What should I do with Dahlias that are Sprouting Now?

so lucky

Garden Master
Joined
Mar 5, 2011
Messages
8,342
Reaction score
4,953
Points
397
Location
SE Missouri, Zone 6
I bought some bagged dahlia starts about 2 weeks ago and now I see they are starting to grow pretty vigorously in the bag. It will be about a month yet before they will be safe planted outside, so I was wondering if I should pot them up and keep them inside under lights? Or stick the bag in the fridge? Any ideas?
 

digitS'

Garden Master
Joined
Dec 13, 2007
Messages
25,719
Reaction score
28,726
Points
457
Location
border, ID/WA(!)
Limited ideas.

They cannot freeze. This American Dahlia Society article says storage temperatures up to 50°f and seem to suggest between 40° and 45° as ideal. Is your fridge that warm?

It helps to have buds developing by planting time so that viable roots can be recognized. I haven't had real experience with the buds having grown very much.

You might think that by now I'd have grown some in pots but I haven't. Some gardeners do. Some will even dig a big hole and bury the entire pot so that the top of the pot is below ground, so as to both not disturb growing roots and to make care easier through the summer.

Steve
 

so lucky

Garden Master
Joined
Mar 5, 2011
Messages
8,342
Reaction score
4,953
Points
397
Location
SE Missouri, Zone 6
Can I assume that if I break off the growing stem, others will take its place?
I'm afraid that if I leave them in the bag, they will die. I am thinking about planting them each in about a 5" pot and treating them like a potted plant, under lights, till I can put them out.
I just checked my downstairs fridge and it is cold, 33 to 35 degrees.
 

digitS'

Garden Master
Joined
Dec 13, 2007
Messages
25,719
Reaction score
28,726
Points
457
Location
border, ID/WA(!)
I treat those buds as precious.

There are always roots that otherwise look okay but never develop a bud. If they are planted, there is no growth.

Where is that @RustyDHart with the thousands of dahlias who used to frequent TEG? He must have driven his Blackface Sheep to other pastures.

So Lucky, Rusty said that he would start a few roots for some customers in pots about 6 or 8 weeks early for later transplanting to the garden. In that thread or another, someone suggested 1 gallon pots for smaller, 2 gallon for larger plants, 5 gallon if they are left all season to grow and bloom. (@catjac1975 knows dahlias.)

I've not done it. I had the idea that Rusty was starting them in a greenhouse. He also did his winter storage in a basement under a vacant house. Remember? He had the door blow open one winter and lost a bunch of roots. He used heatlamps to try to keep it 45°f and panicked when it dropped to mid-30's.

My storage room went to 35° once during prolonged sub-zero outdoors. I was just down so often during those days with the door open to the basement room with the furnace and water heater that it warmed up because of my fretting ;).

Steve
 

so lucky

Garden Master
Joined
Mar 5, 2011
Messages
8,342
Reaction score
4,953
Points
397
Location
SE Missouri, Zone 6
I remember RustyDHart! Wonder what happened to him?
OK, I guess I will pot them up, not break off the buds, and put them under lights so they don't get all spindly. Darn it, I now realize they are tall dahlias. I didn't read the package carefully. Impulse buy.
I am not a fan of tall flowers. I had some marigolds a couple years ago that must have gotten 7 feet tall.
 

YourRabbitGirl

Garden Ornament
Joined
Dec 30, 2019
Messages
434
Reaction score
192
Points
85
I bought some bagged dahlia starts about 2 weeks ago and now I see they are starting to grow pretty vigorously in the bag. It will be about a month yet before they will be safe planted outside, so I was wondering if I should pot them up and keep them inside under lights? Or stick the bag in the fridge? Any ideas?
I always see them growing everywhere. I usually just leave them alone since they pose no threat. Yeah. I just leave them be.
 
Top