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BONUS: What You Need To Know To Get Started With Growing Dahlias This Year
2.6k Plays1 year ago
Welcome to a special BONUS episode of the Backyard Bouquet Podcast. Today, we're diving into the world of dahlias, my favorite flower, and I'm here to guide you through everything you need to know to have a successful start to dahlia growing season.
In Today’s Bonus Episode, We’ll Cover:
- What you need to get started growing dahlias
- How to plant your dahlias
- How to set your dahlias up for success after planting
- Common Dahlia Growing Challenges
- Invitation to join The Dahlia Patch
The Dahlia Patch Membership Features:
- Monthly LIVE Training Webinars (replays available)
- Monthly LIVE Q&A Sessions (replays available)
- Expert Step-By-Step Growing Guidance From Jennifer of The Flowering Farmhouse
- Online Community To Connect With Other Passionate Dahlia Growers
- Interactive Opportunities To Grow Along (Growing From Seed, Taking Cuttings, Dividing Dahlias)
- Access to The Dahlia Patch anytime from your phone, tablet, and computer
Who Is The Dahlia Patch For:
- First Time Dahlia Growers
- Dahlia Growers Wanting Step-By-Step Guidance
- Dahlia Growers Looking To Increase Their Production
- Dahlia Growers Wanting To Connect With Others Who Are Passionate About Growing Dahlias
Our Founding Membership in The Dahlia Patch is available through May 1st, 2024. Be sure to lock-in this introductory rate today. We'd love to have you join us in The Dahlia Patch!
Learn More & Join The Dahlia Patch:
https://thefloweringfarmhouse.mykajabi.com/the-dahlia-patch-membership-growing-dahlias
Recommended
Transcript
Podcast Introduction & Dahlia Focus
00:00:03
Speaker
Hi, flower friends, and welcome back to another episode of the Backyard Bouquet podcast. Today, I have a special bonus episode for you all about helping you get a successful start to growing my favorite flowers, dahlias, this season. For most of us in the Northern Hemisphere, dahlia season is upon us, and we are getting ready and gearing up to plant our dahlias.
00:00:29
Speaker
If you are new to growing dahlias, this episode is for you. I want to help you have a successful growing season. So I wanted to provide you with a few tips and tricks to help you get started with planting your dahlias.
Tips & Special Announcement
00:00:44
Speaker
Also in this episode, we'll talk about some of the common challenges that gardeners will face with growing dahlias. And we'll finish this episode with an exciting announcement that I'm excited to share with you. I have been working for the last year.
00:00:58
Speaker
on creating a dahlia community to help you learn how to successfully grow and enjoy your dahlias. It is the dahlia patch, and we'll go into that as well today.
Meet Jennifer Galitzia
00:01:08
Speaker
So first off, for those of you who don't know me and are new here to the Backyard Bouquet podcast, I'm your host, Jennifer Galitzia from Hood River, Oregon, and the Flowering Farmhouse.
00:01:19
Speaker
I grow dahlias in Growing Zone 7b, so I am several weeks out from the date of this recording before I will be able to start planting my own dahlias. I have loved dahlias my entire life. I'll never forget when I was a young child and I would go up to Seattle and visit my cousins in the summer months.
00:01:40
Speaker
Their family had an amazing dahlia cutting garden on the side of their house. And what I clearly remember is that when I would go to their house, there would be bouquets of cut flowers from their yard filling their house with joy and abundance. And I always told myself,
00:01:58
Speaker
that someday I too would grow my own dahlias so I could fill my house with flowers in the summer and then share those with others. There's really nothing better than being able to grow and harvest your own flowers and then be able to share them with friends and family and see the joy that they bring to others as well.
From Gardener to Farmer
00:02:19
Speaker
In 2014, I bought my first house here in Hood River, Oregon, and that summer I went to Costco and I bought as many Dahlia tubers as I possibly could. I planted, I think, about 64 Dahlia tubers all over our property.
00:02:37
Speaker
And I knew really nothing about growing them. I knew that I loved them and I wanted lots of them. And I had fairly good success until I started having problems with pests. And then there were disease issues. And then it came time to dig and divide my dahlias after growing them for an entire season. And I lost almost all of my tubers that first season to rot. I didn't know how to properly store my dahlias.
00:03:04
Speaker
These are all things that I want to help you with so that you don't have to lose your precious investment. Dahlias can be expensive upfront, but once you learn how to care for them, you can multiply them and they will reward you year after year after year with abundant and beautiful flowers that you can fill your home with, you can share with friends and family, and then you can share the tubers and continue to share the love and beauty of flowers.
