What's Eating My Dahlias- Part 2
Dahlias are gorgeous! Unfortunately all the bugs think so too. Let’s talk about how to deal with some of the most common pests: grasshoppers, thrips, tarnished plant bug (TPB), cucumber beetles, and leafhoppers. These methods work well for the home gardener and small scale grower. I use organic pest control methods. There are plenty of other options out there but I choose organic on our farm so that’s what you’ll find covered here.
Let’s start with the most full proof pest control method: Prevent the pest from even touching your dahlia. This is accomplished by the use of organza bags— you know the kind they use for wedding favors.
These work extremely well for a cut flower operation or cut flower specific garden. They block everything from getting your blooms. However if you are enjoying your dahlias in a backyard garden style setting, you may not want to look at “dahlia lollipops” all the time. Kinda’ diminishes the joy of it.
Grasshoppers are the hardest to control in my opinion. There aren’t many organic sprays that will touch a hard bodied insect. The best control for a grasshopper that I’ve found is attracting birds to your garden. Birds love to eat grasshoppers. Adding a water source, even a small one, is a great way to attract birds.
If you have chickens, even better- they will devour them. Just make sure your plants are big enough to take a little chicken abuse. Usually grasshoppers don’t become a menace until the plants are blooming so at that point, allowing chickens into your dahlia patch can work. I used to use this method a lot until a fox got all our chickens.
Botanigarde Maxx is the only spray I’ve ever encountered that will kill a grasshopper and even it’s hit or miss— Grasshoppers move quickly so it’s hard to get the spray on them. If grasshoppers are a serious issue for you, consideration of the organza bag will have to be done. It’s the most effective method for grasshopper control.
Thrips are an annoying nemesis when it comes to dahlias. Timing is one of the best methods I’ve found for dealing with them. In my climate, thrips are a bad issue from mid- May to mid summer. Then they die back and aren’t found in high infestation level numbers. Thrips are probably the number one reason I don’t grow early season dahlias. Organza bags are reasonably effective against them but thrips are so small that they can get inside the bags sometimes. Various sprays will work on them and keep the populations under control but having perfect light colored dahlias is a challenge during thrip season. If you need dahlias during thrip season, stick with brighter colors- thrips are more attracted to whites/light colors.
A pyrethrin spray or a spinosad spray is a pretty effective tool against thrips. I highly recommend alternating what you spray. Also one round of spraying won’t cut it, it’s something you have to do regularly during the pest’s season.
Tarnished Plant Bugs and Leafhoppers - these 2 can be controlled by the same method. The yellow sticky trap is my best friend. Now— don’t freak out. I know, I know- small animals (birds, lizards, etc) can get caught on these and die. However, I’ve learned you can still use them but you gotta get crafty in how you hang them.
A yellow sticky trap is a card coated with a sticky substance that attracts particular pests. It’s great at catching small flying insects. You want to keep the card size to no larger than 3x5. I punch a hole in mine and hang them below my netting so that they are in the main plant canopy. Keeping it down in the plant canopy is key so that it’s less likely to be in a bird’s flight path. Also, I’ve learned you want to make sure the card can swing. This keeps lizards off of them. If you fasten it tightly so it’s immobile, baby lizards will crawl on it and not be able to get off.
Leafhoppers are important to control and they are often overlooked because they don’t show physical damage to your plant quickly. They do chew on the plant but it’s not super noticeable. However, they are vector insects- meaning they can take a virus from one plant to another. And in this day and age, when dahlia viruses are becoming more common, controlling leafhoppers will help protect your dahlia plant stock.
Cucumber beetles- other than grasshoppers, these are probably the most destructive of dahlia pests. They can chew a bloom incredibly fast. If you begin to see them in your field/garden, you want to act quickly because this is a pest you don’t want getting out of hand.
Once again, organza bags are the most effective method. But a spinosad or pyrethrin spray will work too.
One of the best things I did several years ago was to stop growing plants in the amaranth and squash plant families near my dahlias. Amaranth is a magnet for cucumber beetles. So much so that I’ve completely cut it from my crop list. If you can’t do that, move it as far from your dahlias as possible. I do still grow small quantities of squash and cucumbers in my veggie garden, but I have it as far from the flower field as I can go (and still be on my property).
So to sum it up- if you want a flawless dahlia, put an organza bag on it before the bud begins to open (in the green stage as shown in the picture above). If that option doesn’t appeal to you, then sprays and strategic plant placement are your best options. Also employ the sticky trap. Not only does the trap catch a lot of pests, but it’s pretty non-harming to you and others.
