April 15, 2024 • 22 mins
In episode 29 of the Sunshine Gardening podcast, host Kristin Hildabrand and guest Dennis Morgeson discuss growing dahlias in Kentucky. They cover dahlia varieties suitable for the state's climate and soil, soil preparation and planting instructions, fertilization tips, pest control methods, and harvesting practices. They also highlight the benefits of growing dahlias in Kentucky and recommend resources from the American Dahlia Society.
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(00:00):
Welcome to the Sunshine Gardening podcast.
I'm your host, Kristen Hildebrand.
In today's episode, we'll discuss the beautiful world
of dahlias.
Join us as we explore the art of
cultivating
these stunning flowers in Kentucky
with Dennis Morgason, our guest.
As the Washington County Horticulture Extension agent,
(00:21):
Dennis has extensive knowledge and experience in growing
dahlias.
He'll share his expertise with us from planting
tips to nurturing strategies
so that you can grow these beautiful flowers
in your Kentucky garden.
So put on your gardening gloves, and let's
dig in.
Welcome to the Sunshine Gardening podcast.
(00:43):
This gardening show will equip and inspire avid
gardeners with tips and tricks to help them
navigate the gardening world. The show will also
highlight specific growing requirements for seasonal plants, so
the sun will shine brighter over their Kentucky
garden.
And now, here's that ray of sunshine, garden
enthusiast, and horticulture extension agent, Kristen Hildebrand,
(01:06):
with the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service.
Joining us today on the Sunshine Gardening podcast
is Dennis Morgenson.
How are you, Dennis? I'm pretty good. How
about you? I'm good. I am so excited
to talk about dahlias. I think they are
such a stunning bloom. What are your thoughts
about it? Oh, I love them. I think
(01:26):
they're really easy to grow. There's a few
problems, but not many. And they are absolutely
gorgeous and they come in a lot of
different shapes and sizes and colors. Very good
plant for us to grow and we can
keep them from year to year if we
do a few things correctly. They're not hardy.
They are a tropical plant, but they do
produce a tuber that we can save. I
like that fact, you know, that we can
(01:46):
save it, and that way that we can
just store it a certain way. And hopefully,
we'll get into that a little bit later
in the podcast.
But I wanted to ask you, with these
blooms, the dahlia blooms,
what can listeners kinda do to help maximize
that bloom size and the color vibrancy
in their gardens? And you may wanna elaborate
a little bit more about soil pH here,
(02:08):
but I know that you've grown dahlias before
in your garden, and so we're getting the
best of both worlds. You know, you have
the research based information side, but you also
have personal
knowledge and experience with growing dahlias too. So
I'm just curious from both those perspectives, what
do you have to share? Well, I guess
the biggest thing about maximizing bloom is pick
the correct variety. The dinner plate types will
(02:30):
have the largest blooms.
Usually in Kentucky, it's a little bit too
hot to get the largest bloom you can
get. Usually tell people, like, 1 year I
actually had dinner plate size, but we had
a really cool July. Even with the tropical
plants, when it gets really hot, the blooms
don't size up as well. I tell them
that we're gonna go more for saucer size
in Kentucky instead of dinner plate.
(02:52):
And then Kelvin Fuddlite is a yellow dinner
plate, and that one's gonna give you the
biggest bloom out of just about anything you
can buy readily and plant in your garden.
It's a really good variety.
And now as far as maximizing that flower
size, we do need the correct cultivar, the
correct weather. And usually we're gonna pinch our
values. We're gonna talk about that in a
(03:12):
minute. I know, but if you let that
first bloom come up on that dinner plate,
that's gonna be your biggest flower.
The side branching ones will not be as
big. There's something to keep in mind that
you're just wanting really huge flowers.
Yes. And when you look at the catalogs
of dahlias, they're like so many colors or
so many shapes.
They're just very, very different and unique in
(03:33):
what that you have to offer. And I'm
glad you talked about the dinner plate dahlias
because I know that growing up at my
home, we always had the dinner plate dahlias,
and those were so pretty to put in,
like, a bubble size vase and then just
add a little bit of water. And it
looked like a water lily. It was so
large. Right. They're pretty. They're really nice. I
have a picture somewhere, but with plate next
(03:53):
to it just where I I could prove
that I didn't have one that big once.
Oh, yeah. Well, maybe you might wanna share
it with me later and I'll add it
to the show notes.
Will you kinda maybe elaborate on maybe which
ones that you have found successful in the
garden? I know you kind of mentioned a
few things just in that opening statement, but
maybe you found some other cultivars that work
well. There's some other cultivars. Usually there's a
(04:15):
bishop, like it's a bishop series, but it's
a smaller red flower, but the plant has
the purple leaves and it gets about 3
to 4 foot tall, but it will bloom
heavily as long as you keep it deadheaded
the entire summer. It's one of the easier
ones to grow. And then a lot of
Tahitian sunset is a cactus flowered one, it's
really easy to grow. There's just so many
(04:35):
out there. Most of them need the same
conditions no matter what size they are. But
the Bishop series, I think it's closer to
the wild type, and I think that's why
it does so much better than a lot
of the other types. Interesting, I didn't know
that. You said Bishop series? Yes. Okay. Don't
hold me to that name, but that's close.
Okay. I have heard of Yeah.
I have heard of that other one before
(04:55):
and those cactus, dahlias, they're really interesting. They're
more pointed at the ends of the blooms.