00:03:34
Speaker
In 2018, our family moved into our current farmhouse and it was at that point that I had become more successful in growing my dahlias and I decided that I wanted to give myself a chance at becoming a cut flower farmer. I took my 64 dahlia tubers and I divided them and I turned them into 200 dahlias in our front yard that next growing season.
00:03:59
Speaker
I shared the rest of my tubers with friends and family and neighbors. And I grew those 200 tubers, enjoyed all those flowers. I sold my flowers to the local florists and to the local farmer's market. And then I took those 200 dahlias and I turned them into 800 dahlias. And over time I took those 800 dahlias and I turned them into 2000 dahlias. And now I grow over 2000 dahlias. I grow dahlias from seed and cuttings and we have so many
00:04:29
Speaker
or just varieties growing here, especially our new ones that I can't wait to someday share with the world so you can enjoy the flowers that we have been cultivating here.
00:04:39
Speaker
at the flowering farmhouse. And I want you to have that same experience. I want you to feel like you are empowered to successfully grow your dahlias and know what you need to do. So today we are gonna dive into how to successfully grow your dahlias so you can spend less time dealing with pests and disease, spend less time trying to find answers to your growing questions and give you more time to enjoy your dahlias and share them with others.
Dahlia Growing Essentials
00:05:07
Speaker
Have you ever heard the saying about Lay's potato chips? You can't just have one. Well, for me, that's how it is with dahlias. Once I had one, I was hooked, and I want to get you hooked on dahlias also. If you're not already, that is. Okay, so let's talk about what you need to get started with dahlias. If this is your first time growing,
00:05:29
Speaker
and you are asking, what do I need? Here is what you need to grow dahlias this year. You need sunlight. You need a location where you are going to get at least six to eight hours of sun per day. If you live in a hot climate somewhere like Texas or California or Florida, you may need a spot that gets some shade or you may need to provide some shade cloth to your dahlias. Dahlias originate from the mountains in Mexico
00:05:58
Speaker
So while they are a warm, loving plant, they don't like the extreme heat and they also don't like cold. You also are going to need a spot that has well draining soil. So whether you're planting in your garden, in a raised bed, in a container, that soil that you're planting in needs to have well draining soil because you don't want your dahlia tubers
00:06:21
Speaker
sitting in a lot of moisture where they can rot. If you have the ability to get a soil test, that is one thing that will also help you get a strong start to growing dahlias. That way you will know exactly what your soil has or lacks because a lot of people will often ask me, well, what fertilizer should I put in my soil or what kind of soil should I start with? And I would say if you don't have the ability to get a soil test right now, especially with it being
00:06:49
Speaker
about time to plant or already planting time for mini zones, then I would recommend getting a 50-50 blend, an organic blend from your local compost site or nursery and have a mix of potting soil and compost.
00:07:06
Speaker
And then the last thing you really truly need to get started with growing dahlias is the dahlia itself. So you can get started with either a dahlia tuber, a dahlia clump, or a seed, or a cutting, or
00:07:22
Speaker
already established plant. So if you're newer and you don't want to deal with starting a dahlia from tuber and waiting for it to emerge out of the ground, go to your local nursery and you can get an established plant where you will enjoy the blooms much sooner. Or you might be able to find a local farmer who is selling their cuttings. If you are growing from tuber, great. That is the most common and traditional method for starting your dahlias.
00:07:47
Speaker
And then growing from seed, you would be starting them about four to six weeks before your last frost date. And of course, the only other thing that you might actually need to get started with growing dahlias is a shovel or some sort of tool to help you dig and plant your dahlias.
Planting Techniques & Support
00:08:06
Speaker
So let's talk about planting your dahlias. After your last season ending frost, and when your soil temperatures are above 60 degrees,
00:08:16
Speaker
That is when you can safely plant out your dahlias. The best way to know if your soil is above 60 degrees is to do a soil temperature test and you can do that with getting a soil thermometer. I like to test my soil in the early morning or late evening as in the middle of the day it will tend to read warmer.
00:08:35
Speaker
Right now, my own soil is still in the low 50s, so I have a few more weeks to wait. We've had some unseasonably cold weather this year, so it's not quite time for me to plant. You also want to make sure that your soil is not super saturated. Your soil, if you've had a rainy spring, needs to dry out a little bit before planting your dahlias.
