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Post by jrae on Nov 28, 2011 14:02:17 GMT
Okay this may sound like a weird or funny question but gotta ask anyway. ;D
I live in the Philippines and this is the first time I've grown dahlias in my garden. Early this year I saw some seeds for cactus and ball dahlias at a garden show and decided to try them out. Since we don't have winters here, the only seasons we have are summer and monsoon or typhoon season, I was wondering if I should let my dahlias rest by digging them up and putting them away or is it okay to just let em grow in the ground the whole year? I checked some of them by gently removing some of the soil around the plants and the tubers they've managed to develop are still quite small, and I'm afraid I might kill the plants if I try to dig them up.
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Post by Cherry on Nov 28, 2011 15:09:29 GMT
This is amazing. Here we want to grow Frangipani and in the tropics, you want to grow Dahlias. We must wait to see what our dahlia expert will say.
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Post by sweetpea on Nov 28, 2011 15:50:46 GMT
I know they grow a lot of dahlias in Australia and New Zealand so it might be worth trying to locate a dahlia society in the tropical north of Australia.
My gut feeling would be to wait and see if they shed their leaves and if they do then take up the tubers. but I'm not really sure.
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Post by Cherry on Nov 28, 2011 17:18:02 GMT
I know they grow a lot of dahlias in Australia and New Zealand so it might be worth trying to locate a dahlia society in the tropical north of Australia. My gut feeling would be to wait and see if they shed their leaves and if they do then take up the tubers. but I'm not really sure. They are grown on the sandy soil of Mornington Peninsula and all the way to Cranbourne. They look beautiful. This is in Victoria though, not the tropics. |
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Post by jrae on Nov 28, 2011 17:27:00 GMT
I've been very lucky I think, my mom tried growing dahlias on her garden (same seeds I had) and they all died. I live up in the mountains though, so maybe the lower temperatures helped.  I do have a couple of plants that seem to be going dormant, they have stopped blooming and I'm not seeing a lot of new growth either. Is that normal? |
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Post by Tel on Nov 28, 2011 19:41:17 GMT
Hi jrae, i would say this you do not suffer from frost so no problem there.
I would be concerned about the monsoon season though especially if the soil became waterlogged, dahlias like plenty of water but will not survive if they have to stand in it for more than a day or two the feeding roots rot off and the plant will die.
On your other question you have grown your dahlias from seed the plants will need to be in the ground for 4 months or longer then they will have produced a tuber.
How long will your dahlias have been planted when the monsoon season starts?
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Post by jrae on Nov 28, 2011 19:59:59 GMT
Hi Tel! They've been in the ground since February, and yes, lots of the plants that came up (I direct-seeded them on the bed) died when the stormy weather set in but some of the plants that I still have now managed to survive, guess I was very lucky. I mix in sand and coarse compost in my beds since it helps drain off all that water when the rains come. Would it be okay to put dahlias in pots? I still have some seed left and maybe it would be better to put them in large pots so I can move them inside the barn whenever we have stormy weather coming up. I've seen some 15 gallon pots for sale around the nurseries here. Would that be good enough? Or is it way too large already?
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Post by Tel on Nov 28, 2011 20:08:39 GMT
Hi Tel! They've been in the ground since February, and yes, lots of the plants that came up (I direct-seeded them on the bed) died when the stormy weather set in but some of the plants that I still have now managed to survive, guess I was very lucky. I mix in sand and coarse compost in my beds since it helps drain off all that water when the rains come. Would it be okay to put dahlias in pots? I still have some seed left and maybe it would be better to put them in large pots so I can move them inside the barn whenever we have stormy weather coming up. I've seen some 15 gallon pots for sale around the nurseries here. Would that be good enough? Or is it way too large already? I grow quite a lot in pots, 10 inch or bigger, it is what you can comfortably handle weight wise. It would be more work for you, but you would not lose as many, on the plus side you can move them around to where you think they will show to the best advantage. |
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