Kinda like the cactus flower zinnias. They look
more like that, the little rose petals and
spiky on the ends. But you can get
up to 2 tone colors. You can get
single flowers, doubles,
large flowers, little flower, whatever you want. There's
a dahlia out there for you. And it
(05:16):
seems like the dahlias
are very desirable from a florist standpoint, and
you're gonna elaborate a little bit more about
planting. But generally, for us here in Kentucky,
we get them in the fall. Is that
correct? Starting in summer, going into fall, and
then they really could size up and color
up better later in the season. If you're
looking for those perfect flower, that's usually when
you're gonna get them. That's usually why they
(05:37):
have the actual shows where they bring their
blooms in and have a show to see
who's got the best, whatever. That's usually in
the fall. That's usually in the fall. Yeah.
Well, I know they are beautiful in weddings.
I know they're very desirable
for other functions as well. So I was
just curious to kinda know what cultivars
work good for you. Now I know you
(05:58):
mentioned that dahlias are more of a tropical
type plant.
What are the essential steps that we probably
need to go through here in Kentucky for
preparing the soil for planting of dahlias?
Okay, they like a nice loose, humus soil,
like every other plant that we grow around
here in Kentucky, but I'm sure you're down
in Warren County, you've got plenty of clay
(06:19):
soil down there just like we do. So
whatever organic matter you can mix in is
gonna help loosen that soil. It's also gonna
help keep that soil from being too wet
because if it gets too wet, I mean,
these are a tropical tube, but they can
rot pretty easy, but any kind of aged
manure, organic matter, peat, any of that's gonna
be nice to mix up with that clay
soil to help loosen it up. It's also
gonna make it easier for you to dig
(06:40):
them in the fall. The looser the soil,
the better off you're gonna be. And then
you're gonna want to, after these plants are
starting to sprout, come to the ground, then
you put your mulch on, but don't put
it on before that. And then the mulch
is gonna help even out your water situation.
In the summer, you're gonna need a nicer
plant and a bigger root system. I like
all those tips that you had there for
really preparing the soil, and I don't think
(07:01):
I'd really thought of the fact that you
do want it loose so that way when
you do lift them, that way you can
store them and that's a lot easier at
that point as well. What time frame are
we looking at for planting dahlias?
We're gonna plant these here anywhere from mid
to late April up into May. If I
were you, I would, you're a little bit
warmer down there, I'd probably just wait until
(07:22):
May 1st. That soil temperature needs to be
60 degrees or above at least to activate.
And if you plant them too early, you're
gonna run a risk of rot. So you
may as well just wait until we get
our warm weather and then go ahead and
plant it. And you're probably if you overwintered
any of them, you're gonna see little growth
already starting by now probably. Mhmm. What kind
of plant spacing are we looking at? Because
(07:43):
some of these can be fairly large. Generally,
it's 18 inches on the larger types, and
it's a lot closer on the little dwarf
ones. They wanna do about a foot tall.
Also, back to the soil, we're gonna have
to do an extension PSA, get a soil
test,
and then you'll know what your soil needs,
but the organic matter is always gonna be
good. Just don't overdo
(08:04):
the organic matter, say the manure or something
like that, because then you might just get
a lot of growth and not as many
flowers. So you've got to even that out
to make sure you don't over fertilize.
And generally with these blooms, phosphorus
is good for the root establishment part. And
then the potassium, basically the levels that show
in your soil test will probably be able
to indicate what kind of blooms that you're
(08:24):
looking at. Right. And it just depends on
where you are and what your soil types
are. And maybe you're living in a new
house and that soil has been just obliterated
from building. You're gonna have to add more
organic matter, really loosen that up, get that
going. What are your thoughts, Dennis, on raised
bed situations? Is that a good location for
Dahlias? Yes, it's a good location as long
(08:45):
as you can get in there and dig
them in the fall, but that'll make it
a lot easier probably for you to amend
that soil in that location if you've got
really hard clay or something like that. And
these are fine for raised beds. You will
have to stake the tall varieties because they
will fall over, so all the larger flower
types are going to be staked. It may
be a bamboo stake, it may be a
tomato cage, it may be whatever you want
(09:06):
to use just to hold them up off
the ground. I was gonna say it seems
like even for wind damage, just by staking
them, like you said, with a couple of
those different materials or options that you have
readily available
can be really helpful. Because even in the
summertime, we do have some storms that depending
on your location, the wind Well, not August.
We usually have few rounds of thunderstorms with
(09:27):
pretty strong winds. And dahlia stems, they haven't
grown them before, are hollow inside. So that's
not a solid stem, so that's why they
can blow over pretty easy. There's even a
giant tree dahlia in South America
that the Aztecs used to use to drink
out of. I'm telling you how big that
dahlia stem was down there. The value well,
(09:47):
actually, they found them growing with the Aztecs.
They were planting them and growing them. So
they've been around a while and cultivated by
humans for a while. Yeah. I like that
history that you gave us too. Now going
back to the staking just for a second,
do you recommend staking as you plant or
do you recommend
doing that a little bit later after they
get established?
You can wait until they get established, but
(10:08):
honestly, if you're like me, if you don't
go ahead and put something out there at
the time you plant, you're gonna forget about
it. Plants will start growing and you're gonna
be like, well, that's fine. And then we'll
have a windstorm and your plants fell down.
Got a bloom that's big as a saucer
or dinner plate, that plant needs something to
support. But I'd like to go ahead and
just put something out there just like when
you plant a tomato, go ahead and put
a stake there or a cage or whatever.
(10:31):
And that way, you've already got that taken
care of, you know, for the growing season.
