Pakistan Gardening Forum

Below are the images of dahlias which are result of last group purchase. They germinated well, grow well and seedlings were successfully transplanted to pots. After month or so they are dead which you can see in the image below. Only one left which is also in miserable condition. When I dig the pot, I found the bulb shows below. Now I want to know

1. What are the possible reasons of their death
2. What should I do with the bulb, should I bury them again
3. I also have lilium and gloxinia bulbs what to do with them.

The bulbs were in stress, as also evident that they were more focused in making root growth rather than top, stress could be too cold or wet/fungus problems. Dahlias do not perform well in lower temperatures. So growth was stunted when temperatures dropped around zero in Rawalpindi. We had colder winter this season. Dahlia are heavy feeders and require constant watering but still they do not like continuous water logging.

Second reason could be unsuitability to our climate. I also suffered similar instances this season. Imported seed grown seedlings suffered whereas Local species fared well. I think imported dahlia seeds should be sown a week or so before last frost. and in such a case i had very good results earlier. They bloom around May and perform well provided they get some shade in hotter months.

Bulbs should be replanted immediately. I did so with few of mine and "some" of them re-sprouted.

Farhan Ahmed wrote:The bulbs were in stress, as also evident that they were more focused in making root growth rather than top, stress could be too cold or wet/fungus problems. Dahlias do not perform well in lower temperatures. So growth was stunted when temperatures dropped around zero in Rawalpindi. We had colder winter this season. Dahlia are heavy feeders and require constant watering but still they do not like continuous water logging.

Second reason could be unsuitability to our climate. I also suffered similar instances this season. Imported seed grown seedlings suffered whereas Local species fared well. I think imported dahlia seeds should be sown a week or so before last frost. and in such a case i had very good results earlier. They bloom around May and perform well provided they get some shade in hotter months.

Bulbs should be replanted immediately. I did so with few of mine and "some" of them re-sprouted.

thanks Farhan sb. i think colder weather hit them. they were performing well till December, after that problem started. when i pull the bulbs out, i saw a kind of white web which i think was fungus.
what about other bulbs lilium and gloxinia

I had the same problem when i grew T&M's dahlia show piece first time, they all made tubers without any blooms.. i left the tubers in ground, they re-sprouted in July and I took the cuttings which grew very well and produced great blooms:

thanks Izhar sb for your opinion

Izhar sb the sedds those you send me are blooming these days. Can i use its cuttings in july.

farah fayyaz wrote:Izhar sb the sedds those you send me are blooming these days. Can i use its cuttings in july.

If you like the flower shape and color then go ahead.. Dahlia cuttings root easily in plain soil within 10-15 days.. however, they dont like full sun of May-June so keep them in shade at that time with low watering...

Ok. Thanks

Your medium is terrible which preferably should be well drained ( 1/3 compost, 1/3 sand, 1/3 bhall). Try taking as many cuttings as possible. The dutch master take up to 40 cuttings per tuber. In the west they tend to save the tubers by storing them in a shed during the cold winters and take cuttings. This can only be replicated in Murree. Over here in our plains the tubers often perish due to humidity in June, July & August.

Dahlias are back