Can anyone deliver my dahlias from a fate worse than limbo?

Discussion in 'General Gardening Discussion' started by LawnAndOrder, Aug 15, 2022.

  1. LawnAndOrder

    LawnAndOrder Gardener

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    I have always had a passion for dahlias, their striking appearance, jovial presence, and infinite variety. Every year, I suggest we should grow some and, every year, the idea is rejected because Mrs Lab states (categorically) that slugs and snails “literally JUMP on them and devour them even before they are born!”

    Do any of you share my love of dahlias and might you have some ideas or stratagems appertaining to security and protection with which I might persuade Mrs L. to have a go next year.

    There is a moving link to the love of them having re-entered my consciousness; our late neighbour's sister has just brought us a bouquet of them (as we thought [*]) (below) from her garden in Wiltshire (together with a crate of white wine), as gifts far in excess of what little we did to keep an eye on his house during the ten months it took to turn it around and pass it on to the new neighbours who moved in a couple of weeks ago.

    Looking forward to hearing from you.

    Lao

    [*] we have now discovered (thanks to an app on Mrs Lab’s mobile phone – a remarkable thing [the app, not the phone]) that these flowers which we had thought to be a rare variety of dahlias are in fact Common Zinnias which we had never heard of but like very much; do snails and slugs also jump on them?

    upload_2022-8-15_11-47-46.jpeg
     
  2. JWK

    JWK Gardener Staff Member

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    I love dahlias, I have a bed of them for cutting at the allotment. I only visit every few days so I grow stuff that can look after itself. There are slugs and snails there but also slow worms and birds to keep them in check. When the dahlias are small, the emerging shoots attract herbivores but mine never get overwhelmed. Once they get established I don't have any more problems. If you grew them at home you can check more often, hand picking slugs and snails is the best control although some folk use pellets. A lot depends on how many live in your garden and obviously damp lush beds encourage them.

    I grow dahlias ornamentally at home with no issues, the slugs and snails decimate my hostas instead. At a previous garden I had problems with earwigs eating dahlia flowers, luckily that doesn't happen here.

    You won't know till you try. I give any new plant three chances. The rewards are worth a few night time patrols with a head torch and bucket.
     
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    • JWK

      JWK Gardener Staff Member

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      I assumed you are planning for next year by the way? After the last frost in the spring is the ideal time to plant them, or buy tubers and start earlier with a little heat. Mine stay in the ground overwinter, the frost kills off the top growth and the tubers generally survive underground. I think you are in London, so could do the same. In colder climes they need digging up and kept in a frost free garage or similar, stored in boxes with damp compost.
       
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      • CanadianLori

        CanadianLori Total Gardener

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        I will be saving my tubers from my first season of growing dahlias.

        They would never overwinter here. And I have now watched far too many you tubes about collecting their seeds and am totallh frustrated that mine don't seem to have any.

        I am finding that the ones in hanging pots don't suffer much, if any, insect damage. And like @JWK my hostas seem much more desirable to my slugs.
         
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        • infradig

          infradig Gardener

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          Perhaps your benefactor could be persuaded/asked to gift you some tubers on the qt......
           
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          • Jocko

            Jocko Guided by my better half.

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            Put a top dressing of Strulch around them. Works brilliantly. I covered the floor of my cold frame with Strulch and I haven't lost a seedling or plug to slugs and snails.
             
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            • NigelJ

              NigelJ Total Gardener

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              I grow mine in pots to avoid slugs and snails and overwinter in a cold greenhouse.
              I have a couple in the ground, but they are both strong growing species and grow faster then the molluscs can eat them.
               
            • LawnAndOrder

              LawnAndOrder Gardener

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              Thank you all for the good advice and especially to Jocko for bringing to our attention the deterrent connection between slugs, snails, and Strulch, of which we were not aware.

              O excellent Jocko, where were you when I posted “Snails are vile, except on a plate ... Please HELP”?


              How I wish they would put all the snails and slugs in Great Britain – nay, the world – on a dedicated road and have you drive over them with all the busses you have ever driven!

              It would, at long last, dignify and define the dubious expression: Thrown under the bus!
               
            • Selleri

              Selleri Koala

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              If you like the taller, bulbous types of Dahlias, they win snails and slugs 1-0. The trick is to pot the tubers up in April/ May indoors and let the plants grow and acclimatise until it's time to plant them in the ground around early June. By that time they should be about a foot tall and sturdy, way too much for the SS patrol to demolish.

              Then in October/ November, dig the tubers up, dry them a bit and store in garage (wrapped in newspaper) in boxes. Do label them well.

              dahlias20.jpg

              Now, what to do with the hole in the ground? Perfect size and timing to plop in some Tulip bulbs that will bloom before the next spring Dahlia plants are ready to go back in. Winter bedding plants or early flowering hardy annuals are also an option, but the Tulip-Dahlia swap has so perfectly elegant timings and dimensions that I go for that. :)

              My ever expanding lot originates from a couple of tubers bought from Wilko's 70% off sale years ago. I paid around £1 for two tubers.
               
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              • Upsydaisy

                Upsydaisy Total Gardener

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                I love Dahlias and have a fair few. All mine stay put in the ground over winter, I just cover the base of them with a thick layer of mulch then a layer of leaves and finally an upturned frost hardy pot is placed over the entire pile.
                I start checking for new growth about April and as soon as it's spotted I clear away most of the protective mulch and ( unless very cold ) the plants then spend their days uncovered. During the night ( and on wet days) I place large clear plastic bottles ( base removed) over them to protect the very young shoots from slugs and snails, I find once the new shoots get to 22- 25 cms they don't bother with them anymore and the plants can safely remain uncovered to grow on.

                I have grown some new ones this year, these spend their first year in pots and are then moved into the unheated greenhouse for their first winter. The following year they are planted out in the borders and from then on are treated the same way as the older ones are.

                I now have about 30, all where grown from seed except for one which was grown from a cutting taken from one that was in my parent's garden. That one has now been made into 3 plants.:biggrin: :dbgrtmb:
                 
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                  Last edited: Aug 15, 2022
                • LawnAndOrder

                  LawnAndOrder Gardener

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                  All replies have been extremely useful and have persuaded Mrs Lab to have a go next year; and we are going to order some Strulch!

                  Many thanks to everyone.
                   
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                  • JWK

                    JWK Gardener Staff Member

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                    @Upsydaisy have you grown any of the pom pom types from seed? I read an article by Sarah Raven that they had a longer vase life and am tempted.
                     
                  • pete

                    pete Growing a bit of this and a bit of that....

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                    Personally I prefer Zinnias, they grow better in hot dry weather, dont need so much feed in the soil and the flowers last longer.
                    They are not quite such a slug magnet either.

                    Having said that, I do like Dahlias, the smaller flowered ones are best as heavy rain weighs down the flower of the larger types.
                    I do like the pom poms that @JWK mentions.

                    I've grown from seed, but they are relatively easy to propagate, (cuttings), and my personal thoughts are getting some tubers of good varieties are a better option in the long run unless you are treating them as mass bedding plants.
                     
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                    • JWK

                      JWK Gardener Staff Member

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                      My favourites are the dark red varieties, Grenadier and Black Jack both have dark foliage too so go well in an exotic border.
                       
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                      • JWK

                        JWK Gardener Staff Member

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                        Do Zinnias make a good long lasting display in a vase? I can't think why I haven't grown them before.
                         
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