Yeah. I'm kinda in the same boat as
you, Dennis. You know, I have the best
of intentions, but time does get away from
you. And so it's better just to go
ahead, I feel like, and do it all
at one time that fits my schedule.
One time, and that way you don't have
to worry about it again later on and
then end up with a mess. Yeah. We
want you to be successful, so maybe just
(10:52):
go ahead and do it as you're doing
it. I do have a question. You mentioned
the soil test there. Go ahead and get
the soil test done. Don't guess, and we
can give you specifically what you need for
your soil depending on where you're located at.
But what about additional fertilizer?
Do dahlias need extra fertilizer?
They're heavy bloomers, so they're gonna need additional
fertilizers. And usually we'll do something like and
(11:14):
I know people don't wanna do a soil
test. I don't know why people just I
don't know. But anyway, if you don't do
a soil test and know exactly what you
need, I recommend a half a cup of
triple 10 at planting
and then a month later and do that
each month until August and then stop because
there's no reason to get a lot of
new growth
later in the summer, whenever you're just gonna
(11:36):
have to cut that plant back. And that's
because if you get too much nitrogen in
there
later in the fall, I mean, you go
to dig those tubers won't keep as well,
they get kind of funky and fleshy. Yeah,
we wanna make sure we have those beautiful
blooms later on. We don't wanna have all
that growth. So I appreciate the recommendation there
on the fertilizing.
And so that way we kinda know about
(11:56):
what to expect, what to have on hand
when we need it. Now I know you've
already mentioned about pinching and disbudding
dahlias.
So what are your general rules of thumb
on those techniques and why they're so important?
Basically, what we're trying to do is increase
the size of the plant, the branching, and
that's gonna give us more flowers, especially on
(12:17):
the regular types that have the smaller flowers
and you're not trying to maximize
one big large flower just for you to
show off.
But, we like to pinch the top one.
It's about a foot tall. Just pinch that
top bud out, and then we'll get side
branching, and then you can let those side
branches grow and you get a lot more
flowers later. It's also gonna keep the plant
a little bit shorter, which is also going
(12:38):
to help it from not flopping as much
later on and it might keep you from
having to shake as much as you might
otherwise. It's just good for the plant and
for flower production.
Okay. I know that that might be a
new term for some people maybe listening to
us, and so I know that that can
be very helpful, especially
long term. Now I know as we go
(12:59):
according to the season that we have on
growing and it can be very different from
year to year. We run into pests,
and they can be a problem for dahlias.
Can you kind of elaborate on what pests
that you've noticed have been a problem for
Kentucky gardeners when they grow dahlias and how
they can mitigate those or help control? In
the spring, you could have a slug problem
(13:20):
when these first are starting to grow. And
if you notice that, then you're gonna have
to control the slugs. You can get slug
bait and sprinkle around, and that usually takes
care of them in one night. It's actually
got the active ingredient that the brand name
is 7. It's carbaryl in it. Now if
you're wanting to go more of an organic
method for these, you can take on a
coffee can and bury it down to the
(13:41):
top of the can and just put some
beer in it, and that malt will cause
them to come to it and they'll fall
in a drown.
Doesn't have to be alcoholic beer. It could
be a near beer. It's just the malt
that they're coming for. Those are the 2
easiest ways to get rid of slugs. Other
pests you're gonna have every year,
you're gonna get Japanese beetles.
They're gonna be on your blooms every year.
(14:02):
There only one way to get rid of
those, if they're on the bloomer, that's to
pick them off in the morning and put
them in soapy water. Usually, in the mornings,
while it's still dewy, they're cool and wet
and they can't fly as easily. But you
can't spray an insecticide on those blooms for
Japanese beetles because we don't want to kill
the pollinators. They generally don't bother the foliage
much, it's usually the flowers they go for.
(14:23):
So another thing is you just go
out and cut them while the Japanese beetles
are in season and bring your flowers indoors
and enjoy them indoors. The last thing that
usually will get on are thrips. And this
is really a vein for people that like
to show their flowers at shows and things,
because when those little thrips scratch and eat
at that bloom, it makes a pink spot
and turns color.
And that if you're in a class to
(14:45):
show flowers, then that bloom is no good.
Those are gonna be insecticidal
soaps or something like that to get rid
of those.
Generally, you could also, if you're wanting perfect
blooms, you could cover the plants with the
mesh, they have a mesh nail that's like
Remade fabric, but it's got a tighter mesh
and little insects can't even get through it,
but light goes through. That's just for people
(15:06):
who wanna show homeowners, we don't mind a
few little big spots and a white flower
once in a while. Yeah. We,
look elsewhere. We're not as that judge that
wants that perfect bloom.
Now I had a quick question while you
were talking there, and it relates to the
harvesting
of dahlias.
Is there any specific tips that you have
for dinner plate versus some of the smaller
(15:28):
ones, or is there a good hard fast
rule that you go by when harvesting?
If you wanna harvest the flowers
indoors, there is a thing that can help
them last a lot longer. And if you
don't do this, they won't last very long
at all indoors. When you cut them, you
bring them in and you put that stem
in a bucket of hot water. I'm talking
a 160 to a 180 degrees. That's pretty
(15:48):
hot. That is hot. You're just gonna set
them in there, just that cut stem part,
and let them sit until that water cools
on its own. And what that does is
that sets the flower and they'll last 4
to 6 days after that. So they last
a lot longer. It's kinda similar to what
we do with poppies when we bring those
in and they actually burn the stem with
a lighter, that latex that seals the plant.