00:08:56
Speaker
And then once it's time to plant your dahlias, you're going to space your dahlias 12 to 18 inches apart if you're planting them in rows or in raised beds. If you are planting your dahlias in container plants, you're going to want those container plants, I suggest at least 15 inches wide. Most tubers will get, as they grow throughout the season, the clumps will grow to be about 10 to 12 inches wide. So you want to have some extra space and room for your dahlia tubers to fully grow over the season.
00:09:26
Speaker
And then once you have your spacing out, you're gonna dig a hole that is four to six inches deep. You're gonna lay your tuber on its side so horizontally, you don't want it straight up and down, you want the long side laying flat with the eye facing up. If you're newer to dahlias and you're having a hard time finding your eye, the eye often looks like a little pimple that is just starting to emerge on your tuber.
00:09:53
Speaker
Sometimes if you have ordered Dahlia tubers in advance and you have them sitting inside waiting, they might have already sprouted. You can plant them with the sprout growing or you can gently remove the sprout and the Dahlia will send up a new sprout in that same spot. You might get three or four sprouts going from where you removed that sprout.
00:10:15
Speaker
And then once you dig that hole, some people do like to put bone meal in the soil to amend the soil. I do not use bone meal because I have found that the animals will dig it up our neighbor's dog when you're dug up a ton of my tubers after planting them because the bone meal is attractive to them. Some people will use alfalfa pellets. That is another thing you can do based on my soil test. I don't add any of that. I just add a general organic fertilizer
00:10:45
Speaker
to my soil on top at planting time. And so once you have them planted, you're going to cover them up. You are not going to water them. You are going to wait until the first set of leaves appear on those dahlias. If you water too soon, you risk the dahlias sitting in water and rotting.
00:11:05
Speaker
Remember, your Dahlia tubers are like a potato. They have a lot of water content. They have everything in them already stored up, ready to grow. So once your soil is warm enough, those tubers are gonna warm up and they're gonna wake up and they're gonna emerge out of the ground. For me here in Hood River, it takes about four to six weeks after I plant them in the ground before I see them emerging with their first set of true leaves. So for setting your Dahlias up for success this year,
00:11:33
Speaker
Like I just said, you don't want to water until your first set of leaves appear. Also, if your soil is really wet, then you're going to want to hold off for a little bit. Don't plant until your soil is draining well and is not super saturated. If you are going to be planting in raised beds or containers or something where you're not going to be corralling your dahlias, I suggest staking your dahlias when planting. Dahlias will grow tall.
00:12:01
Speaker
Depending on the variety, your dahlias will be between three and a half and probably six feet tall as they grow and mature throughout the season. So if you're growing in a container or a raised bed and you only have a few dahlias, I like to use tomato cages. And as soon as I dig that hole, I put the tomato cage in and I put the tuber in and then I cover it up because the last thing you want to do is stake your dahlias and accidentally puncture and kill your dahlia tuber. We've spent a lot of money on those and a lot of time and effort
00:12:29
Speaker
so make sure that you're not accidentally piercing them. I grow in rows, and with my rows, I use tea posts every eight feet, and baling twine, and I corral my dahlias. And because of the scale I'm growing on, that is the easiest method. It'd be impossible to have 2,000 tomato cages out there. So some people also use a garden stake and will tie each individual dahlia to the stake. I get a lot of wind, so I do have to support my dahlias.
00:12:58
Speaker
And then the next thing that I always recommend is to put some kind of slug prevention down. I like to use Sluggo Plus. So as soon as I have planted my dahlias, I sprinkle Sluggo Plus on the ground and that helps to deter the slugs. We have a terrible problem with slugs, especially this spring. And oftentimes when you're not noticing your tubers coming up out of the ground, it's because
00:13:24
Speaker
your slugs or the slugs are getting to your dahlias, the freshly emerging vegetation before they have a chance to thrive. So you don't want that happening. I know some people use beer or vinegar or other traps. Because of my scale, I have found that the Sligo Plus works really well and I reapply that throughout the season. Sligo Plus also helps to control the earwigs.
00:13:47
Speaker
And then once your dahlia tubers have their first set of true leaves, you want to start watering them. And you're going to deeply water them two to three times per week. I actually have to water mine daily because my soil dries out so quickly. And just this last year, I switched to pulse watering, which is the idea that instead of doing one long deep watering a day,
00:14:13
Speaker
I do multiple shorter waterings throughout the day. I water once in the morning, once in the afternoon, and once in the evening, and I use drip irrigation. I don't use overhead watering where I am because I tend to get too much powdery mildew with that method. With my drip irrigation, depending on the spacing of my drip lines, I run my irrigation lines from
00:14:37
Speaker
five to 15 minutes, three times a day. And I had the biggest and best and healthiest dahlias ever last year with that method. So I'm definitely going to be using the pulse watering again this year. It uses less water and it's more effective because instead of the water going super deep in the soil, it keeps the water at the same level as your dahlia tubers.
