Ok, I had this problem last year. My dahlias were very beautiful, but some of the stems broke. I am not sure what I did wrong. After a rain, sometimes I found 5-7 broken stems. Can somebody recommend dahlias with stronger stems, or dahlias that would not require support. I would like to buy yellow or salmon dahlias. I found the following ones that I really like http://botanus.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=67005-1&Category_Code=s3-6&Product_Count=2 http://botanus.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=67011-1&Category_Code=s3-6&Product_Count=5 http://botanus.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=65013-1&Category_Code=s3-4&Product_Count=2 Which ones would be the strongest? Or maybe you know some other dahlia names? THanks!!
Oversize flowers on long stems = staking. To avoid this, plant the short bedding-type kinds. If you want the big flowers on long stems, plan on staking. Otherwise, you may have several flowers at a time pulling sections of top down, buds and all.
You can create a cradle by using four or five tomatoe stakes (if a big clump) and use twine, raffia or what ever your tie material is by winding it around the stakes in a basket weave effect. This will hold them upright. Some of the bigger stems can also be secured to individual posts. A large open weave wire cylinder and one stake will also do the job. the bulk of the plant is held up by the wire. The flowers will grow through the squares. There are tomatoe growing structures that might also work. Liz