That's kinda the same thing with these dahlias
(16:10):
and they last longer. Yeah. Well, I don't
know if a lot of people realize the
hot water helps them
last longer, but anything that we can do
to help prolong the life of our bloom
is really good, especially when we can enjoy
it.
I do have a question, like whenever you
harvest your dahlias,
what are you doing with yours? Are you
(16:30):
making arrangements or are you just bringing them
inside? I'm making arrangement. It may be a
bunch of different things mixed with dahlias. I
know in the fall when I know it's
gonna be a frosted breeze, I will cut
every bloom I have and have bouquets all
over the house until I just didn't enjoy
them because you know that's the end of
the season. But generally I mostly keep my
flowers outdoors because I mean, I like to
(16:51):
look at them outdoors too. Yeah, you definitely.
If you don't have a wood test that
I know is gonna ruin it that day,
I'll go ahead and cut them. I was
gonna say, they're always really fun to see
outside when you're actually watching it grow. I
feel like, especially when you've started it at
a younger plant size and then you get
it on it to bloom size too. I
was just curious because I have seen some
(17:11):
designers with dahlias, they've taken pumpkins
and cored out the middle. I just was
curious what Dennis did. Yeah. You can use
them in any way you would use any
other flowers pretty much, cut flowers, not dried
flowers, and then they won't do that. But
fresh flowers, they're good. Yeah. I love it.
Now to kinda end on what we're talking
about today with dahlias,
are there some, like, challenges or advantages
(17:34):
of growing dahlias in Kentucky that you feel
like is definitely
why gardeners would wanna have dahlias in their
garden?
I think they're good because we have a
long growing season compared to a lot of
the country.
And these are tropical plants, so they get
a good long growing season here and we
get a nice long bloom time out of
them. The other thing I think is
you can dig these year to year and
(17:54):
they will multiply and you will have some
to give away too. And as long as
you store them properly, you'll have them. Another
way to store them is in the fall
when we have our first freeze, you just
go out, cut that foliage back, dig that
tuber,
and it's gonna be a bunch of tubers
and they've gotta be connected to that main
stem. Because if a tuber breaks off and
it doesn't have a piece of that main
stem, it will never grow, not like a
(18:15):
potato. But you just dig that whole thing
up, try to shake most of the soil
off and bring it in and put them
in like a wood basket with peat in
it. And they do a lot better if
they have a little bit of some kind
of semi moist and I say semi, I
mean, I'm pretty much the same as what
you buy at storage, it's dry, but it's
not like it's in the air. So it's
got something covering it. You can also try
(18:36):
newspaper if you wanna put over them, and
then they just gotta stay in a cool
dry place wherever it doesn't freeze. So other
than that, that's easy. Actually, I have somebody
that brought 2 of those large cattle tubs
that mineral comes in, He grows some dahlias
that Elena gave him years ago and every
year they multiply.
So I've got 2 tubs sitting in our
project room that's been in there all winter
(18:57):
and they're still good. So when I have
my dahlias class, people will get some of
those too. So we're gonna spread those around.
I like that. I like that. And I
have several of those laying around my house.
So, yeah,
I was gonna say, I do have a
cattle farmer. So anyway, I love that we've
talked about dahlias. You've basically
started us at the beginning, talked about cultivars,
(19:17):
soil, everything all the way to harvest too,
and especially pests to watch out for. If
folks were to have questions
about growing dahlias,
is there a certain like publication or resource
or
maybe a website to go to that would
be helpful? Probably. I mean, they can always
search. I used to tell people they can
search Google and then put Cooperative Extension behind
(19:38):
it and ask, but you're gonna get a
lot of publications from, may not be UK,
but you can get some around states close
to us. Also the American Dahlia Society, and
you can just type that into a search
engine and that'll pop right up.
And they have what they call a Dahlia
University, which is just their little site on
their site with all the information and things
that you can go to get educational and
(19:58):
research. I love that. I didn't know they
had a Dalet University.
That's what I called it.
Yeah. Well, I hope that folks that are
listening felt like they got a little bit
of Dalet University here. So, Dennis, thank you
so much for being on the podcast, and
I do wanna put a plug in. You
were on the podcast several episodes ago, but
if you wanna go back and listen to
(20:19):
the one on peonies,
that's in an earlier episode if you wanna
keep on scrolling down. I certainly appreciate you
being on the podcast, and we hope to
have you back for another future episode on
cut flowers
again later on. I'd be happy to. Thanks.
As the petals fold on this episode of
the Sunshine Gardening podcast,
(20:39):
we thank our guest, Dennis Morgason, for sharing
his expertise and joining us on the podcast
today.
We hope you've enjoyed our deep dive into
growing dahlias in Kentucky.
Remember, with some care and attention,
your dahlia garden can become a stunning sight
whether you are an experienced gardener or just
(21:00):
starting.
Thank you for tuning in. To view the
show notes for episode 29,
visit me over on the blog at warrencountyagriculture.com.
Now before we close the show today, please
consider leaving a review on your favorite podcast
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(21:21):
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Stay tuned for more gardening tips, tricks, and
(21:43):
inspiration.
Until next time, happy gardening.
Thanks for listening to the sunshine gardening podcast
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Gardeners keep on digging and learning more about
(22:03):
gardening so the sun shines brighter over your
Kentucky garden.
The Sunshine Gardening podcast with Kristen Hildebrand is
a production of the University of Kentucky Cooperative
Extension Service.