00:15:00
Speaker
But if you are going to use that method or you are doing a deep watering, make sure you check the moisture levels in your soil to make sure your dahlias are getting enough water and are not sitting in too much water either. I use a moisture meter and I check periodically to make sure my soil is not too wet or too dry and I check in different areas throughout the field.
00:15:19
Speaker
And then the next thing you're going to want to do is once your dahlias have three to four sets of leaves, you're going to want to give them a nice pinch, cut off that top lateral growth just above the last node. And that's going to encourage your dahlia plant to pinch out. It will make it sturdier and bushier and it'll give you many more blooms than if you just left a single stem growing on your plant.
00:15:44
Speaker
Okay, so those are my recommendations for setting up your dahlias for success this season.
Disease & Pest Management
00:15:50
Speaker
I do want to touch on some of the common dahlia challenges that growers often face throughout the season. And the first one is disease and viruses. Dahlias are highly susceptible to both disease and virus. We've all heard about the dreaded crown gal and leafy gal, which often come from imported tubers. They are a bacterial.
00:16:12
Speaker
And they can even spread through water sources or be present in your soil. So that is one disease that is not curable. If you do have leafy gal or crown gal, your dahlias, including all of the plant material, do have to get thrown away, including any soil surrounding it. And then you want to deeply sanitize any tools that touch it. Other viruses and diseases include
00:16:40
Speaker
Dalia mosaic virus, TSV, TSWV. The big thing to note here instead of going deep into these is that you can help prevent the spread of transmission of disease in your field with proper practice of sanitation.
00:16:56
Speaker
I'm having trouble speaking today, with proper sanitization. So I sterilize my clippers between every single plant out in the field. Every time I go out and harvest, it is more time consuming, but it helps to really cut down on the spread of disease in your field. I also do that when I am dividing and taking cuttings. I am constantly sanitizing with both Dawn soap and a bleach solution.
00:17:22
Speaker
Another thing is buying quality tubers and making sure you have tubers with a viable eye. The way you can do that is to buy from reputable growers. Don't buy the imported tubers that often have higher rates of crown gal and leafy gal. Instead, look for your local flower farmer who is certified by their local ag department and is practicing proper sanitization in their field so that way you have a better chance of buying a healthy dahlia tuber.
00:17:52
Speaker
And then the next issue that affects all of us is pests. There are tons of different pests that are going to be trying to get your dahlias this season. Whether it is spider mites or slugs or earwigs, there's always going to be some kind of pest that you are battling. So it's super important to have an integrated pest management system.
00:18:14
Speaker
I don't use any chemicals in my field other than Slugo Plus. I rely on a mixture of beneficial insects and that goes well beyond just ladybugs. I will be sharing lots of details of my specific integrated pest management strategy inside the Dahlia patch. I also do companion planting
00:18:34
Speaker
which is a variety of different plants that I plant throughout the field. Some of them are to attract beneficial insects into the garden. Some of them are to repel insects. And some of them, like last year, many of you know that I battled wireworm and garden syphilis. And through the help of some vegetable growers, I was able to identify some cover crops that help deter them and also are toxic to them. So really understanding what
00:19:03
Speaker
companion plants you can plant with your dahlias to help with your pest pressure is super important. And then I use a routine foliar feeding that also contributes to lower pest pressure and does not impact the beneficials because the last thing you want to do is spray something toxic that's going to hurt the bees or the frogs or any of the other beneficial insects in your area.
Tubers Storage Challenges
00:19:30
Speaker
And then probably the most talked about common Dahlia problem, especially this time of year, as people are taking their tubers out of storage is discovering that their tubers did not store well.
00:19:43
Speaker
If you live in growing zones seven and below, you do want to dig your dahlias at the end of each growing season and store them. Storing your dahlias can be a challenge for some, especially if you don't have a regulated cooler. For me, I am fortunate I'm able to store my dahlias in a walk-in cooler where I can regulate the temperature and the humidity levels. Before that, I did not have a cooler when I first started growing and I had to really learn how
00:20:10
Speaker
to protect my tubers because you cannot have your tubers freezing over winter. And you also don't want them too warm. If they're too warm, they're going to start growing and you are going to have growth that you don't want in the middle of wintertime. So it's important to learn how to store your tubers so that they are primed and ready to plant when it is springtime.