Planting in a Heat Wave
Transplanting in the heat is tough and far from ideal but when you farm in a hot climate, you have to learn how to make it work. I’m a huge fan of working with the weather- makes everything easier but sometimes the weather conspires against you. But over the years, I’ve learned a few things.
If it’s a short heat wave, just wait. If the heat will pass within a week- it’s better to wait. Most seedlings won’t become rootbound in a week, unless you are already behind and in that case—
Follow these tips for transplanting in the heat successfully:
1. Make sure your seedlings are well watered. I like to soak my trays/pots in a tub filled with water and a weak dilution of fish emulsion. Well watered and fertilized seedlings are going to adjust better once planted.
2. Harden off your seedlings well. I spend a week minimum hardening off seedlings in the heat. Begin by placing your seedlings in a shady area, then after a day or two move them to a sunnier position. If your seedlings have been grown outside, just make sure they spend a few days in an environment similar to their final home before you plant them. Don’t skip the hardening off process— It’s pretty much the most crucial step to avoiding transplant shock.
3. Soak the area where you will be planting. This will cool down the soil and also helps the first transplants to go in to adjust— this is pretty crucial if you are planting a long row. On long rows, stop and water in your seedlings half way through.
4. Water in seedlings after planting. Even if your row is soaked and the seedlings went in well watered— Water them in so you settle the soil around the roots.
5. If possible, transplant on a cloudy day or in early evening. This timing/weather gives the plants more time to acclimate before the fireball of death hits them.
6. Water, water, water— You will probably need to water them again on the same day you planted them unless it was early evening. Then water first thing in the morning. They may need twice a day watering for a few days. If you can plant before a rainstorm, even better. Hand water even if you have irrigation laid because the irrigation may not be enough when the plant roots haven’t stretched out much yet. A sprinkler on a timer can also help keep the plants cool as well as watered.
7. Adjust your expectations. You will loose some plants. It’s hot and less than ideal conditions. Take notes on how many plants you loose. Make notes for the next time to grow more plants so that you can save some and fill in holes a week or two later. Shade can be helpful if you have an easy way to provide it. But a well hardened off plant will adjust quickly, especially if you keep it watered.
Transplanting in the heat is not a plant it and forget it time. Use technology to remind you to water. I’m constantly making notes on my phone or setting timers/alarms so I don’t forget. It’s a shame when you spend several weeks growing out a plant and then kill it within a few days of planting it. But these tips should help. (Grow some back up plants too!)
Soon you’ll have beautiful bouquets- right in your backyard!
Is Something Eating Your Dahlias? Let's figure out what it is!
It’s that time of year. You’ve been watching with great anticipation as your dahlia bud begins to show color. It opens so slowly— or so it feels because it’s the first one and you’ve been waiting months to see a dahlia again (or maybe for the first time! Eeek!!) Then one morning you walk out and you see a hole in your leaf or the corner has been chewed!
How Dare They?? How dare some little creature enjoy breakfast from your dahlia petal!
Image by Valerie Miros- Grasshopper Damage
Don’t worry— there’s hope! The bugs are not going to decimate your entire garden (despite how it may feel!).
So what do we do? First, don’t panic! Seriously, in the grand scheme of things, a nibbled petal is not really a big deal. You may roll your eyes and say I know— But you wouldn’t believe how upset I see some people get over a chewed petal.
Second, you gotta’ figure out what’s eating it? Inspect your plant, turn over the leaves, look carefully between all the layers and see if you can find the culprit. Also notice what might be flying around the plant . Often times, the culprits will fly up when you ruffle the leaves.
Take pictures of the damage. I find that if I need to Google to figure out the culprit that a picture is better than my memory.
No sign of anything? Then there are a few culprits who you don’t see but they love a tasty petal or leaf. Slugs are a big one, especially on new growth or the sprouts just as the dahlias are peaking out of the ground.
Grasshoppers— if you see petal damage where it looks like something just took a dull knife to several petals at once and chopped them off- probably grasshoppers.
Are your dahlias turning brown especially where the petals meet the center? Most likely thrips. Thrips are very small brown bugs which are hard to see but cause loads of damage- they really like white/pastel colored dahlias. If you think you might have thrips, but aren’t sure- shake your flower over a white piece of paper. The thrips will fall out and be brown specks.
Cucumber beetles are another common pest. A lot of people grow vegetable gardens near their dahlias. Cucumber beetles love dahlias and anything in the squash family. The squash family (cucurbits) attract the beetle and then it finds its way over to your dahlias and has dessert from your pretty cafe au lait petals! Cucumber beetles can be very devasting to a dahlia field. So much so that I’ve stopped growing anything in the cucurbit family within 100 yds of my dahlia field. This practice has significantly reduced the number of cucumber beetles that I see each year.