Welcome to the Sunshine Gardening podcast.
I'm your host, Kristen Hildebrand.
In today's episode, we'll discuss the beautiful world
of dahlias.
Join us as we explore the art of
cultivating
these stunning flowers in Kentucky
with Dennis Morgason, our guest.
As the Washington County Horticulture Extension agent,
(00:21):
Dennis has extensive knowledge and experience in growing
dahlias.
He'll share his expertise with us from planting
tips to nurturing strategies
so that you can grow these beautiful flowers
in your Kentucky garden.
So put on your gardening gloves, and let's
dig in.
Welcome to the Sunshine Gardening podcast.
(00:43):
This gardening show will equip and inspire avid
gardeners with tips and tricks to help them
navigate the gardening world. The show will also
highlight specific growing requirements for seasonal plants, so
the sun will shine brighter over their Kentucky
garden.
And now, here's that ray of sunshine, garden
enthusiast, and horticulture extension agent, Kristen Hildebrand,
(01:06):
with the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service.
Joining us today on the Sunshine Gardening podcast
is Dennis Morgenson.
How are you, Dennis? I'm pretty good. How
about you? I'm good. I am so excited
to talk about dahlias. I think they are
such a stunning bloom. What are your thoughts
about it? Oh, I love them. I think
(01:26):
they're really easy to grow. There's a few
problems, but not many. And they are absolutely
gorgeous and they come in a lot of
different shapes and sizes and colors. Very good
plant for us to grow and we can
keep them from year to year if we
do a few things correctly. They're not hardy.
They are a tropical plant, but they do
produce a tuber that we can save. I
like that fact, you know, that we can
(01:46):
save it, and that way that we can
just store it a certain way. And hopefully,
we'll get into that a little bit later
in the podcast.
But I wanted to ask you, with these
blooms, the dahlia blooms,
what can listeners kinda do to help maximize
that bloom size and the color vibrancy
in their gardens? And you may wanna elaborate
a little bit more about soil pH here,
(02:08):
but I know that you've grown dahlias before
in your garden, and so we're getting the
best of both worlds. You know, you have
the research based information side, but you also
have personal
knowledge and experience with growing dahlias too. So
I'm just curious from both those perspectives, what
do you have to share? Well, I guess
the biggest thing about maximizing bloom is pick
the correct variety. The dinner plate types will
(02:30):
have the largest blooms.
Usually in Kentucky, it's a little bit too
hot to get the largest bloom you can
get. Usually tell people, like, 1 year I
actually had dinner plate size, but we had
a really cool July. Even with the tropical
plants, when it gets really hot, the blooms
don't size up as well. I tell them
that we're gonna go more for saucer size
in Kentucky instead of dinner plate.
(02:52):
And then Kelvin Fuddlite is a yellow dinner
plate, and that one's gonna give you the
biggest bloom out of just about anything you
can buy readily and plant in your garden.
It's a really good variety.
And now as far as maximizing that flower
size, we do need the correct cultivar, the
correct weather. And usually we're gonna pinch our
values. We're gonna talk about that in a
(03:12):
minute. I know, but if you let that
first bloom come up on that dinner plate,
that's gonna be your biggest flower.
The side branching ones will not be as
big. There's something to keep in mind that
you're just wanting really huge flowers.
Yes. And when you look at the catalogs
of dahlias, they're like so many colors or
so many shapes.
They're just very, very different and unique in
(03:33):
what that you have to offer. And I'm
glad you talked about the dinner plate dahlias
because I know that growing up at my
home, we always had the dinner plate dahlias,
and those were so pretty to put in,
like, a bubble size vase and then just
add a little bit of water. And it
looked like a water lily. It was so
large. Right. They're pretty. They're really nice. I
have a picture somewhere, but with plate next
(03:53):
to it just where I I could prove
that I didn't have one that big once.
Oh, yeah. Well, maybe you might wanna share
it with me later and I'll add it
to the show notes.
Will you kinda maybe elaborate on maybe which
ones that you have found successful in the
garden? I know you kind of mentioned a
few things just in that opening statement, but
maybe you found some other cultivars that work
well. There's some other cultivars. Usually there's a
(04:15):
bishop, like it's a bishop series, but it's
a smaller red flower, but the plant has
the purple leaves and it gets about 3
to 4 foot tall, but it will bloom
heavily as long as you keep it deadheaded
the entire summer. It's one of the easier
ones to grow. And then a lot of
Tahitian sunset is a cactus flowered one, it's
really easy to grow. There's just so many
(04:35):
out there. Most of them need the same
conditions no matter what size they are. But
the Bishop series, I think it's closer to
the wild type, and I think that's why
it does so much better than a lot
of the other types. Interesting, I didn't know
that. You said Bishop series? Yes. Okay. Don't
hold me to that name, but that's close.
Okay. I have heard of Yeah.
I have heard of that other one before
(04:55):
and those cactus, dahlias, they're really interesting. They're
more pointed at the ends of the blooms.
Kinda like the cactus flower zinnias. They look
more like that, the little rose petals and
spiky on the ends. But you can get
up to 2 tone colors. You can get
single flowers, doubles,
large flowers, little flower, whatever you want. There's
a dahlia out there for you. And it
(05:16):
seems like the dahlias
are very desirable from a florist standpoint, and
you're gonna elaborate a little bit more about
planting. But generally, for us here in Kentucky,
we get them in the fall. Is that
correct? Starting in summer, going into fall, and
then they really could size up and color
up better later in the season. If you're
looking for those perfect flower, that's usually when
you're gonna get them. That's usually why they
(05:37):
have the actual shows where they bring their
blooms in and have a show to see
who's got the best, whatever. That's usually in
the fall. That's usually in the fall. Yeah.
