Question about the size of my dahlia plant

Discussion in 'Annuals, Biennials, Perennials, Ferns and Bulbs' started by anituchka, Sep 24, 2007.

  1. anituchka

    anituchka Active Member

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    Hi I bought Kenora Macob dahlia. The height is supposed to be 105 cm. Mine is more than 2 meters and with gorgeous flowers. But it is just very very tall. Does anyone know why it happened. My soil has a lot of nitrogen (from manure). Not sure what caused it.

    The plant is so tall I can't reach to cut off the spent blooms.. You can't really judge the heigt in the photos, but beleive me it is huge..

    thanks
     

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  2. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    Plant sizes aren't cast in stone, they vary with site conditions and how the individual specimen has been treated. Is this wildly larger than expected, or just somewhat? Descriptions on catalog pages, pot tags and plant labels are always representative approximations. Sometimes also they are mis-printed or just plain incorrect.
     
  3. chimera

    chimera Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Maybe from the manure and the rainfall we get here ?
     
  4. anituchka

    anituchka Active Member

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    Yes, it is twice (!) as tall than quoted. What is interesting, I bought 2 same clumps, the other is the normal height (105 cm) it is supposed to be.
     
  5. anituchka

    anituchka Active Member

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    Dahlia in front (white) is supposed to be the same heigt as the one in the background.
     
  6. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    I looked at a few pages of search hits and saw sites saying it grows 4' tall, 3 m is somewhat over 6'. So I think you are just getting a little taller growth than usual (commercial sources often understate height potential of large-growing plants, no doubt concerned about scaring prospective customers away), if you talked to some veteran dahlia growers who knew this cultivar you might find they were not astounded by your results.
     
  7. anituchka

    anituchka Active Member

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    Thanks Ron. I was very shocked when I saw that it just kept growing taller and taller!
    I don't have a lot of experience with dahlia (so I planted it in the middle like a medium dahlia rather than at the back of the garden.

    So, if it was so tall this year, is it likely that it will be just as tall next year?
     
  8. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    Should get more robust and bigger as it grows, unless conditions change. If tubers are allowed to build up into large clumps over some years individual stems might become smaller, I suppose. If you are after the 10 in. diameter flowers you will want to use cultivation methods recommended to attain these. These might include frequent division, staking and disbudding.
     

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