Dahlias

Dahlia - gorgeous autumn flowers. They are spectacular, colorful, have a different shape, size and height of flowers. Dahlias are very popular. If the month of September is warm, then the plants will stand still for a long time, until October, if there is no frost.

Dahlia belongs to the family Compositae. In total, there are about 15 species. But the cultural forms of this plant, there are more than 12 thousand varieties.

Dahlia is a perennial herbaceous flower with root tubers. The roots live for 3-4 years, each year they form new thin suction roots. The tubers themselves can easily be separated from each other.

For the winter, they are dug out (around September 15-20), they should be stored in the basement at a temperature of 3-8 degrees Celsius. By the way, they should be monitored regularly. If the stem begins to eat rot, then it should be cut before the start of healthy tissue, and sprinkle with the ground itself the ground, so that the rotting no longer occurs.

When and how to plant dahlias?

Any soil can be suitable for planting these flowers, but here the clay or black soil as it dries can be very compacted, and this will not allow the tubers to develop normally. Most suitable loose soil, with the addition of peat or river sand. Approximately 20 days before planting the tubers, they need to get from the place where they were stored, and then divided by root necks. Make these manipulations should be before germination, so that the roots are not damaged. Too small to divide the tubers is not worth it, they will develop worse, and the pomp of flowering can not wait.

After the tubers have been separated, they should be spread out on a damp cloth, moistened on top and covered with foil. Such procedures with roots need to be done every 2 days. After some time, the tubers will acquire a healthy appearance, because they have dried out over the winter. Tubers sprout about 5 cm long.

Plants can be planted in early June, when frost can not be exactly expected. When planting, the distance between each of the plants should be 70-90 cm. Before planting dahlias, it is necessary to dig holes 30x40 cm, apply fertilizer - humus (3-4 kg for each well), and also mineral fertilizer: 10-15 g of potassium sulfate, 15-20 g of superphosphate, a little ash and dolomite flour, while carefully mixing everything.

It is necessary to plant each plant 4 cm deeper than it was previously planted in the ground. After planting the culture should be watered and mulched. You also need to tie the plant to the pegs.

Planting dahlias in spring: features

• When spring planting flowers, for each hole should be left on 2 tubers with sprouts. The plant will turn out strong then, and its flowering will be lush and beautiful. If you leave more tubers, they will give only a lot of small greens, which will interfere with each other to grow.
• As soon as the earth warms up to 10-15 degrees, the dahlia can be planted in the ground. Before that, dig holes in which the tubers are planted at the same distance from each other should be dug. The size of the distance depends on the variety of plants; the higher the bush, the more the free zone should be left. For undersized varieties, it will be enough to retreat 30 cm, and for high varieties, 80 cm each.
• The depth of the fossa should be about 10 cm, it is not necessary to deepen the roots too deep into the ground. If the soil is dry, it should be well shed just before planting. Plant tubers should be horizontally, so that the root system is well developed and grown.

• After planting, too much to patronize plants is not worth it. It will be enough to weed weeds, because they are able to select nutrients from the soil. Dahlias also do not need watering, because in the spring the soil is so saturated with moisture. The exception here can be only hot weather in the month of May. After watering, the soil over the seedlings must be loosened so that oxygen can flow into it.
• When the seedlings germinate, you need to leave only a couple of the strongest sprouts and, during the entire growing season, make a strawberry so that the buds are large. It is not necessary to add too much fertilizer in early spring, otherwise the plant will plant a lot of greenery, and the inflorescences themselves will be small.
• After the dahlias are strong, before starting their flowering, 4 fertilizing procedures must be performed with the following fertilizers: dilute 1 l of mullein with 10 liters of water and add 20 g of superphosphate there. And then another 4 additional feeding with the following composition: dilute 0.5 l of wood ash and 50 g of superphosphate in 10 l of water.
• Receiving such care, dahlias will bloom magnificently. And in order for the flowers themselves to be many, it is imperative to carry out the formation of a bush. Pysynoki, which appear in the axils of the leaves, must be removed, and together with the leaves.
• To prevent the soil from overheating, the near-stem circle should be protected from sunlight by cardboard or plywood. If the day is hot, then dahlias should be sprayed several times with warm water. There will not be any extra foliar dressing with urea: 30 g of the drug are taken for 10 liters of water. It is necessary to spray the plants with this composition in the evening, this will prevent the development of such a disease as powdery mildew, and will also protect dahlias from aphid attacks.
• To prevent the autumn frosts from damaging the flowers, they should be huddled to a height of 10 cm at the end of August. Starting September, feeding and watering dahlias must be stopped, this contributes to the proper maturation of the tubers. But to rush to dig them is not worth it, because light frosts will not harm them.

Annual dahlias: planting and care

Planting and caring for one-year-old dahlias is simple, despite the fact that at first glance they seem to be capricious cultures. But during the summer and autumn, until the first frost begins, they will decorate the garden area with their terry, lush and multi-colored inflorescences!

In general, these plants are perennial, only grown as annual crops. The bushes themselves can reach a height of 80 cm, and inflorescences in diameter - up to 12! On the 1st such plant can grow up to 15 flowers of various forms!

The first stage of planting is to purchase seeds. These days special shops offer a wide selection. But if you are new to this business or can’t stop at any particular sort, then it’s better to get a mixture of seeds of some hybrids.

Most often, seeds of annual dahlias are planted in late April. And in the fall begins harvesting fertile soil. Before planting, the ground should be ignited and treated with a weak solution of potassium permanganate in order to disinfect it.

The seeds of these plants are large, including, and sowing them is not difficult: you need to spread the seed over the surface of the soil, sprinkle with sand, compact it a little, and then pour it. The greenhouse should be in a warm place, without drafts. We need to wait for the moment when the first shoots appear. Care of the seedlings is also not difficult: when there are 2 1st real leaves, the plants need to be transplanted from each other into separate containers. Toward the beginning of summer, when the weather is warm, the seedlings need to be planted on a permanent growth place at a distance of about 40 cm from each other.

One-year dahlias are drought-resistant plants, so they require moderate watering: during active growth and development, it will be enough once a week. On hot days, dahlias will benefit from cool spraying. Since the end of August, when the heat begins to subside, watering should be reduced a little and wait for flowering.

One-year-old dahlias, which were grown by means of seedlings, will begin to bloom much earlier - approximately 15, -2 months after planting in open ground. That is, if the seedlings were planted in late May, the first flowers will bloom at the end of July. At the same time low varieties begin to bloom much earlier than high ones. Therefore, dwarf non-terry one-year dahlias are so popular when designing flower beds and flower beds, they are also called curb.

By the way, such annual plants can be planted on your plot in the following years. For this you need to notice the strongest and most developed plants. Seeds in them will ripen in about 1.5 months. But the color of plants planted from the seeds of last year’s relatives may differ from the original. You can transfer the color only by planting the tubers.

Dahlias - a real decoration flower beds! They have long been fond of gardeners for their aesthetic appearance and sufficient ease of care. Plants of various varieties can be planted with seeds or tubers. Depending on the time of planting, the flowering time of the crop will change.