Well, I know they are beautiful in weddings.
I know they're very desirable
for other functions as well. So I was
just curious to kinda know what cultivars
work good for you. Now I know you
(05:58):
mentioned that dahlias are more of a tropical
type plant.
What are the essential steps that we probably
need to go through here in Kentucky for
preparing the soil for planting of dahlias?
Okay, they like a nice loose, humus soil,
like every other plant that we grow around
here in Kentucky, but I'm sure you're down
in Warren County, you've got plenty of clay
(06:19):
soil down there just like we do. So
whatever organic matter you can mix in is
gonna help loosen that soil. It's also gonna
help keep that soil from being too wet
because if it gets too wet, I mean,
these are a tropical tube, but they can
rot pretty easy, but any kind of aged
manure, organic matter, peat, any of that's gonna
be nice to mix up with that clay
soil to help loosen it up. It's also
gonna make it easier for you to dig
(06:40):
them in the fall. The looser the soil,
the better off you're gonna be. And then
you're gonna want to, after these plants are
starting to sprout, come to the ground, then
you put your mulch on, but don't put
it on before that. And then the mulch
is gonna help even out your water situation.
In the summer, you're gonna need a nicer
plant and a bigger root system. I like
all those tips that you had there for
really preparing the soil, and I don't think
(07:01):
I'd really thought of the fact that you
do want it loose so that way when
you do lift them, that way you can
store them and that's a lot easier at
that point as well. What time frame are
we looking at for planting dahlias?
We're gonna plant these here anywhere from mid
to late April up into May. If I
were you, I would, you're a little bit
warmer down there, I'd probably just wait until
(07:22):
May 1st. That soil temperature needs to be
60 degrees or above at least to activate.
And if you plant them too early, you're
gonna run a risk of rot. So you
may as well just wait until we get
our warm weather and then go ahead and
plant it. And you're probably if you overwintered
any of them, you're gonna see little growth
already starting by now probably. Mhmm. What kind
of plant spacing are we looking at? Because
(07:43):
some of these can be fairly large. Generally,
it's 18 inches on the larger types, and
it's a lot closer on the little dwarf
ones. They wanna do about a foot tall.
Also, back to the soil, we're gonna have
to do an extension PSA, get a soil
test,
and then you'll know what your soil needs,
but the organic matter is always gonna be
good. Just don't overdo
(08:04):
the organic matter, say the manure or something
like that, because then you might just get
a lot of growth and not as many
flowers. So you've got to even that out
to make sure you don't over fertilize.
And generally with these blooms, phosphorus
is good for the root establishment part. And
then the potassium, basically the levels that show
in your soil test will probably be able
to indicate what kind of blooms that you're
(08:24):
looking at. Right. And it just depends on
where you are and what your soil types
are. And maybe you're living in a new
house and that soil has been just obliterated
from building. You're gonna have to add more
organic matter, really loosen that up, get that
going. What are your thoughts, Dennis, on raised
bed situations? Is that a good location for
Dahlias? Yes, it's a good location as long
(08:45):
as you can get in there and dig
them in the fall, but that'll make it
a lot easier probably for you to amend
that soil in that location if you've got
really hard clay or something like that. And
these are fine for raised beds. You will
have to stake the tall varieties because they
will fall over, so all the larger flower
types are going to be staked. It may
be a bamboo stake, it may be a
tomato cage, it may be whatever you want
(09:06):
to use just to hold them up off
the ground. I was gonna say it seems
like even for wind damage, just by staking
them, like you said, with a couple of
those different materials or options that you have
readily available
can be really helpful. Because even in the
summertime, we do have some storms that depending
on your location, the wind Well, not August.
We usually have few rounds of thunderstorms with
(09:27):
pretty strong winds. And dahlia stems, they haven't
grown them before, are hollow inside. So that's
not a solid stem, so that's why they
can blow over pretty easy. There's even a
giant tree dahlia in South America
that the Aztecs used to use to drink
out of. I'm telling you how big that
dahlia stem was down there. The value well,
(09:47):
actually, they found them growing with the Aztecs.
They were planting them and growing them. So
they've been around a while and cultivated by
humans for a while. Yeah. I like that
history that you gave us too. Now going
back to the staking just for a second,
do you recommend staking as you plant or
do you recommend
doing that a little bit later after they
get established?
You can wait until they get established, but
(10:08):
honestly, if you're like me, if you don't
go ahead and put something out there at
the time you plant, you're gonna forget about
it. Plants will start growing and you're gonna
be like, well, that's fine. And then we'll
have a windstorm and your plants fell down.
Got a bloom that's big as a saucer
or dinner plate, that plant needs something to
support. But I'd like to go ahead and
just put something out there just like when
you plant a tomato, go ahead and put
a stake there or a cage or whatever.
(10:31):
And that way, you've already got that taken
care of, you know, for the growing season.
Yeah. I'm kinda in the same boat as
you, Dennis. You know, I have the best
of intentions, but time does get away from
you. And so it's better just to go
ahead, I feel like, and do it all
at one time that fits my schedule.
One time, and that way you don't have
to worry about it again later on and
then end up with a mess. Yeah. We
want you to be successful, so maybe just
(10:52):
go ahead and do it as you're doing
it. I do have a question. You mentioned
the soil test there. Go ahead and get
the soil test done. Don't guess, and we
can give you specifically what you need for
your soil depending on where you're located at.
