There seems to be something wrong with my Dahlia plant. I am saying based on the shape and size of the leaves. It looks like its either stunted or in a state of shock. Do you know what is causing it and how to recover the plant ?
Looks like mosaic virus to me. Spread by aphids I think. Not sure. I don't think there is anything you can do but dispose of the plant off your property. Maybe someone else here knows if there is a treatment. Sorry for the bad news.
Hello, Did you discover what was ailing your dahlia's? If not could you post some close-up foto's of the affected areas of your plant?
Hiya Cayu-- I saw that foto, but wanted to have a closer look at the leaves in question. It may all be too late for Ramna, perhaps she will not return.
BTW Cayu--Do you dig your dahlia's up every fall and keep them dry over the winter...or do you leave them in situ?
Funny you should ask SJ. I was just sitting on my stoop today looking at them. I have several in the ground and several in pots. Yes I do dig them up, let them dry out a bit, then store them in peat moss. We are zone 6A, -12 degrees celcius, coldest temp. Too cold to leave in the ground. How about you? Can you leave them in the ground in the Netherlands?
Sometimes I leave them and sometimes not...usually I remove them. I do not handle them volgens Bartjes...I lift the tubers, (sometimes I spray the soil off with a hose) and let them dry, remove the soil clods then wrap them in newspaper...after ~4-6 months, I remove the newspaper and re-wrap them with fresh newspaper. I store them dark and cool. ** I would not recommend the water bath for folks unless they are prepared to meticulously dry them before storage. The thing with leaving them in the ground here is not the coldness, it's the moisture that ruins the tubers. There are a couple of different ways to deal with dahlia's. We can talk about this if you ever want to do things differently. Good luck with them this year, meid.
Okay. I researched volgens Bartjes...as a children were you all taught math according to Bartjes? The only thing comparable in the US were the old readers, Dick & Jane. I'm sure many other Stewbies here will remember Dick & Jane. And not because they were so captivating, rather for how ridiculously boring they were! But we don't have a saying that memorializes them like you do Bartjes. Anyway, thanks for the offer re the Dahlias. My method seems to be working fine. The exception is the one dahlia with mosaic disease. I plan to dig it up and throw it out, along with all the soil in the pot. (Not a small feat, it is a big dahlia in a HUGE pot). But wait.... If your methods will better protect against the spread of this mosaic disease then I am interested! This one has been munched on by an offending grasshopper. He has been evicted. This is the dahlia with mosaic disease. How contagious is this? It is about 5 feet (1.5 meters) away from the healthy one.
I looked back--- "Volgens Bartjes is the conceptional equivalent to , "According to Hoyle"...sorry for that confusing term. Lovely dahlia Cayu--I had a similar one called "Tahiti Sunrise", but there are a number of different ones in this cactus and semi-cactus variety. Ach, it isn't about the dahlia, rather the mosaic virus and the Rx of your tall beauty. I believe that it is best to remove that plant (sad) and some of the soil. No need to worry though about this dahlia infecting other ones by air or or close approximation...or for that matter, soil. The DMV is strictly a vector-bourne disease, like from aphids. It is the sap that get transferred that gets the mosaic virus ball rolling. A note -- Wash your tools and meticulously get rid of the tubers, leaves, stems and flowers...and place them in your garbage bin, not on your compost piles. ** You may well question why one needs to wash their tools and hands if the disease is vector-bourne. The answer is, residue. It is because the virus is in the sap and while the most common way is via, say, aphids ... the sap residue that may be on your tool or hands getting on another dahlia is enough to infect the new plant topically. You ought to get rid of that pot as well unless you go to the trouble of cleaning and disinfection is properly...with say, bleach or the like. My methods of storing them doesn't address the mosaic prevention question at all, so since you are successful with your methods there is no need to change what you are doing, right? I think that the only thing that you could possible do is check near-by dahlia plants and treat them for aphids if you see evidence of their presence. I would also be wary of munching grasshoppers and katydids, for in principal they could spread the virus as well, I believe. Good job you dispatched that pesky grasshopper. Pity it disfigured the bloom.
Thanks SJ. I'll disinfect the tools & the pot (it's a big pot & expensive to replace. Plus it matches the other one!). I'll still throw the soil in the garbage along with the dahlia.
is it mosaic or chlorotic? the leaves look healthy... just like they don't have enough iron. can you give it a dose of a high iron fertilizer or even just iron alone?
Whoa!!!! I will try that Carolyn! I was hating the idea of throwing out that dahlia. Okay, I get this fertilizer in a hardware store? I can't just bury a black iron frying pan in the plot?
