In early spring, my offspring and I purchased four varieties (6 bulbs total: 2/2/1/1) from a high-end nursery here in town. The only flower that was ever produced out of these six plants was produced by plant number one and I'm fairly certain it's tuber was misidentified. Now here we are in late September and none of these other plants have produced anything. I have been battling thrips, spider mites, and the occasional whitefly. I live in zone 9b, Northern CA, and the weather is generally mild in the winter. I water them a tiny bit daily bc of our weather. They get decent sun from about 9am-2pm daily. Since they are in black pots and it can get up to 110° here, I put them in this location so they wouldn't get nuked by the sun. SO, my question to you my dear community is: when are these damn plants going to put out?! Is there anything I can do to help them out? Am I doing something wrong?
by nooneswatching
2 Comments
At this point in the year it might be too late but definitely for next year try to do the ff:
1. Dahlias like to be planted in the ground. They do much better when not in pots. If you don’t have the space, I suggest increasing the pot size to at least 5 gallons. The bigger the better.
2. Because they are in black pots, you do need to water more often. However, dahlias like to be watered infrequently but deeply.
3. Dahlias need at least 8 hours of sunlight to really flourish. The stems are a little leggy which means they are looking for sunlight. If it gets too hot during the day, have them in a space that has AM or PM light.
4. Pinch your main stems when they are about 6 inches tall. This encourages branching.
I hope these help.
I agree with the comment by professional-mix6206
The only thing I’d like to add is that I’m from SW Wa so take this with a grain of salt, but we have our dahlias in full sun from beginning to end of the day. Even on the 105 degree days they were loving it.