But what about additional fertilizer?
Do dahlias need extra fertilizer?
They're heavy bloomers, so they're gonna need additional
fertilizers. And usually we'll do something like and
(11:14):
I know people don't wanna do a soil
test. I don't know why people just I
don't know. But anyway, if you don't do
a soil test and know exactly what you
need, I recommend a half a cup of
triple 10 at planting
and then a month later and do that
each month until August and then stop because
there's no reason to get a lot of
new growth
later in the summer, whenever you're just gonna
(11:36):
have to cut that plant back. And that's
because if you get too much nitrogen in
there
later in the fall, I mean, you go
to dig those tubers won't keep as well,
they get kind of funky and fleshy. Yeah,
we wanna make sure we have those beautiful
blooms later on. We don't wanna have all
that growth. So I appreciate the recommendation there
on the fertilizing.
And so that way we kinda know about
(11:56):
what to expect, what to have on hand
when we need it. Now I know you've
already mentioned about pinching and disbudding
dahlias.
So what are your general rules of thumb
on those techniques and why they're so important?
Basically, what we're trying to do is increase
the size of the plant, the branching, and
that's gonna give us more flowers, especially on
(12:17):
the regular types that have the smaller flowers
and you're not trying to maximize
one big large flower just for you to
show off.
But, we like to pinch the top one.
It's about a foot tall. Just pinch that
top bud out, and then we'll get side
branching, and then you can let those side
branches grow and you get a lot more
flowers later. It's also gonna keep the plant
a little bit shorter, which is also going
(12:38):
to help it from not flopping as much
later on and it might keep you from
having to shake as much as you might
otherwise. It's just good for the plant and
for flower production.
Okay. I know that that might be a
new term for some people maybe listening to
us, and so I know that that can
be very helpful, especially
long term. Now I know as we go
(12:59):
according to the season that we have on
growing and it can be very different from
year to year. We run into pests,
and they can be a problem for dahlias.
Can you kind of elaborate on what pests
that you've noticed have been a problem for
Kentucky gardeners when they grow dahlias and how
they can mitigate those or help control? In
the spring, you could have a slug problem
(13:20):
when these first are starting to grow. And
if you notice that, then you're gonna have
to control the slugs. You can get slug
bait and sprinkle around, and that usually takes
care of them in one night. It's actually
got the active ingredient that the brand name
is 7. It's carbaryl in it. Now if
you're wanting to go more of an organic
method for these, you can take on a
coffee can and bury it down to the
(13:41):
top of the can and just put some
beer in it, and that malt will cause
them to come to it and they'll fall
in a drown.
Doesn't have to be alcoholic beer. It could
be a near beer. It's just the malt
that they're coming for. Those are the 2
easiest ways to get rid of slugs. Other
pests you're gonna have every year,
you're gonna get Japanese beetles.
They're gonna be on your blooms every year.
(14:02):
There only one way to get rid of
those, if they're on the bloomer, that's to
pick them off in the morning and put
them in soapy water. Usually, in the mornings,
while it's still dewy, they're cool and wet
and they can't fly as easily. But you
can't spray an insecticide on those blooms for
Japanese beetles because we don't want to kill
the pollinators. They generally don't bother the foliage
much, it's usually the flowers they go for.
(14:23):
So another thing is you just go
out and cut them while the Japanese beetles
are in season and bring your flowers indoors
and enjoy them indoors. The last thing that
usually will get on are thrips. And this
is really a vein for people that like
to show their flowers at shows and things,
because when those little thrips scratch and eat
at that bloom, it makes a pink spot
and turns color.
And that if you're in a class to
(14:45):
show flowers, then that bloom is no good.
Those are gonna be insecticidal
soaps or something like that to get rid
of those.
Generally, you could also, if you're wanting perfect
blooms, you could cover the plants with the
mesh, they have a mesh nail that's like
Remade fabric, but it's got a tighter mesh
and little insects can't even get through it,
but light goes through. That's just for people
(15:06):
who wanna show homeowners, we don't mind a
few little big spots and a white flower
once in a while. Yeah. We,
look elsewhere. We're not as that judge that
wants that perfect bloom.
Now I had a quick question while you
were talking there, and it relates to the
harvesting
of dahlias.
Is there any specific tips that you have
for dinner plate versus some of the smaller
(15:28):
ones, or is there a good hard fast
rule that you go by when harvesting?
If you wanna harvest the flowers
indoors, there is a thing that can help
them last a lot longer. And if you
don't do this, they won't last very long
at all indoors. When you cut them, you
bring them in and you put that stem
in a bucket of hot water. I'm talking
a 160 to a 180 degrees. That's pretty
(15:48):
hot. That is hot. You're just gonna set
them in there, just that cut stem part,
and let them sit until that water cools
on its own. And what that does is
that sets the flower and they'll last 4
to 6 days after that. So they last
a lot longer. It's kinda similar to what
we do with poppies when we bring those
in and they actually burn the stem with
a lighter, that latex that seals the plant.
That's kinda the same thing with these dahlias
(16:10):
and they last longer. Yeah. Well, I don't
know if a lot of people realize the
hot water helps them
last longer, but anything that we can do
to help prolong the life of our bloom
is really good, especially when we can enjoy
it.
