Dahlias! 2/20

[Sher]

Machine:  Bounty

Vendor: Ferry Morse

Type: Dahlia

Variety: Unwin's Dwarf, mixed colors

Nutes:  AG

Sponges: Urban Leaf

After seeing Corinne's dahlia project, I had to have a beautiful bouquet like that.  I'll move them outside when the pollen becomes an issue.

I moved my herbs out of the Bounty Elite and put them in the new black Bounty.  Then I planted the flowers in the old stainless steel Bounty.

Since they are Ferry Morse seeds, I planted two per pod.  Should I thin them to 1 per pod later?

So here are the new babies to be!

[Shawn]

I wish you a bountiful garden full of flowers.

[Sher]

Thank you for the good wishes. Shawn!  I was so excited about posting my new project that I forgot to put it in my garden patch!  Sorry!

I am REALLY excited about this one!

[Shawn]

Feb 20, 2020 11:28:24 GMT -5 Sher said:

Thank you for the good wishes. Shawn!  I was so excited about posting my new project that I forgot to put it in my garden patch!  Sorry!

I am REALLY excited about this one!

I will move it for you

[Sher]

You are so good to us!  Thanks for your patience! 

[Shawn]

My pleasure

[Sher]

My dahlias are up!

I originally had all the pods planted.  But I was going through Corinne's recommended projects and she said dahlias should have one seed per pod, spaced every other pod in the Bounty.

So here they are, so far.  I may have to thin out a second plant in some of them.

[Shawn]

Can't wait to see them.

[Sher]

The dahlias are experiencing a growth spurt.

I had the nutrients a little too high, some some of the large basal leaves were a bit crisped.  I pinched them off.

[Shawn]

Looking healthy!

[Sher]

Following my petunia fiasco, I am very concerned how sprawly and  unevenly these dahlias are growing.

I wanted to move the shorter, slower growing ones around when I did an R&R a couple of days ago. But the roots are too solidly meshed together.

Any suggestions?

[Shawn]

Unless others think this is a good idea please do not follow me...  I usually cut them apart.  Squeeze together to get them carefully out.  So far I have been lucky and they stayed alive.  I actually had to do that with my Marigold project last night.

I agrere with Shawn. I discovered last year that cutting roots does no harm. At first I was afraid, but now I do it in a heartbeat.

[Sher]

Thanks Shawn and Corinne.  I will do that today!

[Sher]

I moved them around after trimming the roots.  They were all relatively the same size except for that one wild one.  I ended up topping it so it would be a better size match to the others.

The formerly tall one is now at left rear. It is still taller than its siblings.

Hope they survive the root trim!

[Sher]

Okay... taking a deep breath here.

In the past I have burned the top of plants by keeping them too close to the Bounty's light.  So I started over-compensating by keeping the lights way too high.

In this case, the dahlias have gotten way too leggy.  Some of the leaf nodes are inches apart.  I moved the lights closer this morning, but it's too late for it ever to look like it should.

So instead of watching a bunch of scraggly, disappointing dahlias grow, I have decided to terminate this project.

I will be much happier watching some other compact, healthy plants grow.

I am learning. Very slowly!

[Shawn]

Are you sure you do not want to wait and see?  But if you do terminate I can understand as I too end things if I do not like the way they are going LOL.  But again the fun of AG'ing is that we can do it and have things growing that we want ALL YEAR long!

[Sher]

Mar 21, 2020 7:57:52 GMT -5 Shawn said:

Are you sure you do not want to wait and see?  But if you do terminate I can understand as I too end things if I do not like the way they are going LOL.  But again the fun of AG'ing is that we can do it and have things growing that we want ALL YEAR long!

Yes, I'm sure.  I am going to try to root a couple of pepper cuttings.  If they take, I will put one in the Bounty.

I like the idea of food growing in the Bounty, and short flowers in the Harvest better anyway.

But I was so enamored by Corinne's dahlias, I wanted to try it.  I'll grow them outdoors instead.

I really don;t care for Ferry Morse seeds. These are described as growing up to 20" tall ., and AG projects ALWAYS grow taller than the package says which is written for soil growing.

The one I had in my project required a tall machine, yes, BUT I recommended the Parkseed Figaro which only grew to 12- 14" in the description. It Bloomed in 2 months and produced endless blooms outdoors with the ones I started outside.  Only thing...if you are allergic to pollen, these have 'flying' pollen which will blow through the air abundantly in a room.

Anyway... these are the Parks, and I think I will order some more right now for outside!

parkseed.com/figaro-mix-dahlia-seeds/p/00664-PK-P1/

I am so sorry you are ending this project. Please consider buying from ParkSeed  it  is well worth paying a few more bucks! But when my seeds arrive, I would be willing to send you enough to give the Bounty another go if you'd like Sher. Just pm me your postal address(I delete the addresses from the members after I send the shared seeds)

[Sher]

Those dahlias are gorgeous!  And I agree with you about Ferry Morse seeds.  I have not been happy with anything I have grown from them.

And I am horribly allergic to pollen.

I really appreciate your offer of seeds, but I do plan to just grow shorter flowers in the Harvests for a while.  I bought some nano scarlet geranium seeds from Park Seed.  In fact, I got their last pack!

I didn't get a smooth paint job on the new 360 deck due to flying dog hair.  I am going to sand it and repaint it when my new paint arrives Wednesday, then I will put the nano geraniums in it.

Thanks again for the seed offer. That warmed my heart!