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Dahlia Grenadier

HotwaxHotwax Posts: 51
Hallo. This is my first post, so I hope i’m doing it right! I grow quite a lot of dahlias, mainly for cutting, and I especially like the vivid coloured ones - reds, purples, oranges etc. I was very pleased to find a lovely red called Grenadier and last year I bought two rooted cuttings. Unfortunately, the stems were very floppy, even though the actual flower was lovely. I overwintered them, but this year, they have been just the same. So has anyone else had this problem? Is it just the variety, or have I used too much /too little fertiliser? I’m sure they held themselves much better when I first saw them at a trial at Wesley several years ago. Would be grateful for any thoughts.

Posts

  • Are the stems quite thin?  Often if they saturate with water it can bend them over.
    Do you grow them in pots or in the ground?
  • HotwaxHotwax Posts: 51
    They are in the ground, and yes the flowering stems are very thin. Would more feeding make them more sturdy? I grow quite a few dahlias and the rest stand up well. 
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 54,353
    More feeding can cause a bigger problem, but it often depends on the type of food too @Hotwax.
    If you can enrich the soil, that's usually better than using lots of additional liquid or granular feeds. 
    Failing that, perhaps it would be worth simply using a nice support early on for them :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • HotwaxHotwax Posts: 51
    The annoying thing is that the plants themselves are quite sturdy. It’s just the flowering stems that droop!
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