I do have a question, like whenever you
harvest your dahlias,
what are you doing with yours? Are you
(16:30):
making arrangements or are you just bringing them
inside? I'm making arrangement. It may be a
bunch of different things mixed with dahlias. I
know in the fall when I know it's
gonna be a frosted breeze, I will cut
every bloom I have and have bouquets all
over the house until I just didn't enjoy
them because you know that's the end of
the season. But generally I mostly keep my
flowers outdoors because I mean, I like to
(16:51):
look at them outdoors too. Yeah, you definitely.
If you don't have a wood test that
I know is gonna ruin it that day,
I'll go ahead and cut them. I was
gonna say, they're always really fun to see
outside when you're actually watching it grow. I
feel like, especially when you've started it at
a younger plant size and then you get
it on it to bloom size too. I
was just curious because I have seen some
(17:11):
designers with dahlias, they've taken pumpkins
and cored out the middle. I just was
curious what Dennis did. Yeah. You can use
them in any way you would use any
other flowers pretty much, cut flowers, not dried
flowers, and then they won't do that. But
fresh flowers, they're good. Yeah. I love it.
Now to kinda end on what we're talking
about today with dahlias,
are there some, like, challenges or advantages
(17:34):
of growing dahlias in Kentucky that you feel
like is definitely
why gardeners would wanna have dahlias in their
garden?
I think they're good because we have a
long growing season compared to a lot of
the country.
And these are tropical plants, so they get
a good long growing season here and we
get a nice long bloom time out of
them. The other thing I think is
you can dig these year to year and
(17:54):
they will multiply and you will have some
to give away too. And as long as
you store them properly, you'll have them. Another
way to store them is in the fall
when we have our first freeze, you just
go out, cut that foliage back, dig that
tuber,
and it's gonna be a bunch of tubers
and they've gotta be connected to that main
stem. Because if a tuber breaks off and
it doesn't have a piece of that main
stem, it will never grow, not like a
(18:15):
potato. But you just dig that whole thing
up, try to shake most of the soil
off and bring it in and put them
in like a wood basket with peat in
it. And they do a lot better if
they have a little bit of some kind
of semi moist and I say semi, I
mean, I'm pretty much the same as what
you buy at storage, it's dry, but it's
not like it's in the air. So it's
got something covering it. You can also try
(18:36):
newspaper if you wanna put over them, and
then they just gotta stay in a cool
dry place wherever it doesn't freeze. So other
than that, that's easy. Actually, I have somebody
that brought 2 of those large cattle tubs
that mineral comes in, He grows some dahlias
that Elena gave him years ago and every
year they multiply.
So I've got 2 tubs sitting in our
project room that's been in there all winter
(18:57):
and they're still good. So when I have
my dahlias class, people will get some of
those too. So we're gonna spread those around.
I like that. I like that. And I
have several of those laying around my house.
So, yeah,
I was gonna say, I do have a
cattle farmer. So anyway, I love that we've
talked about dahlias. You've basically
started us at the beginning, talked about cultivars,
(19:17):
soil, everything all the way to harvest too,
and especially pests to watch out for. If
folks were to have questions
about growing dahlias,
is there a certain like publication or resource
or
maybe a website to go to that would
be helpful? Probably. I mean, they can always
search. I used to tell people they can
search Google and then put Cooperative Extension behind
(19:38):
it and ask, but you're gonna get a
lot of publications from, may not be UK,
but you can get some around states close
to us. Also the American Dahlia Society, and
you can just type that into a search
engine and that'll pop right up.
And they have what they call a Dahlia
University, which is just their little site on
their site with all the information and things
that you can go to get educational and
(19:58):
research. I love that. I didn't know they
had a Dalet University.
That's what I called it.
Yeah. Well, I hope that folks that are
listening felt like they got a little bit
of Dalet University here. So, Dennis, thank you
so much for being on the podcast, and
I do wanna put a plug in. You
were on the podcast several episodes ago, but
if you wanna go back and listen to
(20:19):
the one on peonies,
that's in an earlier episode if you wanna
keep on scrolling down. I certainly appreciate you
being on the podcast, and we hope to
have you back for another future episode on
cut flowers
again later on. I'd be happy to. Thanks.
As the petals fold on this episode of
the Sunshine Gardening podcast,
(20:39):
we thank our guest, Dennis Morgason, for sharing
his expertise and joining us on the podcast
today.
We hope you've enjoyed our deep dive into
growing dahlias in Kentucky.
Remember, with some care and attention,
your dahlia garden can become a stunning sight
whether you are an experienced gardener or just
(21:00):
starting.
Thank you for tuning in. To view the
show notes for episode 29,
visit me over on the blog at warrencountyagriculture.com.
Now before we close the show today, please
consider leaving a review on your favorite podcast
platform.
Your reviews help us reach more people and
(21:21):
grow our community.
We would also love to hear from you
if you have any questions,
feedback,
or suggestions for future podcast episodes.
Thank you for listening to the Sunshine Gardening
podcast.
Make sure to visit us on Facebook
at the Sunshine Gardening podcast.
Stay tuned for more gardening tips, tricks, and
(21:43):
inspiration.
Until next time, happy gardening.
Thanks for listening to the sunshine gardening podcast
with Kristen Hildebrand.
If you enjoyed today's content, make sure to
hit the subscribe button wherever you get your
podcast to catch future segments of the Sunshine
Gardening podcast.
Gardeners keep on digging and learning more about
(22:03):
gardening so the sun shines brighter over your
Kentucky garden.
The Sunshine Gardening podcast with Kristen Hildebrand is
a production of the University of Kentucky Cooperative
Extension Service.
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