00:20:32
Speaker
And then also when you store your tubers, sometimes you will find mold or rot and learning how and what to do to prevent that or to save your dahlia tubers. Just because you find mold on a tuber does not mean that you have to throw it away. There are ways that some kinds of molds can be treated.
00:20:50
Speaker
And if this is not information overload enough, one thing I often hear from people is that there is so much advice out there on the internet. And sometimes we can spend so much time searching for Dalia growing advice on platforms like Facebook and the information can be overwhelming and inconsistent. Sometimes it's challenging to sift through opinions versus non-expert advice.
00:21:18
Speaker
And with all of these different challenges, I decided to launch the Dahlia patch.
Community Building for Growers
00:21:26
Speaker
And you guys, I'm really excited to tell you about this today. About a year ago, last March of 2023, I actually started filming a course for all about growing Dahlias. And last year I brought along a videographer and I documented my entire
00:21:43
Speaker
growing season with everything that I thought you would need to know to grow dahlias. And my plan was to launch a course. Well, through the process, I realized that growing dahlias really isn't black and white. And so many questions can arise throughout the journey that I realized that versus offering a course, I wanted to have a community where I can be a guide and help you on your dahlia journey. I want to help you successfully grow dahlias. I want you to find the joy
00:22:12
Speaker
and growing them so you can have healthy and abundant dahlias that you can enjoy their beauty inside your home and you can share those flowers with your friends and family. And that is why I created the Dahlia Patch. The Dahlia Patch is an online community for dahlia enthusiasts. So whether you are a brand new dahlia grower who is looking for some guidance along the way,
00:22:34
Speaker
You want all of the information in one spot or you've been growing for a few years and you're still struggling with the pests and disease and not storing your tubers properly over the winter, then you're invited to join us in the Dahlia patch. Or if you're a seasoned Dahlia grower and you just love being part of a community, then the Dahlia patch is for you also. Inside the Dahlia patch, there are several components to this membership.
00:23:00
Speaker
The first part is that every single month I will be going live not once but twice. Our first training each month will be a live master class where we will be going deep on specific topics that are timely to where you are in the growing season.
00:23:16
Speaker
in the Northern Hemisphere. And then our second live each month will be a live Q&A session where you can bring your Dahlia questions and we will dive deep into answering your growing questions so that you can be successful this season. And then similar to Facebook and other online communities, we do have a community forum
00:23:35
Speaker
that is broken down into different segments where you can share photos, you can trade dahlias with your friends, or you can connect with growers that are in your same growing zone. I firmly believe that it's super valuable to connect with those who grow in similar conditions as you so that you can learn from them and see exactly what they are doing because they may know
00:23:56
Speaker
your area better than someone who is in a very different growing zone. So there are multiple facets to the Dahlia patch, but it is a place where we can come together, help one another learn. I want to be your guide. Part of the Dahlia patch is you will also get an inside look into everything that I am doing here at the flowering farmhouse. So I will be taking you live in our field.
00:24:21
Speaker
each week showing you exactly how I am growing dahlias here. We'll be arranging dahlias. We'll be starting dahlias from seed. We'll be taking cuttings. We're going to do it all and we're going to make it fun. We're going to save you time and headache and it's going to be a great place to connect with other dahlia growers. So that is your invitation. There will be a link in the show notes if you would like to join us in the dahlia patch or you can reach out to me either on Instagram or you can send me an email at hello at the flowering farmhouse.
00:24:51
Speaker
We'd love to have you join our community.
00:24:54
Speaker
All right, flower friends, we have covered a lot today. I know so many of you are busy getting your gardens ready to plant. I wish you a very successful and happy gardening season. Best of luck as you are getting ready to plant your dahlia tubers. I hope that these tips on getting ready to plant your dahlias and setting your dahlias up for success are helpful. And thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of the Backyard Bouquet.
00:25:23
Speaker
can't wait to continue growing and learning with each of you. Until next time, happy gardening friends! Thank you Flower Friends for joining us on another episode of the Backyard Bouquet. I hope you've enjoyed the inspiring stories and valuable gardening insights we've shared today. Whether you're cultivating your own backyard blooms or supporting your local flower farmer,
00:25:47
Speaker
you're contributing to the local flower movement, and we're so happy to have you growing with us. If you'd like to stay connected and continue this blossoming journey with local flowers, don't forget to subscribe to the Backyard Bouquet podcast. I'd be so grateful if you would take a moment to leave us a review of this episode. And finally, please share this episode with your garden friends.
00:26:10
Speaker
Until next time, keep growing, keep blooming, and remember that every bouquet starts right here in the backyard.