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Do you have what it takes to grow dahlias? With this general information, you will find the dahlia is easy to raise, if some basic conditions are met. Once successful, the question then becomes which of the 50,000 available to try! That's an entirely different subject. So what do dahlias need to grow?
I'll let the pros sound in, but my thoughts are (being from the 90* and up club) watering early am, late pm are fine. Doing mid-day could burn the roots/tubers but misting midday is okay. I have no choice BUT to do it this way, since it's so rarely not 90 here.
Name: Annie Western WA Zone USDA 7b Relax. It's only a small setback.
I don't use soaker hoses, but my neighbors do in their veggie garden. They let theirs run overnight which loses less water to evaporation and has it to the plants which will need it during the high heat. (These are the black, barely porous ones that shed mere drops of water at a time, not perforated hoses that yield more water per hour.)
I don't envy you folks the heat, but I bet the dahlias are loving it.
Oh, yeah. Duh-did I leave that part out? I use a soaker hose. VERY helpful. I turn it on early am and pm and let it run. That's a good thought about overnight running. I wish I could do that, but we run on a reclaimed system and have drought requirements, etc.
I'm sure I could look into it at length to see if it's permissable...
Name: Annie Western WA Zone USDA 7b Relax. It's only a small setback.
What is a 'reclaimed system?' I assume it's a limited supply, but from where? How long do you let your hoses run then?
I put in soaker hoses along tiers of rockery at a former house, with all sorts of perennials tucked into the narrow beds, but was way too impatient to let the hoses do the trickle thing. I think the hot rockery evaporated most of it as it seeped out! Invariably, I'd just hook up a regular hose and water by hand anyway.
Its recycled water, to put it nicely. To put it not-so-nicely, it's treated sewage water. Woopee! But, in the summer, we aren't allowed to water daily from the regular tap, only 2-3 days per week, depending on drought/fire status. So, I hook everything up to the reclaimed system. Of that, we are allowed to use so much per month. I have no idea of the amount, but I haven't been scolded yet. How long they run depends on how much time I have in the morning before work, whether it's rained that day, etc. But, I average 30 min. to an hour of soakage in the morning, then another half hour at night, while I hose them down at the same time! I like to moisten them and hose off any potential spider mite jerks, but also, I'm impatient. Plus I have some randomly placed dahlias that don't get soaker hose action, so I have to hose them, too. I always hope I'm not hurting my dahlias with glorified poo water.
Name: Annie Western WA Zone USDA 7b Relax. It's only a small setback.
I believe they do that in a suburb SW of us too and I'm sure the reclaimed water is tested/treated to suit the most finicky health agencies (crossing fingers LOL!) Maybe it's GOOD for the dahlias, who knows?
Back to watering right now: 80's and sunny skies await us all weekend. It's a full 180 turn from just 2.5 weeks ago~!
Any remnants, winds or water from the Bonnie storm, Carrie? My niece is in Milwaukee with the 6" deluge of yesterday and more on the way tonight. I will send floaty toys to her
Yippe! I knew you'd be moving along in great form soon enough, despite a biblically wet June. I'll be drooling in Aug.-Sept. I imagine.
Just rain and winds received here from Bonnie Breigh (I rename them, when they're boring names and I was listening to Irish music a few days ago...) Thank Budapest I JUST tied up some stragglers and leaners.
LMBO-"Floaty toys"!
