another dahlia question

I've grown some dahlias, but always from plant I bought at a nursery. Are they easy to grow from bulb from a store (ie Home depot, etc)? Can I start them indoors to get a head start? Any other tips?
Thanks!
Mara

They are reasonably easy. Just buy the tuber early and store it dry and cool until it is time to plant. If you start indoors, do so 4-6 weeks before last frost (no earlier) and only if you have fluorescent lights or a greenhouse where you can keep them frost free.

Place the tuber in the pot and cover with a few inches of soil. Water once really well and then only water if the soil gets pretty damp. They will sprout in 7-10 days.

Thanks. I may try that this year-
Mara

I planted my first last season from tuber and it turned out very nice. I did basically the same thing thing as above, but I put it in the ground. I was so pleased with the blooming that I recently bought 6 bags of tubers at Lowe's. Since I'm new to this, take everything I say as a maybe. I want to plant them in pots this year so that I can store them easier for the winter. I really didn't know even how to pick them except for the pretty pictures on the label. I'm sure the employees at Lowe's thought I was a bit freakish when I pulled all of them out of the box and checked each one by weight, smell, and gentle squishing. I only brought home the ones that had no mildewy smell, were heavy, and were firm to the sqiushing. I'll be trying them all in pots with a stake pre-positioned during planting. Last year I soaked it in water for 15 to 20 minutes then planted it. I didn't water it for 5 to 7 days. I didn't use any fertilizer at all the entire year. I planted it in almost complete full sun (next to a west fence) and didn't even stake it. The poor thing basically just layed on the ground and bloomed and bloomed and bloomed. This time around I will treat them better. Hope yours turn out well.

Thanks for this info! I'm new to dahlias this year, and have ordered some spider dahlias for my small south facing garden bed. They're not hardy in my zone though, so I'm going to use bulb cages to plant the bulbs in - that way, the tubers will be contained when I have to dig them up in the fall. Starting them inside sounds like a good idea given our short growing season, so I'll try that too, about a month before the danger of last frost (which here is May 24th).

I should have staked mine too. They bloomed at first when they weren't so tall, but then kept growing and blooming, growing and blooming. I think they spread out nearly 3' from where the tuber was...and low and behold...I have larger and more tubers to plant this year as a result of that. Yahhoooooooo!

Be careful with the underground bulb cages. The tubers might outgrow that thing and you'll have some cramped, gnarled stuff to deal with in fall!

Thanks for the heads up ecobioangie, I have plastic cages without tops, I'm hoping that'll help some.

I just bought 6 bulds from the qvc on sunday mornings they have a one hour show on plants I hope there nice they are dinner plates

Jerry was it from Cottage Farms or Roberta's?

cottage farms they have an hour long show on the q on sunday mornings I hope there nice bulbs

Just an FYI... The Garden Watchdog area of Dave's Garden has a rating on Cottage Farms.

http://davesgarden.com/gwd/c/1737/

I bought a couple of plants from them this weekend to see what I thought about them. Nothing I'll be sorry about losing if it's as bad as the comments say.

well that just shows me I did'nt do my home work before buying plants on the q thanks to sites like dave 's garden I should be well informed in the future. worse case i'm out 25 buck's but I will double check with dg's before before making a tru the mail purchase. Better yet make some trade's with my dg's friends thank you all wish me luck

I'll let you know how my purchase goes if you'll let me know about yours. I'm kind of curious.

we'll keep are finger crossed and hope for the best

I ordered the dinner-plate dahlia collection from Dutch Gardens, and the came today. Even though I live in Zone 7a they told me to plant them right away, which I did. I hope they survive if we have another cold snap.

I planted them in between my roses so hopefully they'll bloom when my roses are starting to slow down in the hot end-of-summer days. I sprayed them with rabbit repellent too.

Any other advice about how to give them a shot at actually blooming?

the one's i ordered won't ship till after april 15 I'm surprised they sugested you plant now I'm waiting till after the danger of frost in mid may just so i'm safe . The dehlias i put in last year i bought at a sale from a nursery so it was july 4th weekend and they were going strong in october they love a good well drained soil. i'm back in the compost pile prepairing the beds for them now. I cant wait till the growing season really gets going

Me too! I'm guessing that the second week in April is when my daffodils, and hyacinth will really get going. I am so tired of looking out my window at gray days and dirt. I miss color!

I also ordered the smaller "patio dahlias". I can't decide whether to put them in my window boxes or at the edge of my border. Do any of you have the little dahlias? Where do they work best?

My dehlia bulbs have arrived and look to be in good shape. im pleased with there size . i'll have to wait a few weeks before they go in the ground but if my luck holds out i'll be enjoying them for years