Re: [gardeners] Dahlia woes

George Shirley (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Fri, 30 Aug 2002 07:14:51 -0500

This summer we have only had to water occasionally as we are being deluged with rain. When we do
water it is when the ground is dry down at least one inch and then we turn the soaker hoses on until
it is wet at that depth again. Are your dahlias getting watered at the same rate as your annuals? If
so I'm not sure what your problem, maybe overwatering. I know nothing about dahlias.

Our annuals out front are basically reseeding perennials now. The poppies come out in January along
with the violas and poppies followed by the torenia and then the zinnias. We rooted out the 88
zillion cleomes that came up from one planting. They were floating down the driveway and coming up
in the lawn.

George

pennyx1@juno.com wrote:
> 
> George, do you water your annuals when the temps get
> to be around 94*...? If so, how often?
> 
> My yard is full of black-eyed susans, New Guinea hybrid
> impatiens, cleome, wand-flower, ageratum, blue salvia,
> gladiolis -- all in the full sun and heat. No sign of foliage
> dying, no sign of unhappiness. They get watered three
> times a day by ground level soakers.
> 
> The dahlias have never pulled this stunt before.
> 
> I can't bring myself to believe that this is heat related.
> 
> BTW, all the flowers I mentioned above (except for the
> New Guineas) came back by themselves -- to me that
> means my annuals have become perennials!  We
> picked up and replanted 99 ageratum volunteers -- and
> since there were about 300 cleomes which sprang up,
> we had to discard 200. All 48 glads returned. I've never
> planted a black-eyed susan in my life, and yet I now have
> 7 individual clumps in full bloom.
> 
> The only problem which has shown up in that bed has
> been about 6 mini-dahlias, about the size of a canteloupe.
> 3 plants simply died; 3 plants are green and plump but
> refuse to bloom.
> 
> Penny, NY
> 
> .
> 
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