion About Growing Large Flowered Dahlias From Seed
Comments (4)Linlily....you will get both, tubers and lots of flowers this year...a lot depends of your green thumb and mother nature as far as how many but you will get both....you have the right idea, start the seeds and pot them up, then slowly introduce them out doors....start the process in early April so you can have the new plants ready to go into the ground after the last frost, usually around May 1st., the AA or Dinner plates will produce fewer flowers then your smaller types.... teddahlia is right...depending on the conditions around where the seeds were collected, you could get a wide assortment of different size and types of dahlis...kind of like Easter but once your plants are up they will be just as large as the ones from tubers, flower just as nicely and should have nice tubers...See MoreDahlia from Seed
Comments (1)Dahlias have complex genetics, they hybridize easily and generally don't grow true from seed. It is why all of the seed sold is "mixed". I am not sure what you mean when you say "the variety is white". You will not be able to tell the colors until they bloom. You may just have to move things around after they start. I grow the small bedding dahlias from seed inside under lights every year. I start them mid February, and some are starting to bloom when I plant them out at the end of May. Dahlias like warmth, planting them out to early is more likely to slow them down, then give them a head-start. In the fall you can try to save the tubers of the ones you like, and they will grow true to color and form the following year....See Moregrowing dahlias from seed - will post more as they bloom
Comments (24)Hi prettypetals, this year I direct planted the seeds outdoors in raised beds around the 1st of may, just like you'd plant zinnia or any other annual seeds. I did a few in pots and put them in the garden once they were established. You can start them indoors under lights a few months before your last frost date to get a jump start on them. I collected the seeds myself as explained in a previous post. Heat mats will greatly help your germination time and success indoors, I just bought 3 cell tray/dome/heat mat kits on ebay for under $30. each which I'll be using in february to start some perennials like echinacea cheyenne spirit seeds and more dahlias....See Moreparty_music50
9 months agozen_man
9 months agoparty_music50
9 months agoparty_music50
9 months agozen_man
9 months agolast modified: 9 months agoGlad you like it. These closed-end tube zinnia petals interest me.
ZM
party_music50
9 months agolast modified: 9 months agoZM, I definitely prefer the open petals, but your photo is gorgeous.
I’m still waiting for the others to bloom. :)
zen_man
9 months agolast modified: 9 months agoparty_music50
9 months agoIf anyone is interested, another of my dahlia plants that was grown from seed has a flower opening… it’s like a golden yellow with random swirls of magenta. Cool color! :)
zen_man
9 months agoHi party_music,
It is interesting that your specimen has an entirely different color from its parent. That suggests that the parent was an F1 hybrid. This zinnia had some similarity in flower shape.
The Dahlia Flowered strain of zinnias presumably resembles dahlias, although they didn't remind me of dahlias. To me, dahlias tend to have very large individual petals.
ZM
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