These are a lot of the common pests that do visible damage to dahlias. However there are some that don’t appear to be hurting anything because they don’t chew but can be very detrimental to your plants.
Leafhoppers are one. They are small green bugs that hop from plant to plant. They do suck sap out of your plant. Leaf hoppers are a vector insect- which means that if a dahlia has a disease/virus etc. they can carry it to another plant. So while you may not see much visible damage from leafhoppers, they can be very detrimental, especially if you are growing a high number of plants.
We’ve identified a lot of the common pests that plague our dahlias- so what do we do about them?
The answer to that is coming up in our next article because this is too much for one post!
If you are having issues with a pest that we didn’t name here, see if you can get a picture of the pest or the damage and send it our way! You can submit it here.
Designing a Garden to Benefit Your Mental Health- Part 4: Celebration
Nature is an excellent place to celebrate. What? You ask? Well anything! Big, small, momentous or just the first bee of spring!
Celebrating in nature is one of the easiest ways to gain a spirit of gratitude in our lives.
Gratitude is an aspect of mental health that I used to overlook. But practicing being thankful and grateful for what we have or the people in our lives is one of the better ways to pull ourselves out of the depths.
Gratitude can be hard because it can feel like you have to be eternally positive but I think that even just being thankful for another breath, your warm coffee in the morning- any small thing. Practicing an appreciation for what we have leads to a realization that the bad things will be okay in time. They don’t have to take over our lives and when we feel everything is wrong- having a practice of gratitude helps to change that mindset.
It’s so easy to get bogged down and overwhelmed when things don’t go as we think they should. But I’ve found that if I stop, breathe, and think- I can usually find one small thing that is okay.
This begins the climb back to a mindset that is clearer and therefore you can begin to process the problem at hand.
My garden is often where I go when I get to that overwhelmed state. It’s hard to go into nature and not find something to be grateful for- a new bud, dew on a leaf. There is so much beauty all around me that it’s so much easier to process the issues in my life when I’m outside.
I hope you’ll take some time soon to go out and celebrate in your garden- walk around and give thanks for all the beauty you are surrounded by. And if you feel so inclined, share your garden with others!
I think it’s important for our gardens to be spaces to aid our own mental health but equally important to share them with others. To let them in on the gardeners secret— there’s a reason gardeners are happy people!
Designing a Garden to Benefit Your Mental Health- Part 3- Renewal
“Gardening is about setting life in motion, and seeds, like dead fragments, help us recreate the world anew.”
- Sue Stuart-Smith, The Well Gardened Mind: The Restorative Power of Nature
What is it about that tiny little envelope with little black specs in it? Seeds! The hope and joy of new life. Dreams of beauty to come. We’ve all been lured in by a beautiful seed packet or maybe a few packets. Planning my garden each year is one of my favorite parts. So much possibility, nothing has gone wrong yet.
We start the seed, nestling it into the dirt inside a little pot, water it, give it a bit of heat and light. Off it goes! With the right conditions, it springs up within a few days and the dream has begun to be reality.
So many things in life begin this way- we plan, we research. We begin to execute and it’s all going swimmingly until it doesn’t. Until something throws a wrench in the works.
The root hits a rock. We forget to water. The plant gets scorched. We begin to struggle, we feel drained- like a thirsty seedling.
We may or may not make it through to accomplish our goal. The little seedling may get what it needs or it may whither and die. But then one day, we come across the packet of seeds and decide to give them one more chance.
It always comes full circle. Our lives like nature constantly renew themselves. When one plant ventures into the compost pile, it breaks down into life giving substances that feed the flower that springs from it.
Gardens are a constant example of renewal. Renewal is an important principle to be mindful of in our lives. We have a tendency to think life is one continuous improvement when there is a seasonal nature to our lives just like the natural world.
A lot of this disconnect comes from forgetting that we are part of the natural world. We exist in a system that is taking what’s served it’s purpose, breaking it down and producing new resources. We forget about the seasonal nature of our world.
Just as our gardens go through winter, so do our lives. We all know this but we so often get bogged down in the “winter” and forget that spring always comes. Things never stay the same. I’ve resolved to look at the winters of my life as times of deep discovery and learning.
Is it always enjoyable? Gosh, NO!
But in these winters, I’m discovering my deep roots. Those roots produce lush strong summer growth and beauty.
This week, it’s not about adding certain plants to your garden or creating a space. It’s about noticing what’s around you. Creating the awareness of how the world around itself is constantly renewing.
About noticing our lives do the same. We go through winter because spring brings beauty we couldn’t dream of without the deep roots that winter creates.
Did you miss part 2? Find it here