How to treat my damaged dahlia??

I just bought a Dahlia from the Home Depot 2 days ago and set it out on my porch over night. I looked it up in a flower book that I have and it said it was okay in zones 9-11. Zone 9 is 20 degrees, and it was only sopposed to get to 30 degrees that night (I live in Wisconsin), so I figured it would be ok. Now a few of the edges of the petals are all crumpled and discolored and stiff. I know it didn't frost that night, but I'm just wondering if the petals froze. I just want to know if there is anything I should be doing to help it out, like removing the damaged petals or anything, or if its going to crumple up completely and die.





I did see a few of the other Dahlias at the store that had the same sort of discoloration around the petals, so maybe I just bought one that was going to do that anyways?

How to treat my damaged dahlia??
I find the best thing to do with neglected plants is to treat them to some seaweed emulsion...they will love you for it ..just make sure you follow the instruction for dilution. I found that this natural product is a life saver for plants. Water this into the ground, it won't matter if it falls on the plant itself, do this every second day for a week and by then you plant should be doing well. Take off the old sorry looking leaves so the plant can concentrate on growing new leaves without the pressure of trying to restore the damaged leaves.
Reply:The cold weather bit it.. you can snip off the damage and keep it inside until after May 1... when it will be more safe to plant it.





The hardiness zones refer mostly to winter kill.. not how cold the plant can stand. Dahlias will freeze at 32 degrees.





Water it, give it a little water soluble fertilizer and snip off the totally dead leaves.. it might make it.
Reply:No your plant is not going to die!





One of the reasons why flowers/shrubs/bushes/ trees are like this in the stores is that they do not get enough water!





Water your plant everyother day until you plant it , then once a week if possible.





Don't worry about the crumpled up leaves, etc. - you can prune them off but they will fall off when they want to.





good luck!
Reply:Don't worry, it will probably love you for rescuing it. They dont take very good care of the plants there and it sound like it's probably just dehydrated. As for the climate, just fine. My Folks live in Southern Oregon and grow great Dahlias.

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