Can my Dahlia's be saved?

Can my Dahlia's be saved, I planted them in large flowerpots this summer and after they bloomed once the stems turned brown, and the plants died back. Will the Dahlilas come back next year or did I kill them? I watered them daily as it has been really hot here in Missouri.

Can my Dahlia's be saved?
I can't say if you killed them forever they should have bloomed all summer what a shame. They could have caught a disease. Verticillium wilt causes brown or black streaking in the tissue of stem plants wilt and die. Infected roots rot in storage. If you think they may have caught a disease ditch soil in flower pot bleach it and try again next year. Not to mention ditch the bulbs. Dahlia's must have well drained soil with a constant supply of moisture. But it is a bulb type plant. If you think it just died of thirst it has a tuber that you save over winter and can plant next year. IT IS A TENDER BULB plant. BULBS MUST BE BROUGHT IN FOR WINTER. If the plant is dead as a doornail ya might as well dig it up and check and see if the tuber is plump or shriveled up. If it looks good store in a dry place in a bag of peat moss or straw and moisten the moss or straw very lightly once or twice over winter and try again next year. Even if the tuber is dead retry dahlias because they are awesome the way you normally get flowers all summer! Good luck Hope that wasn't too much info!


Master Gardener MSUE
Reply:yes take them out of the pots and place them in a damp potting mix,they must not get to wet,they are tubelars and in the spring they will start to shoot again from the tubelar,then you can replant them.dahlias dont like to much water untill the green grouth relly gets going or they will rott once there going you must feed and water them regularly,de head the dead flowers and provided you feed and water regularly they will continue to flower for mounths,happy gardening
Reply:It sounds like your drowned them. Make sure the pot has a drainage hole. OR, if you watered lightly every day it was not enough. Unpot them. Check the tubers to see if they are okay. Firm like a potato is good. Of course mushy is very bad. If they are still firm, repot them in a well draining potting soil.





I read that Dahlias need a lot of water. Make sure the pot is large enough. I bought a dinner plate Dahlia last year. It wilted every day. I potted it into a 7 gallon container. Now, I water it every other day. It's beautiful :-)





Good luck :-)
Reply:Hopefully they'll be o.k. I have about 10 of them in my yard...5 of them are from last years planting. The sun hit them hard but they came back again. Put the remainer of the plant in the ground.


Not sure what kind of pots you have but terra cotta is the best. It's alot more solid so it prevents the sun from heating up the inside of the plant whereas a plastic pot heat up the plant like a teapot on the stove.





Good luck...


SmileyCat : )